Teloch, the guitarist of Mayhem, took the time to share how his band is being affected by the Coronavirus and details on the new album Daemon.
Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band that emerged in the mid-80s and went on to influence countless bands with their uncompromisingly abrasive music and sordid history. The group courted controversy from their inception with their blood-soaked live performances, occult imagery, and ghoulish corpse paint. With the spread of COVID-19 putting all shows and tours on pause, Teloch, guitarist of Mayhem, took the time to chat with Loud Hailer about how the band is being affected and their new album.
LH: With the pandemic that’s happening, how is the Caronavirus affecting the band?
Teloch: As you know, we had to cancel our tour to America, of course, and instead of earning, we owe money because we have the tour cost, and we also have tons of merch that we didn’t get to sell that we now have to pay for. We even had to cancel two festivals after the American tour, so that’s how it affects the band. We are not allowed to work for at least two months now, I think. So it’s a big problem for us because this is our primary income, but everyone is healthy, and nobody died, so yeah, we can’t complain.
LH: Tell me about the new album Daemon.
Teloch: Daemon was the latest album released on Century Media in October last year. It’s maybe the first album in 25 years where everyone in the band has contributed to something where everyone wrote lyrics and worked on the music and everything, so it was a significant collaboration with everyone in the band.
LH: How did Daemon get its name?
Teloch: There were many names, but no one could agree on any that we had suggested. Daemon became the only one that everyone liked. It was also going along with the graphics of the album and some of the lyrics.
LH: Your press release stated Daemon isn’t a retrofit of De Mysteriis dom Sathanas. Would you say that influenced the writing?
Teloch: That influenced us to some extent, but we didn’t talk about doing something similar sounding to De Mysteriis. When it comes to songwriting, we did a few hours of sketches before we landed on what we released on the album. We were just trying out different stuff, and our main goal with the whole album was to make it more simple than something else we have released in the last couple of years, so we took it back old school.
LH: I attended the Demon Anthology show where you played a little something from every Mayhem album. Killer set by the way. Any influence for Daemon there, or was that a coincidence?
Teloch: A coincidence for sure. Thanks for coming. Did you photograph us as well? (Laughs)
LH: I was present, but I didn’t shoot the band at the time. Although speaking of shooting bands, for me it’s been missed. I’ll catch you guys again one day (laughs). Anyways, if you can think about one of the most memorable moments of your career thus far, what would it be?
Teloch: That will have to be when I played in a band Gorgoroth, and we played a concert in El Salvador. There was a big riot while we were playing (laughs). The craziest stuff I’ve ever experienced.
LH: That doesn’t sound fun, but quite the experience. Well, thank you, Teloch, for your time and for answering my questions. Stay safe out there.
Teloch: Thank you, and you as well. We’ll see you at a Mayhem show soon! Take care.
Mayhem’s latest album Daemon is available on all formats.
