MÖK – Fuck You

Mök is in the house and chief guitarist Pendragon and front man Entity where forced to ansver some silly quistions about the
institute of musical madness called Mök.

First of all, congratulations on "Mökamorphosis". A great album that grows quite well on each additional listen. How´s the
response/feedback been from the metal maniacs out there?

Pendragon: Cheers! The feedback has been good from those who have come across our album in the jungle of metal bands out there, its not easy to make yourselves seen in todays day and age, being 7 billion people and all.

Entity: Pretty good. But the French hate us! But who cares about them? 😉

Personally I think the one think that makes the album pleasing is the fact that you do all you can to not make it pleasing. Please elaborate a little on the process of making Mökamorphosis".

Pendragon: First of all, the tracks on the album are songs we have written over a long period of time, and that accounts for the big leap in musical style fon the album. When we decided to do a full length, I agreed to do the production of the album on the condition that we did the recording old school. Im so fed up with bands that record riff-by-riff over and over again. Real music is about performance, capturing moods and transmitting a vibe. Not who is the tightest guitar player or drummer. So we did every instrument on the album in less than two hours at two different locations. As it says in the album booklet we did not even use
clicks when recording the drums, this was actually due to technical difficulties, but we just went on recording anyway.

Entity: Beer and more beer… And fuck you!

For those that have not heard about Mök. Give us a quick tour about the band.

Pendragon: The roots of Mök goes back about 10 years, when I hooked up with a couple of guys (Magister Ludi being one of them) to make "old school" black metal. The drummer we started with left the band and we got our drummer Oddasatan behind the set. The band expanded further when Hydrocephalus joined our merry gang on guitar shortly after, we continued with this lineup for a couple of years before Kvalvaag joined us on bass. Then Magister Ludi left and was replaced with Entity, that was when Mök as you see it today really took its present form. With this lineup we recorded the demos "Assie Tales" as well as "Audiarreah". After these two recordings Kvalvaag left the band and was replaced with Harry Whorehound right before we recorded Mökamorphosis.

What bands would you consider being inspirations for the music Mök creates?

Pendragon: Obviously your standard "genre defining" bands such as Venom, Bathory, Black Sabbath, Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Mötorhead, Slayer, Kreator and Sodom. But the main inspiration for the songs comes from the band itself. When I write i try to make songs that will fit the lineup and the overall band expression. To many bands are just carbon copies of bands from the glory days. We try to create a reflection of our "tribe".

I heard you´ve had some lineup changes recently?

Pendragon: Yes, the first change was Harry Whorehound wich left the band after a trip to Thailand, we don’t know why he left, but suspect he caught some kind of super-aids while he was there. He has been replaced by "Mordi", our first bass player who uses only his fingers and wich really has added to the overall sound of the band. The second big change is that our long-time drummer Oddasatan left to pursue his own project, and has been replaced by Mr.Smith. Mr.Smith actually performed live with us at the Endezzma release only one week after he joined the band. And then the bomb struck, Mr.Smith got tendonitis in both arms, and he was told by his physician that he can´t play drums for at least a year, so we are currently looking for a new drummer. We have a couple of aces up our sleeves, but any drummer out there with the right attitude are more than welcome to contact us for a audition.

 

What´s going on right now, playing as much live as you can?
I for one is looking forward to the gig you´re up for with Unspoken in April.

Pendragon: Yes, that was our main goal for 2013, but as things are looking now we need to replace Mr.Smith, the rest of the band are über ready to play as much live as humanly possible. As for the Unspoken gig, I will not rule that out yet, but the prospects look rather grim.

Started writing/working on the allways difficult follow up yet?

Pendragon: As a matter of fact we have. We already have a couple of the new songs in our live set (watch out for "Furbon" and "Gypsie Of The North"), and we are currently working on new material more suitable for our new line-up.

Entity: Oh yeah!!!! MöKophilia is not gathering dust. I want this to be even more beer infested as the last one. And from what I see so far, it will!

What’s your feelings about the music downloading issue? Do you worry about it or do you think it gives smaller bands more
attention and that it won’t affect the sales too much?

PendragonThe internet changed the rules of the game, there will be no more The Beatles or Michael Jacksons, the record companies are clinging to straws with "artists" like Justin Biever, aimed specifically at kids with no musical references. When I started recording music I used a 4-track fostex AC recorder, today everyone with a PC and a proper audio-card can make recordings far superior to what you could expect a studio to do in the early 90’s. This is a double edged sword tough, everyone has the opportunity to get their stuff out there, but most bands drown in the big pile of shit that is being released every day. This brings me back to the point of real performance with real musicians playing real instruments. As for how the internet affect sales, personally I like to support the artists that I enjoy listening to, and I actually pay for downloads as well as buy vinyl.

Entity: All PR is good PR, not?

Do you keep up to date with the Norwegian metal scene? Any unsigned bands you would like to recommend?

PendragonNot really, I still check out the releases of the classic Norwegian bands such as Darkthrone. As for recommendations I would highly recommend the first full-length from Endezzma "Erotik Nekrosis", that is a truly dark piece of art.

Entity: PLAAG!!!!!

Before we wrap it up, do you have something to add?

Pendragon:Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news on upcoming shows releases and our current lineup situation. And come see us live, our gigs always ends in a huge drinking spree where anything can happen, even magic!

Entity: Skaul!

 

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