It’s Motocultor Festival time ! The bands, the friends, the beers… And also some bands we wanted to meet. So we didn’t hesitate to go meet Dalriada, taking advantage of one of their very few appearances in France to discuss with them.

• Hello there ! You are Dalriada, from Hungary ; to start, can you introduce the band since it’s not too well-known in France ?

We are a Hungarian folk metal band, we have been making music for at least 15 years, but András, our singer, songwriter, and guitarist would say 18 years because he started to play music before the band. But the band itself formed in the early 2,000s, that was the first stable lineup. We play Hungarian folk metal, that is to say metal with Hungarian folk songs, folk melodies with lyrics about Hungarian History, legends, myths from the Carpathian Basin, with authentic instruments. For example, Adam here plays the flute and the Hungarian bagpipe.

• What kind of history ?

All kinds of wars, battles, and the tragedies, because unfortunately the Hungarian History is very beautiful but very sad and depressing as well since there were many many dangers and occupations by the Turkish, by the Habsburgs, and on and on and on. It was a war hitten country for centuries.

• Talking of Hungarian History. We would like you to tell us one story from Hungary !

We have a song shortly called « Saltarello ». It is about a great Hungarian victory from the mid Xvth century. The occasion was that the Turkish army invaded the Carpathian Basin, and there was a last stand. A last castle called Nándorfehérvár. Finally the Hungarian army could stop the invasion, and there were several Hungarian figures who joined the fight there. We are going to play that song tonight !

• In your songs, you sing in Hungarian. Are you planning to write some songs in English, or is it important to you to preserve your identity ?

It’s not planned to write in English because… We are playing Hungarian folk metal, so the best language for it is Hungarian. What is interesting, is that if you listen to folk metal bands from all over Europe, in most of the cases they sing in their own language. Folk metal is this type of music, folk metal singers sing in their own language, it’s closer to the culture itself, more authentic.

• