Ygfan

YGFAN was formed in 2013 in Budapest, Hungary as a 4-piece adopting a unique way of spiritual black metal. New album follows on the same route, expect innovative, atmospheric, gloomy, black metal rooted music, where cutting riffs meets soul-searching spiritual harmonies. The new album "Hamvakból..." (From the Ashes) will see the light of day in May 2018 through Sun & Moon Records.

Not so many information can be found on the Internet about your band, so please introduce Ygfan to our readers!

Thank you for your interest. First the facts: Ygfan is a Hungarian band from Budapest that was found in 23 of October 2013. The substance is that no matter who we are in the civil life the music we create is coming from somewhere deeper and sometimes when we are gathered the spirit appears among us and leads our hands…

What is the meaning of the band’s name, where does it come from? Why did you choose a single world not a complex “title” like “wolves in the throne room” or “Silent Stream Of Godless Elegy”?

Although Ygfan is only one word, for us this one interprets the whole process which happens when we are trying to create our music. Ygfan is a historical place and a mythical word. This duality is very important for us. If you want to translate it maybe the holy forest would be the appropriate translation as we mention it in a new song:

Szent rengeteg                                   Holy forest

Lélek rejtek                                       Spirit’s shelter

Szentelt terek                                    Sacred spaces’

Lágy szövete                                     Mellow fabric

How do you describe your music for somebody who’s never heard a song from Ygfan?

It could be difficult to describe our music because we are categorized in many different genres and I think there will be at least four descriptions if you asked all four of us in the band. For me it is a music which is based on metal music especially black and doom but it is also influenced by many other music styles far away from metal for example folk, classical, neo folk…  These influences are mixed under the creative process and in the end our music is born.

Your first and ‘till now the only official release is “Köd”. Is this the first full length album, or just an EP?

Oh yes… I think it would be my fault because “Köd” is a complete material for us and I usually mention it as a Full length, on the other side it is a short one so journalists like to describe it as an EP. For me it is the first manifestation of our music so it is a very important release but it does not matter how somebody tries to define it, the process has started.

Tell me all the important info about this release. What kind of reactions did you get from the media and also from the audience?

When the idea of Ygfan was born in me, I created 4 themes to build the foundation of this creation. After the others joined me we used their creative power and we created “Köd”. It took about 2 years. First, we tried to propagate it on the Internet but a friend who had a cassette label was interested without listening to any note, so we had a deal. He was Attila from Fekete Terror Production. Soon after an Italian label A Sad Sadness Song is appeared to be interested in our band and we sign with them. The reactions were awesome, honestly we were surprised because even though we know that we create a unique material, we didn’t think that it will get widespread.

I think “Köd” is a concept release, what is the story behind, please talk a bit about the lyrics & concept!

Yes “Köd” is a concept release without a storyline. I don’t want to over explain the lyrics but naturally I have my interpretation. Long story short, “Köd” is a process which happens in the inner fields of the human being while the conscious gets rid of the disturbing factors and see the things in their own bare being.

From 2013, from the beginning, you play with the same line-up. How difficult was it to find the right people for playing in an underground band? How often do you practice?

I have had this idea for a long time in my head, but it takes a while to find the right people. My priority was the personality so I didn’t care whether they have Darkthrone T-shirt or not. Naturally I don’t want to play with young titans with a lack of ability so it was hard. We rehearse once a week but the second half of last year we had problems with the rehearsal room so we had to recreate the basics of our existence. We are not young, we have our duties in our civil lives, so running a band like this could be very difficult. We need to compromise a lot.

I have seen that Ygfan is playing live very often, mostly in Budapest. What is better: playing live, or staying in rehearsal room and making new songs?

For me the creative process is much more interesting… The others prefer the live shows so we had to create the background of the live performances. As we have done more and more concerts we feel that we need more than simply staying on the stage and playing our music. Just little things, for example lights, but these could make the whole thing much more comfortable for us.

Nowadays every band from the deep underground to mainstream are into image, bullet-belts, vests from one side, hoodies, mantle on others side, what about Ygfan? If somebody’s checking your pics you look like some handsome working boys from a regular company haha.

Handsome working boys… Haha. Yes, we are influenced by these trends too. That was the reason, that we don’t use special clothes or whatever. Honestly, we don’t feel us the part of any trendy scene and we don’t feel that we have to use these clichés. There are many bands that are authentic in my eyes with these things and I like them but it is not our way. We think the visual side is very important and we try to visualize an organic picture but it has to be pure and honest. What you see on our band picture is our real faces. On the other hand, it is subsidiary how we are looking so we try to transmit with this picture the mood that we want to create.

What do you think about those bands, where the image are superior than the music itself like Cult Of Fire, Batushka, etc.

It could be working if the music is as strong as the image. Whether these bands could reach that level or not is not my duty to tell.   

New album “Hamvakból...” (From the Ashes) will be out in May under the wings of Sun & Moon Records. What is the story behind?

It is a strange story but fortunately with a happy end. We had a living contract with another label and we had plans after the release but when we sent the master to the label they told us that this music is not their cup of tea, so we had a full album without a label. Attila, who made our cassette release sent the material to Sun & Moon Records and lucky for us they picked up on Hamvakból. So, this is how we ended up at their label.

What should we expect from this new album? Is this a conceptual record? Tell us some info about the lyrics. Why are you singing in your native language and not in English?

The new album is not conceptual. There are patterns that appeared in a few songs, like “ashes” but these motives don’t create a storyline. Moods… I can describe the lyrical side of our music with this word. For me there are stories in the background but I try to write them not in a direct way. To tell the truth is it much more comfortable for me to write the lyrics in Hungarian. I speak, dream etc. in Hungarian language so it was natural that I started to sing on it. Our language is unique and I love it deeply. We could change the language of the lyrics in the future but I can’t see the reason to do so.

Name 3 important bands/artists with the greatest influence on Ygfan.

Huh, I can’t. We have very different tastes in music so I hardly find just one or three. There was an idea that we have to do cover songs but we could not choose. I think it is much easier for us to create a new song, even it lasts months than doing a cover.

Where does the inspiration come from when you are writing the lyrics? Which is first: the music or the lyrics?

The music is first… We live in Budapest which is a historical city but all of us come from the countryside and have a close bond with nature, these things influence us mainly. I come from a small city from the middle of nowhere, from the Great Hungarian Plain and the experiences I gathered there greatly affected my personality. The other side is reading… I have less and less time to read books but I get a lot of inspirations from history, religions, philosophy, ethnology, etc… Everything could have an effect on me, and I could transform it into my own interpretation.

Please, recommend me some new, important bands from Hungary.

There are lots of great bands in Hungary if you want to listen to thrash, black, death metal etc. but if you want to find some unique bands, I can recommend you Thy Catafalque, Karst, Svoid, Perihelion, and a new one, Voltak.

Many thanks for your time, please close this interview with future plans & other important things which you would like to share with our readers!

Thank you for reading my answers. If you are interested, check out our Facebook profile or YouTube channel because we are starting to add tracks from our new album “Hamvakból…” which we will release in mid-May on CD by Sun and Moon and on Tape by Fekete Terror productions. The CD release party will be organized in the 2nd of June in Budapest. For foreign visitors the party is free. ;)

by Mirgilus, March 2018