Apocalyptic chanson band MIEL NOIR: "Without boundaries or rules of any genre"

What collaborations were/are the most interesting and important to You and why?

Both of us have worked with a lot of different projects and artists. Each of these collaborations led to something else, something different and something that has in a way brought us forward. The one collaboration that led directly to (us being together in) Miel Noir was with Gerhard of Allerseelen. Playing with him in Allerseelen brought us together, got Marcel to join in with Svarrogh, then got us  to co-found Fahl… and finally to join forces in Miel Noir.

What are the main ideas are behind Your music? Could You name Your favorite Your compositions / albums / collaborations? What about the new album?

The main idea behind the music of Miel Noir is that we wanted to do all the stuff we liked. Without boundaries or rules of any genre. It’s about letting ones inspirations flow and just follow them. Most of the Miel Noir – material deals with emotions of some sort and it doesn’t really matter if the song uses some else’s poetry or our own.

Picking a favorite of one’s own compositions is hard. It’s easier to point out the one that made it clear where the project was going, and that’s the track named like the project (in the German translation): “Schwarzer Honig”. It was the last song we performed at our very first gig and the crowd’s reaction lead to the joint decision to “turn this side-project into a proper band”.

We like each release/album, simply because “creating something after our own taste” is the main driving force of the project. The new album has increased the variety of sounds and (sub-) genres even more and (at least in our opinion) has shown that we’ve gotten better (both technically and with regards to writing/arranging).

The sound is magic. You‘ve proved it. But, what ends, when there‘s no sound?

People who enjoy music as much as we do would somehow wither away (or at least suffer) without music. “No sound” would mean “silence”. Leopold Stokowski said: “A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.” That idea sounds appealing to us.

What is and what is not a Sound Art?

That’s a rather difficult question, because one should always acknowledge the subjectivity of art. There may be cases where stuff is merely pretentious, derivative and without creativity, but these are rare. One just has to find one’s own art (form). When we’re talking about “harshness”, we go up to a level of rhythmic industrial music that still has song structure. There are so many projects on a higher level of the aforementioned harshness that create (undoubtedly) “art with sounds”… it’s just not “our kind of art”. We applaud them, we respect them but we just don’t participate on that level.

What do You think about relations between the old art and computer art? Are they compatible?

The computer is a tool. Like the guitar. Or like brush and canvas. It just depends of how you use it and it hugely depends on the user’s intentions. In the fields of the “old art” a painter could copy some else’s style, technique or even forge the actual painting. Computers make it easier to duplicate stuff, but with the right intentions you can create your art without copying.

In a sense, all art is derivative. But that’s okay. It’s good to “stand on the shoulders of giants”, as they say, as long as you’ve got the right intentions. With that said, it could be argued, that there’s no difference between old and new art. It’s a continuation with other means (and other tools).

What do You think about thousands of neofolk/industrial/ambient/tribal/electroacoustic/avantgarde etc. bands/projects? Is it a kind of trend, o just a tendency forwards better music?

All those different parts of the dark music-scene have become so internationally linked and created so much networking that you simply can’t keep up with all new names, labels and sounds. It’s hard to call it a “trend”, because there surely are more people doing their pop- and hip-hop – stuff everywhere than neofolk. It’s a good thing that many people start their own projects because that’s how you get a few really good bands later… through refinement over time. Good music will succeed in time.

What do You know about Lithuania? How and when did You come to it? What Lithuanian and foreign musicians do You value most?

We’ve played the Mėnuo Juodaragis festival in 2007 with both our projects Allerseelen and Svarrogh. We had a great time in Lithuania and met so many nice people (organizers, fellow musicians, fans). And as for the musicians: It’s not just that we like them, we took part in the Rinktinė – compilation with both our projects Svarrogh and Allerseelen, so we share stage and CD with them. All of them people we got to meet, saw perform and who are on the CD deserve support. If you don’t know it yet, check out the Mėnuo Juodaragis “Rinktinė” – compilation!

Could You tell, please, some words about my initiative to print the first book about experimental music / Sound Art (i call it postmusic) of Lithuania (and, at least, Eastern Europe)?

After we got to see the vibrant Baltic scene at Mėnuo Juodaragis first hand, we wholeheartedly approve of these efforts! There seemed to be a lot more going in your area than where we are from, both in terms of sheer (fan) numbers as in the joy of life that we witnessed at MJR. We’d just ask that the book be made available in English (as well), so that the rest of us can take part in that vibrant scene a little more.

What inspires You most?

The short answer would be “life”. It’s hard to pick one thing, especially given the variety of topics we cover. As for an overall imagery that we use a lot of the time, we do tend to stick with “honey and bees in all different religious, mythological and esoteric traditions” (and even that is kind of vague).

What are You working on right now?

There are a couple of tracks in the works for a new album, a couple of compilation-tracks and even some collaboration - tracks. We’ve had a long time between the last two albums and there was more material than for just one CD. One compilation track has already been announced (and there’s an excerpt on youtube); it’s an exclusive for the upcoming ETOR compilation and the track “Honey Offering (Demeter’s March)” was written specifically for our friends in Greece. There’s more Allerseelen material coming and the Miel Noir vocalist Fay is going to join Allerseelen for more than one track. Our side-project Fahl has just released a split-CD with TONTTU and P. Emerson Williams… so there’s a lot of stuff going on.

What does Your band name mean to You?

Miel Noir, the “black honey“ is a combination of two seemingly opposite forces. It’s darkness. But sweet. It gives the listener an idea of what we are, but it also gives freedom to move between the two opposing points. The honey and the bees give us a lot of inspiration and the darkness, the black stuff… that’s where we came from. Even though it’s called “avant-garde pop” (which covers all the stuff we; Neoclassic/Martial/Piano/Ambient/Industrial/Electro-EBM/Wave/what-have-you), we never denied our (Black) Metal and (Dark) Folk – roots. It’s easier to understand Miel Noir if you know where we are coming from. After all, we did release the cover of Tiamat’s “Whatever that hurts”. We never left those influences behind. We just added more things. And we will continue to do so.

Thank you very much for this interview and your support!

Thank You for Your Music.

Links:

http://www.miel-noir.net

https://mielnoir.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Miel-Noir/279088892111570

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1086789-Miel-Noir