Interview with PORTRAIT

Questions by Marcin “Wildfire” Olejniczak, from Pure Metal Magazine

Answers by: Richard Lagergren

 Pure Metal: 'Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae' was released in May 2011 under Metal Blade Rec. Tell me, what were the circumstances of signing with them? Are you happy with the cooperation with that legendary label so far?
Richard: A couple of years ago we played a gig at the German festival Hell's Pleasure. In the audience was among others Mr. Alan Averill, who some might know as the singer of Primordial, and who nowadays works as an A&R for Metal Blade. Some weeks later we received an offer. In general we are happy about the cooperation so far.

PM: It was preceded by a year by 'The Murder of All Things Righteous' EP, which incidentally also marked the debut of your new vocalist. The whole pressing is long sold out. Are you planning a re-release?
Richard: Not the best presentation of a new singer, that EP. The production is too damn dry and boring, the drum playing is poor, and in hindsight I don't think the songs sound much like us. I still like them for what they are though, but I doubt there will ever be a re-release.

PM: Before I move on to questions about the present, I'd like to ask some about the past. Who was behind the inception of Portrait?
Richard: Portrait was formed on the initiative of Christian (Lindell, guitar) around 2004 or so. I believe some of the demo material dates back to then. There however wasn't a full line-up until two years later, when I joined the band and the first demo was recorded.

PM: The first thing that came to my mind upon seeing your name was King Diamond's 'Fatal Portrait'. Am I on the right track? Is that where your band name came from?
Richard: Not really. Christian named the band, and to make the background more diffuse I believe he stole the idea from a friend. But there is a song by the American 70s band Coven called "Portrait", and that song pretty much sums it all up I would say.

PM: Musically you also show us that King Diamond Band and Mercyful Fate are important sources of inspiration for you. Can you tell us a bit about how those they impacted you? What other bands also influenced you?
Richard: I don't know if there's much of a King Diamond influence in our music, but Mercyful Fate, sure. To me their 80s discography counts for some of the best metal ever made. Other bands, well, there are countless of course. Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Motörhead, Thin Lizzy, Venom. Etc.

PM: Undoubtedly the biggest testament to your inspiration with Mercyful Fate is your singer's singing style, very similiar to that of King Diamond's. On your first album, the vocalist was Philip Svennefelt. What caused your ways to part?
Richard: Svennefelt was asked to leave simply because his performance wasn't up to par, which is unfortunately very audible on that first album of ours. He did well on the demo and 7”, but some of the album songs were too demanding. There also were certain personal differences, but I have closed the doors to the past and won't sit here and badmouth anyone or look back at things just pissing me off anymore. No use.

PM: He was replaced by Per Karlsson, the singer of Overdrive. Not a bad change, if you ask me. Is he still a member of Overdrive, or is Portrait his absolute priority? How did you find him?
Richard: I believe he is still a member of that band. We don't really have much contact though, so I wouldn't know for sure. A friend tipped us off about him. Me and Christian went to see him perform one night and afterwards decided to invite him for an audition.

PM: 'Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae' - 'The Crime of Divine Majesty Violation'. Where did you get the idea for that title? Despite the fact that it's kinda long, it sounds brilliant. The lyrics are very straightforward and are in accord with that phrase.

Richard: The term crimen laesae majestatis divine derives from early modern Sweden (like around 17th century), where blasphemy was regarded one of the most serious crimes one could commit. We found it in an essay on the subject, and quickly realized that was going to be the title of our album.

PM: So it happens that I also own 'CLMD' on double vinyl. And thanks to that I noticed that the first part (tracks 1-5)  is a set of great, old school, Mercyful Fate inspired heave metal, while the second part is a musical tribute to bands like Dissection, Watain, old Mayhem even. Songs like 'The Nightcomers' and 'Der Todesking' contain fragments that may well have found themselves on 'The Somberlain' and "Storm of the Light's Bane". You don't deny such bands also inspire you?
Richard: I have never looked upon the album in that way at all. But you are not the first to draw the parallels to Dissection. The thing about Dissection, though, was that the music carried strong influences from 80s metal. You could maybe go as far as to say that band practically played heavy metal, more or less. So I would look at it from a different angle. Anyhow, sure we always listened to black and death metal as well.

PM: How much involved in that kind of sound in your band is Tore Stjerna, of Watain fame?
Richard: Well, he didn't write any of the music, but was taking care of engineering and producing.

PM: How was the work with him?
Richard: Great. We will be back I think.

PM: The last solo in 'The Passion' is a guest performance by Kimmo Kuusniemi. How did it happen - spontaneously, or did you invite him?
Richard: In 2008, we played a gig in Helsinki. Initially a reunited Sarcofagus were scheduled to play the same night, but that was cancelled for some reason. However we found out that Kuusniemi would still be at the venue, showcasing a documentary he made. So we wrote him and asked if he would like to join us on stage for a Sarcofagus cover. He did, together with old singer Hannu Leiden. That was very cool, and since then we have stayed in touch. And we thought it would be cool to have him on the record.

