Alucarda – the
bastard child of doom and punk rock. This power trio from Denmark
bring forth stories of bikers, madness and horror under heavy and
driving doom’n’roll tunes. Their debut record “Raw Howls” was
released about one year ago and since that Alucarda also took part in
a split-album alongside their country mates Demon Head. I was
wondering if they have something new to offer and yes… it seems
that their main dude Hampus “Witchfuzz” Wahlgren has something to
say.
Hi
Hampus! How are you? What's news in Alucarda camp?
All
is good here.
I’m
keeping writing new songs for an upcoming release, which I’ve done
for a longer period now. Trying to get enough songs for a new LP.
Some of the songs will probably appear on some kind of EP or
something like that, the others you will hear on our second
full-length. Without revealing too much – Something sleazy is
coming your way…
What about Simon and Ferreira?
Don’t they take part in songwriting?
They
come with some suggestions and inputs every now and then. Sometimes I
listen to some of those suggestions, other times not, haha. But most
of it I write at home, alone.
Alucarda
debut album “Raw Howls” is bloody straightforward, primitive and
raw just as its name shows. What did you do to build this sound?
“Raw
howls” was kind of a… I don’t know, a “test record”, if you
can call it that. It’s pretty sloppy, and was recorded roughly and
fast. The sound came from spending many hours in the rehearsal-room,
only experimenting with knobs of old amps and nasty fuzz-pedals.
Some
would probably say that we copied Satan’s Satyrs. Inspired? Yes
without doubt. But hey, I rather create something in the same vein as
they did, than literally copy Black Sabbath like a lot of bands do
these days, you know?
How did you come to the idea of
mixing dirty doom rock with that direct punk rock tunes?
I
wanted a band with the evilness from Saint Vitus, Pentagram and Black
Sabbath mixed with the raw sound from The Stooges, the energy
from MC5 and the charm from Dead moon…
Throw Witchfinder general in that
cocktail as well and you got yourself a good receipt for filthy
madness. If you succeed with it is another question.
Punk is rebellious music, does
this aspect reflect in Alucarda?
In some way, yeah I guess. Don’t
know how to put it into words though.
Alucarda – The Filthy Few
As
I gather your lyrical concept is based from horror movies, which ones
make the basis of your songs?
I
was very inspired by horror.. Well, B- and exploitation movies in
general, when I wrote “Raw howls” and the “D.F.F.L” demo. I
don’t want to reveal all of them, since I rather have that people
find out themselves. But some of them were “Blood Sabbath”, “The
Demon lover aka The Devil master”, “Deadbeat at dawn” (one of
my favorite movies), and “Exorcism” by Franco.
B-movies
still inspire me, but the lyrics are not ONLY about that. Not anymore
at least, now it’s more a mix of reality, “reality” and yeah
every now and then some movies … Except for a few new songs, which
is inspired only by 70’s porn, basically.
Can you put the example of a
certain movie and certain song which is based from it?
That’s what I tried to avoid. But
you’ll get one, “Blood Sabbath” – “Witches dance”…
How
do you see perspectives of Alucarda development? Are you satisfied
with the sound and image you already achieved with “Raw Howls”?
Or may you move further in psychedelic direction as on the song
“Deadbeat Psych-out”?
It
was around two years ago that we recorded “Raw howls”, and I
don’t really think about that record anymore, since the sound and
other things have changed since then. Although I’m glad that the
vinyl actually (and fucking finally!) got out. Had to ask another
label to release it though, but that’s another story.
It’s
moving more towards proto-punk etc. now… The doom-genre lost me a
long time ago, since everything more or less sounds the same, with
some highlights every now and then, and the classics still holds up
of course!
Man, are you really ready to deny
all doom legacy and focus only on punk? Do you plan to leave some
small percent of doom in Alucarda?
Nothing is certain nor written in
stone. All I can say is that there’s a new sound in the making.
What
kind of feedback did you get consider “Raw Howls”? What was most
remarkable response on your music?
Don’t know what the most
remarkable response has been so far… Maybe my own – It’s a raw
record, some things on that record is actually charmingly bad…
What can you say about Alucarda
live activity? How often and where do you usually play?
We
do work really well together when we’re playing live, although our
past live shows have either went really good or it has been a
disaster, due to various substances or just horrible sound. We don’t
play half as many concerts as we could or should. So far we’ve only
played two, three, four (?) this year. And we got three more coming
up. In August we’re playing at Lygtens Kro in Copenhagen and KomaF
in Berlin. In October we’re playing at a fest called “Witch
Sabbath” in Bad Zwischenahn (Germany). Hopefully there’ll be some
more shows coming up.
Alucarda – Master Bizarre
I was thinking that you play more
often as Alucarda sounds like very a live band, why so rare? Don’t
you like the process of performing your songs from the stage?
I
don’t know. Peoples music taste sucks ass in general, so that may
have something to do with it. Oh, I very much like to play live,
otherwise it would feel pointless. If it were up to me we would play
every week, but man we don’t even rehearse once a month. So yeah,
there will be changes in the future.
Do you have someone in Denmark
besides Demon Head and Plöw with whom you could play gigs?
Plöw?...
You
did play in Russia on September 2016, what are your impressions of
that trip?
It
was great. Wild fucking audience! Would really like to return one
day, I had a great time.
How much vodka did organizers
grant you and the guys? Did you see Red Square and mister Putin
there?
That
was kind of a disappointment, Simon and me drank way more than the
Russians did. Didn’t drink that much vodka though, but they did
have some great beers. Sadly I didn’t see Putin, would have made a
great Christmas card for my mom though…
Hampus,
what does inspire you to continue with Alucarda?
I
started the band, and the way I see it I have always been the person
that has burnt the most for it. I haven’t really gotten tired of
keeping develop new stuff or ideas for Alucarda.
Thanks for that interview Hampus!
Wish you all the best with finishing second LP and listen – don’t
forget to let me know when you finally have it! Do you have few more
words for our readers?
Thank
you Aleks. Nothing other than, check these Copenhagen bands out:
Slægt,
Taphos, Lesion, Phrenelith, Night fever.
Words by Aleks Evdokimov and Hampus “Witchfuzz” Wahlgren
