Ofdrykkja Interview!

1. When and how were you formed? 

Drabbad: In autumn 2011. I was contacted by Obehag from Apati's page on MySpace, he wanted some help with getting Subutex and pills. Back then, I was - and I still am - living at an institution for the mentally ill, after an incident with Bödeln, and I had lost most contacts. So I couldn't help him, and when I replied his mail, C9H13N (Pessimisten) replied and told me Obehag had recently died. Somehow we started speaking about his band Apati and my old band Lepra, and after some months speaking, we decided to start a band. I contacted my old friend and brother The Associate and told him to join. He's a great musician and we have played together in the past, and known each other since childhood. Pessimisten contacted his old friend Arkomann who also joined, and after a while I also recruited my friend Bödeln who stole a drum-set right away. Me and Pessimisten chose the name Ofdrykkja, and so the band was formed. 

2. What band inspired you to make the kind of music that you do today? 

Drabbad: For me, personally, it's the old Norwegian black metal scene, with bands like Burzum, Ulver, Dödheimsgard, Mysticum and Mayhem. Even if we don't play black metal, this is my source of inspiration. Associate: Me and Drabbad have had our different black metal projects together for the last 15 years. Source of inspiration has always been the depressive black metal you could find during the mid 90's, when we started making music together (for example Burzum and Ved buens). I have broadened my inspiration register along the years, and I'm no longer as bound to a band or genre as before. Instead I'm attracted to and inspired by any dark or sad tones, no matter where they're from. 
Bödeln: For me it's DSBM, a genre I assume we all listen to. But also ambiance and other kinds of black metal. I'm also listening to bands unrelated to DSBM. 

3. How does the creation process look like? 

The Associate: Some kind of melancholic mood tends to help, and is almost necessary for the music not to feel completely forced. I also tend to compose alone with benzodiazepines, sometimes in combination with speed. Benzo makes you really creative. 
Drabbad: For lyrics, it's during the night I get my inspiration and ideas, and I write a few sentences from which I later make lyrics out of. What I write about is kinda dark things such as mental illness, homelessness, drugs, alcohol, misanthropy and hate against society. 
Bödeln: The Associate kind of writes all the music, and the recordings of the drums haven't really been as planned. We are all kinda free to write lyrics. I have rarely had any bad critics about what I've seen or heard. 

4. Describe your sound for those who haven't yet listened to you. 

Drabbad: It's depressive rock music with influences from black metal. The lyrics are poetic and personally I take some inspiration from Grioa when I write. We use speech in some songs and also clean vocals. We've found our own style which we feel comfortable with. The music is kinda easy to listen to, and depressive. 

5. Most bands usually have an annoying fuck who wish to control, in other words a band leader. Do you have a Hitler in the band? 

Drabbad: Hahaha! Pessimisten... yeah, if someone's a Hitler, it's him. He can say a song or a riff just completely sucks. Haha, but we never fight in, we go with democracy. We others thinks it's good he says what he thinks. I prefer that than some ass licker who agrees on everything and lies about what he thinks. We all go along well together, even though we all suffer from different mental illnesses. 
Pessimisten: Haha! I'm definitely our Hitler! I'm really a perfectionist and can't be easy to deal with all the time. But no one has more to say than anyone else in the band, and if we all disagree about something - we'll just vote. We never had any fights. The rest of the band members are really easy to deal with, and we mostly share the same view on things and are satisfied with the music we make. 
Bödeln: I don't think we have any Adolf at all, but I can feel it's sad I haven't been able to contribute much in the creation process. 

6. Tell us a bit about the purpose of your music! 

Drabbad: A part of the purpose is to enlighten people about the dark side of society. The mentally sick addicts who many people don't know. I think I speak for everyone here when I say I turned myself away from society. We aren't normal, we are affected. We do not function socially, and we fail to fit into society. We want to show you the asocial and sometimes depraved reality of ours. Personally, I'm pro suicide and I don't care if people die. 
Bödeln: I find it important to share my view of social exclusion and mental illness, in my lyrics. My purpose has so far been to play drums and contribute with lyrics about the life I live.

7. The video for 'Västerås' is nice and original, how important is the visual aspect for you? 

The Associate: What's important is that what we portray feels honest and right. If it ends up like shit, we can still rely on that we did what felt right for us. Of course everyone wants to public beautiful things, so it's an important aspect. What's difficult is to find your own touch to it, and I can now think that the 'Västerås' video is a bit out of Ofdrykkja's style, yet it has a message I still feel for. My idea to the concept with a stray dog in focus came after a conversation with Drabbad, when he described the situation when he was homeless. I can also relate to this distanced relation to what is seen as normal, but in a whole different level than someone with a home. 
The fact that the video was shot around the worthless ugly concrete which was built during the 60's includes some kind of love-hate relationship. 
Bödeln: Visual parts are good for the listeners. There is an unwritten rule that you can't have pretentious videos within black metal. I think that's sad, because I love videos in which people have put a lot of time and money, as long as there's a message and something mystical about it. 

8. We visited Västerås during a festival and afterwards we were forced to wait for hours before the night bus would arrive, and we don't feel like returning. How do you experience Västerås? You don't seem very happy about the place? 

Pessimisten: Västerås used to be a kinda big industrial town, some decades ago, but most of it has now been shut down, and the town consists of offsprings from the lower working class. There's nothing about this place that would make anyone want to go here. It was once called "powder city", and sure, amphetamine is still consumed a lot here on our grey streets, but quality is something that belongs from the past. These days it's more known as "MDPV city". No one is happy about this place. 

9. Not every city gets a bad nickname like that, but how comes Västerås is called MDPV city? Except the general dissatisfaction. Is it because you consume unusual amounts of MDPV in Västerås, or is the town unusually psychosis inducing compared to other cities you have had personal experience of? 

Pessimisten: Lately it has gotten better, but one or two years ago MDPV was consumed a lot, and it was mixed with amphetamine (you can mix out the amphetamine a lot and just add a tiny bit of MDPV to make it strong again). It really sucks when you expect an amphetamine rush and instead you get a psychosis. 
Bödeln: There are drugs in every city, small or big. I can't tell if there are more drugs in Västerås than in other cities. Here in Hudiksvall/Gävle we have a wide spread addiction of mostly amphetamine, prescribed opiates and benzo. Not much heroin, though. It's easier to see the addiction in smaller towns, than it is in bigger ones.

 10. Which band would you preferably do a split with? 

Drabbad: Ved Buens Ende, while they existed, or todays Virus would have been nice to have a split with. Abyssic hate as well. It would have been a big difference in music styles though. 
Pessimisten: If disbanded bands counts, I would definitely say Woods of Infinity. They have self distance and a humor I like, and they make it fit well together with the dark music they make. Other bands in the scene takes themselves too seriously. 

11. Do you have enough material to release a full length or EP through a label? 

Pessimisten: Yes, actually we do, but we want to make two more songs before we see the album as completed. 
The Associate: We already have contact with a few labels and things are looking bright. 

12. Except a CD release, we would like to see a DVD release with your music videos, and which maybe also could include some exciting bonus material. What are your thought about that? 

The Associate: Yeah, we've had discussions about this matter, and it's not impossible. We do like to express ourselves in different ways and it would absolutely be a possible alternative for us, if there is interest. 
Bödeln: About music videos, there are a lot to put energy on. A lot of spaced ideas I hope to express and talk about with the members. 

13. Thanks for your time, and for doing this interview. Now we're just curious about what will happen next?

 The Associate: I thank you too! What's remaining is the recording of two more songs, and we're working on it right now. 
We are looking forward to release our first album as soon as possible.