Ex-MAYHEM Frontman's SKITLIV Schedules Dates With CURRENT 93

SKITLIV, the band fronted by former MAYHEM vocalist Maniac, will perform two dates in April with David Tibet's CURRENT 93. April 14 will see the band as support at the Die Volksbûhne venue in Berlin, and April 20 will include a performance as part of a one-day special event that Tibet has been asked to curate for the 13th annual Roadburn Festival. Details of the entire festival, which takes place April 17-20 at the 013 club in Tilburg, Netherlands, and which this year features bands such as CELTIC FROST and ISIS, can be found at www.roadburn.com.

Explaining how the collaboration with Tibet came about, Maniac commented, "I think most people know by now how much I have always admired David and CURRENT 93. During a recent stay with my manager in the UK, I was finally able to meet David, and we discussed the possibility of working together in the future. He and David Liles wrote the introduction to our live set, and also the one for our mini-CD, and later David asked if we would be willing to support CURRENT 93 on one of the Berlin dates of their tour. Of course we jumped at the chance. When OM unfortunately had to pull out of the Roadburn event, we were asked if we would like to step in."

The inclusion of SKITLIV in the eclectic lineup that Tibet has put together, and which consists of AETHNOR, BABY DEE, CURRENT 93, RICKIE LEE JONES and SKITLIV (Tibet is insistent that no one band will headline, and that the performers are listed in alphabetical order),will surprise many who still see Maniac as being shackled to the black metal scene, a misconception that the legendary frontman himself has been keen to dispel since he formed SKITLIV following his departure from MAYHEM.

Maniac went on to say, "I know a lot of people have been perplexed by SKITLIV because it doesn't meet the general (and these days pretty erroneous) perception of what a black metal band should be. But SKITLIV was never meant to be simply another black metal band. I have retained some of the basic roots, but the band was always more doom-orientated, and has developed even further, incorporating elements from the noise, ambient and experimental genres. People tend to forget, or conveniently ignore, the fact that I have always been involved in other projects that were not black metal — NECROPHAGIA and BOMBEROS, for instance, and that I have a long history of collaboration with artists outside the genre”.

SKITLIV, whose lineup includes SHINING frontman Niklas Kvarforth on guitar and backing vocals, and with whom Maniac writes much of the music for the band, will make two special-edition releases available on the UK's Cold Spring label. Entitled "Amfetamin", the CD version will appear at the end of February and includes the tracks "Amfetamin", with guest vocals by Attila Csihar (MAYHEM),and a special mix of "Slow Pain Coming", together with the live recording of their 2007 appearance at the Underworld in London, which opens with the Tibet/Liles introduction.

The video below is amateur footage of SKITLIV performing its tntro and "A Valley Below" and was filmed by the band's tour manager at Loppen, Copenhagen during the group's autumn 2007 tour.