Down from Walhalla the viking Warking came and gave us some quality time to answer our deepest questions. 

GRIMM: Do you want a normal interview or a fantasy interview? 

I don’t think there is a fantasy interview. But ok let’s say we have a fantasy interview we don’t have normal interviews. I don’t even know what you mean with a normal one. 

GRIMM: How did you enjoy the battle at Wacken Open Air? 

It was fantastic! It was so great. Because of the thunderstorm today they told us that they did not know if we could play. First they said that the whole day was cancelled. Then they said we will continue the festival but we don’t know if you can play. But half an hour before we would play they told us: Alright show is on. When our crew started the changeover and prepared the stage there was nobody there. But when we went on stage the field was packed it was amazing.  

GRIMM: Yeah, they told us we had to evacuate the festival too. 

Indeed we also had to evacuate. They told us: you need to go immediately we did not even have time to grab our stuff. But it was great, the audience was great, people were singing. 

GRIMM: Was the journey to the Holy Ground of Wacken easy to make or did you have a long way to make? 

Depending how you view it. We came down from Walhalla and rode our chariots down. We got a nice hotel. It was easy. 

GRIMM: It was very fun to see you on stage as a leader of all these warriors following you. But how do you feel when they all give their best battle cry for you? 

It was great because we came down from Walhalla just to play our music and spread the stories of war and our battles. And now we have so many warriors fighting with us. And it is so great to hear them shout our songs at the singalongs. It feels amazing. 

GRIMM: How did the gods decide the four of you should spread the word of your famous and legendary war songs? 

We all met in front of Walhalla. For me it is Walhalla. For the Tribune it was the Elysium. And for the Crusader it was like Paradise. So we all met there. We never saw each other before. But then we realised when you die it is all the same. No matter where you are from. It doesn’t matter what colour you have, what religion you have. In the end it is all the same death.

So we sat together in the Halls of Odin and we drank and talked about our stories. Odin listened and said: You should tell these stories to the people. And he introduced us to the music of Heavy Metal which we did not know before. But then again it was the only music we could play to tell the stories. So we did this and Odin said: you should go back again and tell the tale. 

GRIMM: And how long have you been spreading the word? 

We started spreading the word last year. We had some you know. I don’t know what it is in human language but in earth years we had some time to prepare and learn instruments and stuff. But as Warkings we started last year.  

GRIMM: I have noticed that your followers have been growing larger every day. How does that make you feel as Warking? How makes you feel this as leaders of the horde? 

It feels so good because we were all leaders of big armies. But then we died and we had nothing anymore. But now we came back and our armies grow bigger every day. Like literally every day. We can see this and it feels so great. And this time it is about music and not about real war. Our concerts are the battlegrounds and it is much better then real fighting. 

GRIMM: You have been questing for a year now. What was one of the most memorable battles that you had in that year? 

Well the first one in last December. The battle in Vienna and we did not know what to expect. And it was great because it was a small club and it was packed. And our warriors were already singing with us. A couple of weeks ago we got our Rockhard festival. Which I don’t know are about 5000 people. It was crazy and we did what we call it the breakout clash. It is also known as a wall of death. Here we split the audience but it was told us to not do it today.  At Rockhard it was amazing it was about 5000 people running into each other. But it still is amazing. I mean it is Wacken. The Holy Land! 

GRIMM: Was it your first time at The Holy Lands of Wacken? 

As a band it was the very first time at Wacken. The first time we play here after only being started a year ago. And then we come to the festival and they tell you it is done. We can’t play due to the thunderstorms. And then you can play and it was so good. A roller-coaster of feelings! First we had mixed feelings because of the thunderstorm and an empty festival area. But then we went on stage and it was just so great! 

GRIMM: There was someone else joining on the stage. The Queen of the Damned. Can you tell me a bit more about her? 

The Queen oh yes, we had this song about ‘Sparta’ which is about the battle at the Thermopylae. About the 300 Spartans. And on the album, we had the Butcher of Debauchery singing. We know him because he is a well-known guy in Hell. And then the tribune introduced us to the Queen. So we summoned her from the seventh circle and we did the video with her. And just a week ago we released the single and version where she is singing. And now she is with us. We forgot to dispel her back to hell. So now we are stuck with her. And that is a secret and you are first to know that she will be on the next record too. We don’t know we have to fight about this and drink some wine and beer about it. 

GRIMM: So, there is a new album insight? 

