Approaching Attitude and Advancement
What is fuelling the fire or, is it merely a profession? They all feel the urge to express themselves in their music, be it on stage, in composing, arranging, producing, or all of the above. Ukri, for example, points out that to him it is complementary and thus, he needs all of them in balance. Furthermore, it is important to him to be part of a band, the dynamics and the interactions on a creative as well as social level. This is where his approach meets those of Frost and Jan again. The dynamics are a motivation for them all. Jan’s drumming is a web neatly interwoven with the riffs, lines and tunes of his band mates’ songs, coalescing into a perfect whole. Satyricon’s music is the result of a no less interactive process of both musicians. Frost speaks with great admiration of Sigurd Wongraven‘s (Satyr) creativity to which he adds – in a most integrative manner – not only his drumming. Their common goal always is to lift the band to a new level of their art. Process, as much as result, are a part of the spirituality deeply rooted in Frost’s persona. So his musical evolution in any regard reflects his spiritual evolution, he confirms.
For Ukri, spirituality and evolution go in a flow. Each band reflects a current sort of mind-set, and thereby moving on to the next becomes the resulting step in his evolution, spiritually and musically. To sum it up, it is not very surprising to find the drummers with a focus on Black and Shamanic Metal being personalities with high appreciation of spirituality.
Jan and Walt have a far more technical approach to their musical advancement. Although Jan’s motivation to drum grew from the wish to play in bands – just like Ukri – he reflects on his own evolution from a rather skill-oriented perspective. Speaking of the most acknowledged “Tales” album, he reveals that he wouldn’t listen to the original recordings due to his own performance, although he loves the songs.
Jan is coming from a classic rock background while the others have a much more metal-based background. Jan points out that metal drumming has developed greatly, becoming a lot faster and more technical than when he began. Interestingly, and in an opposing direction, it seems as if Frost has learned to appreciate slower drumming in the more recent years.
Once more, Frost’s and Ukri’s holistic attitude meets the music- and performance-oriented perspective Walt and Jan share. Ukri’s holistic approach includes his music- and performance orientation. Frost, for example, takes his time to get into the mood for his shows, explaining that his mind-sets behind 1349 and Satyricon are completely different worlds. This mental and spiritual preparation is essential part of the shows as well as the music.
That’s everything I have been hoping all my life to be able to do it professionally. Make a living out of it. I can’t hope for anything more.” (Waltteri Väyrynen)
All four are professional drummers. Jan and Frost have a strictly professional attitude when it comes to delivering a show. Jan accepts this responsibility to deliver when the audience is waiting, being the gear as it may. If there is a show scheduled, Frost is going to play with either of his bands. Gear lost on the way to a festival is no reason to cancel, not even to think of it. Even while being endorsed, situations like this happen from time to time. And when once Jan was really too sick to play a festival, Walt stood in!
Professionalism unlocks another flavour of motivation to deliver: the need to make enough to pay your bills. Obviously, Walt is taking every opportunity to drum for a band that he can get. Beyond his mere passion for drumming, he has a simple economic need, but “most of all I want to play for the passion and with bands that I really like and whose music means something to me. It has to be fun and challenging so that I feel I’m going forward as a musician and a drummer”, says Walt. Playing with many bands beyond his permanent band activities is as much result as motor of Walt’s proficient drumming and self-marketing. The regular feeds from a drum cam have become one common tool in self-marketing activities used by Walt and Ukri.
Then again, Ukri considers himself more a musician than a drummer. Drumming enables him to play the music he loves, he says as he describes his attitude. This is the utmost driver for all four, expressed differently in each of them.