Necrobutcher is the lifelong bassist of the black metal band Mayhem. Outside of the short period when he was replaced by Varg Vikernes, to record "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" the legendary debut full-length album, he was always a part of the band. But you already knew that, right?
You know everything about the Norwegian black metal scene already... or so you think. Did you know, for example, that Necrobutcher and Manheim were actually classmates and started playing extreme metal music at the age of twelve?
In a recent interview with Morsay Magazine about the upcoming book "Real Satanic Black metal", bassist Necrobutcher lays the truth about what the early days of the legendary band Mayhem were like.
While some trivia is well known - how Necrobutcher always hated the "poser" Euronymous -, other parts are surprising even to the most die-hard black metal fan.
For example, that Mayhem was initially mistaken by the sound engineer for a reggae band. Or that the members of Mayhem, Euronymous included, all hated Demonaz and tried to have him kicked out of Immortal... in 1992!
"They didn't understand black metal..."
The first story of the interview is about the recording of the Deathcrush EP. The sound engineer, who didn't know what black metal music was supposed to be - who did, in 1986? - thought it was a form of reggae music.
Necrobutcher: When we came to the studio in 1986/87 to record Deathcrush, the technician there didn't know what kind of band we were. He asked where our special snare drum was and we didn't know what he was talking about. So he said, "Well, you're a reggae band aren't you?" And we were like, "No, not really..." Then he was trying to set up the gear and asking us, "What can I expect?" And we said, "We don't know exactly... Just plug us in and you'll see." And that's what we did. We just plugged in and it was a clean recording in the way that he didn't put any FX on in post production and he didn't mix it. He just put the balance in between all the different instruments and this is what it sounded like. He had never heard anything like that before. Like I said, he was expecting a reggae band. The Deathcrush album is a very honest album because that is what it sounded like from our backline. And that's what we wanted to capture.
He also lays some interesting facts about how the track "Silvester Anfang" became the sort of unofficial intro to all things Mayhem related... when it was composed by a German experimental musician called Conrad Schnitzler.
Necrobutcher: He [Euronymous] had Conrad Schnitzler's address so he went out there to see him. He rang the doorbell but Conrad Schnitzler's wife had told him that there was a weird looking kid hanging round outside the house, who looked like he wanted to come in. Conrad didn't dare open the door, so he [Euronymous] just stood outside the door. So eventually Conrad came out and invited him in for tea. [...] Euronymous communicated that he was a fan and Conrad gave him a lot of rare albums that he had and afterwards they started to correspond. [...] So we sent him Deathcrush and he came up with this 'Silvester Anfang' – which means New Year's Eve. [...] Of course we used it. I heard when the story about what happened came out in the early 90s came out, he was very shocked but apparently when things calmed down he started to become proud that his intro was played all over the world by us. We kept it as our signature intro music. Everyone knows what is going on when they hear that intro playing.
Getting into more personal details about what went on in the early days of the Norwegian black metal scene, Necrobutcher had to address the suicide of former Morbid and Mayhem vocalist Dead, in 1991.
"You can't have a second go after committing suicide..."
According to Necrobutcher, it all began after coming home from the 1990 tour (Live in Leipzig, among others). Dead was mentally unstable, and depressed.
Necrobutcher: The first gigs were alright, a couple of gigs in Norway. At one show Dead cut himself with a broken Coke bottle. But he cut himself so deeply that he had to go off stage. The venue had some electric tape, so they taped his arm up and he came back on stage for the last song. When this was happening, people were leaving and he loved this because he thought they were disgusted with him cutting himself but the fact was they were leaving to get the last train home. I read in an interview with him saying, "I loved when I opened my arm and splashed out blood on the front rows..." But people just didn't want to miss the last train.
Which brings us to the suicide of the vocalist, an event that changed the face of Mayhem - and black metal - forever.
Necrobutcher:Getting home from the tour in 1990, Dead went into some depression and... he was suicidal, there was no question about that. He was suicidal all the time. You can do a lot of stupid things in your life but you can't have a second go after committing suicide. You just can't. So... yeah... that was a setback there.
He was also, according to many, bullied by Euronymous. Which brings us to the next point, Euronymous himself.
"They bugged Euronymous' phone... they knew he talked about killing people!"
Necrobutcher's relationship with Euronymous was strained ever since the infamous incident where Euronymous tried to use pictures of Dead's deceased corpse as promo material for his music. This led Necrobutcher to leave the band, and Euronymous brought in Varg Vikernes of Burzum as a replacement.
Necrobutcher claims he would have "killed Euronymous himself", but "someone" got to him first.
Necrobutcher: OK, I can tell it right now, because I've been holding it in for many years, but actually I was on my way down to kill him [Euronymous] myself. And when it happened, I saw the morning paper, thinking "F**k, I gotta get home to my place and get out all the weapons and drugs and shit I had in my house, because they're coming to my house because I'm probably going to be the No. 1 suspect for this."
This isn't the most shocking part of the saga, however. Necrobutcher speculates that the Norwegian police... were secretly listening in on Euronymous' phone conversations!
Necrobutcher: Because they bugged [Euronymous' phone], and he actually talked about killing people before [...] so they probably were thinking to themselves, "We didn't nail this guy for all the church burnings, so let's nail him for murder, and get rid of this f–king guy in Oslo the same time." So that's basically what happened.
The is big, if true, as it would mean the police were potentially aware that Euronymous' life was in danger in the summer of 1993. Of course, it is only speculation, but the idea is certainly interesting.
And the fact that Euronymous used to deliver death threats routinely to other black metal musicians has been confirmed by pretty much everyone involved in the Norwegian scene. So would Mayhem have been any different today, if not for the unfortunate events of 1991 and 1993? Who knows...
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