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Ritualistic Healings With HEILUNG · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Speaker 1: I'm Kai and.
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  Speaker 2: This is Hiland.
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  Speaker 3: We are on our European tour right now and we're
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: talking to you from Vienna.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm Maria. I'm from Norway. Kais from Germany. Christ
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  Speaker 1: is from Denmark. We all live in Copenhagen and we
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  Speaker 1: are the core of Hyland and are working with the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: composing of all the music together.
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  Speaker 4: How long returned to Australia for a run of shows
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  Speaker 4: very shortly, starting in Perth or October the thirtieth, before
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  Speaker 4: hitting Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and finishing in Auckland
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  Speaker 4: on November the sixth days. But how you guys feel
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  Speaker 4: about it?
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  Speaker 5: Really pretty epic to be inlighted back for such a
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  Speaker 5: cool round trip, excited to see more of the country.
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  Speaker 5: We had a wonderful time in Sydney and in Melbourne
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  Speaker 5: the last time. It felt like we came home in
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  Speaker 5: many ways. There was a lot of our listeners to
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  Speaker 5: knew us well enough to sing along to the tracks
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  Speaker 5: and it was amazing to feel the energy.
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  Speaker 3: I loved it, I mean, especially like when we managed
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  Speaker 3: to have some of the Aborigines opening for us. That
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  Speaker 3: was for me a childhood dream coming true to see
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  Speaker 3: like a short traditional dance and like they came with
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  Speaker 3: the painting and we got a lot of gifts, and
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  Speaker 3: we also had a small internal ceremony welcome ceremony, and
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  Speaker 3: it was very very very beautiful, good energy.
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  Speaker 2: Loved it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah cool, And of course that was only the start
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  Speaker 4: of last year. So practically eighteen months later, these guys
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  Speaker 4: are coming out for another chour, which it shows how
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  Speaker 4: much you must have been loved and respected here because
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  Speaker 4: you know, most bands take two three four year cycles
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: coming back out to Australia, but you guys are back
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  Speaker 4: within eighteen months and you're still selling your shows, so
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  Speaker 4: you must have done something right the first time. Thanks,
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  Speaker 4: but don't want those shows like it did only play
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  Speaker 4: Sydney and Melbourne on that run and those shows did
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  Speaker 4: sell out pretty quickly. So you mentioned before the connection
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  Speaker 4: that you had here. Now it felt like you were
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  Speaker 4: coming home. But where do you think that connection is
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  Speaker 4: between the Istralie people and and what you guys do.
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  Speaker 6: Well. I believe the message we are coming with is
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  Speaker 6: universal and there's part of Highlung that all people on
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  Speaker 6: the planet can relate to.
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  Speaker 2: Because we we we operate with.
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  Speaker 6: Something deep inside ourselves in a way, and that creates
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  Speaker 6: a home wherever we are.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, as I.
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  Speaker 6: Also say that that that happens also in a ceremony
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  Speaker 6: with the local uh and yeah, it feels like home.
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  Speaker 2: Having a ritual with you guys.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. So for anyone who missed out last year and
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  Speaker 4: wasn't swept up into the world of highlanng like, just
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  Speaker 4: gribe what it is to you, guys.
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  Speaker 5: Do So it's a pre Christian ritual with everything that contains.
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  Speaker 5: We invite the audience to participate in this ritual. So
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  Speaker 5: it's not a normal concert. You're coming into you you
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  Speaker 5: can expect to be immersed in smells, sides, sounds, feeling
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  Speaker 5: and the pieces. What that we perform is build up
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  Speaker 5: to make you at states like we aim to alter
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  Speaker 5: your state of mind with what we're doing here. So
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  Speaker 5: it's basically a build up through all the human emotions
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  Speaker 5: from love, fair, anger, grief, and then turn it back
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  Speaker 5: again to peace. So in the end, after being churned
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  Speaker 5: through all this emotions, that you live in a more
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  Speaker 5: peaceful state than you had when you enter. So it
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  Speaker 5: is ah and like Chris said, it's the messages is universal.
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  Speaker 5: We're all humans with the same emotions.
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  Speaker 4: I guess it's a performance, you know, like you said,
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  Speaker 4: it's not a concert. So is do you do you
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  Speaker 4: have a basic structure or guideline that you work towards
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  Speaker 4: every night or is every show completely different?
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  Speaker 2: I think every Yeah, it's different. There's also the question
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  Speaker 2: of the actual place.
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  Speaker 3: So like some venues where we do it there everyone sits, right,
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  Speaker 3: then there's the next one you ever want is standing
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  Speaker 3: and that makes a huge difference of like how how
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  Speaker 3: people perceive it. So it also depends on the place
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  Speaker 3: where we're where we performed the ritual, what is happening,
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  Speaker 3: And of course, like every time there's a couple of
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  Speaker 3: thousand individuals, they all bring their emotional luggage, you know,
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  Speaker 3: like and uh, there's also the question like when we
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  Speaker 3: perform outdoors, is it raining or not, you know, like
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  Speaker 3: when it's like roasting, of course, people having a totally
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  Speaker 3: different energy than when it's pouring down right.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, the circumstances different, but the intent is the same.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, that will change, yeah, but we do we
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  Speaker 7: do come with more or less We don't change much
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  Speaker 7: in the in the setup of pieces.
