Mayhem info page

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We also have Facebook page:

Facebook

And, most importantly, a webpage too:

WordPress

(It is way more user friendly than Tumblr or Instagram because you are able to navigate the site and posts by category (on top of the page over Mayhem logo), tags (they appear under posts) or you can simply type a word into search bar and it will show you every post that contains that word.

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All questions on Tumblr are answered by "Pelle admin", that is, the one with the bat emoji 🦇 (I do answer Øystein related questions, but rarely, because my knowledge of Øystein isn't as extensive as other admin's)

On Instagram, we do Q&A once every 3 months, where you can reach the other admin - the one with the candle emoji (🕯️), if you have questions pertaining to Øystein.

Anonymous questions are permanently disabled.

"As a child, Pelle suffered from sleep apnea, a disorder characterised by irregular pauses in breathing during sleep. As these abnormal pauses can last from anything from a few seconds to several minutes, the sufferer usually requires the aid of a ventilator in order to sleep safely"- Cemetery gates: Saints and survivors of the heavy metal scene

"My mom told me that, when I was a baby, I slept so intensely I turned white, so she had to check on me all the time to see if I were still alive" - Pelle in an interview for Slayer mag 1988 🦇

(Sleep apnea in childhood is often easily treatable with adenotonsillectomy, so I don't believe he needed a ventilator. My own son had the same surgery because of obstructive sleep apnea)

I really doubt it had anything to do with the scene in Yugoslavia - Øystein wanted to play in North Korea. Find me a black metal band/fan in North Korea even now 🤣

But you're right, it absolutely had everything to do with how Yugoslavia was like as a country. Yugoslavia was the best of both worlds, as I love to say it. It was not behind the Iron Curtain and Tito told Stalin to fuck off back in 1948, which means we were "our own bosses", and as such, traded with both west and the east. We had tourism, we could travel abroad, people could say openly that they were Christians, in general... our people lived more freely. That's why, I think, Øystein was not interested in YU.

do you plan on posting it?

I posted those letters long ago, actually.

i knew euro spoke to pelles family / anders abt the whole situation, but have heard very little on euro speaking to pelles parents outside of the few times he was actually in sweden, like when he had to drive pelle back to sweden to get the car from pelles dad since pelle never rlly learned how to drive & other few times, i was js curious if there was any more info what was quoted? :p

No, just that.

"Norway hardly had a metal scene at all. We had a few metal bands in Sarpsborg, notably Artch, and nationally we had TNT and a few other lighter bands, but there was not any kind of scene to speak of. While I was in high school, I had made friends with the Live Wire people simply because we all liked heavy metal and were stuck together in school. Meeting anyone like Euronymous and Necrobutcher who liked the same music as me-Venom, Bathory, and Hellhammer—was a major change.

For a long time, I didn’t hear from them again. Then, after seeing the copies of Slayer Mag at Euronymous’s house, their friend Andy wrote to recommend that I put Mayhem in my magazine. The only problem was that I had no idea how to get in touch with them. Andy gave my phone number to Necrobutcher, who soon called and invited me to their town, Ski, to watch Mayhem practice with their early singer Billy, also called Messiah.” - Metalion, The Slayer Mag Diaries. Part 2

"Day eight. February 4. Dead bandaged his own arms and didn’t want to see a doctor. There were many cuts, and he posed for us to take photos of him with his hand cut. That evening, we interviewed Dead for the Release fanzine to send to Chris [unfortunately, I was unable to find anything related to that interview]. I learned from Dead that his favorite animals were the vulture and the bat" - Interview with Antonis Orologas from Desolation, Total rage zine #2, 1991 , part 6 🦇

(these were the two Greek guys who overstayed their welcome like Marcin, and were were mentioned by several Mayhem members because of it. Big thanks to the follower of ours who found the zine and translated it!)

I posted several photos on the website that I can't post on social media, including the one with the Coke bottle

"I noticed Euronymous and Necrobutcher because their appearance was so unusual. Both of them were really small, shorter than me, and both had dyed raven-black hair down to their waists. In 1985, that wasn’t really normal. To top it off, I think they also both wore Venom shirts.

Euronymous especially was very friendly, and he did most of the talking. He liked the Slayer poster in Slayer 2, and he bought that issue. He told me that he and Necrobutcher had a band called Mayhem. I asked them if they had recorded a demo yet, but neither of them at that point seemed to know what a demo tape was.” - Metalion, The Slayer Mag Diaries, Part 1

@sheonlylikesblackmetal They knew he would do it, they just didn't expect it to be that bad. There's a letter from Øystein from before this first gig, where he describes Pelle's plans to self harm on stage, quite excitedly.

"Day seven. February 3. It was the day of the concert. In the morning, preparations were made for the show. In the evening, the other bands started playing, and when it was time for them [Mayhem] to come out, they were very late because of the corpse paint they were applying. About 200 people had gathered and were waiting for them to come out. They came out around 10:30 [22:30] and played a lot of songs, as well as a few new ones. People slowly started to leave because there was a problem with the train. The club held around 700 people. The stage was filled with stakes topped with pig heads.

During “Funeral Fog,” an awesome song, the singer Dead grabbed a broken bottle and slit his wrists. His whole hand was covered in blood, and the rest of the band, along with everyone there, were absolutely shocked. The show ended around 11:45 [23:45], and a party followed. Maniac, Amputation, Mortem (real assholes. Poser faces), Darkthrone, and Stian, the pimply guy from Sepulchral Noise, had gathered at Mayhem’s house. Vangelis got into a fight with the drummer of Stian’s band because while he was sleeping, the drummer was splashing him with hot water. When everyone else left, only Amputation, Mayhem, Vangelis, and I were left at the house." - Interview with Antonis Orologas from Desolation, Total rage zine no2, 1991 , part 5 🦇

(these were the two Greek guys who overstayed their welcome like Marcin, and were were mentioned by several Mayhem members because of it. Big thanks to the follower of ours who found the zine and translated it!)

What do you regard as a song’s most important things? What’s on your mind when you’re writing new songs?

“It’s most important that it doesn’t have any bad or insignificant riffs, all the riffs must be the best ever! Today there is so much bad music released, music that is without any feelings or moods, it’s just made to fill out space on a record. Take Napalm Death for example. They made their last record in 2 days (they made their SONGS in 2 days, that is), and then it will be like “Hey, let’s make 45 riffs the next hour and put them together into 5 songs.” We don’t work that way. When I make a riff, it must be something special, or it’s worthless. Sometimes it takes me 3-4 months just to come up with something which is good enough, but then I’m very satisfied too. It must inhabit a feeling of STINKING BLACK EVIL and ABOMINATION.” - Euronymous in Stigma Diabolicum zine issue 3(?). Dated as 1992, but the interview was from late 1990