Redux Interview Behemoth

Redux Interview
Nergal
Behemoth

Lineup:
Nergal - Vocals/Guitar
Orion - Bass
Inferno - Drums

King Diamond
Nile
The Black Dahlia Murder
BEHEMOTH
HOB
4/27/05
Interviewer: Karma E. Omowale

Nergal of Behemoth (Photo: Karma E. Omowale)

Being my second encounter with the dark warriors of the abyss, Behemoth, it was a pleasure to catch up with the band's commander, Nergal. This go round, is brief at best as we discuss the band's upcoming itinerary and Nergal's disbelief that he is constantly mistaken for a current tourmate...

Karma: Thanks for sitting down with us again, I promise it will not be that painful this time.

Karma: Last time we spoke, you said that you hoped that I would "see a bunch of guys that know exactly how to deal with this shit!" I am happy to report I did, twice over in fact.

Karma: How's the tour going? Any major differences between this one and the [Suffocation] last tour?

Nergal: Well first of all, it's less stressful and it's a better deal. Some days may suck you know because like today, the show was early so there weren't that many people, it wasn't crammed [for the start of the show] But we can do a proper sound check, we can perfect ourselves for the show, we don't really need to rush ourselves, you know what I mean. This is the cool part about this but the other dates sometimes it can be two hours in between the time we go in and the doors, which is good. Today was so much different than the other days.

Nergal: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, "You're on! The doors open at 5:00 and you go on at 5:30!" I'm like, fuck, you know, it's not gonna work but it was okay.

Nergal: Yeah! We're doing one off show, going back to Tampa, taking a flight back to Poland for two days and then we open for Iron Maiden in Poland then we do some summer festivals. Denmark, Sweden Rocks, Fury Fest, With Full Force, Summer Breeze, Graspop… Yeah, pretty much we're gonna play all around Europe and do all of the summer festivals. We’re doing another video for Demigod, for a song called "Slaves Shall Serve" that we played today. So yeah, there's plenty of working and plenty of plans, you know and stuff to be done. We're coming back to the U.S. in the fall, again which is killer! I can't wait.

Nergal: I can't really give any names yet, but it is going to be the biggest death metal tour I can think of, or that's what I'd like to think! [Smiles] [Later on well after this story became available, we found out he was referring to the Blackest of Black Tour featuring: Danzig, Doyle, Chimaira, HIMSA, Behemoth, Mortiis, and The Agony Scene]

Nergal: Yeah, it starts in November. Before that we are going to do a fall tour with Hate Eternal called Hate Means Hate Tour in Europe for more than one month. We're headlining in Canada, then coming back here to the U.S. for one month, then going back to Europe doing two weeks with Exodus, a festival tour. By the end of December, it's going to be a lot of shows, lot of work for the album.

Nergal: Yes and no, I'm just trying to make up my mind right now. I'm just like, 'fuck, what do I want to include in there', you know. So let's see, let's see what's gonna happen. I want this one to be really crazy, you know. I still want all of the main people in it you know but I want it to be striking and kind of blasphemous.

Nergal: Oh, yeah definitely! There's going to be a band playing and there going to be a lot of people but when the band is playing, there's got to be a lot of weird shit happening, that's for sure. No question about it!

Karma: I'm sure it's pretty cool for you to be on tour with Nile again considering you've toured with them previously.

Nergal: Oh yeah, it's an honor! I love those guys and their good friends of mine, like Dallas [Toler-Wade, guitarist and vocalist of Nile] is good buddies too. They rented us all of the backlighting for free and we really didn't know them that well before. They turned out to be great guys. Nile to us, are like brothers and King Diamond is a living legend so it's just perfect company you know. [Laughs] Opening for all of these bands is like an honor, there's no question about it.

Karma: We will be interviewing Nile later on tonight so do you have any questions for Karl?

Karma: No, I told you this would be painless, I put you through some shit last time! [We all laugh]

Nergal: [Laughs] No, no, no, no. Okay, here's the question is…does George Kollias [Nile's drummer] really remind him of me?

Nergal: Facially. This is my question! [Laughs hysterically then turns to Orion and starts speaking in Polish] Because I was standing outside today and I was just standing there waiting for someone and there were these two guys from some drummer site approaching me, "Hey George! What's up?" So many people on this tour confusing me with the drummer. I mean, I don't really see that much…

Nergal: Yeah, I mean well… But it's funny, it's funny situations like that happening almost every single day, you know. So yeah, that is my question.

Karma: Well thanks again, Nergal! Well let you know the outcome of your question for Karl.

I'd like to thank Nergal for chatting with us again, to Dale, the band's tour manager and Heather at Century Media for setting it up.