Written by Mortiis was sporting a mask when Sleep Token, Ghost and President were still learning how to play their instruments. For a feature set to appear in a future issue of Metal Hammer, we sat down with the dungeon synth maestro and ex-Emperor bassist to talk about his lengthy career and new album Ghosts Of Europa. Here’s a short preview, where the man born Håvard Ellefsen explains why he never wanted to be nameless like the current crop of stars.
There’s been an influx of very popular rock and metal bands wearing masks, such as Ghost and Sleep Token. What do you think of these artists popping up and quite quickly reaching the mainstream of heavy metal?
“I don’t pay a lot of attention to it. I think Tobias [Forge] has done some really cool stuff with Ghost. I like some of his music and I’ve only met him once. He was quiet, seemed very nice. Sleep Token, I’m only aware of them because people talk about them, so I don’t have a whole lot of opinions on them. I’ve seen a couple of photos of them, and it looks alright, but a lot of people look that way, though, right? I feel like I’m seeing a shitload fly by in my algorithm: masked band, masked band, masked band! The weird thing is, I feel like I’m the only guy who wears a mask and still a face.”
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Yeah, I can see your face now! If I were talking to Sleep Token or any other of those bands in the algorithm you’re alluding to, I’d never get to see their faces.
“It’s not just that, but the fact that the Mortiis mask is still a face. But you’re correct, too. It’s so natural for me to do interviews as this. I don’t feel the need to hide my face. I did try that in the 90s for a little while: it was sort of half-hearted, to do that Kiss thing, where you’re not supposed to be seen without your makeup. I copied off the originators for a short while, and I was like, ‘This is boring! This is fucking exhausting!’ Trying not to be seen and, when people ask you, you pretend you’re not Mortiis? Fuck this! Maybe I’m lazy.”
It must be really, really difficult to keep that mystique up 24/7.
“Excluding those 15 minutes in the 90s where I tried to hide it, I’ve just always been myself. It’s the most natural thing for me to do, and this is just the most natural way for me to interact with people. When it’s time to become Mortiis, I become Mortiis.”
It’s the same with Gene Simmons and The Demon. You can find it on YouTube, one talk show where he was fully in character, in the face paint, looking at people and doing the tongue thing. He basically says about it what you ’re saying about that 15 minutes in the 90s: it didn’t feel right.
“I just don’t really like putting on an act. It feels phony. The times it doesn’t feel phony is when I go onstage. I go into a different sort of mental space when I for that. You transform as a person, so that doesn’t feel like an act, either. If I had put on my mask before we got on the Zoom meeting here, it would have been phony.”
And it would have been very weird for me!
“I did a few TV things in the mask, and they look cool, but it’s awkward. You can tell. People aren’t put off by it, but it’s a strange experience for everyone.”
Mortiis’ new album, Ghosts Of Europa, is out on June 21 via Prophecy.
