Interview by: Nekro
Canada has a rich and stylistically diverse black metal scene, known for several years now to anyone watching the underground.
Coming soon, Dawn of Svarogh will be releasing their debut release through East Side Records out of Poland. This new record
combines harsh black metal, soothing acoustics and folk metal segments. Voices From The Underground talks to Pavel (ex-Feral Horde)
about the creation of their latest stunning record.
Since this is your first interview for Voices From The Underground and possibly your first interview for Dawn of Svarogh, could you
provide us with a brief history of the band up till now? Who are its members and have they been in any other projects other then
DOS?
The band was originally envisioned to be a continuation of Feral Horde, a cult Canadian black metal band that Ivan and I were a part of
that broke up in 2004. We originally had a full line-up ready to go live and into the studio, but as people’s lives and responsibilities got
in the way, the band became a project, and then got put on hiatus for several years. The recording finally commenced in the summer
of 2007 and was completed several months afterwards, but again, several factors had delayed the release until now. Dawn of Svarogh
is primarily the musical and lyrical vision of both Ivan and I, but luckily we had friends from other well-known Canadian bands that
offered to help with this initial recording, by both offering to play on it, and of course, record, mix, and master it.
Apart from Feral Horde, I have played in the bands Autumn Myst, Maniac, and Visions of the Night, and currently play in Demontage,
Twilight Hammer, and Morbid Ceremony.
Again, DOS was supposed to be a continuation of our previous band, but for reasons previously mentioned got put on hold. I wouldn’
t say that the commitments in my other bands held up the process. DOS is my primary vehicle for musical and self-expression,
however, such a personal expression requires the proper inspiration. I basically had to wait for a big personal catastrophe to befall me
in my regular life in order for me to feel that anger, hatred and contempt again, in order to create a black metal record. This came in
2007 and before I knew it, I found myself in the studio.
The other bands that I play(ed) in are regularly cited by my friends and critics as the potential reason why DOS took such a long time
to get going, but what these people fail to understand is that playing an instrument, just like speaking a language or exercising
personal fitness, requires constant use in order to stay vibrant. During the period where I lacked the inspiration for DOS, I couldn’t
allow myself to get lazy.
Finding any information about DOS through the internet is virtually impossible; can you give us a little information of your coming
release? What can we expect and when will it be unleashed?
DOS does not have a web-presence of any kind, nor an official release, therefore it is reasonable that there is no information on it,
which is great. There is nothing worse than people pimping their shitty projects 4 or 5 years in advance on sites like myspace, before
they actually have something in their hands to offer people.
That having been said, barring any further delays, our CD is coming out this year as a split with the Hungarian band Heldentod on East
Side Records.
Any plans on creating a My Space page or Website?
None at this time.
How were you able to secure a deal with East Side Records? Did they contact you or the other way around?
Ivan had sent East Side a pre-master of the record some time last year. The label enjoyed the music, and the rest fell into place.
"Svarogh". Does this have anything thing to do with the Slavic Sun god? How did you come up with the band name and what is the
meaning, or concept, behind it?
Correct. Since my early twenties I have always identified with this particular deity in the Slavic pantheon, primarily because of his
correlation in old manuscripts with the Greek Hephaestus, god of the blacksmiths or blacksmithing. I firmly believe that anyone can
achieve and create most anything that they desire through “smithing”, or the constant use of hammers and other tools (i.e. hard
work) when coupled with a focused flame (“forging”, or “focused desire and drive”). The name “Svarog” or “Svarogh” came to mean
something even more profound for me, around the time when I went into the studio in ’07. As I had alluded to earlier, I was going
through great personal upheavals at the time and DOS came to be my escape… it became synonymous with the process of
purification and rebirth, all of which the Sun and fire represent. The process took me into a clear and liberated state of mind, which
happens to be the etymology of the name, “svar” meaning clear, bright, clean, and “og” meaning place, or perhaps destination.
Choosing the Slavic equivalent of a solar deity worshipped by ancient cultures was of course the most appropriate, since the band was
always, at least loosely, meant to deal with subjects from my Croatian cultural heritage, which Ivan also shares.
The name of the band was actually something completely different for a period of time, but in a casual conversation with a friend who
was helping me with the recording process, the name “Dawn of Svarogh” seemed to be the most appropriate name for my state of
being at the time. The dawn was a heralding of a new day, a new era of clear vision, of being “unconquered” by life’s tribulations, in
much the same way as the Romans worshipped the “unconquered sun” during Sol Invictus celebrations.
