{"id":7915,"date":"2013-05-01T01:10:53","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T06:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=8191"},"modified":"2013-04-24T20:18:50","modified_gmt":"2013-04-25T01:18:50","slug":"interview-with-pagan-metal-band-hammer-horde","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2013\/05\/01\/interview-with-pagan-metal-band-hammer-horde\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Pagan Metal Band Hammer Horde"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PaganPages (PP):<\/strong>\u00a0 Hails! I hope you guys are doing well on this fine day. First of all I’d like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to do this interview. We are honored to have you featured in our Epublication.<\/div>\n

There are a lot of different genre names for the style of music you play “Pagan metal”, “Viking Metal”, “Folk Metal” etc.. do you consider yourself any of these genres or do you kind of just write what you like and go with it?<\/p>\n

Ryan Mininger (RM)<\/strong>:\u00a0 Hey, first of all, thanks for the interview! I think the beauty of these genres is that there is a wide variety of sounds being brought to the table by previous and current bands. Pigeonholing any band into a \u201cViking Metal\u201c or \u201cFolk Metal\u201c sub-category really downplays it for me, as I find the distinction between a lot of groups to be strongly vast. When Derik and I first got together to start writing for Hammer Horde, we had planned on it just being a two-man project. Our backgrounds were already rooted in Melodic Death Metal, which was our main common ground when writing together, without having any original intentions to incorporate Viking-themed elements. We had no idea where the band would go, lyrically or visually. We completed 3 or so songs before eventually asking Ryan to be a part of the group, and the inspiration from Pagan Metal slowly started to saturate the music that we had written together, less at the beginning, and more towards the end. Once the band became more stable as a whole we had a better understanding of where we wanted to take it, especially once Tom joined and the lyrical attitude was established, things really became clear to us. We reworked our initial material, but truth be told, it was an easy transition. There has always been an underlying mind set geared toward Pagan Metal characteristics in our music that just needed acknowledgment and emphasis to make them surface.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 Was the writing process and influence behind your first album, Under the Mighty Oath, different from your second album, Vinlander?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 The philosophy of Hammer Horde has been a slow-growing experience to identify, and I think the more we continue to mature as a band the more we begin to understand what that philosophy truly is. On UTMO, we were still trying to find ourselves, and we experimented with a lot of different elements during those recording sessions. A couple of songs featured ocarina, bodhr\u00e1n, and even a more prominent use of keyboards. On \u201cVinlander\u201d we seemed to stray from these types of ideas, focusing more on song-writing instead of the gimmicky elements you would expect to find in our genre. We also focused more on pre-production this time around, ensuring that we had a better final product by preparing the songs in advance.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 Are there any songs, in particular, the band loves to play live?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 The new material from \u201cVinlander\u201d is currently the most fun, due mainly to the fact that its fresh and exciting to us. There are still a few staples from UTMO that we enjoy playing, like \u201cTriumph of Sword and Shield\u201d and \u201cIn the Name of Winter\u2019s Wrath\u201d, but the songs from \u201cVinlander\u201d seem to translate very well to the stage.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 Do you ever get any pre judged for being an American Pagan\/viking metal band?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 There are many listeners who can be biased towards a band because of their location. We are just five guys inspired and influenced by the bands that we love, and never claimed to be something that we are not. Hammer Horde writing songs about Norse Mythology is no different than Nile writing songs about Ancient Egypt \u2013 it is simply a deep interest that the band revolves around. When we write songs about the Sagas or Norse Mythology, we are simply retelling stories, or trying to bring a new perspective of our own. Where someone is born geographically should not put restrictions on their interests and desires in other cultures, especially in regards to music. Let\u2019s not forget that Manowar has been writing songs with Nordic themes since \u201882, well before Bathory and other successors pioneered the genre. In all cases, I would say it\u2018s best to just let the music speak for itself, since what makes something truly great to any listener is relative to the eyes (or ears) of the beholder.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 Do you play any local shows in your area? If so what is the response like? I know Pagan\/viking metal isn’t as big here, in the United States, as it is in Europe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 Yes, it is true that the Folk\/Pagan scene is pretty scarce in North America, but the popularity and interest in these genres is slowly on the rise. Festivals like Heathen Crusade and tours like Paganfest and Heidenfest help bring the fans out of the woodwork, but any actual bands playing this kind of metal are few and far in between, at least as far as the public eye is concerned. There is a lot of great stuff happening in North America under the radar, you just have to look for it. Oregon\u2019s OAKHELM is certainly worth mentioning, and another great Canadian act is DARK FOREST, as well as dozens more throughout the nation: ADAVANT (Arizona), DETHLEHEM (Pennsylvania), and NORTHERN SWORD (Michigan), just to name a few.