interviews

First of all: What does the name Aluk Todolo stand for? I read something about it having it’s roots in Indonesia, is that right? Why did you decide to choose this name? Does it have a special meaning to you besides it’s original meaning?
Aluk Todolo is the The Way of the Ancients. It means that we bring back from the past something precious that can not be quantized... Our unpure heritage

How and when did the whole project get started? The members took also part in the black metal acts Diamatregon and Vediog Savor, as far as I know…? Why did you start the new project? Are you still active in the other ones?
Aluk Todolo has been a new beginning after a break of all the other projects. We stopped, left our cities and countries, went individually in different spaces and time.
We gathered again in 2004 and started rehearsing every morning in the dark, and slowly something took form.
Diamatregon is now a studio project... Our third album “Crossroad” has been recently released on Tumult, Paragon and Amortout.

What would you say is the very essence of ALUK TODOLO?
Darkness.

Who has drawn your logo and where did he get the idea for it? What exactly does it symbolize? Logo ? We don't see it as logo.
It’s more than a symbol.
It’s our cross.

You seem to deal in general very much with symbols, images and visuals –obvious on your homepage. Why that? What importance do symbols and visuals have for you? What so you see in them?
We have no words, but symbols and visuals to lead our music.

I like your cover artworks, they are very special and expressive. Who has created them? What does each of them stand for?
We create everything for Aluk Todolo, from music to artwork. That's a process of all three.
We have been offered a painting from S. Kasner for our second album Finsternis, and felt honored by this one.

How did you found your indeed very unique and special style of music? Was it clear that you wanted to head to this direction when you started the project or was it something that just evolved? How would you name this style of music?
hen we started the band we were sure we wanted to create the most ritualistic and minimal music. A crossing of all our influences, far from the clichés and allegeances to the music styles. No genders, no scenes.
We called our music : Occult Rock.
But one could have named it differently.

How have been the reactions on your musical works so far? I read on your homepage quite some reviews and the opinions of the reviewers seem to differ quite a lot. Do you also have this impression? And btw, why do you publish all the reviews on your homepage?
Reactions on our work are mainly hate or addiction. It’s never tepid. All the reviews are available on our pages cause we are obssessed by archives, and there is no reason that we don’t make them available.

It’s obvious that you use the “general” instruments guitar, bass and drums, but besides there are also a lot of other sounds in your music. What instruments do you use besides the mentioned ones? Or do you create all the other sounds electronically with a computer?
There are only bass, guitar and drums, all the rest is invention of your mind.

What are the roots of your music? What has influenced it?
Everything that lurks in obcure spaces, everything rotten, miserable and ruined.

Do you still listen to black metal nowadays? What importance has/had this genre for you? What is black metal in your opinion and what makes it fascinating?
Black Metal is a way of life, that's not fascinating, that's life.

How do you look back on each of your releases so far? Which steps do they represent for you as musicians as well as individuals?
We never look back.

Some weeks ago you released a split LP together with Saturnalia Temple, Nihil Nocturne and Nightbringer. How did it come to the cooperation with these bands? What is the concept behind the LP? What does it’s title mean?
This LP is based on the concept of the four Powers of the Sphinx.
We have to keep silent.

You’re also going to release the LP version of “Finsternis”. Why did you decide to release it also on vinyl? Why did you choose another cover than on the CD? What does it show?
The CD version is illustrated by a Stephen Kasner’s painting, it was included in a serie runned by Utech Record and involving other bands and artists such as : Skull Flowers, Final, Runhild Gammelsaeter...
The LP version is released now for itself by Public Guilt and got the original Aluk Todolo artwork.
Our artworks are frontal, and show only what you can see.

How does an ALUK TODOLO song take shape? How is the songwriting/working process like? Do you divide the tasks clearly among the band members or does the music come up rather in jam sessions? Where do you record your music? Is it important for you to create a certain atmosphere during the recording sessions?
Our music is not riff based it all comes from the three of us, nothing is devided. There is no rules or a way to do it. What is important for us is not the way to achieve our music, but the achievement. We do music for music, not for beeing musicians. The atmoshpere during the recording session is obviously really important, that’s why until now we never went to a regular studio to record...

Where do you take the inspiration for your music from? Do you practise certain “rituals”, like meditation or something, to get yourself in the right mood to create such in my opinion very ritualistic music? Are there “tools” that you use to reach a state of inspiration, like for some bands alcohol, etc?
The only ritual is the performance of our music. There is no preparation. All is crystallized into the sound.

How important is music for you? What makes it important?
We breathe.

On your myspace site you have persons like Crowly, Blavatsky, etc. in your top friends, so I assume you studied into their writings. Would you also regard them as influences? What fascinates you on their works?
Yes, we don’t limit our influences to music and sounds. We deeply interesseted by every individuality who work, in his art, to push the limits of the mind conscience, of the understanding, of the perceptions. Crowley, Blavatsky belong to that category, but all are not on myspace.

What do you think of occultism, religiosity, etc. in general? Are they important for you, also in your everyday life? Could you maybe say a few words on your view on the world in general?
We are staring at the Fall.

The song in the middle of “Finsternis”, namely ‘Totalité‘ sticks out of the others as it doesn’t bear another number as title, besides the others like ‘Première Contact‘, ‘Deuxième Contact‘, etc.? I assume it has a special reason why you put this song in the middle? Is there a special concept behind the album? What exactly is this totality that it is about? I personally would have interpreted it as the ultimate, the universal one…
Interesting interpretation. As far as we think there is not one meaning to give to our music.
The tracks of “Finsternis” cannot be taken for themselves, each one is a step, a particular relfection of a whole. The album is based on themes’ variations, revolutions, cycles.
Eclipse is divided in phasis.

As you don’t have any vocals & lyrics, how do you choose the titles for the songs and albums? Why do you use different languages (English, French, German) to name them?
Because we don’t have lyrics and vocals, we give ourselves the right to choose the languages we need for our titles. A word is chosen for his meaning, for the way it sounds. A word in our system is a symbol, we use it as picture. The language we use is a way to charge the meaning and the sonority of our titles.

You just did a tour with shows in France, Spain and Switzerland. How was the tour like? Which show was the best one for you? Are you content with the tour as a whole?
Making concerts cannot content us. It’s a path of misery, a calvaire. Touring is like crawling : self inflicted bruises... So far the dates in Braga, Lyon, Allonnes got a feeling of their own. Perdition and illumination sometime collapse...

Actually I was rather surprised when I heard that ALUK TODOLO play live, as I think for this kind of music it’s not at all common. Was it clear for you from the beginning that you want to play live? How important are live shows for you? Did you make good experiences with it? What are maybe problems you have to face concerning gigs?
Since the creation of the band we played on stage. The live performances and the interaction with an audience are one of the reason of being of our band.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go to one of your shows until now, but I imagine you can create quite a strong atmosphere and kind of a ritualistic aura with this kind of music…Am I right? Do you experience live gigs as kind of a ritual? What feedback do you get from the audience?
How can we decribe a show from the inside when our performance take us in a state of trance and abandonment. Come next time. Make your own experience.

At last I’d like to ask you how the near future of ALUK TODOLO will look like. Do you already have material for a next album? Are there other plans you want to realize?
All that we performed on stage during our last tour are the material for our new album. We may have finished the recording before the end of that year.

Thanks a lot for the interview! And sorry for the many questions. However, the last words are yours…
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