by Kim Kelly
First off , please give me some background info on the band for those who are unfamiliar with Argharus. When and where did the band form, who were the founding members, how did you arrive at your current lineup, earlier releases, any notable gigs/tours/events pre-2010 – basically, who you guys are.
Argharus is a Lithuanian Black Metal band, which evolved into fully functioning entity somewhere around 2005. The initial start of the band can be dated to the end of 2004, when our guitarist I1 joined the band. By then there were some non-essential changes, that should not intrigue others. The only stable member/founder from that time is our vocalist 7. First we played/tried to play some primitive Darkthrone, Armagedda influenced black metal and where gaining our instrument handleing skills, when in early 2006 all the work paid off and we prepared our program and material for first-ever release. First significant co-operations to the band evolution were the concert in our hometown Siauliai (festival Tvaikas III) and first recording session in professional studio Phoenix in Latvia, plus the later release of split album with Luctus “Sonitus Caeli Ardentis” in 2007. Until the end of the same year Argharus played a line of concerts and signed with our current label Inferna Profundus Records. In summer of 2008 we played our first gig abroad in Estonia, where we warmed up for Watain. All remaining time that year was left for finishing the material for our first full-length. At the start of 2009 we played some gigs with swedes Shining, both in Lithuania and Latvia, after which we put final touches on our material, the record session started and line-up changes were done – Demonas joined Argharus as live/session bass player. Our first full-length “Pleistas” was released later that year.
What is “The Black Metal Front of Siauliai”?
S.B.M.F. (Siauliai Black Metal Front) is our contribution to Lithuanian Black Metal scene.
What drives the members of this band to create music? What is it about metal, and black metal in general, that appealed to you so much?
Basically, it is self-expression through Black Metal as extreme music genre. Everything what surrounds and is among us: environment, social culture, the situation of black metal (and other metal) situation in Lithuania, disappointment with current situation, emotional experience can be named as our main influences. Speaking about metal and black metal in general, we try not to follow any band examples and we have our own perception and view of creating and delivering music. Of course, there are bands who made influence to us, but it is more like a reference for the general context, not some major thing.
Argharus hail from Lithuania, a country that is not exactly known for its black metal output. What is the metal scene like in your area? Is it difficult to be involved with this kind of music in such a predominantly Christian, ex-Communist country?
I could say, that our metal scene is progressing in medium pace. Each year we have 2 bigger festivals like “Kilkim Zaibu” and “Devilstone Open air”, one or two individual concerts of some mega-star band like Metallica, and tens of concerts of local importance. Speaking about the festivals “Kilkim Zaibu” is a festival more related to black metal/pagan stuff with performed medieval fights, folk songs and metal music. “Devilstone Open air” is a more major thing with metal bands like Sepultura, Keep Of Kalessin, Sinister. This year on “Devilstone Open air” we will have Deicide, and Tankard as major bands and ten of other more or less known bands. In my personal opinion it is not difficult to be involved with such music in country like ours or other country like this, just the band or an artist must have a criticall view on their own creation, make goals for themselves and have loads of motivation for what they are doing.
The Baltic region is home to a great number of quality metal bands – besides Argharus, Skyforger, Obtest, Dissimulation, Metsatoll, Luctus, and Loits come to mind – that deserve far more attention that they have gotten. In your opinion, is it hard for bands to break out of this area and gain international recognition?
It is hard to break out and gain international recognition in our region, but as I said earlier band must have goals and motivation for what they are doing and eventually the recognition will come. Also it is very helpful for the band to have a committed man behind all the promotion and gig planning things, in that case band can only care about creating and delivering music.
What other bands from your homeland, or from the Baltic region in general, would you recommend that readers look into?
The bands worth paying attention which I could recommend to your readers are those you have mentioned yourself in an earlier question plus Poccolus, Anubi, Nahash (all from Lithuania), who are a cult acts in our country.
Your first full-length for Inferna Profundus Records is due to drop very soon. What’s the story behind Pleistas? What was the writing process like, and how did things progress once you got into the studio?
It took us almost two years to write all the material for our first-full length “Pleistas”. We knew from the very start of creation process – our full-length will be more different from the stuff we wrote for split “Sonitus Caeli Ardentis” and to tell you the truth our first experience in studio when recording the split album was more like an emotional experience for us as a band not a matured thing like in “Pleistas” recording session. The recording session was a common thing like in a majority of the bands I think: first of all the drummer recorded the drum parts and guitars with bass where layered on top of them and at the very end vocals where added. All the ensuing things like small changes/guitar re-recordings were done afterwards. The mastering was done when we all were satisfied with what we have as our recorded stuff.
What’s the idea behind “Pleistas” – what does the title mean, and how does that tie into the concepts and themes discussed on the record itself? As an English speaker, the song titles and lyrics are lost to me; could you shed some light on those?
The title itself is more or less tied to all the themes and concepts discussed in songs, it’s more a philosophic tie between them than a direct meaning. It is hard to translate the title “Pleistas” into English, since there is no exact equivalent, but the word describes a thrust forward and tearing something apart. I will describe/translate the meanings of the song titles to give a brief idea: “Dievopi” is a song about one of the human sexual transgressions – molesting your beloved. “Mano ligos – tavo ligos” transl.“My diseases – your diseases” is a song about spreading your own diseases to others, a gift a man can give another for free. “Pleistas” is the title song of the album and has the same meaning. “Krecianti kontrole” transl.”Shivering control” is a deeply alcohol inspired theme. Dedicated to all who dependent on this form of liquid. Other translations. are “Brolisko kapo sindromas” – “Brotherly Grave Syndrome”, “Viskas Perniek” – “All To Nothing”, “Prakalba I Atmatas” – “Declamation For The Dregs”.
What are Argharus’ plans to promote this album? Will you be touring in the US or Europe this year?
Currently we don’t have any tours planned both in US and Europe. Organizers from US and Europe are welcome to contact us for doing a gig/tour in their region.
Argharus’ drummer, K. was recently involved in the recording of your labelmates Svartthron’s new record, ‘Kraujo Estetika.” What are your thoughts on how the record turned out, and was it difficult to share a member with another band?
There are different opinions about this record here in Lithuania. As we know it was more or less an improvisational type of collaboration. [k] came into the studio and recorded the drums on a go. The release itself turns to be better than earlier Svartthron’s albums.
The final words are yours. Do you have any parting thoughts or messages you’d like to share?
Thank you Kim/Metal Maniacs for and interview and your interest in Argharus. Spread the disease !
www.myspace.com/argharus
www.inferna-profundus.net
www.devilstone.net
