Lachryma Christi: Interview with Svart Lotus (NOR)

Today Lachryma Christi brings you an interview with Tor R. Stavenes, the founder of Svart Lotus. You possibly know him from other bands such as 1349. Very talented musician, started Svart Lotus as a solo project, which later became a band.

They have released since 2016 an EP (Svart Lotus) and an album (Stemmer Fra Dypet), so Lachryma Christi was too curious to know what's coming up next!

So, let's see what Tor R. Stavenes has to say in this interview.

Note: All photos taken off the band's Facebook page.

Is it true that Svart Lotus started as a solo project? If so, how did it go from solo project to a band?

The band started out with me and an acoustic guitar. I still have some hours worth of recordings from those sessions. But I met a great drummer by chance and started jamming. As the jam sessions progressed I realized that I want to play this material live, and that i am the kind of person that needs to be in a rehearsal room making music with my friends. I also found another guitarist whose skill and technicality was superior to mine, and this lineup recorded the Svart Lotus EP in 2015We did some very local small shows and borrowed the bassist from the drummers band, another proficient musician with vocal skills, and with him the band is complete.

What does Svart Lotus mean, as in the name for the band?

Svart Lotus literally means Black Lotus in norwegian. It is a fictional flower in the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, used by magicians to grant them visions of ultimate realities. A lotus is also something beautiful rising from the muck so metaphorically I felt the name was right on all levels.

Svart Lotus is not a very very traditional Black Metal band. There are other influences as well, even some Doom, I would say. Where is it that you get the inspiration for your music?

Svart Lotus was meant to be an expression of all of me, and eventually all of us (in the band), so any impulses were welcomed. Some may know me from other bands where I explore the more puristic forms of black metal so doing that in this band was never an issue. It was much more about expressing the other things that are inside me. I listen to a lot of different things and these influences were all allowed to come out in Svart Lotus.

What about the lyrics? What are they about?

The lyrics are telling stories, mostly. Weird lovecraftian tales. But I did not write conceptual albums lyrically so there are room for expressing other things as well. I decided to go personal when i was not being fictional. The lyrics for the songs are available on our website:(https://svartlotusband.wixsite.com/svartlotus)

Although the project/band exists since around 2012, only in 2016 you recorded your first release, the EP, also named Svart Lotus. Why did it take so long to release something?

Ah, well, the name Svart Lotus came to me in 2015, before that the title and indeed the direction of the material was not set in stone. The Svart Lotus EP is basically side A : songs made right before recording and side B : the best of the old material.

Since the album was self-released, self-recorded, self-financed etc I had the time to be very critical and very deliberate and indeed take the time to make it as good as possible.

The album Stemmer Fra Dypet is quite diferent, and varied, and even exotic, if we can put it that way. And looks like the first track, also called Stemmer Fra Dypet, holds something even more exotic. It has different languages at the very ending. How did that idea come up?

Thank you for those kind words. I wanted it to be varied, yet coherent, the exotic is a byproduct of being influenced by a lot of things.

The title refers to A: the voices from the deep as in a reference to the telepatic commands of Cthulhu who waits dead but dreaming in the city of R'lyeh under the sea.

But also B: a metaphor for the voices in my head. I self-sabotage a lot. I have doubts, fears, anxiety and other bullshit that tells me I am useless and should never do music, etc etc. So Svart Lotus was in some ways a way of showing myself and those voices that I can write music, I can play guitar, I can be a frontman etc etc. However, back on topic: As we were recording that song I had this idea for the last part that I wanted a lot of voices, and I had recently played in Japan and met Mirai from SIGH, and I just sent him a message and asked if he would be willing to contribute some vocals... in Japanese.... He accepted, and did awesome work. The snowball started rolling and I contacted a lot of people I know who speak different languages, thinking that wouldn't it be cool if someone from a totally different country would listen to the song and hear a voice in their own language popping out. Maybe the voices are in your head too ?

Stemmer Fra Dypet came out only last year, 2018. However, it would be nice to here more music of you! Is there any plan for a new release in the near future?

Thank you, we are currently working on a song for a split release with MORK, but the plan is to record a new album again this autumn.

Since you are from Norway, where the Black Metal scene is very popular, how do you see it?

I dont know how to answer that really, because it might be that the Norwegian black metal «scene» is popular outside of Norway, but here it is ... pretty underground still. There are bands that have made it big enough outside of Norway that the mainstream grudgingly have to approve them but people coming to Norway expecting metal to be mainstream will be disappointed.

Do you consider your journey has been an easy one, looking back since the very beginning?

Comparatively speaking, I'd say that yes it has been quite easy in terms of me having the means to record at home. I have been lucky that I met wonderful, talented musicians here in the middle of nowhere, nNrway.

I had to put in the hours of work to learn to play the guitar properly, writing the songs etc etc. And I did not get signed and turned into a rockstar overnight either hehehe.

There was always those voices from the deep... But I can't complain.

I still believe that quality will shine through and making music is its own reward. I would love to tour and go around the world with Svart Lotus and I think that if I keep at it and work I will eventually get there.

Some members of Svart Lotus have side bands/projects. How is it to reconcile them all?

Careful planning, prioritizing and communication.

What was your most remarkable show so far?

We have been lucky to play shows with good friends who are good bands, and as a band we grow with each show and get better and more confident. So the most recent show is the most remarkable so far.

You have some shows coming up soon. How excited are you? Is it going to be a busy Summer?

We are getting ready for a club show and a festival show, happy to be out there with our friends, making new friends and hoping new shows will bring us more shows. Playing live is great, the whole band loves playing live and would like to play as much as humanly possible. I have some other bands playing shows this summer so for me personally it will be quite busy, Svart Lotus could have been busier but all in good time.

What would you say to someone who is starting a band right now?

Grab your friends, grab some instruments and go for it. Don't give up, it is quite normal that things sound ... eh... interesting ... for a while until you find direction and your own thing. But play, put your heart and your soul into what you do, be in the rehearsal room and jam it out. Quality will shine through.

Lachryma Christi wishes you all the best, and hopes to hear more of your music soon. Is there anything else you would like your followers and also Lachryma Christi to know about Svart Lotus?

I believe in credit where it is due. The works of the artist Danny Larsen (https://www.dannylarsen.no/) has been a massive inspiration for Svart Lotus and we are eternally grateful to him for his art and his friendship.

The mixing/mastering (as well as guitar) wizardry of Jarrett Pritchard has been integral to Svart Lotus sounding the way it does. All the people supporting us, in so many ways, you know who you are, we are indebted to you.