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 I know Hammerhorde played the Ragnarok festival in Germany back in 2011. How was that experience? Any memorable moments you wouldn’t mind sharing with our readers?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 Unfortunately, our appearance at Ragnar\u00f6k Festival that year had been canceled due to financial restraints with the responsible promoters\/organizers. Evidently, the concert promoter failed to fulfill his agreement to pay for the flight tickets and guarantee the band\u2019s arrival in Europe. We still keep our hopes high for the future in finally bringing the sounds of Hammer Horde over seas.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 Your lyrics seem to be based upon The Norse Pagan Gods, and Battles. Are you guys Spiritual at all? Do you practice \u00c1satr\u00fa or something of the sort?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 At the end of the day, we are all ultimately just fans of the genre, inspired and influenced by our predecessors. The interest in Scandinavian Paganism for each of us can be considered a simple hobby, more so with other members. The attraction to these topics is essentially just a modern fascination, brought on either by our own research or interest in various forms of media. None of us are spiritual in a religious sense. We are not \u00c1satr\u00fa, Neo-Pagans or Odinists, but rather enthusiasts of the history, mythos, and culture. Not to say that there are not positive things to be found in these belief systems, we just happen to keep the spiritual and religious aspects out of things when trying to write music and function as a band.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 I know of a few other Pagan Metal bands who claim they aren’t even really influenced by the genre itself, are there any bands in particular that have really influenced your band?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 The inspiration for Hammer Horde to be focused around Nordic topics and themes stems primarily from the fact that we have a passion for the culture, and more importantly, a true love for the Viking Metal that came before us. We are recognizing the paths founded by our predecessors, and while upholding a true passion and hunger to exist as a genuine band, we express our own portrayal of Pagan Metal in their honor. Ultimately, we are fans at heart, first and foremost – inspired by these genres to create an exiting brand of music that we love and respect, while at the same time challenging ourselves to make it stand out as our own. As a band, our influences vary from one another – ranging from Falkenbach to Windir.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 Are there any bands right now that you just cant get enough of?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 Collectively, we all listen to various things. Right now I\u2019m big into bands such as Brymir, Kalmah and Forefather.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 Any country or US state in particular that you would really like to play in the near future?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 Being in a genre with an \u201cacquired taste\u201d such as ours, it seems difficult to gain popularity in our home country. Most fans of metal music in America can\u2019t really relate to what we are doing and they either feel that our outfits are silly or that our content is confusing. If it were up to us, we would play everywhere possible, but unfortunately the demand is not there. Nonetheless, we are very grateful to those in the US who lend their support to us, and help raise the flag for Pagan\/Folk metal in general. We are but a small army, but our ranks are growing with every passing year.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 Any crazy fan stories? Anything crazy happen at a show that you would not mind sharing?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 Nothing really crazy has happened that we can remember. We played Ogrefest in Lansing, MI one year and Ryan had broken a string on stage during one of our songs. At this time we hadn\u2019t really prepared for this sort of thing, and the guys didn\u2019t have any back-up guitars on stage. Ryan ended up having to run through the crowd to the back of the venue to grab a pack of strings from his bag.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 What is your touring plans for this year? (We would like to add your tour schedule in the feature.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 Without being on a major label, the funding for tour support is non-existent. We try our best to play as many shows that we can manage, but as five guys with regular day jobs, Hammer Horde has been primarily a studio band. We hope that can change one day and would love to see booking tours as a possibility for us in the future.<\/p>\n

\n

PP<\/strong>:\u00a0 Any last words for your fans?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