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  Speaker 1: From from tour to tour.
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  Speaker 5: It's more or less the same with a few ins
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  Speaker 5: and outs of the of the different songs. But but yeah,
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  Speaker 5: we are expecting to be able to show you.
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  Speaker 4: Something new, yes, which very cool. I don't think it's
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  Speaker 4: important to you take for paper, it might not be
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  Speaker 4: familiar with you guys, Like this isn't just just the
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  Speaker 4: stage show for you. Guys like you guys actually live
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  Speaker 4: and breed this stuff, like it's actual. These are involved
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  Speaker 4: and invested in every performance. It's not like you're just
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  Speaker 4: getting up there and putting on a show for the crowd,
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  Speaker 4: is it.
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  Speaker 8: No, No, No, We're We're always Like a lot of bands,
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  Speaker 8: they have this like thing that they do behind stage
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  Speaker 8: so that they like link up and have a shot
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  Speaker 8: together or like you know, do something.
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  Speaker 2: But we we do that on stage.
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  Speaker 3: So like all the all the performers, all the participants
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  Speaker 3: in the in the ritual, we we we come on
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  Speaker 3: stage and we we we call in the spirits. Everyone
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  Speaker 3: gets a blessing in the in the circle and then
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  Speaker 3: we also link hands and we we recite something that
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  Speaker 3: is really uh yeah, supporting this feeling of becoming one entity.
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  Speaker 3: And like there we get into the into the mindset
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  Speaker 3: that we need to perform.
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  Speaker 6: High long production wise, is a theater production on a
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  Speaker 6: rock state on stage on steroids. But what we do
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  Speaker 6: is not acting. What we're doing is really yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you guys started High Long back in two thousand
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  Speaker 4: and fifteen. So what was your early vision for the group? Like,
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  Speaker 4: it's sort of what you do. Isn't the type of
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  Speaker 4: thing that you know, kids go up and say, I'm
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  Speaker 4: going to do this when I grow up because it's
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  Speaker 4: going to make me a lot of money. You know, Like,
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  Speaker 4: where did it come from? Because he's pretty much almost
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  Speaker 4: doomed to fire before you started, but you've made something
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  Speaker 4: special out of it.
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  Speaker 6: So the three of us have been since very early
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  Speaker 6: days been part of the reenactment environment. And this is
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  Speaker 6: also how we met each other, and that includes doing
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  Speaker 6: arts and music among other things in a historical context
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  Speaker 6: here in the North, of course, with an all the
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  Speaker 6: point of view, and that is certainly how we met
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  Speaker 6: each other. And from there I long developed into what
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  Speaker 6: it is today.
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  Speaker 1: And it was meant. It was started as a studio
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  Speaker 1: poetry project. It was never the live with this because we.
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  Speaker 5: Were like, let's just go crazy and have no breathing
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  Speaker 5: process when we sing and record a fireplace and turn
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  Speaker 5: it in backwards and you know, doing stuff that we
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  Speaker 5: knew could.
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  Speaker 1: Never be done or we thought could never be done live.
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  Speaker 5: So it was never the We had the full creative
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  Speaker 5: freedom of just playing in the studio with Kai's material
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  Speaker 5: and Increas's skills and my voice and yeah. But then
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  Speaker 5: we got a bit talked into doing two gigs in
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  Speaker 5: twenty seventeen and it sort of went.
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  Speaker 1: A bit viral, so we thought, Okay, maybe we should
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  Speaker 1: do it some more.
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  Speaker 4: So you incorporate a fusion of like ancient traditions with
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  Speaker 4: some modern innovations. How difficult I suppose is it for
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  Speaker 4: you guys to honor the past but still embrace the
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  Speaker 4: future and the present, because they're two tonally different worlds,
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  Speaker 4: aren't they.
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  Speaker 3: See, Yeah, I clearly see it as a like kind
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  Speaker 3: of a bridge, so to say it, because like, on
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  Speaker 3: one hand, we come in with like reconstructed instruments that
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  Speaker 3: date all the way back to to the beginning of mankind,
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  Speaker 3: but on the other hand, we use like the most
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  Speaker 3: modern sound systems and sound manipulation programs and everything. And
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  Speaker 3: I think that's really it's really important to like, I
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  Speaker 3: see it like a little bit like a tree.
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  Speaker 2: So the routes go all the.
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  Speaker 3: Way back to where we come from, and the branches
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  Speaker 3: states stretch all the way out in where we're going to.
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  Speaker 4: There's awesome as it is for the audience to watch,
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  Speaker 4: Like it's got to be emotionally in ment exhausting for
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  Speaker 4: you guys. Like it's not like you turn on the
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  Speaker 4: lights and go home from something like that. You know,
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  Speaker 4: like you take it with you and you're living and
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  Speaker 4: breathing it day in day out, Like it's gotta be
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  Speaker 4: gott to be exhausting.
