Hamferd – 28-03-2014

Interview with: Jón Aldará, Theodor Kapnas
By: Basak Günel

The Faroese doom metallers Hamferd were the support act of Amorphis in the second leg of the Circle European tour. Their unique sound and the fact that they come from the Faroe Islands caught my attention so I interviewed the vocalist Jón Aldará and the guitarist Theodor Kapnas in Düsseldorf on 28-03-2014 about the band’s sound, the tour and the upcoming plans.

Welcome to Germany, guys! How is the tour going? This show is one of the last shows of this tour so how are you feeling about it?
Jón: It’s going pretty good actually. We have this tour and two more shows. We played well so far and it’s really great. We went through Eastern Europe and had some really good shows there. Coming to Germany was great as well.

You were in Germany and in Europe last time in 2011 when you toured with Crimfall. What is different this time? What changed in 3 years?
Jón: We are probably a bit more known this time and also Amorphis is a bit more of a popular metal band. In that respect, we are subjected to far bigger crowds. That’s the big difference for me; bigger crowds and being more known.
Theodor: One more difference is also that although Amorphis’ music is quite different from what we do, there are the same themes in the music so we have similarities.

The name of the band also caught my attention. What does “Hamferd” mean?
Jón: It’s a vision of a person like seeing a ghost. It’s a sort of a warning that the person will probably die. It was used back in the days; it’s a superstitious thing that the sailor wives back home would either dream or see their husbands or someone else’s husbands and they would never come back.

How did the band get formed then? How did the idea arise?
Jón: It was a simple thing in the beginning because John [Egholm, guitarist] wanted to make doom metal that was a bit different than anything else in Faroe Islands and so we did it for this competition called “Global Battle of the Bands” . We only had 10 minutes to play and we played an 8 minute long song and just thought “This is kind of cool, we will write in Faroese”. We went on stage and that was kind-of it for the beginning but the idea stayed with us and we kept doing more. It was a slow process.

You were formed in 2008 and in 6 years’ time, you have made a lot of progress; you have won competitions and now you are touring with a huge band. What was your recipe for this success then?
Theodor: I don’t think there is one recipe. We were lucky that we had an idea and the concept at the start. Once you have the right idea and you know what to do and it’s different from others, then everything suddenly becomes a lot easier and more unique. There is also a lot of hard work involved but I also think the fact that we come from the Faroe Islands made us lucky; there’s a strong musical scene there and there’s a good support for music and the bands. When you hear a German/Swedish/American band, you can understand from their music if they are Swedish, German or American because you are influenced by what you hear and we are lucky to come from a country which doesn’t have many bands. We do what’s natural for us. The music is unique and we come from Faroe Islands so this makes us lucky in that aspect.

What are your inspirations musically?
Jón: Six of us listen to different music. It’s an interesting combination of people and that’s what makes it interesting. There’s a core that we want to make but the details around it and the way we form it makes it special because there are different influences. I would never cite any specific bands in the doom scene; I listen to Candlemass but I mostly listen to weird stuff as well; progressive and things that don’t make sense. Norwegian avant-garde like Borknagar and Arcturus, I love them and Rotting Christ is one of my favorites.
Theodor: It depends on which mood I am in. I have death metal periods and then periods in which I listen to classical music. But the band which inspired me the most is Iron Maiden. I started listening to them when I was 4 or 5 and the next 10 years, I just kept listening to Iron Maiden. Nowadays I listen to a lot of different stuff; mostly metal.

Your lyrics are all in Faroese language. Do you plan to write in English?
Jón: The Faroese language can’t be separated from the band. I couldn’t imagine a scenario where it makes sense writing in English. It adds something when you sing in your native language.

What is the meaning behind the songs in the album?
Jón: The album is tied to the first EP and it’s a concept album; it’s about a man who goes through various stages of his life. The EP was dealing with the man’s different stages of death that he went through and this one is more like the pre stages of that; it goes one stage back. He goes up on a mountain with his son and he loses his son so the album is about his search of his son. He meets the people of the mountains, which can be found in the Faroese folklore as well, and falls in love with this woman but he has no idea of what he is doing there, he doesn’t belong in this mountain; the mountain is not for humans and he goes crazy and kills the woman and he desperately goes in search of his son and throws himself off the cliff in hopes of being with him.

What can you say about highlights of this tour? Were there any crazy moments?
Theodor: Interesting stuff has been going on actually. We had a bit of trouble online especially today [on the day of the concert]. I and John [Egholm, guitarist] have decided to do a side-project back home, which is a joke death-metal band which is about whale killing and we only played one show. Somebody found this project and started protesting against us here in Düsseldorf.
Jón: First time we experienced it here. It also happened in Switzerland as well. It’s in the news and all.
Theodor: Today [on the day of the concert, 28.03.2014] we had to write a statement telling that our band is not about whale killing. We are not whale killers and we don’t sing about whale killing. We only played one show with the band.

Do you have any ‘dream countries’ where you would love to tour?
Jón: Hopefully everywhere. Touring in Asia would be a cool experience but generally we have fans all over the world.
Theodor: There’s a small group of Hamferd fans in Tehran, Iran following our page, which is really cool.

What are the upcoming plans of the band?
Theodor: We have a few festivals coming this summer and I think we are slowly going to write songs for the new album. Tuska festival, Summer Breeze, Wave Gothic Treffen, Hammer of Doom and a few more are the festivals in which we are going to play in and there are some others which we haven’t announced yet. We will be quite busy.
Jón: We never played huge European festivals like that. This will be our first festival summer.

Special thanks to: Jón Aldará, Theodor Kapnas and TUTL Management

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