Answers by editor Bo Christiansen

In a period where webzines seem to have replaced the old paper (maga)zines, we are quite glad to inform you about the recent birth a new paper magazine from Denmark, where a few ex-members of Metalized magazine flowed into, and which is also preparing the 2nd issue; this is the proof of the theory we always sustained that both of the media can coexist in an effective symbiosis, just like newpapers do in the core of the Internet era.
As a matter of fact, a paper issue is better if you want to deepen the knowledge of a specific topic (similarly to the comments about a band's latest CD), whereas somebody online usually prefers to exploit the opportunity of reading brand-new pieces of news - often almost realtime - but doesn't have sufficient time or concentration to deepen a topic as there's too much to choose from. That said, here are the verbatim words from the proud and worthy Danish journalist...

-HELL-o Bo, first off, why do you say that you weren't free enough at Metalized? You were the editor...What kind of pressures did you get?
Greetings Markus! To put a long story short: I enjoyed my time at Metalized Magazine and learned a lot during the seven years I worked for them. Metalized existed for 17 years with a total of 49 issues published and featured interviews from ½ a page to 2 pages a piece. I wanted new challenges in life as well as being able to present longer interviews than what was possible in Metalized. I think it’s a damn shame to make a great interview with a band and not being able to present the story as a whole. So I decided to quit Metalized and bring Evilution Magazine to life instead.

-How many hours does Evilution take you a day/a week? Do you study or have a main job?
I spend aprox. 3-5 hours per day answering mails, arranging interviews, talking to distros and labels, etc. Besides that I spend many hours writing reviews and interviews, preparing interviews as well as conducting them. I work as a freelance journalist writing about metal for various music-magazines but Evilution Magazine is my life and priority. I am currently looking into the possibility of going back to continue the study at university and will hopefully work out a schedule to make it all happen.

-What were the main difficulties before starting the mag? Did it go as you planned or were some interviews discarded as you weren't satisfied, or the relevant answers just arrived too late?
It was quite easy starting Evilution as most of the labels already knew me from Metalized. The hardest part was actually getting the wetsite ready. We had some bad experiences with the first persons in charge of the website. We could not agree on the design and it took them forever to make anything work. Then Jester came along and he got it all running in a few weeks. After that, the labels we were in contact with could see we were in business and the promo-packages and interview opportunities started coming. Everything went as planned from that point on. We had approx. 25 interviews ready for #1 but room for only 14 in the mag. The remaining interviews can be found on our website. I have not rejected any interviews yet and I do not expect to ever do that. We all agree on the concept of the magazine and work for a common cause – and I think that is obvious in the writings.

-Are your contributors from Metalized or where? You wanna introduce'em to us?
Sure thing. Oliver ‘Misereion’ Holm used to write for Metalized Magazine and I wanted him to be part of Evilution from the second the idea of doing the magazine was born. He plays drums in a death metal band and also writes for Zero Tolerance Magazine. He is our death metal journalist and has a big part in the making of Evilution Magazine. Mikkel Putzek is vocalist and guitarist in Whelm. He wrote some reviews for Metalized during the final days but they were never published. He writes about doom metal as well as acts like Neurosis, Cult Of Luna and Isis. He is also our webmaster. Jonas Manley plays in Die Weiße Rose and he’s our neo-folk and industrial journalist. Jester is doing the layout of the magazine as well as writing about death metal and hardcore. He also designed our website. We also have some guestwriters and they are: Ustumallagam, the vocalist of Denial Of God and graverobbing editor of Tornado Magazine. Svest from Forlis, Vornoff and Sagntid also contributes with reviews and interviews and in #2 they will be joined by Azter of Denial Of God, Victimizer and Horror Records and J. Killhailer of Victimizer, Crucifix, Opus Obscurium and Church Bizarre.

-Are you looking for new pro-bono collaborators ?
Not at the moment. We're 5 regular writers and 4 guestwriters at the moment and in my opinion the best staff I could wish for. There's no need to fix what’s not broken.

-Do you Bo prefer to run an intie over the phone or rushing one face to face offstage after a show?
I prefer phone interviews. It’s always fun to meet people and do interviews at a show but musicians tend to be less focused at interviews during a tour than at home over the phone. There’s no beer, fans, tight schedule, etc. to distract them like on tour and they can take their time to answer the questions without a lot of various stuff taking away their focus.

-What does Evilution have different from other zines and what are you gonna improve on your next issues?
We feature interviews which focus on the bands as a whole – not just about the latest album, who produced it, etc. We do not succumb to what is trendy. We only feature bands we like and we will feature them regardless of political and religious beliefs. There is no censorship in Evilution Magazine. We write what people say, even though we might not agree. There is no limit for how long an interview might be. The 11-page Darkthrone feature in #1 might give you an idea of that. Jester will improve some of the layout and in the future we will present magazines that are gonna be even better than #1. This is only the beginning.

-Denmark is a small country which was the birthplace for several important bands, nevertheless when I visited it in 1999 they told me that Metal wasn't in a good shape any longer. What's the situation like now?
Pretty much the same. We have a new generation of bands with success outside Denmark and there’s a lot of great bands on the way. There’s also some new small metal-festivals as well as some new venues contributing with gigs, but the small attendance at a lot of the gigs show that the scene is in bad shape in Denmark.

-I found on your first issue that you didn't interview Danish bands but most Norwegian ones even if there're several high-quality ones around and in your homeland too. Why? Is it an effort to spread Evilution throughout the rest of Scandinavia or just that most of your fav bands are from Norway and other countries?
No, that’s a pure coincidence. Norway has a very strong scene but so does Sweden and Denmark. There were a lot of great Norwegian releases when we put #1 together and that’s why. There will be a couple of Norwegian bands in #2 but also a couple of Swedish bands as well as Strychnos from Denmark.

-What about the competitions? D'they get a good response and are you planning some more on your site?
Yeah, we got a good response from the competitions and we will definitely do some more for the future. I’m not sure about #2 yet, that is still in the planning, but there will be competitions in future for sure.

-What further plans for the 2nd issue and when is it to be on sale? What new?
We are currently busy with #2 and I hope for a November release. We will feature Nunslaughter, Death SS, Arcturus, Watain, Strychnos, Hemnur and Grave among others as well as one of my all-time favorites as the exclusive cover-story. But that will not be unveiled before #2 has gone to print.

-If anybody wished to buy your 1st issue, can they still write to you or is it already out of print?
#1 is still available and you can either buy it from me or one of our distributors which can be found in the Distribution section of www.evilutionmagazine.com But it’s only a matter of time before it’s sold out so do not hesitate to order before it’s too late.

-Thanks for the intie. Feel free to add as much as you desire to our readers!
Thank you for this interview and your support! Distros interested in distributing Evilution can contact me at editor@evilutionmagazine.com for wholesale prices. Support the underground, keep the Black Flame burning!

MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - Sep 10th 2005