BEHEMOTH Frontman: 'I Have The Best Bandmates On The Planet'

Robert Gray of Ultimate-Guitar.com recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Adam "Nergal" Darski of Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: BEHEMOTH recently held its first meeting since your December 2010 bone marrow transplant. How did that meeting go?

Nergal: It went fine. I was hooking up with Inferno once in awhile, and I would meet Orion when I came down to Warsaw he lives in Warsaw, and I live in Gdansk. I was meeting the guys occasionally here and there. We'd be on the phone pretty much every second or third day, so everyone was in the loop on what was happening. It was actually the first time that we all physically met since my operation, though. No other people, no computers. We met in a small wooden convenience deep in the woods, so there was no mobile reception there. We were all just talking and having a good time, having a barbecue and just talking about the future of the band, setting out a plan for the next year and a half. Everyone seems to be getting into things again. It was a good experience, man. Everyone's really into just going back on the road and playing again.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: It sounds as though BEHEMOTH's members were very supportive of you during your ordeal.

Nergal: Totally, totally. I have the best bandmates on the planet, man; they're very supportive, and I know that they're people I can depend on. I can tell you that they can depend on me even more than ever nowadays. I'm very thankful for being in the band. We are all individual. We are all pretty much different, but I'm really happy to see that we all speak the same language.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: During BEHEMOTH's recent band meeting, what did you all collectively decide would be the future for the next year and a half for the group?

Nergal: First of all, we start rehearsing next month. We are basically refreshing the set list, and we wanna come up with the greatest and most insane show with crazy gear, pyro and all this stuff. After our so-called comeback whatever, return to the whole touring thing we want to make sure that people are gonna see the band's stronger than ever, and there's no question about that. We're coming back to dominate, and that's that. We're gonna take no prisoners. There's gonna be no compromise whatsoever, and that's the plan. We're gonna start touring in Poland. First we're doing just weekends just to warm up so to speak, and afterwards we will be touring Asia, Australia and some other crazy countries. I mean, we already have plans for a U.S. tour, European tour first a European tour and then a U.S. tour. Then we wanna do Russia, then we're gonna do the festival season next summer. That's plenty of work, and in the meantime when we're rehearsing, there's gonna be a lot of new ideas and new stuff coming up too. There's no set-up for a new album yet because we need to get to know each other again, and get the chemistry back and so on. I can't predict if it's gonna happen in a month or in six months, but we're definitely looking towards making a new, exciting record, that's for sure.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: So it could be that if BEHEMOTH jams on some new ideas next month and in the coming months during rehearsals, there'll be the seeds of a new record?

Nergal: Yeah. We'll see. Whatever happens, happens (laughs).

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Which songs are BEHEMOTH considering playing at upcoming shows, songs the group have yet to play live? You mentioned how BEHEMOTH is freshening the setlist.

Nergal: We want to keep the new set list a surprise, but there's gonna be a lot of stuff that we haven't played live at all. There's gonna be a lot of stuff that we played ten years ago or six years ago, and there's gonna be a lot of stuff that we'll be playing for the first time ever. It's just super-exciting for both us and the audience. People will be like, "Fuck, I never expected them to play that song or that song." We wanna keep it very fresh and inspiring and passionate, and that's what it's gonna be.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: What do you hope to achieve with BEHEMOTH in the near future?

Nergal: Well, first of all. man, we are coming back and we are totally excited about it. This band has always been about expressing ourselves we can always come and say pretty much whatever we want. When we faced the fact that we might've lost this forever, it made us realize how important the whole BEHEMOTH experience is for us in our lives. It's the perfect combination of passion, aggression, fury, love and hate. You name it, and that's what BEHEMOTH is for us. We fucking breathe and shit and eat it. It's the core of our lives, and there's nothing that can stop us now. Only health problems, but nothing else. We want to bring it back on the same track and just fucking roll with it as long as we can. As long as it takes, as long as we enjoy it, and as long as we need it. BEHEMOTH is all throughout our lives, that's for sure.

Read the entire interview from Ultimate-Guitar.com.