Yes, there indeed is. 

GRIMM: And do you have any idea when? 

It would be around the end of April or beginning of May next year (2020). We just started writing songs and sitting together to talk about what we want to sing about. 

GRIMM: Is there maybe a war story that we might hear about that might be in the next album? 

There is one. I don’t know if you know the Battle of Marathon? It was in the same period that the Persians invaded Greece. And the battle of the Thermopylae. Years before they started invading Greece. With a big army of ships. They landed on the shores of Marathon and the Greeks surprised them with an attack from the shore. Before they even could set foot on land. And destroyed them. And there was the legend about the man who ran from Marathon to Athens. To tell about the victory and then died. That was 42 km that is why a marathon now also is 42 km. So we will tell about this story.  

GRIMM: And then we are just talking about some other stuff. Here on earth it is kind of tradition. That a band brings the songs live and do a tour. Is there any such thing in sight? 

We will play a couple of more festivals. And then we go on tour with or brothers of Majesty and Victorius. This is the end of October for ten days.  Most of the shows are in Germany and one in London. And then this will be the last tour for this album and then we will record the album. Now we are talking to our label and booking agents about how we are going to do this. For this year we will tour with Majesty and Victorius. They got an awesome new record out. Victorius also bringing a new album.  

And next year we will play more festivals. We love playing live. We want to make the show bigger and bring the battle to the people. 

GRIMM: Are there any other bands you know to collaborate with on the next tour?  

We had some talk but it is not said and done. So we keep it silent for now because it could change from day to day. But there are a lot of bands we like and where we want to tour with. We are talking with them but as long as the deal is not sealed, we wait to send our messengers out.  

GRIMM: As a Viking Warking you have probably talked to your seer. What did they see in Warkings future? 

What did they see? They told us to be patient and continue the path. And everything will be set in place. That is also what we tell our warriors to be patient. You always win the fight if you are the patient one. 

And we already played a big battle here at the holy grounds of Wacken and this after only a year as a band. 

After our first video from the song ‘Gladiator’. We did not know what to expect. But the response was so great. And now we played Wacken and some other summer festivals. It is so great. Unbelievable 

GRIMM: I think it is very fortunate that a lot of people want to hear what the gods have decide that the Warkings should tell us. 

Of course, there are a lot of stories to tell and a lot of things to learn from our past. And a lot of things not to do again. Because if you look at the world now. It is going crazy. There is a lot of stuff going on and one thing we learned is that a real war is never the answer. And it does not matter where we come from. That is what we learned when we met each other when we died.

Like I said before who cares about your religion, colour, language when in the end we are all the same. And under our skin everybody has red blood. There is a lot of bullshit going on and we do our best on stage to give the people a good time and maybe be released from the bullshit. Music connects people from all over the world. Nobody cares about politics when we are at wacken. Politicians should come and see this. That is the power of music. 

GRIMM: There are a lot of other warriors that try to spread the good word. Are there any other bands that deserve a shout out? 

Oh yeah we made some friends and they invited us on the first concert. With a band from Austria: Dragony. They tell more fantasy stories like things about the unicorn and stuff. And they invited us and we played our first concert with them. More people should listen to them! We are friends with other bands like Powerwolf. But I don’t think they need a shout out. It is a great band with great shows! And amazing and nice people as well.  

GRIMM: You just mentioned Powerwolf. But what other bands inspired you to make the music? 

Oh we started listening to the music in Walhalla and Odin introduced us to all the great bands like: Iron Maiden, Metallica, Manowar,… Manowar is a cool band and they have some cool songs about Odin and such. Also, Amon Amarth the true Vikings. All these bands were an inspiration. 

GRIMM: And for your new followers what would you recommend them to listen to first to get to know you? 

As a personal favourite I would recommend the opener from our album: ‘Give ‘em war’. Which is one of our favourite songs. And ‘Sparta’ with the voice of the Queen on it. And ‘Gladiator’ which tells the story of the tribune. You should really listen to these.  

GRIMM: Indeed, we saw that the response was even greater to these 3 songs. What are the plans for your next following days on earth? 

We get drunk and then we fight with each other. And then get more drunk. And in two weeks we will play Metal on the Hill festival in Austria. With Gravedigger and Hammerfall, which are great bands! Those are the plans! Get drunk and fight with each other. We fight all the time and then be friends again! 

And so our mighty Warking returned to fight with his brothers in arms.