Few bands have captivated the present metallic scene as distinctively and profoundly as Heilung, even when most likely most metalheads will elevate an eyebrow if we categorize the band wherever close to the time period. The European neo-folk group consists of core members Kai Uwe Faust, Christopher Juul, and Maria Franz, supported on stage by their famend Warrior Choir, and such ensemble of rigorously chosen vocalists and instrumentalists contributes to the band’s commanding dwell presence, creating an audio-visual expertise possible unmatched in trendy music – what they name “a ritual” – which is actually a robust and atmospheric expertise that faucets into the extra primal nature of our human senses.
Heilung’s deep dedication to their craft, rooted within the music, aesthetics, and mythologies of medieval Northern Europe, has led to some difficult and amusing conditions. Transporting animal bones, furs, and weapons globally has prompted a number of tense and comical incidents, as Kai Uwe Faust and Maria Franz recounted to Metal Hammer.
What occurred to Heilung at an airport?
One memorable incident concerned Faust at a Russian airport, the place one of many band’s intimidating props practically received him into severe hassle. “That was scary,” Faust recollects. “So we’re coming to Russia, and we’re on the way in which again dwelling…and naturally it was barely chaotic. I do not converse Russian, and we misplaced our translator as a result of there have been a number of entrances, and it was me with a case that was not mine. I feel it was Chris‘ case.”
“So I am standing there, it is Heilung gear, I hand in a few instances, after which I abruptly see that safety man, getting tremendous large eyes. He takes my suitcase apart, appears round asking – I do know what he needs, he needed to know who owns this suitcase!
“So I am going up there, and he opens it up, and naturally in there’s a sword. Hahaha! Like a full-scale, actual Viking sword. And he appears at me and he is talking Russian, and I am like, ‘I do not converse Russian, and I am unable to even say in Russian that I don’t converse Russian.’ And it ended up that he fucking loses it, you recognize? He is pointing on the sword and he simply yells, ‘Doc! Doc!’ ‘That is, like, theatre props, man! We’re not intending any hurt, it is all high-quality!’ ‘DOCUMENT! DOCUMENT!’ Fortunately, at that time, there was the translator, he was going round after which he realized, ‘OK, Kai is in hassle.'”
Maria Franz confronted the same scenario when trying to move her iconic antlers via Thailand, resulting in a bureaucratic ordeal that took appreciable time to resolve: “The antlers have been an enormous incident in Bangkok after we performed there final 12 months as a result of it seems that you could convey antlers into Thailand, however you can’t export them once more”
“We had no concept about this rule, so that they have been caught on the airport in Bangkok. I feel they have been held there for 2 months as a result of all they needed was a stamp on the paper saying, ‘This gear belongs to Heilung, they usually have been coming in and are supposed to be taken out once more’, however no authority needed to mess with this doc on our behalf as a result of they noticed it as a, one way or the other, a legally weak scenario as a result of we had not adopted the principles and laws.”
“However in the long run the Danish Music Society, bless them, a small group in Denmark, residing their lives, fortunately supporting musicians of their nation, they usually’re not an enormous authority, however they’re like, ‘Yeah, certain, we’ll put a stamp on this one for you guys.’ And that was all they wanted they usually launched our stuff. However yeah, going out and in of Australia and New Zealand, we have now to make particular purposes for something that’s a part of an animal or nature, something of wooden, pores and skin, furs, bones, or any Earth supplies. I imply, have you ever seen our present? Every little thing we personal is constituted of bone and furs and pores and skin and wooden! So yeah, it is difficult,” she added.
Franz additionally shared an amusing anecdote about transporting the band’s spears via London: “Gong via customs in, I feel Heathrow, I had all of the spears in a sewer tube, which is the one smart method of transporting spears apparently. So I am strolling with this tube on my shoulder and thru the ‘beep’ machine, and it is stuffed with spears, and naturally, you need to then clarify to customs that, sure, that is sharp spears, they’re weapons, however they’re certainly theatre props. In Europe, they’re usually easier to speak to!”
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