Interview GRAUFAR

Interview with Black, Death Metal Band from Austria GRAUFAR

1. Can you tell us about your childhood? Do you remember when you first came into contact with loud music and what were your first concerts ?

Gernot: In my family no one listened to any hard music. The hardest music that was in the CD shelf of my parents was Queen. Therefore, my first contact with loud music was pretty late, like with 14 or 15, through some friends. That’s where I discovered AC/DC and from there on it took me from Hard Rock over Heavy Metal and Thrash Metal to Death Metal and then finally Black Metal. My first three concerts where AC/DC in 2009, the Big 4 and Children of Bodom.

Mike: My parents always have listened to rock and metal classics, so I involuntarily got exposed to it. Iron Maiden, Metallica, Tool, Dream Theater, Korn are one of those bands I grew up with. Later on, with 13 years or so I started to dig for myself. I remember going through their CD collection discovering bands for myself and putting everything I found interesting on my mp3 player. Later on I started drifting into the harder stuff, like death metal and then into black metal. My first big concert was Heaven & Hell and Metallica, I think it was 2007.

René: My first experience with metal music was at Nova Rock back in 2008. I was 13 years old and stood in the second line of Machine Head. I got interested in that kind of music and continued listening to Children of Bodom and all sorts of pagan metal. Time after time I wanted to listen to “more extreme” metal, so I ended up with black and death metal.

Buchi: I was still very young when I first came into contact with heavy music and it was actually during a film. They played Rammstein and I was instantly blown away. A little later I went to my first “Eisregen” concert back in 2009 through a former friend. From then on, I went to concerts regularly and listened to the music.

2. Can you describe the local scene where you grew up, what bands and venues were important to you and can you share some of your greatest memories about these bands/places ?

Mike: We grew up near the capital city Linz of the province Upper Austria. When we were 15 to 16 we all had friend groups that were into Metal, so we hung out and went to concerts in Vienna and Linz. That’s also how we met each other.
In the suburbs around Linz there was not really an underground scene. That’s why we all were in Linz most of the time for metal shows and to meet people with the same music taste. Compared to some years ago there are also way more Rock and Metal concerts in Linz and the underground scene is growing.
In Linz the most remarkable venue is KAPU. In Vienna there are way more, like Escape, Viper Room, Szene and Arena. Due to the geographically good location of Austria in the middle of Europe it is also easy to get to large festivals nearby. We have collected many great memories in these places, since we have visited them and we are still visiting them very often. Picking one particular memory is quite difficult. Same goes for the great number of bands we have seen.

3. Did anyone play in any bands before Graufar? If so, can you tell us something about them? Were there any releases? Can you share some good memories about those bands ?

Thomas: I played in “Aesta”, a Post Black Metal band. We released one full length album that is named “From Darkness to Light” and currently the status is on hold.

René: Gernot, Thomas and me actually played in a Black/Pagan Metal band named “Wegtam” together but it never became serious and we never released anything.
It was more jamming with friends and playing some live shows, where we gathered our first band and stage experiences.

Mike: I played in a Melodic Death Metal band once, but we did not release anything serious.

4. How did you come up with the band name Graufar, how do you describe your musical style? And can you tell us briefly the history of your band’s creation ?

Mike: Finding a name nowadays after nearly 50 years of Metal is quite difficult. We obviously did not want any name that was already taken and it should be exactly one word long and not any too hard name to read. So, we argued a very long time and everyone had a different favorite band name. Then Gernots girlfriend made a suggestion and it fitted perfectly. We immediately were convinced. With Graufar (an old German word for the color grey). We play a mixture of Black and Death metal, combining high pitched black metal screams with deep growls.

Gernot, Thomas and Rene decided to start a new project and asked me to join them as their guitarist since we knew each other already and knew that we get along well and have the same taste in music. So we started to write music together since the end of 2020 and 2022 followed our first concert.

5. Why did you want to play this genre? Who or what inspires you to write songs. What bands have inspired you the most ?

Gernot: We all listen to Death and Black Metal and are really into it, so it comes naturally to play our own creation and combination of these genres. To write a song it usually takes some riffs we find nice to play and listen to, also sometimes life experiences and emotions need to be somewhat processed along the line and that is very helpful to write songs or riffs. Putting your anger or your sorrow in a song makes it somehow real and more down to earth. We don’t draw our inspiration from a particular source, but of course unconsciously we are inspired by the bands we like the most. Some notable bands are: Dark Fortress, Kampfar, Immortal, Bolt Thrower, Satyricon, Necrophobic, Ellende, Behemoth, Asphyx and many more.

