Q and A: Matthew Greywolf (Powerwolf)

By BRIAN GIFFIN

THEATRICS has always played a part in heavy metal and Germany’s Powerwolf have never been lacking in that department. The creators of a parallel universe populated by werewolves and vampires, Powerwolf have just released their 10th studio album, Wake Up the Wicked which sees their passion for wild power metal histrionics unabated, with lyrical themes soaked in the blood of historical killers and saints. Guitarist Matthew Greywolf sat down with us to explore the world of Powerwolf further and briefly discuss what brought them to write about one of the (possibly apocryphal) most brutal executions of all time, among other things.

Hot Metal: Have you ever been interviewed by Australian press before?
Matthew Greywolf: “To be honest, I don’t know! I don’t really remember! Today we have a few, and I was surprised, so I guess we didn’t have as many [interviews] as we do now. So that’s pretty great.”

HM: That’s positive. It means that people must be listening to you more here now, if they’re getting you to do interviews.
MG: “Yes, and that’s awesome.”

HM: Let’s get straight into the new single, ‘1549’. Can we have some insight into what it’s about. The PR talks about it being drawn from an incident in the 16th Century, so what exactly is the meaning behind this song?
MG: “It is about the most famous German werewolf trials, that mostly took place around the 16th century. The case involved a man called Peter Stumpp, who was accused of serial murder and other crimes. Evidence was based on the fact that he was a werewolf. It was basically the male version of the witch trials. That was just a perfectly interesting story to write about. What we were interested in was not … his execution was said to be one of the most cruel. It’s not very well documented, but that wasn’t interesting for us. We were interested in how the legend was built. How it was he was thought to be a werewolf, accused of werewolfry, witchcraft. One of the interesting aspects is that what happened just before was the Reformation, and that guy was said to be one of the few Protestants in a Catholic region, so he was the perfect scapegoat. He was an outsider, so it was pretty easy to blame the outsider for these crimes. Those things are pretty interesting to get into, to explore how these stories evolve.”

HM: A lot of your songs can be interpreted in more than one way. Do you think that story could be used as a metaphor for other events that happen all the time – people being accused or found guilty of things, merely because they are an outsider?
MG: “Of course. It’s not a phenomenon that’s rooted in the 16th century. You can see those patterns in very many examples, but I wouldn’t go so far as using it as a metaphor for things that are happening nowadays. We’re not a political band, at all. We really just nerds for this kind of dark legends in history. I won’t go as far as to say this has any social message. We’re entertainers.”

HM: Let’s talk a bit about the rest of the album now, too. What are some of the other songs you’re presenting for us this time?
MG: “There is no main concern. I always call our albums a new chapter in the universe of Powerwolf. You have this wolfish-themed universe and we’re extending it all the time. What makes it different this time is that we are a little more focused on historical events. Another great example is the story of Joan of Arc, which is a universal story that everyone’s heard about. It’s kind of connected in the same way as what we’ve already talked about. She went from nobody to hero, then to scapegoat. It’s a pretty interesting story: a hero, then executed for heresy, then later on, she’s sainted. That’s a twisted plot! That’s another perfect example of a historical story to write music to. These kind of things sometimes are really inspiring to write songs about. I would say that Wake Up the Wicked, more than on previous albums, we are telling stories. Some of them based on historical facts, some of them fictional.”

HM: What’s maybe one more of your favourites from the album? If you had to pick a third song to talk about, which one would it be?
MG: “Another one I would pick lyrically is ‘Thunderpriest’, which is a very straight forward metal song. It was loosely inspired by the life and story of András Pándy, who was priest living in Belgium in the 1980s, 1990s. He was later on accused of mass murder, or, at least, of several murder cases. He lived like a really nice priest guy, while he was also one of the worst serial killers we’ve had in Europe. I don’t want to glorify any of these things at all, but it’s a good story to write a metal song about. That’s why it’s ‘inspired by’ and not ‘about’ this guy who killed all these people! Sometimes we just stumble upon these stories. We are nerds. We read a lot! Every now and then we stumble across a story like that and think, ‘That could be too dark to write about’.”

HM: Do you often read about serial killers?
MG: “Funnily enough, I don’t! Co-incidentally I had an idea for a really straight metal song and I came across an article about this guy. But I’m not usually into those kinds of things, I must say. The kind of universe of Powerwolf is really fantasy. I use the music of Powerwolf to open this universe as a kind of escape. I don’t want to let real cases take too much place because it really is a kind of parallel universe.”

HM: How do those type of stories fit into the Powerwolf universe?
MG: “Well it’s not a closed universe or a distant world where nothing’s coming in. We do have this pretty strict concept, from the very beginning, but we always wanted to keep it open-ended to integrate different things in it, otherwise we would end up feeling trapped in it. So I don’t think these historical stories interfere with this kind of world. We translate these stories into the visual world of Powerwolf and these aspects enrich this world.”

HM: Do you find it difficult sometimes to add to your universe without feeling like you’re repeating yourselves?
MG: “Yes and no, I would say. No, because this is what we’ve created and we just enjoy adding new chapters to the book. But, of course, this is album number nine, and lyrically and musically we follow a very strict concept so it’s not that easy to not repeat yourself, while staying true to your signature sound and style. But that’s exactly why we bring in some new aspects like historical trials or the story of that creep from the 1980s. We add them to enhance the world.”

HM: If I was a new fan, listening to Powerwolf for the first time, and I wanted to check out something else, and I’ve only got time to listen to one, which one would you say I should listen to?
MG: “That’s a tough question! I would say Sacrament of Sin. That was the first album where we really opened up all aspects of our sound. We love to play with heavy metal cliches. But on Sacrament of Sin, for the first time, we brought in more of a pop kind of attitude. Writing a really catchy song like ‘Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend’, which is more of a rock song than a traditional metal song. That really let us know what we were capable of. It’s a really special record and I have always liked it. I would always recommend that one.

HM: I’ve only got one more question, and it’s an obvious one because you are doing press in Australia now. Is there any possibility you can come down here and join us here in Australia?
MG: “Yes, definitely. There’s already been some talk about it. But then we had the pandemic and everything, but we’re talking through some details now and it’s likely that early next year it might happen.”