The following article was published in N-SPHERE November 2011 issue.

 

:: In Slaughter Natives is the brainchild of Jouni Havukainen. Active since 1985 In Slaughter Natives paved the way for future generations of dark industrial acts together with such acts as Brighter Death Now, Maschinenzimmer 412 and Ordo Equilibrio on the legendary Cold Meat Industry label. Over the years In Slaughter Natives used many different approaches, from Industrial stompage to complicated dark ambient pieces but always attained that special touch which many artists could only strife for.

:: When did you decide to release music under the monicker of In Slaughter Natives?

At the end of 1987, Roger at CMI asked me if I could release something with them. I had some material laying around that I had made after quitting playing in some bands. Was not enough for a release, but an OK start; after a couple of months it started to be enough for a release, but no name for the project. How cool would it be to release under your own name? Not ‘specially much! Not back in those days. I did know I wanted “In” and “Slaughter” in the name, I have no idea where/when “Natives” appeared, but it ended up in the name after all. Not grammatically correct, but who cares…

:: Throughout the years you have used many different approaches, are you satisfied with the way In Slaughter Natives evolved?

Yes, I think I’m pretty satisfied. Maybe I miss a bit the harsher side or tendencies, but it’s never too late for bring in an harsher direction in the future.

:: Any regrets regarding past releases?

No regrets so far. Maybe just some few minor doubts, doubts that hopefully can be corrected with reworks. Some new versions already have and others will see the light in the future. Going to be interesting to see what sort of new attributes the newer technology could fertilise from some of the past releases.

:: Your last album Resurrection – The Return of a King got released in 2004. You deployed a much darker and almost soundtrack like sound compared to the guitar driven madness on Sacrosancts Bleed. What inspired you to take this direction?

I guess maybe just by chance, reflecting thoughts and feelings I had for the moment. Usually, I have no real plan about the outcome of an album; it usually speaks by itself in the process. The creation of Resurrection and also the other releases are mainly coincidences collected together, collected from ideas and improvisations slowly merged together, moments of collected visions made out of many small fragments of chaos, some fragments of self birth, some fragments of just emotions, one leading to the other, guiding and hinting me on the straw to the goal. As long as I think it feels OK, I have to trust my intuition, nothing else. To which direction it’s leading, is not important any more.

:: Resurrection – The Return of a King was your first album since the much acclaimed release of Purgate My Stain in 1996. Did you work on any other projects during the 8 years between these releases?

I made only some tracks for compilations. I was working on a new album that I lost due to a hardware crash. It was not totally ready material, but it had something special. I said fuck it, defeated ’cause of the technology, so after that I spend some years doing other stuff instead, ’till the need to create a new album grew up big enough and I, once again, found and had the right moments of insanity.

:: You seem to have a deep interest in the unexplainable and obscure aspects of life, how do these aspects appeal to you personally?

Many times the obscure, unexplainable, weird and insane aspects make it worthwhile to wake up and climb out of the bed.

:: I also sense a certain nihilistic and misanthropic sentiment when listening to your music, the aesthetics and terminology used throughout your albums reinforce these sentiments. How did religion affect you and your music?

Everyone should follow their belief and should have the right to express themselves openly in whichever way they want, need or feel, but of course, it might have a price. I am and ISN is non-political. I usually don’t care about the political situation in Sweden or in the world, but for sure it reflects me, especially these days more than earlier years. My view of politics: the container of money and/or religion walking hand in hand with humanity’s need for dominion and power. This stupidity will probably, given enough time, create a natural response to the way we evolve, with everything ending up in total war. It can also end up in another way: humans are the only animals that carry out their thoughts in pure act. Can it be that humanity’s damnation is the thought, the knowledge and the greed?

About religious aspects: the symbolism or possible ideology that might be reflected in ISN are more an intent to offend the Judeo-Christian standards/values and their split morality. We are surrounded by hypocrisy, it seems to have become a part of humanity, so why not give these standards a kick? I have no problem with spiting on all that religion is about. Never subordinate yourself through others’ religious or political ideologies or views.

:: You are the sole member of In Slaughter Natives, you do however deploy other musicians when playing live. Which musicians make up the current live line-up of In Slaughter Natives?

The current live line-up is: Kathleen Binder (Polarlicht/Transistor) & Nicolas Van Meirhaeghe (Empusae). Former or for the moment resting live members are Peter Andersson (Deutsch Nepal), Tomas Pettersson (O.R.E) & Peter Bjärgö (Sophia/Arcana).

:: Many artists inspire each other through their art. Which artists inspired you during the creation process of your own music?

Sorry, but there are no other inspiring artists during the creating process, only the state of mind for the moment or the material itself, that can inspire, depending of the progress it makes, what emotions it gives and what direction it takes, to something bad or something good.

:: You collaborated with Tomas Pettersson (Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio) on more then one occasion, how did you meet Tomas and can we expect more collaborations in the future?

I have known Tomas, one of my best friends, since the beginning of ’90s. We grew up in the same small wasteland city Linköping. There was no way we could have avoided each other. The same goes for many of the other original CMI bands, many of us are from or have a connection to Linköping.

:: Are there any other artists with whom you would like to collaborate?

Maybe with other projects, but not for real with ISN. ISN is a content of my ego and moments of collected visions, it’s a birth of my need to create something I myself want to listen to, without others to be involved in it.

:: Most of your works have been released under the wing of Roger Karmanik‘s legendary Cold Meat Industry, how do you look back at this fruitful cooperation?

The early years were something special, CMI was as a big family, but things can change by time, due to reasons out of control.

:: It’s no secret that Cold Meat Industry went through some rough times the last couple of years resulting in many artists, including In Slaughter Natives, to leave this fine label. Can you shed some light on what happened?

Hmmm… the past is the past, it’s better to look forward. I wish CMI all the best, but for me it became a matter of moving forward.

:: The music industry is changing rapidly, many record-labels and artists are forced to dissolve due to downloading and the economic crisis, should record-labels and artists rethink their strategy when it comes to marketing? And what are your own experiences in these troubled times?

Of course ISN feels about these changes and movements. But my belief is that if a product is unique enough, then there are always some prepared to pay the price. Nothing would stop me from creating music, released or not. But, of course, the income from music helps enormously with giving the time to create, instead of trying to survive with spending all time hunting an income by other means.

:: Recently you have worked on the score of a documentary called Psicofonías – Las Voces Desconocidas, can you give the readers some information about this project?

I got an offer with free hands, to create the score to this Spanish production. The subject interested me a lot, so it wasn’t difficult to say yes. I don’t have more information for the moment. Let’s hope it works well with broadcasting. It’s supposed to come out as a DVD release in the future.

:: Can we hear your music in other video productions?

In some parts of a short film, Estigmas, in the MTV produced Dirty Sanches and three ISN tracks in an upcoming US produced movie with the working title The Lot with a release date in 2012.

:: What can we expect from In Slaughter Natives in the future?

The new album is taking form, it’s progressing in the right direction, but it needs about two more months for finalizing details, some arrangement and voice recordings. Beside the 3CD Digibook Live/Mort aux Vaches release, the new album will get released at the same time with a secret content release.

Photo | In Slaughter Natives. By Tomas Pettersson (www.ordo-rosarius-equilibrio.net) Courtesy of the artist.

Questions | Jim Breedveld

Full article here.