True Northern Death Metal

I have to be honest with you, I never thought my Saami heritage would be to my advantage when it comes to music.

Some of my relatives hate the way I look, and them being Saami definitively adds to that. There are people in my family who are really devoted to the Saami cause, but me personally I don’t care about that. Reindeers and that life style, I think it sucks. To me it’s just so incredibly boring. I know how to slaughter, I couldn’t do it myself, but if I was with someone, sure, no problem, and I speak the language. I used to wear a colt when I was younger if my parents forced me to. But I don’t want to live in Gällivare anyway, not right now at least, it’s too depressing, with the suicides and the drugs.

I started listening to Black Metal through my friend who’s a Dissection collector. We met Jon Nödtveidt at Wacken [Wacken Open Air festival] and my friend asked him to sign his copy of “Maha Kali.” Even Jon was blown away when my buddy told him he’s got more than 30 Dissection releases.

I used to play in Nidverk, and I wrote almost all of the music to their demo “Nattens Hälsning.” Ante’s [Nidverk’s singer] brother is a rock blaster, and he helped build a super advanced studio in Gothenburg, so we got to go down there and record the demo. The sound technician was an insane perfectionist, and he had me playing the guitar for hours straight just to get it right. We recorded during three days for more than 12 hours a day. I stayed behind and talked to him, and he taught me a lot. Now I’m playing with Carneous, we have two demos out so far, and a third on the way.

I’m leading a really nomadic life right now. I go back to Gällivare to play with Carneous, I have my girlfriend in Uppsala, and I study in Luleå. My girlfriend isn’t Saami, to me that is completely irrelevant.

Right now I’m in my first year studying psychology. I’m not allowed to apply for therapist studies yet, I’m 19 now and I will need to do some real work first. I’m the first person in my family to go on to university. I’m the first to finish high school. They’re all really happy for me, really proud. I’ve been wanting to be so many things, but after working at the Saami day-care centre I decided to start studying psychology. There was this girl there, she was crazy good at drawing. She was five and way better than me. To be able to sit with her and show her stuff and teach her new things, that was cool. In metal crowds, a lot of people are troubled, and I want to be able to do the same thing there, to lead someone in the right direction and help them see the solution.

Most people know I’m Saami, because of the last name, but it’s no big thing. I mean, I’ve never run into to any bad attitudes about it or whatever. And believe me, I could understand if there were bad attitudes, I mean some Saami just act plain stupid. I’ll just go, “What are you doing?” I don’t relate to those people at all.

One thing that is good about being Saami is the security and confidence that you get from when you’re just a little kid. When I worked at the Saami day-care centre the parents wouldn’t just drop their kids of, they’d pop in the kitchen and have a cup of coffee, they’d stay and talk for an hour. When I was a kid there were 58 of us on the whole Saami school, and man, it was awesome. We would be out in the woods learning things, like slaughter and handicraft. I know how to make a fire, I’ll see people going for the fresh pine in the woods when they’re trying to make a fire, and I’ll just think they’re foolish. I know how to make a knife, everyone in my family does. I once got this huge knife from my uncle. I never even think about it, but I guess it’s really valuable too.

But I’ll look at the Saami Council and I’ll just think “What are these people doing?” Sometimes I’ll think that it’s just something that the government invented to take the heat of. Because all the Saami Council does is bicker amongst them selves, and when they finally settle on something they still have to take it to the government to get it approved. So this way the government won’t have to deal with every single person putting pressure on them, they just have the council every now and then. I’ll ask them “But what is it you do?” and they’ll go “We unite the Saami.” That’s bullshit, it doesn’t work like that, all that is ancient, it won’t happen. I think I’m being realistic about this, but people tell me I’m a pessimist.

I know a little about Saami religion, and it sure beats Swedish religion. Religion in general isn’t something I sympathize with, but it’s about living close to nature, and it’s way cooler and way more interesting than Christianity or Judaism or Islam or whatever. I’ve met people with insight into shamanism, and I’ve heard stories. My grandmother’s mother has told me about spirits and beings and things that live in the woods. But no, I don’t feel related to Black Metal beliefs. The BM guys will sing about it, but I’ll actually practice it. Me and a buddy will go out in the forest, and we’ll make a fire and just sit out there all night and chat shit, just because we like it. That’s why I sometimes prefer to say we play Death Metal, to get away from all that talk that is going on in Black Metal. And the other religions? The Catholic Church, for example, convinces people that condoms don’t work because think they’re evil, and then some 100 000 people catch AIDS and die? I find that disgusting. It’s all made up bullshit.

TOBIAS POGGATS
For mp3s and live dates, go to www.carneous.se.