Interview by NOX
REAVER: You once tried to form a true satanic brotherhood based upon musical tastes & religious idealogy. I find it admirable, but by your own admission it failed. Do you believe such a thing is still possible within the modern metal scene?
LOURDE: Well I did form The Crucifier Brotherhood, International & it is still running today. Only we are not running it as a Satanic order as was once the original deal. Now we are running it as an independent production house. We are small but doing exactly what we want with the music & idealogy that we hold dear. With these days of emails, & impersonal correspondence we couldn't run the Brotherhood as a satanic order. It is a shame but we still hold these values deep in our hearts. I think that the Brotherhood failed because of the changing ways & growth & falling out of deep friendships... I feel a loss certainly over all of this. The Brotherhood will always have a place in Underground Metal!
REAVER: Why has CRUCIFIER never pursued a
mainstream deal?Like NUNSLAUGHTER &
PROFANATICA two true underground satanic bands,
you have remained independent. Why?
LOURDE: I really can't say. Sometimes I just feel as
though this is where we are supposed to be. We always
keep with what is in our hearts, & to this point, where
we are is what's in our hearts. Also, I never really
thought as metal as being a way to make a living.
Although it would be great to be able to live on the
thing that I love, I find it very difficult to live on tour
money & shirt money & demo money, whatever. So, I keep a good day job & provide for my family & do my metal all the other free moments that I have. Believe me that if I could make a good living on metal (with benefits) I would be doing it...never once forfeiting what's in my heart!!
REAVER: CRUCIFIER is mostly satanic based yet both you & GRAND BELIAL'S KEY had a reputation for being (how shall I put this) racially aware. Other than following a satanic belief system, don't you feel its essential for the youth to know their true heritage & faith. Whether it be pagan or satanic? Do you think its possible to wake them up from the stupor placed upon them by shitty rap & white light culture?
LOURDE: CRUCIFIER is always evil as opposed to political. However, I know who I am & I am a man who supports my heritage & beliefs. I do not bow down to anyone with regard to my politics or whatever they'd like to call it. I find it funny how neither GBK nor CRUCIFIER boasts white power or anti-government or pro-nazi but we are always "put on the ADL lists" as it were, for our black metal bands' music & lyrics & idealogies. It is absurd how the sheep always believe what the big boys in silly outfits tell them. Well no matter how appalling it is, I must go on & press forward. So, let us blaze on, following our hearts. Regardless of what personal ideals that we, or anyone believes in, our music is pure & unscathed & will remain the strongest music on this planet. And I speak for those bands, like GBK, ARGHOSLENT, CRUCIFIER, NUNSLAUGHTER, whoever...we always forge on, following what our forefathers in metal blazed for us from the beginning!
REAVER: Many in the modern occult scene seem to be pushing satanism into a more backward even medieval form of occultism. Occultists like the now defunct Temple of Demonolatry & websites like Joy of Satan are expounding an almost biblical satanism that has more in common with old school devil worship than Anton LaVey. A mistake in a sense I feel. Have you ever felt the need to worship the devil in a more traditional christian sense or is the philosophy of LaVey sufficient?
LOURDE: No, I haven't. I left the church of christ when I was a naive child for reasons of not wanting to worship non-existant deities! So I am not going to worship another non-existant god. Although in fantasy that would be cool if a satan existed for people like us to use & utilize! But it is silly. Also, I am finding that even LaVeyian philosophies (as some are changing it, mind you) is not the way to go anymore. As I said earlier, I am growing & learning new things. And I think the Black Lourde of the present & future is an ever changing man.
REAVER: In the past, GRAND BELIAL'S KEY has caught heat in the mainstream press, specifically Metal Maniacs for having alleged national socialist leanings & you once played in a band called ARYAN WAR. But you've never been linked to any organized hate groups & your alleged racist beliefs go unproven. Is it just the mainstream media pointing fingers & spreading lies or do you have an affinity for the radical right? I'm a bit of a conservative myself.
LOURDE: GRAND BELIAL'S KEY always gets the finger I noticed. I played in ARYAN WAR, & didn't care about the reprocusions. I don't know if organizations are intimidated by me, or what, but I've been cloaked over the years & people generally stay away from me. But I used to be outspoken about my beliefs or thoughts on racial issues, now I keep mainly to myself. GBK never was a political band so I think that anyone who says that GBK, past & present, may have been NS, but those ideaologies weren't expressed in the lyrics. So, you figure out how they received such an NS rap. I currently don't play with GBK anymore, not for reasons that involve any political retribution...I am never afraid of ADLs & other bully organizations like that. I left GBK solely to start & raise a new family & devote all of my time to CRUCIFIER & The Crucifier Brotherhood, International. The KEY is a band that needs a 100% dedicated vocalist & drummer & I think that they have found said individuals... & I am very happy for GBK, because they are one of the underground's best bands by far!