RM<\/strong>:\u00a0 Thank you once again for supporting Hammer Horde by arranging this interview, we truly appreciate it. \u201cVinlander\u201d is available pretty much everywhere on the internet, so do us a favor and Google search it to check it out for yourselves; or better yet visit\u00a0www.hammerhorde.com<\/a>\u00a0directly and have a look at our web-shop. Spread the word, and harass your local promoters for getting Hammer Horde to play in your hometown. Cheers!<\/wbr><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We would like to thank Ryan Mininger from Hammer Horde for taking the time to speak with our readers!<\/p>\n

You can visit them at http:\/\/www.hammerhorde.com<\/a> where you can hear some of their amazing album Under the Mighty Oath\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Also, you can purchase the album, along with their newest release Vinlander<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be sure to visit their Facebook <\/a>and watch them on YouTube<\/a>!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PaganPages (PP):\u00a0 Hails! I hope you guys are doing well on this fine day. First of all I’d like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to do this interview. We are honored to have you featured in our Epublication. There are a lot of different genre names for the style of music you play “Pagan metal”, “Viking Metal”, “Folk Metal” etc.. do you consider yourself any of these genres or do you kind of just write what you like and go with it? Ryan Mininger (RM):\u00a0 Hey, first of all, thanks for the interview! I think the beauty of these genres is that there is a wide variety of sounds being brought to the table by previous and current bands. Pigeonholing any band into a \u201cViking Metal\u201c or \u201cFolk Metal\u201c sub-category really downplays it for me, as I find the distinction between a lot of groups to be strongly vast. When Derik and I first got together to start writing for Hammer Horde, we had planned on it just being a two-man project. Our backgrounds were already rooted in Melodic Death Metal, which was our main common ground when writing together, without having any original intentions to incorporate Viking-themed elements. We had no idea where the band would go, lyrically or visually. We completed 3 or so songs before eventually asking Ryan to be a part of the group, and the inspiration from Pagan Metal slowly started to saturate the music that we had written together, less at the beginning, and more towards the end. Once the band became more stable as a whole we had a better understanding of where we wanted to take it, especially once Tom joined and the lyrical attitude was established, things really became clear to us. We reworked our initial material, but truth be told, it was an easy transition. There has always been an underlying mind set geared toward Pagan Metal characteristics in our music that just needed acknowledgment and emphasis to make them surface. PP:\u00a0 Was the writing process and influence behind your first album, Under the Mighty Oath, different from your second album, Vinlander? RM:\u00a0 The philosophy of Hammer Horde has been a slow-growing experience to identify, and I think the more we continue to mature as a band the more we begin to understand what that philosophy truly is. On UTMO, we were still trying to find ourselves, and we experimented with a lot of different elements during those recording sessions. A couple of songs featured ocarina, bodhr\u00e1n, and even a more prominent use of keyboards. On \u201cVinlander\u201d we seemed to stray from these types of ideas, focusing more on song-writing instead of the gimmicky elements you would expect to find in our genre. We also focused more on pre-production this time around, ensuring that we had a better final product by preparing the songs in advance. PP:\u00a0 Are there any songs, in particular, the band loves to play live? RM:\u00a0 The new material from \u201cVinlander\u201d is currently the most fun, due mainly to the fact that its fresh and exciting to us. There are still a few staples from UTMO that we enjoy playing, like \u201cTriumph of Sword and Shield\u201d and \u201cIn the Name of Winter\u2019s Wrath\u201d, but the songs from \u201cVinlander\u201d seem to translate very well to the stage. PP:\u00a0 Do you ever get any pre judged for being an American Pagan\/viking metal band? RM:\u00a0 There are many listeners who can be biased towards a band because of their location. We are just five guys inspired and influenced by the bands that we love, and never claimed to be something that we are not. Hammer Horde writing songs about Norse Mythology is no different than Nile writing songs about Ancient Egypt \u2013 it is simply a deep interest that the band revolves around. When we write songs about the Sagas or Norse Mythology, we are simply retelling stories, or trying to bring a new perspective of our own. Where someone is born geographically should not put restrictions on their interests and desires in other cultures, especially in regards to music. Let\u2019s not forget that Manowar has been writing songs with Nordic themes since \u201882, well before Bathory and other successors pioneered the genre. In all cases, I would say it\u2018s best to just let the music speak for itself, since what makes something truly great to any listener is relative to the eyes (or ears) of the beholder. PP:\u00a0 Do you play any local shows in your area? If so what is the response like? I know Pagan\/viking metal isn’t as big here, in the United States, as it is in Europe. RM:\u00a0 Yes, it is true that the Folk\/Pagan scene is pretty scarce in North America, but the popularity and interest in these genres is slowly on the rise. Festivals like Heathen Crusade and tours like Paganfest and Heidenfest help bring the fans out of the woodwork, but any actual bands playing this kind