TROLLWAR interview online!

I interviewed Poignar, and WoX from the band TROLLWAR, who's also member of our forum, so if you have more questions, ask him below (muahaha). The interview was done longtime before the release of their debut album.

01. Hi WoX, Hi Poignar! Your first EP was released in 2011; one year after the band founded and this December 1st will be out your debut album. Can you tell us, for the ones who haven’t heard TROLLWAR yet, how was founded the band exactly ?

Poignar: Well first of all we have all been friend and know each other pretty much before the beginning of the band. We were all interested about music and had common way of thinking so we just happened to jam together and had the desire to form something to transmute our feeling into music. We pretty much all always been active in the music scene having a few band here and there, or solo projects for me (Neant radical and Riding dawn revolt).

Wox: Summer 2010. An old friend (The past vocalist: Khermak) was telling me, i want to start a band, i found a drummer ! So, at his apartment it was a nice place for jam and i finally decided to say yes and to bring my gear in his house. As i meet the drummer and all, i found that we were lacking of members...

Next weeks, i meet an old friend, Holragh , we haven't even met since so many years... I remembered he was playing guitar when he was young. He was the little brother of one of my best friend. So from now, an idea come to my mind and I asked him ''Do you still play guitar??" He answered yes and the day after we we're trying to jam together. The chemistry was perfect. Like a fusion! I bring him at the jam place in Khermak appartement and we were 4!! The musical style was not decided yet. We tried Poignar Bartoss that helped us a lot to be more serious and structured in the band.

02. Can you explain us this choice for the bandname ?

Wox: We were searching so hard to find a band name... You know, when you start a band, the killer question always be ''What name we choose'' ? So we brainstormed idea on a sheet. And we choose by elimination. The 2 name we kept was like ''Frostroll & Bleeding unexistance'' . But that gave us an idea... ''Trollwar''. The ''Troll'' idea was coming from ''Trollathan'' the accordionist because he had a t-shirt with text on it ''Trollathan made by trolls'' and he was loving trolls and folk metal so much so we took it!!!

03. This one is for WoX: You are part of our Community for sometimes now; may I ask what do you like the most here ? (And is there something you like less ? Lol) 

Wox: You do real good job, i have nothing bad to say.

04. Did “Bloodshed forges” EP sell well worldwide ? What are the top countries for the good sales for this first record ?

Poignar: Herm… Good question. We did ship some copy internationally but just a few if i remember correctly, about 15 or 20 maybe. I know there’s some dude in Spain who ordered a sweater and a Cd, we also threw some goodies in the package like drum stick, guitar pick and sticker and signed copy of the demo just because we appreciate his intention to support us. We are always happy when people contact us when they like our music, even if they download the shit. We know it is not everyone that can afford CD and Ugly shipping prices so yes feel free to drop us a word on Facebook!

05. I have seen your EP is always available for sale but digital only now. Is the CD version sold out ?

Poignar: Yeah, it has been sold out for a while now. I think they sold out pretty fast and we did a second and maybe a third batch for show and stuff. But we soon wanted more recording so we stopped producing it and worked more on composition and show to gain money and visibility for recording.

06. Preorders have already started for the debut album you entitled “Earthdawn Groves”, 
are they going well ?

Poignar: I am not the one taking care of the pre-order, but I know I have been surprised by the place where people want our cd. I think some dude from Tokyo or Japan ordered one, and people from other far random places hehe. We sold a lot of them at our release show in our hometown too. We will start shipping them out real soon.

07. What is “Earthdawn Groves” exactly? Is it one concept album ?

Poignar: It is a concept album with metaphor of the real life event we live and we incorporate some legends too. I can’t tell you much because the singer is unable to answer to the interview right now. ( And he wrote all the lyrics so…) But I think he put a lot of time in the lyrics and they are really well assembled. Unlike the old singer we were just brainstorming lyrics idea on a piece of paper and there you go. The music is much more meaningfull now. LOVE IT.

08. Are some guests on this new record ?

Wox: Not at all, we we're supposed to, but things changed.

09. What are the new tracks about ?

Poignar: Me and Wox can't describe the lyrics since we don’t know all of them. We tried to reach the story teller but he must be lost in the wood again.

10. How do you work for composition of lyrics and music ?

Poignar: Wox and Holragh wrote pretty much all of the riff you can ear on the record. They pretty much gathers a bunch of riff together and work them as a puzzle! It is working really great so far and this is what I’ve been doing for all my solo project too. Like a riff-o-ramma! I’m really proud of them when it come to composition, they do a really good job and you can feel they love it.