PM: Since we mentioned Dissection - it's a pity they'll never play again. Did you maybe know Jon Nodtevidt personally?
Richard: No, but I had the honor of shaking his hand at some occasion.

PM: The musicians to whose music we grew up are slowly passing away. Bathory's Quorthon, Ronnie James Dio, Scott Columbus, Jon Lord, or the aforementioned Jon from Dissection left us already. Sooner or later more renowned bands are going to retire. This is sad, but don't you think this creates space for young bands, such as yours?
Richard: I don't think of it that way really. I think there always was space for any band with enough to offer and who can appeal to enough people. However, most of these old giants have three generations or something in their audiences, and they broke through in times where things looked different, in many ways. Can a new band even attract such audiences? In a few decades, with the passing of most of the old ones, I guess we might have witnessed the death of the so-called arena rock. And other things. What that is gonna mean for young bands I'm not going to speculate upon here tonight.

PM: How much does the label support you?
Richard: I guess they do what they can. Not really sure what to answer here.

PM: What about the fans?
Richard: Well, they. buy our records and come to the shows?

PM: 'CLMD' has awesome, dark cover art by Tobias Forge. How did you end up working with him? Is he involved with Ghost somehow?
Richard: Tobias comes from the same city where I grew up (Linköping), so I knew him a little bit from before.

PM: In January you toured with Evile. The tour was also supposed to include our country. Unfortunately, the three shows that you were to play in Poland got cancelled, which made me very unhappy. What atmosphere surrounded you on the tour? I know you ended up with a different line-up on it. Please tell me how did Niklas Svensson end up behind the mic and Patrick Dagland behind the drumkit?
Richard: Because our ordinary drummer and vocalist were of the opinion that they weren't able to do the tour, which was unacceptable for me. We decided to try out some other people during this tour. The two ordinary still ended up being allowed to stay in the band, something which honestly would maybe not have happened had it been only up to me.

PM: Were the line-up difficulties the cause of cancelling the shows in Poland?
Richard: No. I don't remember exactly what the problem was. Something about unserious bookers not getting back or paying or so.

PM: Last year you also changed your bassist. Joel Palvarinne played with you for about a year. Wasn't he good enough for the part? Who is his replacement, David Olofsson?
Richard: Well he and I got into a bit of a fight and would have no contact for a year or so. It was inevitable that one of us had to leave the band at that point. David is a local talent we knew a little bit since before.

PM: You played a few shows at some European summer festivals, including the cult Keep it True and Headbangers Open Air in Germany. How do you remember those gigs and their atmosphere. Did you find any particular one exceptionally memorable?
Richard: They were both good gigs and nice festivals, which we had both played and attended as visitors several times before.

PM: You're slowly approaching your third album. You even announced the title - 'Crossroads'. Will the band follow the path set by the previous releases, or will you surprise your fans? The title is pretty ominous, you aren't on crossroads yourselves, are you? What will the new album sound like and when can we expect it?
Richard: Musically I think we could talk about a pretty logical continuation from the last album. We hope to start recording next year or so. The title is not referring to Portrait as a band or music at all really; that much I can say.

PM: How do you write your songs? Do you rehearse often?
Richard: Christian and I are the ones in charge of the songwriting in the band. When I present a song to the others, it's generally a finished one. I tend to work on songs over periods of everything from a couple of weeks to years. For me, good times for getting inspiration is travelling, wandering or those moments when you are close to falling asleep. It has happened that we put stuff together in the rehearsal room or so, but it's actually pretty rare. Currently the band is not rehearsing very much at all.

PM: Who's the better guitarist, Christian or you? How long have you been playing?
Richard: Frankly I'm not sure. I think we are on quite similar levels actually, but it's hard to say. I have been playing since I was ten or eleven, not sure about Christian.

PM: I guess Portrait is just a hobby you don't live off. So what do the members do everyday apart from playing?
Richard: Wish we could live from it, but I'm studying, David is unemployed and the others have day jobs.

PM: I'm really eager to see you guys live, so I have to ask, when will you come to Poland?
Richard: As soon as someone books us! We'd love to play Poland.

PM: Do you know any Polish bands?
Richard: Well, “666” by Kat is one of my favorite albums; an influence for Portrait even, I dare say. “Dorosłe Dzieci” and “Kawaleria Szatana” by Turbo are damn fine albums too. What is there more. that VooDoo LP is pretty good I think. I know a couple of other bands too, but those are the ones I like. Among newer bands, I am a fan of the last Mgła album. I never got into Behemoth or Vader though.

PM: I wish you guys a lot of success with the new album and many killer gigs. Thanks for the interview.
Richard: Thank you! Buy our album everyone. Hail Sathanas.