A Dirty Dozen with STEFA from HAVUKRUUNU – March 2025

Photo credit: Heidi Kosenius

According to a recent press release: “Decibel Magazine is currently streaming Tavastland, the latest full-length from Finnish black metal outfit HAVUKRUUNU, in its ferocious entirety. The premiere comes on the eve of the record’s official release on February 28th via Svart Records. Decibel Magazine is currently streaming Tavastland, the latest full-length from Finnish black metal outfit HAVUKRUUNU, in its ferocious entirety. The premiere comes on the eve of the record’s official release on February 28th via Svart Records.” We get guitarist / vocalist Stefa to discuss new music, influences, and more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets you put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

There are tons of hidden nuggets in there, as on all of our albums. But I will let them remain hidden, they are for only the diehards to find. It’s a pretty straightforward album on the surface, if you like folklore, heavy metal, interconnectness, poetry and all sorts of dark and frightful things, I guess TAVASTLAND could be your jam.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

I’ve been singing and imagining music all my life, I didnt so much realize it but accepted that composing and singing and playing is legit the only thing I am good at, so there you go.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Judas Priest and Bathory pretty much. I liked Slayer’s HELL AWAITS also very much as a kid.

4. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Well, I dont really know, it’s so much of a solitary thing for me to do music. And I am also very difficult to work with, so it would be a great disservice to any musician / writer to work with me. If such thing would happen, I imagine we wouldnt have any relationship whatsoever afterwards.

5. What is your favorite activity when out of the studio and/or not on tour?  What do you like to do to unwind?

I like to sleep, and take care of our garden, and wander in the woods. I really like to paint and draw to unwind.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Every text with the word pagan black metal in it rubs me wrong, and black metal also for that matter. I would describe it as REALLY HEAVY and MELANCHOLIC and INTROVERT metal. Maybe JUNGIAN HARD ROCK, or CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-ADVENTURE-METAL.

7. When your band is hanging out together, who cooks, who gets the drinks in, and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

The first to crack the guitar out, will be slapped in the face. We don’t hang much together, and when we do, we only contemplate the futility of existence in silence, only broken by the puff of smoke from my pipe and the crackling in the fireplace.

8. When was the last time you were starstruck and who was it?

I dont really remember, I’m pretty nervous at all times, and I am terrified of people, regardless of their status or “stardom.”

9. What is the best part of being a musician? If you could no longer be a musician for whatever reason, what would be your dream job?

The best part is to compose, and to record in solitude. To engage in the sacred task of creation, and to get lost in it. Sometimes I do wish I would never get out anymore. To enter permanently to the sacred realm of dark dreams.

10. What is one question you have always wanted an interviewer to ask – and what is the answer? Conversely, what question are you tired of answering?

Well…

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over,” even if it didn’t change your current situation?

None, whatsoever. I wouldn’t change a day, except for the day I was born. If I were to change that, and disappear completely, back to the dark void of emptiness which I belong to, I wouldnt hesitate a second.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

I dont know, I can magically enter my own recording sessions, whenever I wish. I wouldn’t dare to enter into any recording session of my favourite albums, for I fear me being a part of those, would change the result, and I believe for the worse. Also, I believe when I put Blood Fire Death on the turntable and close my eyes, I am being transported into a realm where time doesn’t exist as such, but I am free to roam from Sweden 1987 to time immemorial, and the forming of continents, mountains, ancient forests, great battles of bygone eras. I dont know.

HAVUKRUUNU LINKS:

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

Category: Interviews