RavenzCraft Arts Interview Project: Interview with Peter Stahl of Leidungr

LEIDUNGR is a Nordic Ritual Folk project formed in 2010.

LEIDUNGR quickly grew into a unique separate entity with visual assistance found in Freki Wodenswolf, a talented artist known his unique handcrafted creations, made from natural materials as leather, wood, horn, bone and metal. Perfectly in tune with the project’s inspiration and Nordic roots, Freki has provided much of the artwork that accompanies LEIDUNGR‘s outputs. The band made their debut via the limited edition “Hell Eder Asar” 7″ EP, released on Fronte Nordico in 2011, which quickly started to build anticipation surrounding the release of a full album.

First I just want to thank you for your patience, and welcome you to the RavenzCraft Arts Interviews Project,
It is an honor to speak with you and learn about your music and what inspires you and your process of creating..

1.So lets start off by you explaining a bit about your musical project Leidungr,

When did you first officially start and can you briefly explain what Leidungr is trying to express and create with this project?

Hello my friend and thank you for your kind and generous words. We started Leidungr in 2010, wanting to create a project that was inspired in large part by old Scandinavian culture and lore.
We wanted to make music worthy of these themes, a soundtrack if you will, to this kind of stuff. It always striked me as stupid that you should have to settle for just pop or rock music if your a historically and philosophically interested person.
You should have music that can match your interests and temperament... This is the type of art and music that we like to make.

2.The next question I would like to ask is about your interests and people you were inspired by and looked up to as a young child, what sparked your interest in music? anyone or any project in specific that made you decide to start creating and producing your own music?

As long as I can remember I have always been a philosophical person. I wanted to know more and learn more. I was curious and fascinated by the unknown, by what lied beyond immediate perception.

I liked music that delved into these matters. When I got older I discovered neofolk/martial industrial, musical genres that explored concepts like mythology and ideology on a much deeper level than metal had ever done.
There was also a freedom from a kind of formal orthodoxy here ( for example that you must use drums, guitar and bass to make music). What mattered was not how the music technically was being put together, but the IDEAS that were manifested through lyrics and sound. This is where I creatively and spiritually felt at home.

3.I notice your music is mainly Nordic and folk genre, can you share with us your personal interests in your own spiritual or traditional path ? Do you have a certain following that inspires your music?

Im very interested in culture, not just Nordic culture but also generally interested in various forms of mythologies and philosophies. With that being said, the Scandinavian history and myths holds a very special place in my heart because they are part of my heritage, my history and identity.

4.Can you tell us a bit about your "creation process" how do you begin creating a song,?

any programs, recording equipment or anything you use that you have had progress with that you can mention to others out there looking to create their own music as well?

We use a mixture of folk instruments, ambient elements and industrial ingredients. The main thing here are the ideas behind the music, not to follow some dogmatic scheme of how it should be done. People that obsess over what instruments are being used are in my opinion missing the whole point. If the right spirit is there, it simply does not matter how its done.

6.So living in the Sweden must be amazing,.. can you tell us anything you do for fun or inspiration out there?, any places or events you attend that you may want to mention or share that you have been to or done in the past?

There are lots of interesting historical places to visit of course, like castles and rune stones, old churches and so on... But the Swedish people are not taught or encouraged to be interested in or to take pride in their history.
This is one of the things that we try to change with Leidungr. There is a war going on, not waged with bullets or swords, but with words and ideas.

7.Have you traveled to any amazing or historic locations in the world for content or to see someone perform, or anywhere you went just to visit personally?

Just the nature in itself in Sweden is quite incredible.
You got deep and dark snow covered forests that goes on for miles and miles. Breathtaking and majestic wilderness.

Unspoiled nature is truly a beautiful and wonderful thing, and its with great sadness and anger that we witness the destructive effects on nature because of human stupidity and greed.

8.I also notice you are connected and support with other music artists and projects like Arditi , have you had any collaborations or people you have met that you were excited to have the opportunity to work with ?

I have done several guest appearences for Arditi and its always an honor to do this work. Of course Leidungr is very closely connected to Arditi.

10.So who are you a fan of? can you share a few artists or people you have interest in currently? who is in your current playlist?

Sagentoeter is a very overlooked neofolk band I think. The same goes for the apocalyptic folk band Changes in my opinion.
They started in the 1960s and have put out some amazing songs.

I also support bands very similar to Leidungr like Wardruna, forndom and Heilung. Lets make this music big!
Remember good music is good because its good, not because its "underground". And music that sucks doesnt suck because its mainstream, but simply because it sucks. Its the good stuff that deserves to reach the masses and become "mainstream culture".

11. So I really like your style of music and art, and i just recently heard your new release Nordlandens Odefjall, Do you have anything planned or any upcoming ideas you can share with us that we may not have heard about yet?

We are currently working on a lot of new stuff so keep your eyes and ears open!

12.This is sort of off topic of music, but i notice you have a sort of meditative feeling and vibe to your music, do you have interest in Runic art and or the mysteries behind the uses of the nordic Runes and historic folklore of magical practice in your area or any part of the world?

If so i have a few artists and researchers to recommend you to...

Yes of course Im very interested in these things. Like I said I have a huge general interest in things like psychology, art and religion. But being Scandinavian myself, the Scandinavian religion and culture feels extra close to me. Im always very happy to receive new recommendations on books and so on thank you.

13. So one of our many goals with RavenzCraft Arts is to help other upcoming artists succeed and progress to the next level, which can often be a very difficult thing to do, can you give any advice or things you have learned in your path as a musical artist that you would say to a fellow musician trying to create a project like something similar to yours?

Put up small and concrete goals! Your much more likely to actually get stuff done with this strategy.

14.Well im interested in seeing more of your work and possibly throwing a few ideas at you for possible collaboration projects in the future... if you are open to it, and have time to do so of course,,,

So I Thank you for talking with us, and leave this question open for you to say a closing statement to all the fans, followers and readers out there...

Thank you very much for your interesting and well thought through questions!
I want to take this opportunity to thank all the people that have supported us!
The response has been great and there is a lot of new stuff from Leidungr to come in the future.