Eluveitie Interview

This is a very brief interview I had with Chrigel Glanzmann, frontman of the recently created Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie. Here's a brief overview of the band for anyone that hasn't heard them.

Eluveitie formed in 2002 in Switzerland. They're folk metal, which means much of their music is influenced by Celtic folk music, and they make great use of these influences. Eluveitie's sound is created through the use of bagpipes, flutes, whistles, mandola, hurdygurdy, violin, gaita, and the other instruments synonymous with metal. Their debut album, Spirit, was released in 2006 and should have been in my top 10 list, as it destroyed. So, here it is.

-First of all, I want to thank you for the opportunity for this interview and I want to start off by talking about your first album. Spirit represents the new wave of folk metal. How did the basic idea for Eluveitie come about? What are your largest influences, metal and otherwise?

Chrigel: Hard to say. The idea is actually very old. I had it in mind almost 15 years ago. I guess it comes from intensely enjoying and listening to both – folk music and metal. So, both kinds of music are influencual the same way.

-Eluveitie utilizes perhaps the largest range of musical instruments of any band in metal today, from the fiddle to the hurdygurdy to the irish flute. How did this come to be, this idea for a folk metal band with such a broad range of instrumentation?

Chrigel: I just love all those instruments, haha. When I founded Eluveitie, it was really clear from the very beginning, that none if them should miss. Furthermore it surely comes from the customs in Celtic folk music itself. Me, but also other members of the band, also play in pure folk music bands besides Eluveitie. There it’s very usual to follow a ancient melody or whatever with a pretty broad range of instruments. For example: The combination of fiddle, bagpipe (Uilleann Pipes) and Tin Whistle – to build the “melody register”, accompanied by guitar/mandola, ect. - is actually very traditional and usual in Celtic folk music.

-How do you think metal has progressed over the years from more simplistically styled bands like Black Sabbath to today's complex and innovative bands like yourselves and bands of the like?

Chrigel: Personally I think it’s not predominantly the “complexity” that grew, but more the “proficiency”. Or better said, the musical standard has grown. This is in my opinion a very natural development for any new kind of music (metal exits for some decades now, so it’s actually a very young music style). Classical music like we know it today (Beethooven for example) can be pretty complex and elaborated. But it actually arose from kinda folk music. If you check out early “classical music”, baroque music, then you realise that it’s still much more “folkier” and more “primitive” than the stuff that was composed 100 years later. And the same happens with metal music as well. This is normal. 30 years ago, it was okay for a metal song to just shred two or three simple powercords down the fingerboard of your guitar. It was enough, for it was something new – it was loud, strong and the sound of a distorted guitar was still unknown then. But the human ear develops easily and the demands grow quickly. If you compare young newcomer-bands of today and such in 1980, the differences of the playing abilities and the virtuosity in terms of composing, ect. are immense. But this is just a natural “evolution” I think.


-The melodic aspects of your music, most notably in songs like The Song of Life and Your Gaulish War, definitely are stemmed from your incorporation of more unconventional instruments. How do you decide which instrument to use in different songs? Also, I'm curious, what instrument was exactly used for
the melody in both of those songs?

Chrigel: Can’t really explain how this is decided. It just “happens”. Sometimes a whistle just simply “matches” the best for a leading melody and sometimes it’s rather the fiddle that fits the best. And so on. In both of the songs you mentioned, there is a leading folk melody, which is played synchronically (with one octave in beween of course) by a Tin Whistle and a Low Whistle (or an Irish wooden flute). In both parts, the Whistles are “accompanied" by a pretty simply and “earthy” melodyline played on the fiddle.


-How do you write your music? Are the guitar tracks laid down first with the string sections added in later or is there a certain method you use?

Chrigel: Can’t exactly say this. It’s really different from song to song. Sometimes a guitar riff comes to mind, sometimes it’s a folk melody first. Ofthen the writing process for a song begins with a folk tune or theme, yes. But this is not the rule. And there’s no “certain method” used. Probably expect the emotional aspect. Long before a song is actually finished, I have a clear idea, of what it should sound like in the end… of what it should express, of what emotions it should rouse.


-What direction do you think folk metal is taking for the future, in these ever changing times?

Chrigel: Well, time will show. “Folk Metal” is a relatively new genre and until now it was for some years really underground stuff. Now (and I guess in the next few years) it might become more common (and for sure also more commercial). Here we have a probably pretty haughty goal and idea for Eluveitie. If you take black metal for example. Back in 1994 black metal was really “undergroundy”…it was almost kinda elitist or so. At that time the band Dimmu Borgir started as a usual black metal band. They developed a lot though. They don’t have much in common with what was called “black metal” 15 years ago. Therefore they’re hated by many disappointed “old-school” fans, yes. BUT: On the other hand the gained access to black metal for a broad audience! Bands like Dimmu Borgir made black metal presentable! And this is the same what is probably going on with Eluveitie. Folk/Pagan/Viking/Whatever metal is very “raw” since it’s beginning and it’s kinda “reserved” for a small scene, for some “freaks”. With bands like Eluveitie folk metal becomes a bit more “smoothed” (not = softer! ;)) and becomes more presentable.


-People have taken to your album with fantastic interest. Eluveitie is a breath of fresh air in a music scene that seems to be slowly stagnating. Do you think you may have paved the way for future bands in terms of incorporation of more obscure instruments?

Chrigel: Haha, “obscure instruments”! ;))) Well, yes I think (and hope!) so. Firstly because of what I mentioned above in the last answer. I hope, but I also believe that there will be a couple of bands/musicians that will follow that way of “opening” folk metal for a wider audience. Secondly because we showed, that it’s possible. Even only four years ago, here in Europe most “folk” metal bands just used keyboards for their folk parts. Now that is about to really change! Bevore Eluveitie, there never was (as far as I know, at least) a Metal band using a hurdy-gurdy for example. One just couldn’t really figure out and imagine how this would sound and if it would work at all. Now we all see that it works and that it can sound cool. And so I hope there will be other metal bands using hurdy-gurdys… and most of all I hope that there will be bands using many other, not yet common instruments! What I would really wish, for example, are (north and south) American bands, that begin to explore the roots, the musical roots and customs of their original inhabitants. Sepultura/Soulfly have partly done this. Imagine how cool this ic and instruments… and if there would grow kinda “Centralamerican folk metal” or something out of it, haha! This would be really fascinating!


I left his responses complete as they were sent to me because I'm not going to be a grammar Nazi. I'm also sure Chrigel's alot better at speaking English than I am at speaking German. I thought this was a pretty cool experience, so I'll probably do it with other bands in the future. Everyone needs to go listen to Eluveitie's album because it kicks powerful ass and also because they're some awesome dudes for letting me interview them.