Eccentric but extremely talented and after his little stint with black metal giants Emperor , Havard Ellefsen started experimenting with ambient music creating his own musical project and sculpting his famous goblin image. His personality combined with the authenticity of his independent spirit has become an integral part his creations , wich have won him a great deal of respect among his fans.”The Smell Of Rain” and “The Grudge” lay the foundations on wich his characteristic industrial identity was forged and have turned him into one of the most prominent representative of the genre. So when the “hiatus” was announced questions were raised about the band’s future. After about 5 years of absence our beloved goblin Mortiis , dons again his mask and makes a return to the spotlight with the new album “The Great Deceiver” , taking us by storm! So Rock Overdose jumped at the opportunity to have a glimpse at the mind of Havard Ellefsen through this interview:
Rock Overdose: Hi, and welcome to Rock Overdose, Greece!
Havard Ellefsen: Hey! Thank you.
Rock Overdose: How would you describe your time at Emperor , and how did that affect your outlook on making music?
Havard Ellefsen: I wasn´t the guy making the music in Emperor, that was Ihsahn and Samoth. I contributed all the lyrics while I was in the band. I also came up with the band name. I went in a very different direction after my time there, so I´m not really sure how it affected my way of making music. In Emperor it was a pretty standard way of making music, which was basically going through the new riffs Ihsahn and/or Samoth brought with them to practice, and trying to sequence them in a cool order and hopefully get a new song out of it.
Rock Overdose: It has come a long way since you released your first album as Mortiis and a lot has changed since then. Are there any life changing experiences that have made this progression possible that you would like to share with us?
Havard Ellefsen: I don´t know if there has been any specific life changing events or experiences in my life that has lead me to become the person I am today, and as a consequence, write the kind of music and lyrics that I do. I think it´s been years of accumulated life experience, and a great dose of general cynicism and spite that got me to where I am, haha!! I mean I like to write about stuff that angers, disappoints and things that in general disgusts me. Unfortunately, a lot of times that means writing about myself. I tend to be very self critical and self loathing when I am in certain moods, and those things inspire me. I realize that it may seem to many that I am very self occupied, but I honestly try not to be, but sometimes being introspective like that, is quite therapeutic, so I find it rewarding. Musically, I just find it a little boring to remain in the same place all the time, so I like to move along, try out various ideas. In the 90´ies when I was doing the more fantasy oriented stuff, I just reached a point where it was a matter of completely self destructing, or doing something totally different.
Rock Overdose: While we all miss the goblin mask still love your new look! What can you tell us about that decision?
Havard Ellefsen: Check out the new promo photos. I went full circle and finally I´m comfortable with the mask again. Albeit with some changes… The reason the mask got dropped those years ago, because it actually was many years ago since I decided to drop it (and now it is back) was pretty much the same reasons I dropped the 90´ies type of music, I had had enough, I needed to move on. I was tired of it, it didn´t do anything for me, and at that point you have to let it go.
Rock Overdose: You have criticized the music industry many times for trying to rip off the artists and trying to meddle with the creation process. Do you have any suggestions on how to respond on such a situation?
Havard Ellefsen: I don´t really know how to respond to such a situation. When I was bound by contract, there wasn´t a lot I could do, because the gun was pointing to my head, metaphorically speaking. When you´re under contract it´s usually a matter of "do this, don´t do that, or we kill your record, this video isn´t going to happen", etc etc… So as an artist, you just compromise. I think the best way to solve these complications is to try to get the label to share your vision, and hopefully allow you the major part of the creative control. We would usually succeed to some degree with this, but some of our crazier ideas were killed dead by the label…In the "Decadent and Desperate" video I wanted to have this body/flesh suit made up, with the intention of filming some really intense torture scenes, to really fuck with people´s heads, but the label put a stop to that…I mean I get it, they think commercial, us artists types think in creative terms and not so much in business terms. It´s like balancing a fine line… Actually our biggest problem with labels have always been their lack of marketing, lack of tour support, lack of promo and of course the contracts in themselves have been terrible. They kept everything to themselves.
