interview with the Askemåne group
The project is promoted as a style of folk metal neo-dark pagan imbued with a touch of modernity, where the shamanic and ceremonial aspect is dressed in a contemporary sound. The result is profound, offering an almost meditative spiritual dimension. The will of the group is to offer more than just Music.
Alan – Hi gang, how are you doing with your first album?
Askemåne - Hi Alan, it’s a pleasure to be here!
Fortunately, it’s doing pretty well. We play an unusual but accessible type of music (at least it is unusual in France…) and while we were composing and recording, we hoped that people would share the same pleasure listening, than we feel playing it.
The public gave “Gravitasjon” a warm welcome and we’re very grateful for that.
Alan - Quick question. Who are you, who makes up the band, and how long have you been around?
Askemåne - We’re Askemåne, a french band, composed by :
Ølrendyr : Bass singer and tom bass player
Asufelt : Medium Bass singer, conga player, and main composer
Liv’ : Soprano singer and drums player
Honningrukke : Drummer
Everything started with Ølrendyr singing in the ruins of a church. The magnitude of the sound there gave him the idea of making it bigger, with more voices and drums.
Then there’s a friendship between Ølrendyr and Asufelt, who, by talking about it over and over, made the dream come true and started composing in the end of 2021.
Alan – You have made a very wide range of genres that you combine in your work. How would you describe the music you make, and how exactly would you classify it?
Askemåne - We’re inspired by many styles of music, mainly Neo Folk, but also other world music. We’re currently working on new songs with oriental and metal consonance.
In our songs you can ear some traditional musics, electronic sounds, or big drums as well. So we guess we’re a kind of hybrid between Folk, Chamanic and Trance musics, that we like to call : Neo-Dark Folk!
Alan – How did you get the band together? How did you find each other?
Askemåne - Well Asuf and Ølrendyr were friends at first, they played music and sang together. That’s the way they created the bases of the album. After having composed most of the songs, they asked on social media for a new singer and drum player.
That's how Liv’ met them in 2022, and it worked! And then Honningrukke, who was a friend of Liv’, was invited to join the band in 2023.
Alan – How did you decide on the given genre, style? Or do you all listen to pagan music? And which of you speaks Norwegian?
Askemåne - Asuf and Ølrendyr are the founders of the group and as fans of the Neo Folk style, they are naturally inspired by it. So the style has been defined at first, before Liv’ and Honningrukke joined the band. Obviously, they joined because they liked the genre, but also, they were free to add their own styles in tracks.
No one of us speak Norwegian, but we try to learn!... But for the moment, we work with translators in Norway.
Alan – Having mentioned Norwegian, you have lyrics in both French and Norwegian + some shamanic mumbling. Where do you get the pattern?
Askemåne - There’s no real pattern… It comes intuitively, depending on the emotion of the music and what we want to express.
We try to get the best out of each language: the musicality of the Norwegian language, the poetry of the French language, and the spontaneity of intuitive language.
Alan – If you had to say 5 groups that you are closest to, which are they?
Askemåne - Our main inspirations : Heilung, Dzivia, Danheim, Warduna, Munkörr
Alan – Try to briefly describe the songs to us, what they are about.
Energiomlegging - The action of letting go, being close to nature, refocusing, and living day by day.
Vinter Saga - Reference to Ragnarök and the legends of eternal winter.
Lubne Gudine - Praise of femininity and abundance.
Stjernehealing - Connection with the stars and rejuvenation. Literally means “Care by the stars”.
Askeregn - The paths of incarnation that bring us to who we really are.
Skeggold Skalmold - Warrior song.
I Rotasjon - The duality between the light side and the dark side of the moon.
Dyaul - Song about expression, free to interpret.
Skumring - The ancestral song of the forests.
Moonlight - Suggestive title, free to interpret.
Alan – The Gravitasjon album is your debut. The reviews I looked at were mostly positive. Not only in zines but also on the radio. What did they say about you? For me / for our medium, I can say, it is very good.
Askemåne - Thanks a lot, Alan!
Yes, it’s been a beautiful surprise to us to read or to hear such nice words about our music. We try to do our best to build an atmosphere around the show, and it seems to work well… Some people say they felt like in a Tolkien’s book, and it amazes us. We appreciate being able sometimes, to make our public feel beyond the music.
Alan – You are a young group. After all, do you have a track record? I mean, any top festivals, offers from abroad to play, etc...? Perhaps even the use of one of your compositions as a background for a historical film?
Askemåne - No, not yet, but we’d love to compose for some movies or video games. We’re a young band so we need to be patient, but we keep on hoping and working hard. So far, we had the chance to shoot a music video for our song : Dyaul, which you can find on Youtube. We’re Proud of our collaboration with Raphaël Klein, we love his work.
Alan – Where have you already played, just list the top events, and I mean not only big festivals, but also events that were TOP for you.
Askemåne - We’re on stage since more than a year, but mainly, we will remind :
La guerre du son : a metal festival, with a lot a people, very receptive and very kind
Echo System : a beautiful stage with high quality of sound and lights
L’Art dans le Jardin : a festival with lots of artists, a nice experience to sing in a garden with people sitting on the grass, and kids playing and dancing around
Festival des Contances : an ecological festival, our stage was in a yurt, in the forest.
Le Pixel : a big bar in our city, the stage was next to a river, surrounded by mountains
Alan – So far you've only played in France, or have you been abroad as well? And where are you (perhaps) preparing to go abroad?
Askemåne - For the moment we’ve only played in France, and nothing’s officially planned abroad… until now… But we would enjoy traveling for our music and we’re ready to go further and further. We keep an eye on Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, but we would like to be able to extend the scope to other countries… If we could dream, why not try to play at “The Brutal Assault” one day? ;)
Alan – I'll ask a question for relief. Any funny performing experiences? From concerts but also from festivals, or from a trip to a concert or festival?
Askemåne - Oh yes we’ve got so many anecdotes, every moment is a kind of adventure. But in short :
Our smoke machine that cuts out the electricity of an entire festival
Do a climbing session with all our music and video equipment to reach the filming location of our music video
10 minutes of hiking (still with equipment) in underground galleries, to reach our stage, in the heart of disused mines
We went to play in Paris : our first car broke down. There were 5 of us traveling for four hours in a small car, , with our musical instruments, our personal bags, the scenography etc… and we survived!
Alan – Thanks for the interview, I hope we won't see each other for the last time, and maybe next year somewhere in the Czech Republic, or on the border with Bavaria. I wish you much success.
Askemåne - Thank you for your interest, we are delighted to have shared this moment together.
We have heard about the climatic events currently affecting the Czech Republic. Our best thoughts are with you.