Is there a main man in the band - someone who writes the lyrics, comes up with the main concept, arrangements and directs the
ongoing of things, or is it all teamwork?
DOS is not a band, it is a project, so the regular band dynamic does not apply. I write 95% of all music, and do not present anything
to anyone until I have full songs. Ivan handles 95% of the lyrics and vocal patterns. I guess you could say that I would be the main
person in the project, but I do not wish to diminish the contributions of the other musicians in any way. They all came to the table
fully prepared and committed, with their ideas, flairs, quirks, unique guitar / drum patterns, etc. I speak my emotions through my
music, and writing music is something that I have done my entire life.
What would you say are the primary challenges, trials and tribulations that extreme metal bands face in Canada, in trying to get known
and established beyond the country's borders?
Perhaps location may have been an issue in the 80s, and even in the 90s to some extent, but now with the advent of the internet,
all you need is good music, regardless of where you’re from. But even Canadian bands who have what it takes sometimes get tripped
up, because it seems ingrained in Canadians to have this sick “eternal-victim” complex, or inferiority disease, if you will. It’s not like we’
re trying to create anti-religious music in Lebanon with Hezbollah AK47’s pointed at our backs, so there is no excuse for Canadian
bands to constantly whine about how being Canadian impedes them in any way, especially in today’s music scene. Look at bands like
Axis of Advance, Revenge, Blasphemy, Razor, Sacrifice, Cryptopsy, Gorguts, or Akitsa. They are known all over the world.
Canada and the United States share the same problem of having smaller scenes when compared to places in Europe or Asia, and the
problem with touring in North America arises when you have to calculate the long distances that a touring band has to travel from one
urban centre to the next, a problem which is almost non-existent in Europe. However, this doesn’t affect DOS since it is not a touring
outfit.
Any chances of seeing DOS live?
Slim to none.
Thanks for the interview, and good luck with all your future endeavours. Feel free to add anything you want...
Hails and thank you very much for this interview, and your readership for taking the time to read it. I am confident that you will all
enjoy the record once it gets released.
Coming soon, Dawn of Svarogh will be releasing their debut release through East Side Records out of Poland. This new record
combines harsh black metal, soothing acoustics and folk metal segments. Voices From The Underground talks to Pavel (ex-Feral Horde)
about the creation of their latest stunning record.
Since this is your first interview for Voices From The Underground and possibly your first interview for Dawn of Svarogh, could you
provide us with a brief history of the band up till now? Who are its members and have they been in any other projects other then
DOS?
The band was originally envisioned to be a continuation of Feral Horde, a cult Canadian black metal band that Ivan and I were a part of
that broke up in 2004. We originally had a full line-up ready to go live and into the studio, but as people’s lives and responsibilities got
in the way, the band became a project, and then got put on hiatus for several years. The recording finally commenced in the summer
of 2007 and was completed several months afterwards, but again, several factors had delayed the release until now. Dawn of Svarogh
is primarily the musical and lyrical vision of both Ivan and I, but luckily we had friends from other well-known Canadian bands that
offered to help with this initial recording, by both offering to play on it, and of course, record, mix, and master it.
Apart from Feral Horde, I have played in the bands Autumn Myst, Maniac, and Visions of the Night, and currently play in Demontage,
Twilight Hammer, and Morbid Ceremony.
Again, DOS was supposed to be a continuation of our previous band, but for reasons previously mentioned got put on hold. I wouldn’
t say that the commitments in my other bands held up the process. DOS is my primary vehicle for musical and self-expression,
however, such a personal expression requires the proper inspiration. I basically had to wait for a big personal catastrophe to befall me
in my regular life in order for me to feel that anger, hatred and contempt again, in order to create a black metal record. This came in
2007 and before I knew it, I found myself in the studio.
The other bands that I play(ed) in are regularly cited by my friends and critics as the potential reason why DOS took such a long time
to get going, but what these people fail to understand is that playing an instrument, just like speaking a language or exercising
personal fitness, requires constant use in order to stay vibrant. During the period where I lacked the inspiration for DOS, I couldn’t
allow myself to get lazy.
