Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota, Colombia
Today I’m lucky enough to ne talking to Morquendi, the genius behind the new German band, Vanwa..
Guten abend! It’s a real pleasure to be talking with you, danke
1- Tell us about Vanwa, when/where/why was the band formed?
1. The band was formed 2 years ago whenI had written the first two songs, „oh dark son of night“and „the depth of the misty woods“. I decided to put them out on a record and therefore I formed the band as a solo project.
2- Run us through your stunning debut album, undeniably one of the best debut albums in many years…
2. The first track of the album starts with a long synth intro which I originally want to put out as a separate song. I tried some different versions and decided that it really connect with the first song. The song starts slow but becomes a more and more aggressive, demonic but atmospheric song.
The second song is a very straight song and is for me personally made in one session and goes from one simple riff idea. It is the first song I have written for Vanwa.
Fortress of the cold east became more aggressive than I thought in the first plays. Very Windir inspired and an homage to Elizabeth Bathory in the lyrics and the song from Tomentor. I’m just a to big fan, haha. I tried that you could hear a cold castle somewhere in the nowhere of the east.
Through forest and mountains would be my personal homage to Quorthon and Bathory.
I was more into first wave blackmetal and particularly the more Nordic and folk stuff. I think you can hear it.
Scarborough fair was an idea i had for a long time and i decided to make my own version of this beautiful melody which always keeps the spirit of nature for me. You can see it as a Bonus track.
3- What are the inspirations behind the lyrics?
3. I mentioned some things before. Oh dark son of night would be some demonic worship, like a arising antichrist. All my lyrics have always fantasy with in it.
The depth of the misty woods will follow with more depressive lyrics, like trapped in your own mind as an endless whirl of thoughts.
Through forest and mountains tells a story of a questing knight on a quest for becoming a brave hero. Futher on his road he will understand that it’s not the path he really wants to go on and finally he finds the place where he belongs. The beautiful nature without any stuff that can bothering him.
4- What were your musical influences growing up and what do you listen to now?
4. I grew up with some classy heavy metal. Metallica and the The Number of the beast. I was only 6 years old but for many years i just listened to them! It starts with 14 when I searched for more and more music. It took me some years to get to my music interests of today. My biggest influences are Windir, Dissection and Bathory. The songwriting, the melodies and atmosphere of Windir is just incredible! Nodtveids performance and riffs had a big impact on me! And Bathory is just Bathory.
5- What was the process recording the album? The tracks are all very well-orchestrated and well written, where was it recorded? Who did the production?
5. I wrote and recorded the songs within two years and on my own. The drums are programmed because my drums skills were not good enough. So, it is a solo project where I did all on my own.
6- What are your plans for the future?? I understand you’re planning to play some live shows with Vanwa at some point? That would certainly be a powerful force on the live stage…
6. Yeah, my plan is to play live. There is not a show announced right now but I’m getting some live musicians together. And of course, the vinyl and cd release will be great!
7- What is your opinion of the post-pandemic Black Metal scene, and how do you see it developing over the next 5 or 10 years?
7. So, the pandemic was bad for the live situation in Germany. We lost some locations. But now its really much the same than before the pandemic. The Blackmetal and heavy metal shows are the most visited underground metal genres in Germany, and I think it will be like that or even better in the future.
8- If you could play or record with any musician live or dead, who would it be and why?
8. It obviously will be one of the guys that I mentioned as inspiration. I guess Valfar would be my choice. That would be an honour.
9- What is your local scene like there in Germany? Recommend some new bands for our readers to explore…
9. There are so many bands in Germany. I would recommend Zwielicht and a band called Myrkgrav from Norway I kept enjoying a lot. Not new bands but I explore them last year.
10- What are your top 5 albums of all time?
10. 1. Ride the Lightning
2. Number of the Beast
3. Axioma Ethica Odini
4. Arntor
5. Opus Eponymous
11- Do you have any side projects apart from Vanwa? Tell us about them…
11. I have a Melodic Deathmetal project, and it called “The Dark Believing”. I am right now recording a new full-length album.
12- What advice would you give to any up and coming musicians looking to follow in your footsteps?
12. The advice would be to put your stuff out and don’t waste your time. A songwriting advice would be to filter your ideas until your proud or completely fine with any simple or little idea.Nower days it’s so easy to create music and record it but I have the feeling that it has a complicity of quantity instead of quality.
13. Thank you for checking out, Vanwa and Master of Kaos Records!
Metal Hails from Germany!
Vielen Dank Morquendi..
Hails
Vana Contacts https://vanwa.bandcamp.com/album/vanwa https://www.facebook.com/vanwaofficial https://www.instagram.com/vanwa_official/
