Satyricon frontman Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven is not one to hold back his true feelings, and his latest statement may offend some of our readers in the midwest.
When asked by EMP Live TV, if he had any regrets, Satyr matter-of-factly responds that he hated playing shows in the midwest because nobody appreciated black metal there:
"My regrets are wasting the time and effort and energy of my band with playing small bars and clubs in the Midwest in the early 2000s where there was no apparent interest in Norwegian black metal. I remember Satyricon, Immortal, Krisiun, and Angel Corpse touring together, and we were all inexperienced when it came to touring the States. In a way, I'm just very thankful for the people who actually came out and supported us.
"I'm not one of those guys that want to, sort of, build a crowd. What I would like to do is to play in front of people who actually like the type of music that I like as opposed to trying to persuade them to like it."
I admire the guy for being honest and I can certainly understand his concern. It takes a lot of effort to haul all of your shit over to the States, spend time on visas and planes and all the travel. Then, you get to New York or a big city and it's a great show, but then you start hitting smaller towns and you realize there are no more people in the crew than in the crowd.
I've heard personal anecdotes as well from musicians that try to avoid smaller markets for this very reasons.
So the next time you ask why isn't such-and-such playing my town? This might be the reason!
In related news, Satyr revealed a few months back that he is recovering from a brain tumor diagnosis, which is hopefully benign by now.
[via Blabbermouth]
