Svarrogh began as a black metal band, but it has become something much more idiosyncratic than that. Please describe how your interest in black metal developed, and who the earliest black metal bands you liked were. Were there any bands which specifically inspired the formation of Svarrogh? What was it that attracted you about black metal – what did you understand its central message to be? And what made you decide to develop Svarrogh’s sound away from black metal towards a more industrial-folk hybrid sound? Well actually I am not really up-to-date whats going on with any scene, but I always like to pick up some great jewels - the last marvelous records I heard were from Lunar Aurora, Urfaust and Drudkh. Of course every single person is influenced by many different sources and other inspirations, and it would be even better, if we all could stand without influences, to create something own, but this is hardly possible. Maybe I was kinda amazed by the eastern european pagan scene at the end of the millenium. And to me dark and somber atmosphere in music has always been like a red blossom for the bees. I would also like to say, that Black Metal is not the only way to express darkness and “negative” emotions, but it is indeed the most powerful and hauntingly expression for me, if it is done good - deep, black abyss. I really cannot stand all that melodic metal, and metal music itself is nothing more but lifeless rock business and cheap entertainment. Playing loud guitars and headbanging is not enough to create something more than just music. That is the big problem with metal - most of the people are musicians, but they are not artists and on the other hand you see other music styles (for example neofolk) where most of the people are artists, but they are not musicians. The best mixture of those two elements is the basic for a good band. Back to your question - between Black Metal and normal metal music should be an abyss  - why beeing a part of an music circus for the masses, who just want to listen to aggressive music without any deeper intention, about cogitations of unexplained emotions, death and transcendence. Svarrogh´s sound changed because I felt the need of change and challenge, life is too short to determine yourself only on one thing - I think we must not wear blinkers. The latest Svarrogh album, Yer Su, though, has much more prominent black metal tendencies than Balkan Renaissance or Temple Of The Sun. Do you feel able to re-incorporate black metal into your music now that the point has been made that Svarrogh isn’t simply a black metal band? No, I dont think so. You cannot declare everything Black metal only because there is some fuzzy guitar and see how the little Gothic kids are running away from a guitar riff. I said already, there are several and very different elements to express the beeing of nature and the earth. In the first albums the symbiosis of folk and black metal was not satisfying for me and I cannot predict the future, we will see, but Svarrogh is definetely not a black metal band. I believe that Svarrogh has always been basically your solo project, although you have used lots of guest musicians on your albums and of course you have a regular live line-up. Have you ever considered forming Svarrogh as a regular band with other musicians, or are you happy with it as a solo project? Due to the fact that I am playing in several other groups, I am really happy to have my own thing, my own compositions and creations. Nevertheless, the people I work with who are guests on the recordings always bring their ideas and visions into the music and that is always very nice. It is also nice to see, how other musicians are working on a special theme or lyrics I have given to them before. As our live performances differ a lot from the songs on the recordings - also due to the live musicians - you can say that on stage we are working like a real band. Currently I am looking for more musicians to extend the line-up. Please tell me something about your working methods – how a song is constructed, the kind of technology you use, where you record etc. I have a very bad equipment, you cannot imagine what a cheap recording technique I use, but the results are always good to my pretence. Here at my home studio in Munich I record the basic instruments and arrangements and do the mixing and mastering. For special effects, drum recordings and synthies I use a proffessional studio of my ex-guitar player Arioch. A song begins with yearning and ends with stress and often with the mistake to overload it. I try to compose the arrangements and not only to put different parts together. I try to paint with the tones and sounds to create a music picture of imagination. I try. However, mainly I compose on guitar or tamboura, sometimes on piano. The construction of a song has to unforeseeable and the contrasts of harsh and soft elements is important. One of the musicians you do a lot of work with is Gerhard from the Austrian band Allerseelen, who did guest vocals on the Temple Of The Sun EP, and who performs with you at live shows. You are also part of the current Allerseelen live line-up. Can you explain how you started to work with Gerhard, and how important he has been for Svarrogh. Did you, for instance, start to release Svarrogh albums on the Austrian label Ahnstern as a result of knowing Gerhard? I can only say, that Gerhard was and is a big help for Svarrogh with organisating concerts and finding such a great label like Ahnstern for me. We started to work more than 3 years ago, by an complete accident, after huge antifa rumours of the Allerseelen concert in Rosenheim. He also introduced me to a lot of people of the neofolk community. You also have a close association with the Bulgarian photographer and designer HaateKaate, who has done the cover art for the last three Svarrogh releases. How did that partnership happen? Gerhard introduced me to Katia (HaateKaate) after coming back from his trip he made in Bulgaria. And we met last year for the first time on a festival in Xanthi, Greece where she had an exhibition this year. She is a great photographer and artist, maybe the best I know myself and also the one with most magic visions on common things and situations. I rely on her with all future Svarrogh artworks. Are there any other people who have been very influential on Svarrogh? Yes of course - all of the great and lovely guests helped me with the recordings and their crea(c)tive ideas. What are the key inspirations