Sebastiaan "Sebas" Van Eldik - Chariovalda
Interview by Erwin Van Dijk
Chariovalda is a solo project of Heidevolk guitarist Sebastiaan "Sebas" van Eldik with singer Iné Zijlstra from Elexorien, ex Heidevolk violin player Stephanie Achatz and singer and bodhran (Irish frame drum) player Eva Marks.
While Elexorien’s music has strong ties with the Battlelore and Kivimetsän Druidi sound and Heidevolk combines Pagan and Folk metal with Dutch lyrics Chariovalda is an acoustic project with folk influences.
Like many guitar players before him Sebas started quite early, at an age of fourteen. Bands like Metallica, Judas Priest and Nirvana inspired him to pick up the guitar. And of course Sebas "also wanted to be a rockstar and stand on those big stages in front of thousands of people and play my own music. Honestly I have to say that for example the gig I did on Summerbreeze last year came very close to that dream."
Besides these three bands Sebas also listen to a lot of other music, bands and genres.
“I listen to a lot of music and also many different kinds of music like; Grunge, Rock, Folk, Punk, Industrial, Electro, Pagan-/Black- and Powermetal, Ambient. I listen to bands like; The Foofighters, Alice in chains, Gjallarhorn, Gny, Bløf, Kirsten Hersh, REM, Nirvana, Dimmu Borgir, Windir, Enslaved, Tyr, Daemons & Wizards, Mortiis, Feindflug, Radiohead, Dream theatre and so on. Musicians I really admire are David Grohl, Tori Amos, Tom York, Michael Stipe and Paul McCartney”
As guitar player for Heidevolk Sebas uses and Ibanez electric guitar and sometimes a Fender electric guitar. Other guitars are the Fender and Takime acoustic steel string western guitars.
Before Heidevolk and Chariovalda Sebas was a member of Punk/Grunge band called NVT. They released three demos and did some gigs in local pubs. For Sebas this was his first experience in a real band, live gigs and the whole music business in general. These lessons he could put into use when he joined Heidevolk and now Chariovalda.
As he said to me: “The rock- and metalscene is build up by friends helping each other out just because there are passionate about the music and that’s what’s so great about the scene.”
Why is Pagan and Folk metal so popular these days? This was one of the questions I had for Sebas and his answer was:
“In this modern day society where everything must go faster and faster and where people live by their agenda’s, some people start to feel lost. They feel like they are not rooted anymore and there is no connection between the earth and where they come from. This is why, I think, nowadays all those nature products, nature retreats, mediations, survival programs, history and re-enactment are more popular then ever. History starts to be romanticised, people look back to there ancestors who still had a connection with nature and strong family- and tribal ties, Germanic-, Celtic- and Slavonic tribes. And when you also like some fucking loud music what better then to listen to a band who combines this historical feeling with metal!”
About Chariovalda:
Chariovalda (or dux. Chariovalda as Roman historian Tacitus called him) was a leader of the Batavians during the Roman invasion in Germania almost 2000 years ago and the first historical person in the history of the Netherlands.
Why did you choose this name for your project?
Chariovalda was of the Batavian tribe an served, like most Batavian men, in the roman army. This was a deal the Roman had with the Batavians, that they could live on the fertile grounds around the Rhine on the border the roman empire and pay no taxes, but instead their boys had to join the Roman army. The Romans where very keen of the Batavians because of their good fighting- and swimming skills. As soon as a non-roman joined the army he always got a roman name. In every scripture found of the Romans only the roman names are used, because of course ‘barbaric’ names where not important to them.
Only really seldom an exception was made and this was the case for Chariovalda. Which is a Germanic name meaning as much as; leader of the army. The fact his own name was used and the fact that his heroic death was described in great detail must have meant that the Romans had great respect for this man. In fact, Chariovalda is the first person named in history that came from what is now The Netherlands. And since we have a Dutch band who sings about Germanic mythological subjects, it felt right to name the band after this famous warrior.
