CVLT Nation
Artist to Artist Interviews
Walk Through Fire Vs. Age of Woe

One of my favorite bands from Sweden right now is Age of Woe, so when they agreed to be a part of our Artist to Artist Interviews series, I was stoked. It gets better, because they asked their homies Walk Through Fire, another stellar Swedish band, to interview them, and the results are awesome! After the jump, peep what Age of Woe had to say. Also, stay tuned for part two tomorrow – Age of Woe Vs Walk Through Fire, plus a Sonic Cathedrals is in the works!

This interview is conducted between Sonny Stark from Age of Woe and Ufuk Demir from Walk Through Fire.

Blastbeat or d-beat?

Sonny: D-beat.

Swedish death metal or Norwegian black metal?

Sonny: Swedish death metal.

Pacifism or armed revolution?

Sonny: An armed revolution against a pacifist enemy.

A hike to the mountains or booze at a dirty pub?

Sonny: Tough call. I’ll have to chose both. Nothing beats a hike the day after.

Pirating music – good or bad?

Sonny: As a weapon against a capitalistic and profit hungry market, I think it’s good.

From what and where do you find inspiration for your music?

Sonny: We find it within ourselves, it’s an outlet for all the anger, frustration and hate we feel. In the end, it’s what keeps us sane. We also draw inspiration from all the countless bands we like and we try to write powerful songs that make you want to wave your fist and scream along. I’d say we are all about the energy, drive and groove, but in a heavy and hard hitting way. We are all from different backgrounds, even though we’ve all been into the hardcore punk/crust scene for a long long time, and that’s what we embrace in the end. That’s what creates the Age of Woe sound, all the different influences and takes on things.

If you could choose any band – active or not – to tour with, which band would it be?

Sonny: Oh, that’s a tough one, there are so many to chose from. But one band that I always think about when asked this question is Entombed. I imagine that touring with Entombed would be a wicked ride and a big party. But I could be wrong. If a tour with Entombed would never happen, I’d definitely go with another all time favourite band; Nausea. That would be amazing. Just put on their album “Extinction” (Profane Existence Records) from 1990 and you’ll understand. Amazing stuff.

For a band that has existed for such a short period of time you have been rather successful (if success is defined by the quantity of live shows and media exposure). Why is that so?

Sonny: I guess we are all very eager to see things moving and get things done. We have all been in bands before where we more or less have been the driving force in those bands. Now we are five driving forces in one band and that is probably why we get stuff done so fast. I guess some of us were very tired of being in defunct bands that weren’t so active, and we all entered this band with an idea of actually giving it a 100%. Another factor is that we all have a lot of connections and contacts in all possible directions from being in bands for such a big part of our lives, so now when we have been able to use all the knowledge and experience we’ve gathered over the years, things seems to happen. In the end, we just want to have a good time playing shows, recording and do what we love. Why not do it as much and often as you possibly can?

Would you say that Age of Woe is a political band?

Sonny: In a way, yes. I still believe that everything we say or do is political, even though most people would never accept that. Whatever you do, say or think it will affect other people and that’s what politics is, and as long as you react to things going on around you, you are a political person. So in that sense, I’d say that we are a political band and we do bring up political topics into our lyrics. But I wouldn’t say that we are bound to a certain ideology as a band. We are still 5 different people with different ways of seeing things, but I’d say we place ourselves far to the left on a left to right scale. Music is a powerful tool and it would feel like a waste if we didn’t have things to say with our songs.

How come you chose to do this interview together with Walk Through Fire?

Sonny: First and foremost, because we are good friends and because we like what Walk Through Fire does, which is quality music. But also because there are a lot of similarities between Age of Woe and Walk Through Fire, maybe not so much musically, but it’s definitely there. The nerve, the angst and the fury presented in a filth-driven and punky way. We are both active in the underground music scene, and I think it’s important to support each other as much as we can.

Age of Woe
www.ageofwoe.net
www.facebook.com/ageofwoe
ageofwoe.bandcamp.com

Images and header by Daniel Falk