Why the name Summoning?

Silenius: As far as I can remember this name was inspired by Darkthrone. The term “diabolical summoning” was placed under a band photo of the singer and I think it was from the LP “A blaze in the northern sky”. After all, this name has no special meaning. We just wanted to have something different and not those typical names that end with "...or" or those typical names like "xxxxx of xxxxx".

How did you decide on your pseudo names Protector and Silenius?

Silenius: I think in that time such nicknames have been totally necessary. Not only because of a way of tradition of leading bands like Bathory, Sodom and so on, but also to fulfil a kind of unity between the music, the layout and the band members. That means nothing shall remind the listener of a normal way of life and everyday life norms in general. This mystical and occult aura behind band members had simply been necessary. Of course today we think a little bit different of all this and you also can see these kind of nicknames to be childish but we never thought about dropping these names because this has no importance at all.

Your lyrics are based on Tolkien, but do you still invest personal meaning into them?

Silenius: No there is absolutely no personal meaning to the lyrics beside our fascination to the realms of Tolkien and that must be enough.

What is it that attracted you to Tolkien in the first place?

Silenius: Of course, the whole detailed creation of a full fantasy world with all its details like languages, cultures, and detailed histories and so on. This was absolutely new for the fantasy genre in that time and never was overtramped later.
 Second of course, the creation of new races and the definition that the elves were not small childish creatures living in the flowers and the definition of many other things which have been the basics of all later fantasy literature. I think in this case there could be hundreds of other arguments why Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy literature and has influenced many following generations.

Mirdautas Vras was the first song written in the black speech of Mordor. Do you have any plans to record any more songs in Tolkien languages? Are you proficient in Elvish?

Silenius: We have no concrete plans in this case, but this could happen. It depends on the future concepts.

I read that there was a left over song from the ‘Oath Bound’ sessions; will this track ever be released?

Silenius: Of course, we want to release it but we don’t know in which form. I think the future will tell.

You used a female vocalist called Tania on ‘Where Hope and Daylight Die’ from the Stronghold album. How did this collaboration come about? Are there any plans for further collaborations?

Protector: Tania was my girlfriend at that time and also took classical vocal lessons, so the idea to integrate her for one song was close at hand. On that album we generally changed a lot of elements compared to that last album, so we also wanted to experiments with female vocals. It was never our plan to integrate female vocals for all future albums, it was always meant to be an experiment.

I seem to remember reading that Summoning will never play live shows. Why is this?

Protector: I think making good songs and performing them good on stage, are two different abilities that don’t necessarily have to be combined. We see ourselves as composers, but not really as performers. We simply would not get so much pleasure while doing a live concert as for us the main challenge is to write good tunes and rhythms. And I think the audience would notice that very soon and would only be disappointed. A good performer rather expresses himself with special movements than his music, while producing CDs is the best way to present yourself as a musician.

Do you have a favourite Summoning song?

Silenius: In former time my favourite Summoning song has always been “Marching Homewards”, but meanwhile the song "South Away" and "Mirdautas Vras" are the top songs that I am most proud of.

Do you have a favourite Summoning album?

Silenius: Not really.

Do you guys only use a drum machine now or are there live drums on some recordings?

Protector: No there is no drummer since “Minas Morgul”. We don’t want any as we don’t want to create any rock feeling with our band. A standard drum kit is good for making the people move on stage, but drum sounds played by the keyboard offer more sound variety and are not limited to the 2 hands and 2 feet of a real drummer. So we can make the marching drum, kettledrums and all tom toms play at the same time, and with different rhythms, without having to think about the realisation. We don’t try to imitate a real drummer and don’t see any reason why we will ever change that in future.

Summoning has undergone many stylistic changes, who/what were your influences at the beginning, and who/what are they now?

Silenius: Of course in the beginning our musical influences have been taken from the metal scene of the 80’s and of course of the second wave of Norwegian black metal. I think in the beginning of the 90’s everyone
was influenced by Norwegian black metal, but meanwhile I privately listen to many different music styles. I think everything can be influential in this way or another. It simply is not that focused today as it was in the 90’s.

In the beginning Summoning presented itself in a more typical ‘Black Metal’ way, i.e. corpse paint etc, but since “Minus Morgul” you have moved away from that. Why was this?

Protector: I think that's a natural development. It simply gets boring to do the same stuff over and over again, especially if this style is also done by all of the other bands. Any debut band rather tries to copy their ideals in the beginning before it develops its own style. We needed that time to realise what kind of music we really wanted to make. And apart from that on the debut we had a real drummer who loved to play hectic rhythms, which prevented any kind of epic mood for Summoning.

Was that a conscious decision?

Protector: Yes sure. Actually it was clear that something was going to change after the kick out of our drummer. I was strictly against replacing him by another drummer, so it was clear that the next album would be quite different. I still remember the first time where we had a rehearsal with the mighty keyboard drums sounds, instead of that previously mentioned hectic, annoying real drum sound all the time. Already after the first minute it was clear for me that a huge new step was taken for Summoning.