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  Speaker 3: That's the reason why we perform only every second day
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  Speaker 3: because like especially the choir, like the Warriors, they go
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  Speaker 3: also with their vocals, they go so far out that
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  Speaker 3: you need a day to recover. And there's very often
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  Speaker 3: days like in between where there's like literally not not
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  Speaker 3: not happening anything or not very much where people just
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  Speaker 3: rest have good food, you know, and.
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  Speaker 2: Like yeah, chill and.
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  Speaker 6: I can tell you that everyone on stage, including dramas, singers,
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  Speaker 6: even the crew are doing everything they can to make
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  Speaker 6: the best possible ritual for the audience, and and that
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  Speaker 6: that that doesn't that comes with a price in terms
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  Speaker 6: of physicality. You know, there's no way it would be
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  Speaker 6: human possible to do that two days in a row.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, but you also utilize instrumental items that date back
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  Speaker 4: to the Ice age, including this human bones. You've got
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  Speaker 4: ritual bells, percussive instruments. So tell us about some of
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  Speaker 4: those and how they contribute, I guess to the overall performance.
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  Speaker 6: Well, I believe there's a corese sounds we as humans
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  Speaker 6: over time have developed into instruments, and we do this
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  Speaker 6: because we are mimicing the surrounding around us. Right, So
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  Speaker 6: everything you bang together of every string your blog has
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  Speaker 6: an intent to mimic the surrounding you are from. And
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  Speaker 6: this is why you see the same type of instruments
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  Speaker 6: developed all around the world to become more or less
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  Speaker 6: the same type of idea.
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  Speaker 2: Later.
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  Speaker 6: We see it in the drums, we see it in
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  Speaker 6: string instruments, we see it even in the you of
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  Speaker 6: bones or stones that has a specific resonance more left
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  Speaker 6: in unless any of them would be able to be
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  Speaker 6: put together, and then we'll be able to sing in
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  Speaker 6: harmony together. And this is why we use these core
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  Speaker 6: sounds that we as humans maybe have forgotten a little bit,
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  Speaker 6: but once we hear it, it triggers something inside of
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  Speaker 6: us that reminds us of something that goes way back
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  Speaker 6: to the beginning of mankind.
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  Speaker 5: And it is also very cool because we kind of
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  Speaker 5: have this dogma that we don't play on modern instruments.
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  Speaker 5: That means that if we want to have a string
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  Speaker 5: like sound, we have to search well to search for it.
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  Speaker 1: We can't just pick up a guitar and have it.
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  Speaker 1: But it's a more of a so.
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  Speaker 9: You will see you see a lot of homemade, home
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  Speaker 9: built instruments on stage because they capture the essence of
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  Speaker 9: the sounds that we think it's important to to get.
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  Speaker 6: What's CHRISTI just so high long we we we call
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  Speaker 6: the style of performance we do or amplified history, and
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  Speaker 6: that means that we take these very ancient, very primal
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  Speaker 6: sounds and of course we process them with the future
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  Speaker 6: of tomorrow, and that is there's no rule for us
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  Speaker 6: how we can amplify it to make it relevant today.
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  Speaker 4: But this might be a difficult question to answer, so
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  Speaker 4: I apologize and advance. Maybe it is, But you guys
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  Speaker 4: have been doing this for almost ten years now, so well,
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  Speaker 4: what sorts of things have you learned about yourselves and
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  Speaker 4: about your culture in that time and how much do
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  Speaker 4: you think you've got left Slane.
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  Speaker 6: I think the more you look into yourself, the more
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  Speaker 6: you will realize you're identical to any other person.
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  Speaker 2: On the planet.
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  Speaker 1: Mm hmm, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And there's just so so.
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  Speaker 5: Countless times where I get told by the people that
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  Speaker 5: they feel some connection to their own.
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  Speaker 1: Ancestry by listening to our music, and that is just
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  Speaker 1: seems more and more to be the core of it,
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  Speaker 1: that we.
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  Speaker 5: Are able to to bring out some feeling of belonging
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  Speaker 5: in our in our listeners. And this is yeah, in
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  Speaker 5: the beginning, we maybe wasn't aware of that of the
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  Speaker 5: reach it would have. We have had an idea and
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  Speaker 5: I don't know, kay Kai always knows a little bit
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  Speaker 5: more that the rest of us, So I don't know
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  Speaker 5: about you, but it becomes more and more clear that
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  Speaker 5: what we're doing has has an impact and it's beautiful
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  Speaker 5: to see.
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  Speaker 4: Very good. All right, guys, Well, thanks very much for
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  Speaker 4: your time. It's been a pleasure. And to know is
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  Speaker 4: Highlin back in Australia from October thirtieth, kicking off in Perth,
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  Speaker 4: and this time they goan to every state of Australia.
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  Speaker 4: So make sure you grave yourself a ticket because I've
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: spoke a few people that saw you last time and
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: they're still talking about it, so yes, it must be
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  Speaker 4: pretty good.
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  Speaker 2: Great to see you guys.
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  Speaker 4: No, thanks very much, enjoying the rest of you tonight,
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  Speaker 4: and we'll see you in a couple of months.
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  Speaker 2: See I say to you, bye bye,