As festival season kicks off we went to Scarborough to get inside the mysterious world of black metal, as the third annual Fortress Festival took place by the seaside.
00:00In the bustling tapestry of Britain, where centuries-old traditions blend seamlessly with modern life,
00:05there exists individuals who march to the beat of their own drum.
00:10Meet the inventors, the dreamers and the eccentrics, whose daily lives are anything but conventional,
00:15as we showcase the vibrant eccentricity that colours the landscape of British culture.
00:21Unconventional Brits invites you to step into the worlds of local legends,
00:25celebrating the delightful diversity that makes Britain truly extraordinary.
00:30As festival season kicks off, we get inside the mysterious world of black metal,
00:38as the third annual Fortress Festival takes place by the seaside.
00:43To get 1,800 people up to the northeast Yorkshire coast for a start, you know, is incredible.
00:49It almost feels a bit surreal.
00:50You know, we join up into the town and there's black-clad characters striding around eating ice creams and sort of locals.
00:56Looking bemused, but not ever, the vibe is just really, really positive.
01:01You know, everywhere we've gone into it, it's like, oh, you're going to that festival, and it's like, oh, what is it about?
01:04It's like, rock music, oh, okay, oh, it looks interesting.
01:07You know, no one's, there's not been that, you do worry sometimes, you know, that people might react negatively to it,
01:12but it looks like Scarborough's welcomes it with open arms.
01:14When we rolled in, like, towards the festival, we were obviously all taken by the seaside, and, yeah, it's a really, really beautiful place, Scarborough.
01:23The venue that is in Scarborough Spa is, like, really, really beautiful as well.
01:28Not exactly the very typical place to have a festival, which makes it even cooler.
01:32Even though it's super serious, black metal, and everybody's, like, super evil and whatnot, everybody's really nice.
01:43Like, beneath the corpse pain, everybody's just a human being, and everybody's so polite and...
01:51Just wants to have a good show.
01:52We just want to get to the same destination.
01:54Like, everybody just wants the show to go well, so, yeah, it's been really good.
02:00You know, by the seaside, and everyone's just relaxed, and there's a lot of space.
02:03You can go outside and chill out if you need to.
02:05You know, it's just a really, sort of, interesting, relaxed and positive vibe here, anyway.
02:18I think the thing that makes Fortress so special
02:20is every single person that attends the festival, without a doubt,
02:25because everybody is so friendly, like, all of the fans and the ponters.
02:31And it's just really celebratory.
02:33The whole thing feels incredibly positive,
02:34and I know that's an odd thing to say about a music style
02:36that's rooted in aggression and anger and despair,
02:39but it's the appropriate place to channel that.
02:42You know, you go into a room and, you know,
02:44abduction of screaming, misanthropic nihilism for 50 minutes,
02:48and you channel through that, and you come out, it's like,
02:50whew, I feel a lot better now.
02:51You know, it's a very cathartic and positive experience.
02:57We were playing in Scouting Curse,
02:58and we'd been mired in this slightly misanthropic, isolationist UK scene.
03:02It was pretty grim at that point.
03:07Bands were, there were, weren't interested in making friends,
03:11and they were just, they were doing their thing,
03:12and they were actively badmouthed on the bands in the scene,
03:15but no one was going anywhere.
03:16No one was playing to any meaningful audience or anything like that.
03:19Well, I was just getting sick and tired of it,
03:21so we formed FED as just a bit of a release.
03:23I said to two of the guys in Scouting Curse,
03:25let's, I've been listening to lots of post-rock and shoegaze,
03:29let's merge that with black metal and just chill out.
03:32Let's go to the rehearsal room and just play through some stuff.
03:37We played our second ever show with Woden's Throne
03:40up in Sunderland in about 2007 with Nugura Bunjit,
03:45and it was eye-opening,
03:47because it was, people seemed to really enjoy it,
03:50and people were coming up to us after the gig,
03:51and going, oh, that was great, and oh, what about this?
03:53And they wanted to talk about the music,
03:55and they wanted to talk about what we were trying to do.
03:57For me, I personally, from my own journey,
03:59could draw a direct line from that gig to this festival, really.
04:03That was, for me, was like,
04:04that was when UK black metal felt like it underwent,
04:07that something changed in the mindset.
04:10And there was a really, it was quite serendipitous,
04:12because I think that sort of arrived for us,
04:13the rise of what is now termed post-black metal or black gaze
04:18went hand-in-hand with this renaissance in UK black metal
04:22and people supporting that.
04:24So it was, it's been interesting to observe that,
04:28and it's just got bigger and bigger, you know,
04:29that abduction, you know, playing down there, you know.
