Interview By:  Brian Cross

Prior to Eluveitie’s headlining show at the Worcester Palladium on February 3, 2011, we were able to get in an interview with vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Chrigel Glanzmann and vocalist/hurdy-gurdyist Anna Murphy. In a quick chat before dinner, we talked about keyboards versus folk instruments, why folk metal bands always seem to tour in the winter, and the wonders of Gaulish.

MPJ – You’ve been playing all over the world in support of your most recent album, Everything Remains (As It Never Was), and have just kicked off a North American headlining tour. Got any strange tales from the road?

CHRIGEL – It’s only the third day of the North American tour, so nothing spectacular has happened so far! Well, one thing that really sucked happened three days before the tour started; we heard that our monitor tech did not get a visa to come over. We had three days to find another one who would be available for a month! But we found one! (laughs)

ANNA – One day before we left, we found him.

MPJ – How was the travel through the wonderful weather we’ve had around here over the past few days? (Editor’s note: At the time, New England was recovering from constant winter storms and record snowfall.)

CHRIGEL – Personally, I appreciate it a lot. Firstly, it feels like home a little bit! (laughs) Secondly, we just came from Brazil. We had a couple of Brazilian dates before the tour, and it was just way too hot for me. I’m happy about the weather.

MPJ – Folk metal bands always seem to tour around here when there’s tons of snow and the ground and it’s extremely cold.

ANNA – That’s actually weird! I’d prefer to come maybe in spring or something, when it’s not too hot or cold.

MPJ – There’s plenty of other folk metal bands out there, but few use such a wide variety of unique musical instruments. What prompted you to include so many instruments that are not traditionally associated with metal?

ANNA – Keyboards suck! (laughs) And they’re gay.

CHRIGEL – That pretty much makes sense. (laughs)  I like the keyboard, myself, when it’s used as a keyboard. But if you use it to simulate bagpipes or something, then why don’t you just also program the drums and use guitar samples and stuff like that? If you want to use a bagpipe, then use a bagpipe! Not fucking samples.

MPJ – Which instrument is your favorite?

ANNA – Hurdy-gurdy! (laughs) Because it’s awesome.

CHRIGEL – Yeah, it is!

MPJ – Do you find writing and performing with such a large band difficult?

ANNA – The only difficult thing is that you need to listen to so many different things in order to know what you’re doing right. For instance, when you’re singing in a regular four-man band, you don’t even need all of those [extra] instruments. You need guitar or bass, and then you know when you’re in time or in pitch. And here, since there’s so many different parts where there’s not every instrument playing at the same time? That’s what makes it challenging.

MPJ – Have there ever been instances where you’ve had to cram all eight members of Eluveitie on to a stage that clearly wasn’t designed to hold that many people?

ANNA – A couple of times, yes! (laughs)

MPJ – Many of your lyrics are in ancient Gaulish. Were any band members familiar with this language, or did you all have to start from scratch?

ANNA – It’s a dead language, so it’s basically impossible to be familiar with it and speak it, but Chrigel leads us in research to find lyrics and translations. We’ll figure out alone – or with scientists, even – how to pronounce it or come close.

MPJ – Where do you draw inspiration for Eluveitie’s music?

CHRIGEL – For me, as cheesy as it sounds, nature is an inspiration. Or maybe the main inspiration! Because whenever I write an Eluveitie song, in the beginning, it’s mostly kind of a feeling or an emotion. I’m getting those feelings when I wander around in the Alps or in forests. Sounds very, very cheesy, I know! But that’s what it is.

MPJ – Anna, you and Meri [Tadic, fiddle/vocals] made guest appearances on Holy Grail’s “Nocturne in D Minor” from their Crisis in Utopia record. How did that come about?

ANNA – We knew Holy Grail because already toured with them once, with Amon Amarth. We became really good friends, and I guess they just thought that for one track it would fit nicely. They asked, and they sent us the track and we could just play around with it.

MPJ – Is there any news concerning Evocation II, or any other kind of sequel to Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion?

CHRIGEL – Not really. We will do it, but that’s really all we know! (laughs)

ANNA – It’s probably going to be pretty awesome!

MPJ – Any last words for your fans?

CHRIGEL – Thanks for your interest in Eluveitie, and we’ll hopefully see you tonight or whenever!

ANNA – You’re the best!

MPJ – Thanks very much for your time!

(Many thanks to Chrigel and Anna for being so accommodating. They delayed their dinner to talk to us, and for that, we are eternally grateful!)

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For more information on Eluveitie : www.eluveitie.ch

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