REAVER: Church burning was very in vogue in Norway in the early eighties & over the past few years satanists like Joseph Ballinger have firebombed churches all over the United States. On one hand its a bitter but deserved revenge against our christian oppressors but at the same time, it kind of makes all black metal fans look like murdering arsonists & wackos! Any thoughts?
LOURDE: I agree. I never thought of the "BURZUM" way of attacking as being a beneficial one. For it does put the black metal scene in whole into a category of criminal. So, leave the church burning to the daring & leave the beneficial attacking to the intelligent thinkers. (That's not to say that the arsonists aren't good thinkers, it's just not my cup of tea.)
REAVER: Anton LaVey was the catalyst for a generation of wayward youth looking for a way out of the twisted herd society of the white light brainwashers. He was a truly important figure that has become much derided amongst modern satanic musicians especially artists like Varg Vikernes & Euroynomous of MAYHEM. You named your daughter Xena. Do you have any thoughts on the man & how he influenced your life & your music?
LOURDE: LaVey has surely influenced me a thousand fold! And yes, my daughter's name is somehow linked to LaVey also. I had a ton of respect for the guy, as much as I knew about him. But when he died things changed. When growing up I disliked the thought of anyone "talking shit" about LaVey because I thought that Anton had some respect due him. But over time, I learned that he was just as you put it, a catalyst & a stepping stone to me growing into my own. I owe much to Anton, but now I have & go on forging my own paths in this life. I have utilized what LaVey has showed me & discovered that I too can be a strong individual! As far as my music goes, I was more influenced by the regulars (that are falling by the wayside as of late) like KING DIAMOND, AUTOPSY, BATHORY, VENOM, SLAYER, SODOM, & the standard gods of my youth!
REAVER: CRUCIFIER obviously exists for a reason but could you tell us what's your goal & what you hope to achieve with the new line-up?
LOURDE: CRUCIFIER needs to exist for me to live a happy life. I think that the youth of today need to know where we as metal heads come from. CRUCIFIER is that epitome. We revel in the early days, the only days that matter really. All else are just replicas, or want-to-bes. I respect bands that follow the old ways of metal.And I rebuke those who think that KREATOR, DESTRUCTION,MERCYFUL FATE, & HIRAX are just childish music beings. These guys are the reason that any of these horrible bands exist today. So show some damn respect...& that goes for guys like me, & NUNSLAUGHTER & GBK, & ABSCESS & INCANTATION... we all still kick the evilness & never stop! Revel in the old days & keep the strength alive!!!
REAVER: And lastly, I noticed in your bio, you once featured within a former bands ranks one Kenneth Keith Kallenbach. A former member of Howard Stern's weirdo wack pack & a rather strange & dubious individual indeed. I wonder, did you choose to include him in one of your bands because
A. you were in awe of his amazing musical virtuosity (something I find hard to believe having once heard his band DOGGY DOGGY RUFF RUFF!)
B. his equally amazing ability to blow smoke through his eyes & eat a chicken sandwich?!
or C. because hank the drunken dwarf wasn't available?
Well, thanks for the interview and be well. HAIL CRUCIFIER! HAIL SATAN!
LOURDE: Cool, someone even noticed this dude! Well back in the early days when I first started doing black/death/speed in about 1985 or so, we had a band called SATANIC SLAUGHTER. Well our guitarist, now dead unfortunately, was buddies with KKK before he even thought of joining the whack pack. But he actually played bass for us & we started doing SLAYER & SODOM songs & he could hold his own on the bass.We did some shows in about 1987 juggling members here & there but he eventually ended up just singing. He wore this silly 60s hippy robe & stood there (stoned of course, he always was!) singing on stage. He was so bad that one of the local fellows (actually Steve Campbell formerly of RELLIK & ex-GOREAPHOBIA manager & friend of mine) named him statue man. We always had a lot to laugh about with KKK. Just imagine him singing Conjuration from SODOM as a statue with no emotion...fucking funny. But KKK is a cool dude. Actually, before he started jamming with us KKK was an A+ student with a ton of brains. Now that is way cool for my history books! Hail the black, & thank you for the killer interview. I hope all is well with you.