Are there any plans to release another vinyl box set for the more recent albums?

Protector: We don't make plans like that. We did not even plan the existing vinyl box set; it was the idea of the label "Temple of Darkness" who contacted us and "Napalm Records". So we have no idea if there are any interests
from any labels to produce some more Summoning vinyl releases.

Some questions regarding the new album, what can we expect musically? What can we expect lyrically and vocally, i.e. more choir lead passages?

Protector: The decision concerning which song uses choirs is done at the end. Normally we have finished songs and think if there is one tune existing that we could sing with a choir. Depending on that, the new album can have more or less choirs, but that’s totally not fixed so far. Also the rest is not clear, as there are just some raw ideas from Silenius and me, which are not arranged. I just can say that I am already starting to experiment with more metallic samples (like heavy chain sound), which I use for some rhythms and bring the songs more variety.

Has the writing process remained the same from previous albums? Will you be recording in the home studio again?

Protector: Yes definitely. There is no reason for us to use an external studio. I know that they always change the sound in a way that I don't want it. They tend to remove the reverb etc and I think its better to have the sound under control because it will prevent us from sounding like a mainstream band. Apart from that higher sound control, it’s also very important for me to have a low budget, because the higher the budget for a band is, the less freedom a band has. In our current situation it’s no problem for us to release any idea as we want it, without caring if they suit the taste of the label; with a high budget the situation would be far less relaxed and the label would definitely have more influence on the realisation of our songs, as there is more pressure to bring back the costs of that production.

You are both registered on your forum and answer all the emails that are sent to you. Do you believe fan interaction is essential? Do you take on board what your fans say?

Protector: Yes for me it is essential. First of all, it’s because of a kind of fairness to the people. If they buy our albums and take their time to write me, I think it’s the least thing I can do to answer them. I don’t like that master - fan hierarchy. A person writing me for music is taken totally seriously. But as I have a full time job and also 2 musical projects apart from Summoning, I don’t always have the time to answer immediately. In the worst case it can take a couple of months until I answer. I often plan a full day just for answering my delayed emails when it gets too much.
 I think the fans reaction is quite necessary as well. This does not mean that we try to adapt to the wishes of them. We are no pre-made boy-band trying to adapt most to the needs of the public. But not seeing any feedback as a kind of musical order does not mean that we don’t think about things fans say. It can bring us new ideas.
 But anyway, any band that releases an album does it to present its music to the people who are interested in it. Even the most misanthropic bands do it for that reason, and releasing without feedback does not make much sense.

What is your opinion on the Black metal Scene in general? Are there any bands you particularly like at the moment?

Silenius: To be honest I don’t listen to new black metal bands since the end of the 90’s. I think it simply became boring after a while only to listen one style of music.

What is your opinion on Varg Vikernes getting released and the current Gorgoroth fighting? Don’t you feel that Black Metal has become a bit of a soap opera?

Protector: Oh yes! Soap opera is the perfect word for that :-) I think its all a bit childish today; and this contest in being the most true and evil guy is just ridiculous. The longer I think about that the more it reminds me on the gangster hip-hop scene. Lots of young guys with inferiority complexes trying to looks as evil as possible, attacking each other within the scene, and then escaping in music into some fantasy (ghetto) world and confusing it with the real world. That might be considered as “true” to some, but definitely not by me.

You have disassociated Summoning from any political position. Why do you think metal, and especially Black Metal attracts these kinds of themes?

Protector: Well that’s not true. Due to the rising fascism and racism movement within that scene I felt more and more uncomfortable. The number of parrots repeating some old lines of "Varg Vikernes” heavily increased and I really realised that this scene has got nothing to do with individualism at all. It turns more and more to a total conformist scene of sheep calling for a leader who does all thinking for them. I cannot see what's so true and strong about that. So due to that rising bad feeling I started to publish a clear anti fascistic statements file. One can say that Summoning is not a political band at all and neither the music, nor the lyrics deal with it, so such statements can destroy the fantasy people build around the music. I can understand that point, but on the other hand I consider it as quite stupid to keep all my anger inside, while others cannot stop spreading propaganda shit all the time. And actually I was not the one who started that association between music and politics. It was "Varg Vikerness".
 I really don’t understand how a scene that was meant to break all taboos, finally could sympathize with a political ideology that is based on blind obedience and total strict rules. Well if some people need to provoke and get some attention by shocking with some nazi symbols I can understand it in a way, as it definitely has heavy effect on the publicity. But once that provocation is gone, and those people really believe the shit they talk about and see it rather as a desired new way of living; it turns to the completely opposite. Within a few years a rather rebellious scene turned so a snobbish bourgeois nazi life style scene.