Hellhammer interview Preview – September 2009

SDM: Considering you took your moniker from the band Hellhammer, how big of a fan are you of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost?

Hammer: I’m a big fan, absolutely.  I never met the guys or anything like that, never talked to any of them.  Still a great fan of their music.

SDM: What is it like to be a four-time Norwegian Grammy Award winner?

Hammer: It’s cool, it doesn’t mean anything, really.  It helps with sponsorships and things like that, though.  Just to be recognized more, which is cool.

SDM: What was it like joining Mayhem way back in 1988?

Hammer: I remember back then I didn’t really want to play that kind of music, I wanted to play more technical stuff.  Of course, now I’m glad I did it!

SDM: How did you manage to balance playing in Mortem and Mayhem at the same time?  How did you feel when Arcturus broke up?

Hammer: The break-up of Arcturus was a spur of the moment kind of thing.  Because of Vortex in Dimmu Borgir, mainly.  So we just announced it on the last day in Australia, “This is the last circuit of Arcturus!”, and the other members were like, “Is it?”.  Arcturus will get back together again with or without Vortex.  We’ve already talked to Garm, and he is eager to do it, so there will be more Arcturus for sure, we just need to get our stuff together, and get the right scheduling together.

SDM: What was it like back in 1990 when you had a singer in your band commit suicide, the stuff with Varg and Euronymous; what was the culture like back then?

Hammer: The times and atmosphere back then were totally different, so it’s almost impossible for me to explain a completely different era when people weren’t there.  There was a different way of thinking back then, it’s hard to explain, all that kind of shit that happened, it was bad news.  I’m in this for the music and nothing else.  I didn’t need any of those distractions.

SDM: How do you feel about Dawn of the Black Heart’s controversial album cover?

Hammer: It’s bootlegging taken to the extreme.  We can’t stand behind the product; it was definitely Euronymous’s idea to use the picture.  With a cover like that, it’s real stuff, I guess, it’s especially hard for Necrobutcher, for him to see a close friend exploited like that.

SDM: How did you hook up with Immortal?

Hammer: That was around 1993 or 1994, they asked if I wanted to drum for them, and I was like, “Yeah, sure!”.  We toured with Morbid Angel in 1995, and it was great!  My first full-length tour.  It was like a month-long nightmare, but I was glad I did it.  The Morbid guys are great though, and I’m close friends with those guys now.  The tour was good, but back in the day, it was hard.  It was hard being support to a huge band like Morbid Angel for a month.

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