Forefather

interview by - Wouter Roemers

Recently UK epic pagan/folk metal combo Forefather released their latest opus “Steadfast”. Once again recounting important Anglo-Saxon historical happenings this album perfectly embodies Forefather’s blend of elements of folk- and pagan metal with traditional heavy metal. Releasing this new album through their own label imprint Seven Kingdoms and up-and-coming digital distributor Metalhit.com Masterful Magazine was able to catch up Athelstan, one part of the Forefather founding duo. He was enthusiast to talk about the band’s latest slab of epic metal, their lyrical inspirations and how it is to run their own label.

First off, I'd like to thank you for taking time to speak with me today. Congratulations for releasing such a great album! How are things going now? Are you receiving a good response?

Hi! Things are going very well. The response to the album is extremely positive, even more positive than our previous album so it’s good to be getting better with time.

Your previous record 2004's “Ours Is the Kingdom” was released through now defunct Dutch label Karmageddon Media. Was it difficult terminating your existing contract with them or did you sign for one album only?

It’s a bit of a messy business, but at least they haven't impeded us in any way. They know they let us down. We still have some details to clear up with them but hopefully it will be done and dusted and forgotten about soon.

How did you come up with the album's name “Steadfast” and what is the meaning, or concept, behind it?

We liked the word Steadfast for two reasons; one - because it is a strong English word of old-English origin and two - because it means to be strong and stay the course, which we always strive to do. It’s about staying true to what you believe in and not letting insanity and bullshit change you on your course. There is so much insanity in the world today, and we need to resist it so we can live in a righteous way. You have to be very strong of mind, because there are so many negative influences everywhere in society!

Were there any noteworthy legends, lore or scriptures in particular that inspired the lyrics of this new record?

The first track ‘Brunanburh’ is based on the Anglo-Saxon chronicle account of the battle of Brunanburh where King Athelstan won a great victory against a combined army of foes and further strengthened the nation of England. It was a very important battle in English history, so of course we thought it deserved to be represented in musical form. ‘Cween of the Mark’ is based on the legend of Athelflad of Mercia, who was the daughter of Alfred the Great. She was instrumental after Alfred's death in completing the re-conquest of territory lost to the Danes. There are parallels to Eowyn in Tolkien mythology. Athelflad was probably Tolkien's inspiration for that character. ‘Three Great Ships’ is inspired by the legend of Hengest and Horsa who are said to have led the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.

From a lyrical perspective what song on the album do you feel most satisfied with?

‘Theodish Belief’ is my favourite lyric. The theme is simple and true and speaks with relevance to the modern era. Theodish is an archaic English word meaning tribe or people, and to have a theodish belief means to value the tribe as vital to survival and prosperity. We have very little of this remaining in the modern era, so this song is somewhat of a call to inspire people with the benefits of this idea.

How long was the process of putting the album together, as far as writing the music, the concept and arrangements is concerned?

Too long! We started writing the music as soon as “Ours is the Kingdom” was released (2004), although we do everything quite slowly so it took some time. I started laying down the arrangements and some guitars in summer 2006, but we didn’t finish the master until December 2007. Most of the music was written first, with extra changes to arrangements, melodies etc added towards the end. We came up with the “steadfast” theme early on, but as always with us, the lyrics are the last thing to be done. I think taking more time over arrangement and fine detail has helped create a better album.

Musically you sound more mature and accessible now with “Steadfast”. Have you done anything differently with regards to writing or is it just a result of natural progression?

Natural progression is always there, but like I said before, I think it’s the extra time and scrutiny we put into every aspect of the album. We had the mentality of “if we don’t like it – change it”, so in the end we have an album which we can be more satisfied with. We put a lot more thought into melody, harmony, sound, vocals and lyrics. It was a massive exercise in “fine-tuning”.

What are the main musical and lyrical differences and improvements on “Steadfast”? What has changed compared to the last album “Ours Is the Kingdom”?