Finding any information about DOS through the internet is virtually impossible; can you give us a little information of your coming
release? What can we expect and when will it be unleashed?
DOS does not have a web-presence of any kind, nor an official release, therefore it is reasonable that there is no information on it,
which is great. There is nothing worse than people pimping their shitty projects 4 or 5 years in advance on sites like myspace, before
they actually have something in their hands to offer people.
That having been said, barring any further delays, our CD is coming out this year as a split with the Hungarian band Heldentod on East
Side Records.
Any plans on creating a My Space page or Website?
None at this time.
How were you able to secure a deal with East Side Records? Did they contact you or the other way around?
Ivan had sent East Side a pre-master of the record some time last year. The label enjoyed the music, and the rest fell into place.
"Svarogh". Does this have anything thing to do with the Slavic Sun god? How did you come up with the band name and what is the
meaning, or concept, behind it?
Correct. Since my early twenties I have always identified with this particular deity in the Slavic pantheon, primarily because of his
correlation in old manuscripts with the Greek Hephaestus, god of the blacksmiths or blacksmithing. I firmly believe that anyone can
achieve and create most anything that they desire through “smithing”, or the constant use of hammers and other tools (i.e. hard
work) when coupled with a focused flame (“forging”, or “focused desire and drive”). The name “Svarog” or “Svarogh” came to mean
something even more profound for me, around the time when I went into the studio in ’07. As I had alluded to earlier, I was going
through great personal upheavals at the time and DOS came to be my escape… it became synonymous with the process of
purification and rebirth, all of which the Sun and fire represent. The process took me into a clear and liberated state of mind, which
happens to be the etymology of the name, “svar” meaning clear, bright, clean, and “og” meaning place, or perhaps destination.
Choosing the Slavic equivalent of a solar deity worshipped by ancient cultures was of course the most appropriate, since the band was
always, at least loosely, meant to deal with subjects from my Croatian cultural heritage, which Ivan also shares.
The name of the band was actually something completely different for a period of time, but in a casual conversation with a friend who
was helping me with the recording process, the name “Dawn of Svarogh” seemed to be the most appropriate name for my state of
being at the time. The dawn was a heralding of a new day, a new era of clear vision, of being “unconquered” by life’s tribulations, in
much the same way as the Romans worshipped the “unconquered sun” during Sol Invictus celebrations.
Is there a main man in the band - someone who writes the lyrics, comes up with the main concept, arrangements and directs the
ongoing of things, or is it all teamwork?
DOS is not a band, it is a project, so the regular band dynamic does not apply. I write 95% of all music, and do not present anything
to anyone until I have full songs. Ivan handles 95% of the lyrics and vocal patterns. I guess you could say that I would be the main
person in the project, but I do not wish to diminish the contributions of the other musicians in any way. They all came to the table
fully prepared and committed, with their ideas, flairs, quirks, unique guitar / drum patterns, etc. I speak my emotions through my
music, and writing music is something that I have done my entire life.
What would you say are the primary challenges, trials and tribulations that extreme metal bands face in Canada, in trying to get known
and established beyond the country's borders?
Perhaps location may have been an issue in the 80s, and even in the 90s to some extent, but now with the advent of the internet,
all you need is good music, regardless of where you’re from. But even Canadian bands who have what it takes sometimes get tripped
up, because it seems ingrained in Canadians to have this sick “eternal-victim” complex, or inferiority disease, if you will. It’s not like we’
re trying to create anti-religious music in Lebanon with Hezbollah AK47’s pointed at our backs, so there is no excuse for Canadian
bands to constantly whine about how being Canadian impedes them in any way, especially in today’s music scene. Look at bands like
Axis of Advance, Revenge, Blasphemy, Razor, Sacrifice, Cryptopsy, Gorguts, or Akitsa. They are known all over the world.
Canada and the United States share the same problem of having smaller scenes when compared to places in Europe or Asia, and the
problem with touring in North America arises when you have to calculate the long distances that a touring band has to travel from one
urban centre to the next, a problem which is almost non-existent in Europe. However, this doesn’t affect DOS since it is not a touring
outfit.
Any chances of seeing DOS live?
Slim to none.
Thanks for the interview, and good luck with all your future endeavours. Feel free to add anything you want...
Hails and thank you very much for this interview, and your readership for taking the time to read it. I am confident that you will all
enjoy the record once it gets released.
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