MARDUK Interview with Morgan

XM: Hey, welcome back to Canada.How are you today and what did you think of the show?
Morgan: I'm fine, this is the third date of the tour. We started out in Maryland Death Fest in... Maryland. Then we went to play Montreal and tonight was Toronto. I think it was better than last time and it's great to be back. I expect that we will be back after the next album, as well.

XM: So, first off can you tell us some about the writing and recording process of your latest release Iron Dawn?
Morgan: Well, what to say? It's just three songs, thirty minutes. It's a short EP so it was recorded over like two days or something. We were constantly working on new material and decided that we wanted to release something before this tour. For the summer dates we're doing Europe and summer festivals and all that. So yeah, we decided that we'd release three songs that differ in concept from what the next album is going to be about. So, this is a bit of a World War 2 revival that we always come back to. I thought why not separate the EP, you know? Unleash some new music. Therefore it came out, and the progress of writing is the same as usual. We always work on music and lyrics and try to make them become a unit, and they come out the way they do.

XM: So, Marduk have already started working on their next full length then?
Morgan: Of course, were constantly working on new material and have started to put together the new material. All of us have been writing a lot of material, so we're getting our thoughts weaved together when we go back to the rehearsal room. We plan to record during the winter. We don't feel any stress, we have a lot of material. In fact, more than we need for an album. But we're going to record during the winter.

XM: And like you said, Marduk are on the Seven Bowls of Wrath tour which you started by headlining Maryland Death Fest. How was that?
Morgan: It was a great experience! We were supposed to play that two years earlier but got screwed with the Visas... So, it's great to finally get back and play and the only negative thing is that it got a bit delayed so we had to cut our set. There was a lot of bands supposed to be playing so we only played forty minutes out of the seventy minutes we were planning. That was a bit irritating when you're preparing a festival of that importance and you've come back after such a long time. But, it was a great festival with a great atmosphere and a good combination of bands. We were there an extra day so we had a real good time meeting up with old friends and making new friends.

XM: Do you prefer playing larger shows or smaller ones?
Morgan: I like them both. Everything depends on the feeling you create during the show together with the crowd. It can be like 50,000 people at a big festival or just 100 people at a club. It doesn't really matter, you know?

XM: Do you know how the name of this tour was decided?
Morgan: Yeah, I know because I decided it.

XM: How did you pick it then?
Morgan: Because, we've been having a lot of things like the holy blood, holy grail lyrics and things like that. We also did these songs Seven Angels and Seven Trumpets. Which is about a biblical reference, and after the seven angels have blown the seven trumpets, they are releasing the seven bowls of wrath across the earth. So, therefore it suited very well to do seven shows. We unleash the same wrath.

XM: So, you played one of the new songs tonight. How have people been recieving the new songs so far?
Morgan: So far it's good. A lot a lot of people have heard the songs before, we put one song online. But I'm sure it leaked very fast anyway... So far the reaction has been good, so that's great.

XM: And on your New York date, there will be an exhibition with Oluremi White's work inspired by your music. How did you guys get in contact and set this up?
Morgan: He's an artist that I've been meeting since 2009 who lives in New York and has started to do a collection of not art works but... Yeah, art that is paintings on metal or sheets of metal and painted reflections of how he looks upon the Marduk songs and lyrics. So I thought hell, why not? Why not put an exhibition at the show and make it something special. It's quite interesting works and I plan to try and put some of the works up on our website sometime later.

XM: If you could have been involved in the writing, recording, or production of any album ever which would it be and why?
Morgan: It's hard to say. There's so many great albums, I really don't know. Maybe Under the Sign of the Black Mark by Bathory. Afterword it wouldn't be that anyway because there's nothing I wanna change about it. It's already a perfect album. So, I don't know. It's hard to say. The next Marduk album!

XM: Now, this isn't really a question but I noticed that you have an SS death head on your guitar...Well, I suppose it is a question. That of course didn't come like that?
Morgan: No, no. That I fixed myself. It's an original one.
XM: Really?
Morgan: Yeah yeah from World War an original totenkopf from a...
XM: A hat?
Morgan: From a hat. I've had it for a long time and like five years ago I glued it. There's no stronger symbol for death then a totenkopf. The death head. It's strong, and ugly the way it's done. A very strong symbol of death. So, therefore I always love that one, just as the symbol it is.

XM: So that's it. Thanks very much for the interview. Final words are up to you.
Morgan: Thank you. It's great to be back in Canada and we hope to be back after the next album.