Pajo and Trollathan been working on some of the newer songs too, I know they composed some melodies on the key-accordion and the guitar just layered their track over.

Wox: First of all, most of the time, we write the guitars first... After it is the accordion/keyboard. And after vocal write all his stuff and drum/bass too!! We are currently writing the 2nd album, and things are different, for each songs, this is different, one is keyboard/acc that wrote the riff first, the other it's me the guitar with the keyboard... you know when someone find something epic, he write it and the band transform it into a Trollwar song \m/

11. You have self-released this album but will you search for a label, soon ?

Poignar: This is a hard question, because when you are not signed, you are free of any boundaries, self-imposed or third party imposed limits. You do show when you feel like it and you don’t feel pushed to release new stuff. We are 7 in the band and I think going on tour would maybe be some hard thing to do because we all have our personal life and desire, problem. Personally I love being free and doing change in direction, I hope we will surprise you with the new album, while not turning into a progressive band, I don’t think we want to do the same thing over and over again you know.

Wox: Hard to tell..! this is not that important for us at this moment because the band is so young. But, depending of what offer to us, it would be great for sure.

12. How’s going Folk Metal in Canada ?

Poignar: Folk metal being worldwide known and loved I don’t think it is a surprise that there’s a lot of ‘’folk oriented stuff’’ here. But in our Region, not a lot of folk metal band if any.

Wox: Here in Quebec & Canada they are few bands ..!!! i think it is growing with time !!! With bands like Amon Amarth / Eluveitie that bring a lot of people here.

13. Do you have some favorite Folk Metal bands from your country ?

Poignar: I can’t really tell considering folk metal is not one of the many style I follow the most, but I know some cool band like Tribardi (who is an acoustic folkish band.) and Ogmios (One of the best band right now in Quebec that is doing folk metal full of emotions. BELENOS BARE FOOT DANCING! The guys will get what I’m talking about hehe.) Valfreya are great but not much folkish and too much technical and tempo change for my personal taste. Jadis compositions are really great, good musicianship. I know trollheims are a bunch of wild party animal HAHA. Music is great too. Nordheim guy are good and funny guy. That’s all I can think of right now.

Wox: There is some folk metal in here... I like a lot '' Valknacht '' ! and the guys from ''Nordheim'' are badass too! Ogmios/Valfreya/Catuvolcus/Jadis are nice too.

14. Is TROLLWAR influenced also by Folk Music ?

Wox: Some Waltz and Medieval riffs sure ! My grandfather was playing folk on violin, we all have some folk in us. I think Trollathan the Accordionnist is a lot more inspired by folk!

15. October 12th of 2013 was the release party for the new TROLLWAR album at La boite à Bleuets in Alma, CA. Have you got good responses from the crowd ?

Poignar: We got and awesome response, there was a shitload of people; personally it was one of the best show we did. One of the funniest too. It was an epic night. The people liked it and they grabbed a lot of our merch too. It was really uplifting that this happen, it strengthened the hope we had for our music and live show.

16. What are your next gigs planned ?

Poignar: We only have one date confirmed now: Nohell des pwells (Xmas of the ‘’Long haired bum???’’ sloppy translation haha.) which we are headlining and will take place the 21 of December. The line up is Trollwar, Strashers, Deadnight Reaper and Spread your guts.

17. Do you plan a tour in Europe, America or elsewhere for the next year, promoting “Earthdawn Groves” ?

Poignar: I think we would have great time touring and we would all like to do it once to experience what it is like, we never done more than two shows in a row in two night if I remember correctly. We are open to any offers for band that would be interested but we as I said we would have to take a lot of holiday but I think it’s doable. Who know what lies in our paths?!

18. What are the upcoming plans for TROLLWAR ?

Poignar: We have a video clip in the making for the song ‘’trollka’’ and we are always writing and working on new stuff, that is what fuel us. We already got 2 or 3 new songs ready hah.

19. Who’s the designer for the “Earthdawn Groves” artwork ?

Wox: Nicolas Francoeur from Vorace Arts. Check out his stuff on http://vorace-art.com/ GOOD STUFF!

20. What are your 3 favorites Troll Metal bands ?

Wox: Trollfest, Finntroll & Trollheims (RIP)

Poignar: Arckanum (One man trollish black metal from Sweden!) Dark ambient medieval period of ‘’Mortiis’’ Finntroll demo was good too.

Thanks to you two for the interview! Cheers!