Band: THE KOVENANT
Country of origin: Norway
Style: cyber metal
Questions by: Kai Mathias Stalhammar
Answers supplied by: Lex Icon

First of, would you please introduce us your newest album...

- It's called "S.E.T.I.", which means "The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence". It's our fourth album. Actually, I don't really know what to say… I mean, if you heard THE KOVENANT before, you know what to expect.

Why "S.E.T.I." not "Cybertrash" as it'd been planned originally?

- Well, there's a band called ZEROMANCER and they had an album called "Eurotrash". It started making us problems even before our latest CD was actually recorded. And finally we decided to switch name back to "S.E.T.I." which was the original title.

And why exactly "S.E.T.I."? Are you freaks on that NASA program, or was it some kind of a weird joke… or what?

- Yes, it's also a little bit of joke (*laughs*). I mean, we failed to find any kind of intelligence here, down on Earth so we had to look elsewhere (*laughs*). Actually, it's longing and willingness to explore new paths, to go beyond what is accepted… accepted norms of our existence.

What about going Space one day? If someone had invited you on such a trip, would you agree?

- Yeah, of course. I would leave immediately (*laughs*). I'm a fucking hijack (*laughs*).

OK, and now most important question: what movies "starring" alien invaders would you name the best ones ever shot?

- Science-fiction from 60's, I guess.

What about your image? Why exactly this kind of look? I guess you know that your band had been compared to Marylin Manson numerous times… and I guess you get compared all the time just because of the way you look like.

- It's normal to compare. Besides, Marilyn Manson is a great artist, so I take that as a compliment. This is a "cybertrash", "cyberpunk" style. You know, like some Japanese cartoons and Mad Max movie.

What's your attitude to minor kinds of violence, such as street gangs, for instance?

- Ehh… nothing good to say about it, actually…

Is there anyone you'd like to see dead? Perhaps, some of your acquaintances… musicians… politicians… maybe the guys from SATYRICON…?

- (*laughs out loud*) Well… I'm not gonna say too much about that… I'd like to see Sadham Hussein dead pretty quickly. The SATYRICON guys might be the good choice as well. In fact, this is not what I get asleep with…

What kind of weapon do you consider most perfect at the moment? "Most perfect" in terms of killing capacity, of course. Biological…? Chemical…? Genetic…?

- Religion. It would kill more people than any weapon in the whole history (*laughs*). But if seriously, it's the nuclear weapon… obviously. Religion has killed much more people, however.

The rumors say that Hellhammer had parted ways with you guys. What do you have to say on this matter?

- There's not really much to say… There's about 472 bands he's playing in (*giggles*) and it simply didn't leave him enough time for his main bands: THE KOVENANT and ARCTURUS. It's the same problem I had with DIMMU BORGIR when I played with 'em. I didn't have enough time for both bands. So I had to choose… and I made my choice. So many things are happening now with THE KOVENANT, and I need everyone to be 101% dedicated to the band… and Hellhammer wasn't able to do that. We're still good friends and there weren't any hard feelings; we've just come to the point when either he quits THE KOVENANT, or… THE KOVENANT splits up. I guess all of us knew that this is exactly what's going to happen.

Have you found the replacement?

- Yeah.

Who's that?

- I'm not sure you ever heard about Norwegian band called LANDSET…

Never heard about it.

- … our drummer comes from that band.

What's up with your sickness?

- ???

The rumors say that you had some serious problems with your health…

- (*giggles*) where have you heard that? (*giggles again*)

I can't quite remember… a couple of magazines, I guess… They were saying you have sort of a brain tumor…

- That's not true.

Good to hear that. Now off to live performances. What's your problem with that?

- Well, there wasn't much sense in touring before "S.E.T.I." comes out. But now it's out and we're doing our best in putting together a tour. We're planning to go touring the whole Europe. I hope we'll play in Russia some day… We don't have a manager at the moment. No manager, no agent, no one. Obviously, that causes some problems. We'll see what's going to happen. Hopefully we'll be touring a lot. At the moment, we have come to an agreement with PAIN from Sweden, so they're going on tour with us. However; there're no concrete plans so far.

Where do you think is the best and the worst crowd?

- It's hard to say… all the countries are so different. I think Germany has become very… hmm… boring. There're so many concerts, so many metal shows, that people are a bit of tired. But anyway, all the people of all the world are so different. For example, when you tour America, you know that they don't care about the band's philosophy or anything – they only want to hear extreme music. And when you play, for instance, in Scandinavia, you face this "true-false" kind of crap. I guess the best crowd is in middle-Europe. We haven't been to Russia, however. So we don't know what's your people like… (*laughs*)

Do you guys have any problems with either drugs or alcohol? I guess all of you know what happened to Somnium from FINNTROLL.

- No. Can you tell me?

Well, he fell from the bridge being drunk… and died. Don't you fear you'll end your lives the way he did?

- No. I mean, FINNTROLL are Finnish, aren't they?

Do you still pay any kind of interest to black metal?

- Sure. I have a side-project called TROLL, and it's black metal. Generally speaking, I don't pay any attention to whatever's happening in the black metal scene. As to the new bands, I really liked the Swedish combo called CRAFT. They have an album called "Terror Propaganda" which really good. You should check these Swedes.

What's your opinion on homo's, lesbians, all kinds of sexual perverts, y'know?

- I think it's wrong. Not really sick, but… something really-really wrong. I'm much against it – I mean, people can do whatever they fucking want to, but these ones… Again, it's not disease, but… In my opinion, if you're a homo, you shouldn't walk around being fucking proud of it, because it's definitely not what you can be proud of!

Do you have children?

- No.

But I guess, you're going to…

- (*giggles*) Probably.

And what if your son (daughter) once tells you he (she) is a homosexual (lesbian)? How would you act?

- Well, it's nothing I can do about it. Whether I like it or not, I cannot change it. I guess I'll just have to live with it. That's why I support genetic engineering and genetic technologies – when something's wrong, you just remove the damage cell (*giggles*). Are you a homo?

(*shocked*) Eh… No. I'm hetero.

- Good for you.

Do you know anything about Russia?

- Russia? Well, I know that there's a lot of Russian mafia (*laughs*). And you have a former KGB agent as a president. That's all I know.

Have you heard any of our metal bands?

I guess, NOKTURNAL MORTUM is a Russian band or something…

Ukrainian. Did you like 'em?

- No. I haven't heard 'em – I've heard ABOUT them.

OK. It's time to wrap up our chat. Final words, please.

- Final words… Well… That's the hardest question you can ask, actually… OK. Listen here: THE KOVENANT is very ANTI-religious band but we don't have anything to do with satanists, because it's also a kind of religion. For example, I would never die for my beliefs 'cause they might be wrong (*giggles*). I'd rather have my mind open by wonders than closed by beliefs. It's true that certain believer can be happier than certain sceptic, however a drunken man is also happier than a sober man. That's all I have to say. Oh, almost forgot: please, buy the album. And please, don't buy the pirate copies – otherwise we can't come to you and play. Thank you!