Chariovalda’s music is more or less the opposite of Heidevolk. Heidevolk’s music is ideal of a wild party night with a lot of beer while Chariovalda’s music would do great in a hall of an old castle or around a camping fire. When working on songs for Heidevolk Sebas noticed that he wrote a lot of music that he could not really use for this band. Heidevolk is clearly a band dominated by men, which is logic with two male singers. (the only woman in the band is the violin player and technically she is a session player)
Chariovalda has a more feminine and sensitive side. In this band he tries to make the lyrics from a pagan point of view, describing the world through pagan eyes. As a result, there is no sign of beer, swords and war in Chariovalda.
The other members are: Iné Zijlstra - Eva Marks - Stephanie Achatz
Iné is also the singer of Elexorien. She is also a singer in a classical choir for a long time and personally I think she is one of the best female singers in the whole female fronted scene today.
Sebas choose her because he knew her for quite some time now on a personal level (Heidevolk and Elexorien have done some gigs together in the past) Iné was the perfect choice because he was looking for a technically good female vocals with a wide spectrum in high and low notes but without the opera sound of singers like Simone Simons or Tarja Turunen. Iné was the first person he asked for Chariovalda and together they worked on the first songs Sebas wrote for Chariovalda.
Eva Marks happens to be the best friend of Iné and she sings in the same choir as her. Sebas asked her because she has “also a voice I fell in love with at the first moment I heard it. One of the big strengths of Eva is her ability to form a song. She looks at a song and notices where an extra could be added or something should be better left out. She comes with great melodies for the vocals and on the CD she also plays the Bodhran. Eva also sings a song or two on stage with the band Rapalje. So whenever you visit a Rapalje concert, maybe you’ll hear her sing too.”
Stephanie Achatz used to be the violin player for Heidevolk. Stephanie is also from Bavaria, Germany. According to Sebas she has “a great ability for improvising, which really came in handy when creating the parts for the violin."
And what are the main inspirations for Chariovalda?
“Paganism and nature. To be more specific Dutch Germanic paganism, I’m a member of Holland’s biggest heathen organisation and for many years now I participate in the yearly fest like midsummer, Yule, Ostara. This is becoming more and more a part of my life and as a musician I wanted to make to create an outlet for this passion.
Whenever I’m in nature I feel again that I’m part of the universe, it helps me to ease my mind and get inspiration. Humanity tents to see themselves and nature as two separate things, for I like to see it all as one. We are all part of one big cosmos in which each big and little part has it’s own role.”
One could describe Chariovalda as acoustic Germanic folk music. With Iné and Eva as lead female vocals Chariovalda is also quite different from other bands in this genre. And, absolutely no keyboards and electric guitars are used.
Since all the songs have Dutch lyrics I asked him if he could tell us something about the songs and lyrics.
Noordzee (North Sea)
At the time Christianity came to the Netherlands is was forced upon the people. It meant they had to choose for the new believe or simply be put to death. Many pagan Frisians chose for a third option and that was to flee, leave their lands behind and go into their boats and sail over the north sea to places where they could practice out their old believe in peace.This song is about a woman who chose to flee, leaves all she loves behind and go on to the north sea.
Freya (The Viking Goddess)
Ode to the goddess Freya. Which is in my opinion one of the most important gods, if not the most important goddess!
Web van Wording (Web Of Creation)
This song is about destiny. In Germanic mythology destiny is depicted as three women who make a web of threads, each thread being a life. All the threads hang in cosmic space and those three women decide which thread has to be cut and therefore which life has come to an end. The song is about a woman who’s thread is cut, has gone over and looks at her husband who is still alive and I sorrow. Maybe next time you hear the expression; life hangs by a thread, you think differently
Het Heilige Woud (The Holy Forest)
Het Heilige Woud is a song that’s about a holy forest that used to be in the neighborhood of where now Nijmegen is. The story goes that this was the place where the people of the Batavian tribe gathered before they started their famous revolt against the Romans in the year 69 A.D.
His favourite song is Freya because in this song the idea of two female voices worked the best. And having listened to the song myself I have to agree with him.
Currently Sebas and his girls are working on more songs for an upcoming album. This will include extra instruments like the flute, cello, jew harp and more. He hopes to record it all in 2010 with and “make it a big ass production with a great sound”
The first MCD digipack is available via the Chariovalda myspace and at the merchandise stand on concerts from Heidevolk, Elexorien and Rapalje.
May the gods light your way!
Best regards,
Sebas “Bloeddorst” van Eldik
Links :
Sebas Van Eldik Official MySpace
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