for the music of Svarrogh? Tell me about any literature, art, history and philosophy which you feel has been influential for Svarrogh. And of course, the Bulgarian landscape which is referred to so often in Svarrogh songs. Where should I begin - first of all, every day passing is influencing me personally and thus the music of Svarrogh. Previously my nostalgia to my fatherland was the main source of inspiration and it still it is, even though in another, more mature way. The wide thracian landscape, a golden granary - the silent and solitude mountains Pirin, Sredna Gora, Rhodopa, so wild and nearly untouched, the Black Sea during December, the sleeping villages and the rural life of the people - a heritage from my ancestors and a hommage to those through music and lyric. The 19th centurie´s balkan renaissance as a heroic and passionate fight of the hayduks for culture and freedom - and so did all art and poetry during this period, a fight with quilts and ink. I used a lot of works of bulgarian writers like P.K. Yavorov (the last EP “After the shadows of the clouds” was completely dedicated to his life), Ivan Vazov or Elin Pelin. But also the ancient slavic and bulgarian mythology and heathen philosophy/spirituality is a deep well for my music. As I am one of only few people who want to combine slavic and bulgarian (bolg-aryan) traditions - the bulgarians weren´t a slavic people, they were a asiatic horse-people from the depths of the holy mountain Immeon (Pamir). The southern slavs with their pantheon (which differs a lot from that of the northern and eastern slavs, as it is more zoroastric) and the bulgarians with their tangrism, a cult to the sky-god Tangra, shamanistic, however with an own runic alphabet. You can say the first album “Baxas Xebesheth 1883" was mainly slavic paganism, “Lady Vitosha” and “Kukeri”, bulgarian and slavic mythology and heathendom, very strong spiritualistic and esoterique, especially “Kukeri”, while “Balkan Renaissance” was dedicated to the balkan art of the 19th century and “Temple of the sun”, was a sun-cult oriented album with a lot of surealist and symbolist lyrics. Can you describe the Bulgarian pagan mythology behind the Yer Su album, including the album title itself. What does ‘Yer Su’ mean? What does ‘Svarrogh’ mean, come to that? What is ‘Tangrism’? What is the ‘Yer Su rune’? Yer Su means in protobulgarian water-earth. It stands for the spirits of the ancestors living on shores, in caves, rivers and forests. They represent together with mother earth Umay - the earthern life and cosmos. While Tangra is the eternal sky-god (Tan-sky, Nak-Human, Ra-God - and some researchers apply Tan of a chinese origin T´ien and Ra of an old-sumeric one). About the ritual practising of Yer Su, there is a huge lack of documents. But sacrifices and small provisory altars were found among rivers and caves while Tangra had its “own” official altars and temples. Anyway, the main theme of Tangrism the eternal cosmic harmony, which is the man´s duty to preserve - together with his powers and to reach the wind horse Vihrogon towards the sky. About the rune - it is not documented that Yer Su had a special symbol; the IYI is the Tangra rune and later the symbol of the Dulo-clan, the first Khans (kings) of the bulgarian Sarakt (Reich). Many ex-communist countries in central and eastern Europe have undergone a great resurgence of paganism since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Has this happened in Bulgaria? These pagan revivals are also often associated with ethnic pride, folk traditions and nationalist politics – again, is this the case in Bulgaria? Do you have any formal involvement in Bulgarian paganism? Definetely many people and groups in the eastern european countries develop nacionalistic movements after 50 years of communist slavery - new national identites wake up after a long rest. But in Bulgarian there is not a pagan movement - this is taking place more in the slavic countries - in Bulgaria there is a strong natinalistic movement. We dont have such Neo-heathen festivals like in Lithuania or Russia, but our traditional folklore festivals and Kukeri games are widely practicated and supported. You are currently resident in Munich, Germany, and yet Svarrogh’s music is deeply concerned with Bulgarian identity, landscape and culture. Is your music essentially nostalgic for your homeland? Do you think your interest in Bulgarian identity has actually intensified as a result of no longer being there? This is a very interesting question and I think you are right. But the time is healing all wounds, even the deepest - now I can look more clearly on these things and the nostalgia does not take a big place in my mind. I visit my fatherland as often as possible and I know that my heart belongs there and that some day I will go back, but I love also Germany. On the other hand, if I would live in Germany, I dont think I would have created such songs as they are now in Svarrogh. But not only heritage and identity is very important for Svarrogh, but also the surreal vision on nature, on mankind and on our nests - the big grey cities we live in, the industrial organism. Do you have any more releases planned for 2008? What about live performances? Or compilation appearances? What about your other project, Miel Noir – is there anything happening with that? We are always looking for opportunities for new shows and on 27th of September we wil play at the Mediterranean Autumn Festival in Barcelona together with Camerata Mediolanense, Arnica, Die Weisse Rose, Allerseelen and many more. After that I think to give Svarrogh a little creative break to concentrate on a triple Split CD with 2 great bands from Catalonia and Greece - Arnica and Defile des Ames. The new songs will be very powerful, but also very slow & somber, melancholic and with a more simple instrumentation - just right to the point! The Eastern Front Records are planning the first full length release of Miel Noir called “Der Honigflügel” (the honey piano, but you can translate “Flügel” also as “wing”) - it will be a very different album without heavy drones, but with a lot of apocalyptic chanson piano.It will be released on the live performance in Tel Aviv, January next year.  And I will also concentrate on the new albums of Sturmpercht and Allerseelen, which have to be recorded this year. Anything else you’d like to add? Thank you, Simon, for your kind support - see you some day again somewhere. Stop the non-smoking madness!!!