Hello Primordial, congratulations on your excellent new album. It hasn´t just a high standards in instrumental parts, besides the songtextes are masterworks. All in all, your album deals with controversial messages. My question is, do you want to send a message to the European people? Or do you want to digest your emotions by your lyrics, which you get by watching the changing social process?

I’m not a preacher but I would hope some people think about the world around them and how they relate to it through what we do. Engage actively with their culture and history and attempt to use it for positive change or re-evaluate some of their morals or question uncomfortable truths. We are living in turbulent and dark times. Primordial reflects that. If you want fantasy and escapism then this is not the band for you. The messages may be controversial to some but not to me, these are everyday questions. Nationhood, martyrdom, religion, faith, war, betrayal, vengeance.

In the song “Empire Falls” you are talking about important cultures of history, which disappeared by time. In your opinion, what was the season of their disappearance? Was it maybe greed for power, or satisfaction that opened their end?

Perhaps an Empire falls every 2 millenia. The Roman and Greek for example before us. Perhaps this is the final days of the Western capitalist system, perhaps the end of the American/UK axis. I am not only talking about Europe, there are elements of South American, Middle Eastern or Asian politics in some of the lyrics as well. From Peru to Palestine the questions of nationhood are universal.

Everybody should know, that it is very early to refer our present time to past events. While in former times European people were ready to fight for idealism, today it seems that nobody would fight for anything. Demonstrations as a way for a people to demonstrate power against the sovereign seem to be forgotten. What do you think is the reason for this development? Why doesn´t people demonstrate? Is it maybe because of the modern media, that makes the hole mass of people to inactive zombies? Is this the context which you describe in “As Rome Burns”?

This is more or less what I am talking about. Our western society has replaced spirituality with capitalism and multi-nationalism. Replaced morality with decadence. There are of course people who still care about the world, look at the mass demonstrations to the Invasion of Iraq. Did it make a difference ?. I think people now feel that politics is so out of their hands that voting is almost pointless. The United States of Europe is a state like any other, they would rather people consume through fear, fear your neighbour, fear those who are not like you. People living their lives vicariously through celebrities, their liberties taken from them while they sit sedated, transfixed in front of their TV’s. Sometimes I think we deserve the knife in the throat that is coming.

In our evolutions there had been a lot of different people in the periode of the peoples migration, that learned by time to live together. This process contributes a lot of things to our present culture. Also today our modern welfare states are confronted by a huge immigration flood. In former times, peoples had a lot of time to get used to each other. But today the integration of completely different cultures should work in a few years. Do you think that this fact could lead to conflicts between the cultures, because there isn´t an connecting identity?

Of course it can but we aren’t supposed to address this issue. Any mention of the word immigration and the left will call anyone right wing. Ireland is a perfect example. Since 1992 our economy has boomed, there are now hundreds of thousands of immigrants here from all nations. These people are only trying to make a better life for themselves and who can blame them, we have a generous welfare state, and often they simply want to make enough money to return home in 3 or 4 years and build a house. Their countries are often crippled from the unfair free market infrastructure that tips the balance in favour of the West, and of course other people come here with the attitude that they are going to take what they can and never try and assimilate into Irish culture or have little respect for the country they are living in. Don’t forget Ireland had massive emigration until the late 1980’s which started in the mid 19th century. However Ireland is now having to cope with the social pressures and causal effect in little over 10 years what other countries took 40 or 50 years to adjust to. Some small towns in Ireland where young Irish have moved to the big cities find that their young people are replaced by young immigrants. These are towns that until about the mid 90’s probably never even saw immigrants and you expect them to adjust to that instantly when all of a sudden up to 40% of the population is now Polish or Nigerian ?. Maybe soon they cannot teach Irish in schools anymore so our language slowly dies ?. It doesn’t work like that. Conflict is inevitable…man makes war with each other for no reason at all why should it be any different in the streets ? There are more homeless Irish people on the streets of Dublin now then 3 major English cities put together (I cannot remember which but I think Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool) yet there are thousands of houses sitting empty because the housing market has slowed down. Yesterday I saw an Arabic guy spit on an Irish homeless person begging…this country makes me sick to the stomach. Sometimes I want to buy a rifle and head for the hills. Maybe someday we will all have to…

Is the missing connecting identity a reason for the idleness and inactivity of our European nations?

Very possibly. We live in a comparatively safe and comfortable society. Look at the images on the TV of death and destruction in the Middle East for example ?, and realise how easy we have it. Of course it wasn’t always like that but while the European Union blurs the borders and boundaries. Making us all one consuming, conforming, sedated nation. You need to know where you have come from to step into the future. I just hope people will try and use their culture in a positive way, to enact positive change around them, to teach people not for pure negativity but I feel the time is probably past for that.

But now we will just talk about the work on your new album. How do you handle the songwriting? Are the songs a result of common rehearsals? Or do your bandmembers create own ideas an concepts for instrumental and lyric parts?

Same as we always did. Someone comes in with an idea into rehearsal and we jam on it adding and taking away all putting our own slant on it.

I also have a question about the process of songwriting. What comes at first, the songtextes or the melodical, instrumental parts?

I write words when I feel inspired to regardless of Primordial or not. Then in rehearsal I try and match the mood of the song to the words. There’s no secret formula or rules, we just do what feels and sounds the best.

To your situations after you lead so much trouble. How important is it to you to have a recordlabel like Metalblade?

Great. They are good honest people and very supportive. They know Primordial is not an easy band to sell or to deal with but they give us space and time to work freely. I only wish we had signed to them back in 2000 or so but no point in regretting anything. What’s done is done.

To your fans, when can they expect a tour in Germany? Is there anything planed?

At the moment there are tons of festivals. I think we have 15 or something confirmed and soon to be announced all over Europe. Festivals are more or less killing touring now outside of really underground shows. I don’t think we will tour before summer unless a big support slot comes along.

The last words are yours!! Do you have anything left to say?

Thanks for the time and effort you put into this. I know people like to ask me about politics and I don’t mind that but please make the separation between my opinions and the band. The world is not as black and white as either the left or right would have you believe. Think for yourself, challenge, re-evaluate, listen learn and don’t let anyone tell you how you can and cannot relate to your culture. Strength and Joy to you all.

Thank you for taking time! I wish you a lot of luck and success in future!! 

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