I think “Steadfast” sounds darker musically, which is maybe due to our angrier attitude during the writing/recording, but other than that it is a continuation/evolution of the “Ours…” sound. There are black metal parts and heavy metal parts, but we have had them for many years; we often combine them. Of course we try to improve ourselves with every album, so hopefully people agree that the compositions are more mature, the arrangements more tidy and our use of melody has evolved, using more guitar methods and making things sound more “exciting”. Lyrically we are still the same, dealing with the Anglo-Saxon past and how it relates to our modern day, however, “Ours…” had a subtle anti-Christian theme, which is no longer present on “Steadfast”. We have said all we need to on that subject, and it is a dying religion.

Tell us something about the artists you worked with for both releases. They don't look like the typical folk metal paintings and perfectly fit with the epic nature of the band's music.

Until “Steadfast” we had always worked with Chrille Anderson who does an excellent job in his own style, however this time we wanted to try something more “old-school” looking, so we wanted someone to do a conventional painting. Martin Hanford had offered his services to us a year or so before, so we took up his offer. It was great working as the kind of art-director, suggesting how the picture should look, but obviously it was his skill which did the real magic. We were 100% pleased with the cover. It represents the atmosphere of the album perfectly, and we hope to work with him again on the next album. For the overall layout, we again asked Chrille, who welded the whole thing together in a really nice way. All the people involved have good artistic vision, which helped to make the whole package something that little bit more special.

This new record is released through the band's own label imprint Seven Kingdoms. Was it the experience with Karmageddon Media that made you set up your own label?

We've had our own label since as far back as 1999. In those days it was called Angelisc Enterprises and it was under that banner that the first three Forefather albums were originally released. We later changed the name to Seven Kingdoms (because there was confusion around the meaning and pronunciation of Angelisc) and released two more CDs by Thronar and Hellveto. After our bad experience with Karmageddon we decided to revert back to handling our own music ourselves and release Steadfast through Seven Kingdoms. Another reason for this was because there was already a huge gap since “Ours is the Kingdom” and finding and arranging things with a new label would've taken more time. I think it will take a lot to convince us to work with an outside label again. The deal would have to be extremely good and we would have to be extremely sure in the label's credibility.

Physical distribution is done by the band and digital distribution is handled by Metalhit.com. Tell us a bit about their work for Forefather and how this cooperation came to be?

Well, now we also have some more physical distribution all over Europe (Twilight, for example) and also the US, but we handle it in the UK. It’s early days with Metalhit.com, but so far the whole thing is handled very professionally and he is helping us out with promotion, which is our weak point with Seven Kingdoms. It’s good to get into the whole download thing because it's increasingly popular (even if I don't like it all that much), and promotion wise it’s far better for people to be able to download the album rather than sending out hundreds of promos and using precious resources. They contacted us initially with the details of the Metalhit project (which was yet to start) and the whole thing seemed like a good idea.

What have been the biggest lesson learned thus far after releasing five albums on two very different labels? Which lesson will you not repeat again?

The biggest lesson learned is to be very careful about who you trust with your music. We learned this lesson through our own mistakes....mistakes we're determined not to make again

The pagan/folk metal genre is currently booming and experiencing unprecedented heights of popularity in both Europe as the US. Do you feel you have missed vital opportunities due to not being able to tour?

Probably yes, but I don’t want to be a pagan metal money machine. I don’t want to pose on stage and it’s all a lot of hassle that I don’t want to fill my life with. Entertainment should be left to the entertainers.

Genre related tours such as Paganfest and Heidenfest are selling out venues across Europe and the US. How do you feel about tours like that?

Either way I don’t mind. I like bands if they are good, it doesn’t matter what genre they are (although I mainly stick to metal of course!). I won’t support every pagan band just because they are pagan metal. If you look at it from the business side, then it’s great. The problem is that I am a perpetual outsider, so whenever something becomes popular, I switch off!

With the increasing number of good pagan/folk metal bands in the genre right now, do you ever feel like you're in competition with anyone?

No, I don’t think so. We make our own music, so nobody can compete at being the best Forefather

Thanks for the interview! Good luck with all your future endeavours. I would like to extend my praise for a killer fifth album. The last words are yours.

Thanks for the interview. I hope many of your readers will check out “Steadfast”, which you can find online, through various distributors and also direct from www.seven-kingdoms.com

Label: http://www.seven-kingdoms.com/
Site: http://www.forefather.net/

Forefather

interview by - Wouter Roemers

concert / tour dates

...

reviews

some more stuff

list of interviews

Interviews in polish