Rock Overdose: The Great Deceiver recently came out and in my opinion sounds fantastic. Can you tell us what is it that inspires you to make this kind of music and to what extent? Do your personal experiences play an part in it?
Havard Ellefsen: Thanks! Yeah well like I said before, life experiences…My own faults and shortcomings, my obsessiveness, paranoia, etc inspires me. But that also goes for certain other fuckheads i have had to deal with in my walk of life. If it pisses me off and should not be allowed to happen, it will inspire me.
Rock Overdose: What are your thoughts on the nowadays music scene? Are there any things you miss from the early days?
Havard Ellefsen: Well Mortiis is a hybrid, a mutant for of band. We don´t really belong to a specific scene. I´m not sure any scene really wants us, haha!! I know where I come from, or more rightly, I know where I started to make a name for myself, but musically or conceptually, Mortiis hasn´t really in any way been associated with black metal since the mid 90´ies or so. Not because I don´t want to, but because the way my music developed and changes, I think I just drifted away from it naturally… So that being said, I really don´t know if I know how to answer that. I don´t pay a whole lot of attention to what´s going on now…I hear modern music and it all sounds the same to me. When I chose my music, I listen to stuff from when I was younger. Each decade had it´s own greatness… It seems to me that these days everyone is just looking for quick ways to get rich and famous. It doesn´t really matter how. I miss the days when people got successful based on an actual talent, something it took skill to create and that the world wanted. It´s all about the flavour of the hour now, and it doesn´t matter if that flavour has any substance to it. I don´t know if this really relates to what you had in mind…I mean yeah I´d love to go back to 1982 and see Venom record "Black Metal" and all that stuff, but I´m quite happy to exist in 2016, I just have to ignore most of what happens around me.
Rock Overdose: In the past you have experimented with ambient music. Do you ever think of starting a project that would be purely electronic?
Havard Ellefsen: I thought about it. I guess the future will tell. I used to be a huge Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk fan, and still am… But whether it will ever happen, is another question.
Rock Overdose: Fans of extreme music tend to be a little too passionate with everything related to a band they love. How would you describe your relationship with your fans and are there any weird stories you would like to share with us?
Havard Ellefsen: I´m not sure about weird stories but I know what you mean. Some people get really caught up in a certain sound a band has for a period of their carreer, and it almost becomes a personal vendetta when the band changes their sound or in some way decides to move onwards. I mean I understand the passion some people feel and I appreciate it, but obviously ver4y few artists and bands wants to stomp the same ground year in and year out. you wanna see what else is out there…Sometimes you return to an old sound or an old look once you´ve come full circle though…
Rock Overdose: There was a lot of anticipation for The Great Deceiver due to the long “hiatus” of the band. Would describe it as the beginning of a new era for Mortiis?
Havard Ellefsen: I think The Great Deceiver demolishes everything we have ever done before, so in terms of quality of sound and music, it´s a new era. But having that said, I sort of moved away from the whole "Era" thing. I just thought it was getting a bit tacky. It served a useful purpose around the “The Smell of Rain” and “The Grudge” albums, but i don´t think it´s really necessary any longer, so I decided to do one last mindfuck, and call this Era 0, haha!!
Rock Overdose: You do know that you have a lot of fans in Greece. Even though a concert seems unlikely , is there a chance you would be visiting our country sometime in the future?
Havard Ellefsen: We have played in Greece 3-4 times actually…Once we opened for Obituary, which was a strange but cool experience. I was sad to hear of Frank´s passing last year, though. I am sure we´ll be back there some time to do a show or two, but right now I don´t know when that would be. i know there´s been a lot of financial problems in Greece, but still, hopefully we can make it back to Greece one day.
Rock Overdose: Thanks a lot for your time!
Havard Ellefsen: My pleasure !
For Rock Overdose
Giorgos Nanos
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