04:33Yeah, it's plenty of other bands, you know,
04:34bands coming through like Kiss Vane,
04:35and, you know, Wolfencrown have got a good following now.
04:38It's great to see.
04:39You know, we're kind of the old guard.
04:43Yesterday in particular, highlights were seeing Blasphemer in Ruin play,
04:52and then they played Thy Labyrinth with Raven on vocals,
04:56which was incredible,
04:57and then straight after seeing 1349,
05:00and it's like, I remember listening to 1349 20 years ago,
05:07thinking, this, like, this band is awful.
05:12And now I'm like, they're like,
05:15this is the most incredible thing I've seen in my life,
05:18you know, and my first band was,
05:20I was 15,
05:22and it was a black metal band.
05:25Yeah.
05:25I didn't have a clue what black metal was at first,
05:28and I was just like,
05:30I just wanted to be in a band,
05:31so I was like, all right, this will do.
05:34And then I'll try...
05:34It's just part of the larger extreme music, isn't it?
05:37It's just a flavor of the larger extreme music,
05:39and then as you go on,
05:40it's become something else, but...
05:42Did you ever remember,
05:43so there was this website called blackmetalradio.com,
05:46and it had, like, episodes that had just 10 songs on it.
05:52And I remember listening to them,
05:53and I was like, this is awful.
05:56I do...
05:57This is not me at all.
05:59And then for some reason,
06:01I don't even know,
06:02like, I think it was around about 2011,
06:05I was just like,
06:07I'm going to have a look at this black metal
06:09and see what it's like.
06:11So I was like, YouTube, black metal.
06:15So I started listening to it,
06:16and I was like,
06:17once you actually start experiencing it
06:23as more than just music and as art,
06:26and then you look into the history of it,
06:28and all...
06:28That was when it kind of started clicking,
06:30and I was like, oh, okay,
06:32there's a lot more to this.
06:33It's just come so far, hasn't it?
06:36You know what I mean?
06:37And this festival as well,
06:38like, seeing how well it's doing,
06:41and seeing every single person
06:45that's in the building
06:46loving the bands
06:48and being a part of the process
06:51to make that happen,
06:52even if it's just a small part,
06:54is really, really good.
06:56Really, really rewarding.
06:58What I really right away connected to
07:00with this scene
07:01is that it's so raw.
07:02It has, like, a very direct energy,
07:03and I like that.
07:04It speaks very...
07:05I mean, in one way,
07:06it's very mysterious,
07:07so it's not direct at all,
07:08but in another way,
07:08it's also very, like, unpolished,
07:10at least some of the bands are,
07:12and it also has this, like,
07:14very strong atmosphere
07:15that, again,
07:16has a very strong connection to nature,
07:18at least some of the projects do.
07:20So I don't know,
07:20it just has this, like,
07:22very atmospheric element
07:23and a very strong ability
07:25to create, like, a universe
07:27and an atmosphere
07:27that goes beyond just the audio,
07:29but also the visual,
07:30and, like, this feeling of, like,
07:32I don't know,
07:32being in a forest at night
07:33or, like, a mountaintop in winter
07:36or stuff like that.
07:37Like, literally, right now,
07:38I just got to see
07:38a couple of songs by Reem,
07:40which is great friends of mine,
07:42and music is really, really cool.
07:44I went more towards the old school.
07:46I saw a bit of Darker earlier today,
07:47which she's absolutely wonderful.
07:50Again, not a black metal project at all,
07:52but it has this kind of, like,
07:54somberness, darkness to it,
07:56atmosphere to it
07:57that you can still relate to the scene.
07:58If you can take something
08:03that you want to do
08:04and you can express yourself artistically
08:08in a way that is rebellious
08:11and encourages freedom,
08:14that's black metal.
08:15There are definitely preconceptions
08:22of what kind of people
08:23are into this kind of music
08:24and a little bit of a prejudice
08:25also, like, around the whole scene.
08:28But I think they'd be very surprised
08:30to find out that, like, for example,
08:32I just sat, like, a few minutes ago
08:33saying that a part of my music
08:35is I want to spread lights into the world,
08:37which you would not think necessarily
08:39if you hear that this is a black metal
08:41adjacent project.
08:42So, yeah, I think that it's definitely
08:44a much more diverse bunch of people,
08:47a much more diverse genre
08:48than people that are not familiar with it
08:50might give it credit for being.
08:58The Razors of Ockham
08:59is kind of about generational importance
09:02and, you know,
09:03and the kind of value in old people
09:05and wisdom and things like that.
09:06So it made sense to get my grandma involved in it.