6. Can you tell us more about your new debut Album “Scordalus”? Do you also have a story behind your Album Title ?

Gernot: In our lyrics we often sing about the dark side of humanity and social issues, Scordalus is Latin for the German word “Zankteufel” which can be translated to a devil-like creature who likes to cause fights and therefore brings hate and the worst out of people. We specifically decieded on these 6 Songs, because they were best suited to the theme. Basically, we could have put more songs on our debut album and make it an hour long but during the preproduction process we decided to split all our material into two albums and keep the first output shorter. We wanted to wait for the reactions and feedback to see how we could improve ourselves on the second album. We think the duration of the album is perfect for a debut to maintain the attention of the listener from the first till the last song.

7. Which places were important for you to play at and why ?

Thomas: Currently we never performed outside of Austria, but we played a show with Crypta at Rockhouse Salzburg and it was filled to the brim on a Sunday. That was an amazing day for us. Furthermore, of course our first gig ever in Linz where we got an overwhelming response from the audience. Honorable mentions would also be our first Festival “Teifljagd Open Air” which was a wonderful location with a fortress and Winterbreeze in Freistadt, which was our best show so far. Also, the Kulurzentrum d’Zuckerfabrik Enns is very important to us. Our rehearsal room is located there and we have played in the venue couple of times and it’s always amazing.

8. What was your weirdest show you’ve ever played and why? feel free to mention more than one, and don’t hold back on the details ?

René: Nothing really weird happened, but we played a show at a birthday party on a farm. The stage was constructed in a barn by the organizer and the singer of the opening band got electrocuted every time he touched the microphone. It was a funny and memorable experience.

9. What is a Graufar Show like? What can somebody expect when they go to one of your concerts ?

Gernot: We play an aggressive but also melodic form of black metal which we spice up with some Death Metal parts and we are delivering this with full physical effort and authenticity without any fancy show effects. We try to create a perfect mix between the songs without any unnecessary breaks between them, to keep the crowd engaged throughout the whole show and also involve the people. All of our songs have at least one part that will definitely make you want to headbang.

10. Are there other types of music you would like to play with a band ?

Mike: I am also playing in a Sludge/Black band, but sometimes I just want to play some Deathgrind or Grindcore.

Gernot: Currently Graufar is the only project I have time for and I also have no wish to join any other band or play a different style of music at the moment.

René: I’m very happy with what we have going on with Graufar and currently have no desire to make any other kind of music.

Buchi: I would like to play some Post Black Metal sometime in the future, but at the moment I’m also very satisfied with Graufar.

11. Which Festivals would you still like to play, and which festivals do you have the best memories ?

Mike: In Austria we really would like to play at Kaltenbach Festival, Sick Midsummer and Celebrare Noctem at some point, because we are often guests at these festivals and really enjoy it there. Obviously to play at the big Festivals like Wacken, Hellfest or Brutal Assault someday would be a great honor.

12. How can fans and future fans locate, listen to and buy your music & merchandise. Is there anything else you would like your fans to know ?

Gernot: We are currently selling everything through our Bandcamp page, where you can find our CD & digital album (Releasedate April 13th) and merch. You can also listen to our music on Spotify, Youtube and all other common streaming services. Furthermore, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram.

13. What were your best moments in 2023 as a band? And what are your plans for the future ?
René: Our show at Teifljagd Open Air was very nice. It was our first Open Air show ever. Supporting Crypta with our dear friends in Eschaton and of course to finally start the recording of our debut album was very exciting. Being in a professional studio for the first time was a great experience for us. We had the pleasure to work with Norbert Leitner in his Studio who made us feel very welcome and we really enjoyed working with him.

We already started working on the songs for the next album which we are planning to record next year. Till then we hope to get the opportunities to play some bigger shows and also some concerts across Europe.

14. These were the questions, thank you for taking part in this interview and all the best to you and your band! Something to add yourself ?

Thanks for interviewing us we really appreciate it. Greetings to the Netherlands!