of metal are few and far in between, at least as far as the public eye is concerned. There is a lot of great stuff happening in North America under the radar, you just have to look for it. Oregon\u2019s OAKHELM is certainly worth mentioning, and another great Canadian act is DARK FOREST, as well as dozens more throughout the nation: ADAVANT (Arizona), DETHLEHEM (Pennsylvania), and NORTHERN SWORD (Michigan), just to name a few. PP:\u00a0 I know Hammerhorde played the Ragnarok festival in Germany back in 2011. How was that experience? Any memorable moments you wouldn’t mind sharing with our readers? RM:\u00a0 Unfortunately, our appearance at Ragnar\u00f6k Festival that year had been canceled due to financial restraints with the responsible promoters\/organizers. Evidently, the concert promoter failed to fulfill his agreement to pay for the flight tickets and guarantee the band\u2019s arrival in Europe. We still keep our hopes high for the future in finally bringing the sounds of Hammer Horde over seas. PP:\u00a0 Your lyrics seem to be based upon The Norse Pagan Gods, and Battles. Are you guys Spiritual at all? Do you practice \u00c1satr\u00fa or something of the sort? RM:\u00a0 At the end of the day, we are all ultimately just fans of the genre, inspired and influenced by our predecessors. The interest in Scandinavian Paganism for each of us can be considered a simple hobby, more so with other members. The attraction to these topics is essentially just a modern fascination, brought on either by our own research or interest in various forms of media. None of us are spiritual in a religious sense. We are not \u00c1satr\u00fa, Neo-Pagans or Odinists, but rather enthusiasts of the history, mythos, and culture. Not to say that there are not positive things to be found in these belief systems, we just happen to keep the spiritual and religious aspects out of things when trying to write music and function as a band. PP:\u00a0 I know of a few other Pagan Metal bands who claim they aren’t even really influenced by the genre itself, are there any bands in particular that have really influenced your band? RM:\u00a0 The inspiration for Hammer Horde to be focused around Nordic topics and themes stems primarily from the fact that we have a passion for the culture, and more importantly, a true love for the Viking Metal that came before us. We are recognizing the paths founded by our predecessors, and while upholding a true passion and hunger to exist as a genuine band, we express our own portrayal of Pagan Metal in their honor. Ultimately, we are fans at heart, first and foremost – inspired by these genres to create an exiting brand of music that we love and respect, while at the same time challenging ourselves to make it stand out as our own. As a band, our influences vary from one another – ranging from Falkenbach to Windir. PP:\u00a0 Are there any bands right now that you just cant get enough of? RM:\u00a0 Collectively, we all listen to various things. Right now I\u2019m big into bands such as Brymir, Kalmah and Forefather. PP:\u00a0 Any country or US state in particular that you would really like to play in the near future? RM:\u00a0 Being in a genre with an \u201cacquired taste\u201d such as ours, it seems difficult to gain popularity in our home country. Most fans of metal music in America can\u2019t really relate to what we are doing and they either feel that our outfits are silly or that our content is confusing. If it were up to us, we would play everywhere possible, but unfortunately the demand is not there. Nonetheless, we are very grateful to those in the US who lend their support to us, and help raise the flag for Pagan\/Folk metal in general. We are but a small army, but our ranks are growing with every passing year. PP:\u00a0 Any crazy fan stories? Anything crazy happen at a show that you would not mind sharing? RM:\u00a0 Nothing really crazy has happened that we can remember. We played Ogrefest in Lansing, MI one year and Ryan had broken a string on stage during one of our songs. At this time we hadn\u2019t really prepared for this sort of thing, and the guys didn\u2019t have any back-up guitars on stage. Ryan ended up having to run through the crowd to the back of the venue to grab a pack of strings from his bag. PP:\u00a0 What is your touring plans for this year? (We would like to add your tour schedule in the feature.) RM:\u00a0 Without being on a major label, the funding for tour support is non-existent. We try our best to play as many shows that we can manage, but as five guys with regular day jobs, Hammer Horde has been primarily a studio band. We hope that can change one day and would love to see booking tours as a possibility for us in the future. PP:\u00a0 Any last words for your fans? RM:\u00a0 Thank you once again for supporting Hammer Horde by arranging this interview, we truly appreciate it. \u201cVinlander\u201d is available pretty much everywhere on the internet, so do us a favor and Google search it to check it out for yourselves; or better yet visit\u00a0www.hammerhorde.com\u00a0directly and have a look at our web-shop. Spread the word, and harass your local promoters for getting Hammer Horde to play in your hometown. Cheers!   We would like to thank Ryan Mininger from Hammer Horde for taking the time to speak with our readers! You can visit them at http:\/\/www.hammerhorde.com where you can hear some of their amazing album Under the Mighty Oath\u00a0 Also, you can purchase the album, along with their newest release Vinlander   Be sure to visit their Facebook and watch them on YouTube!      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7915\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}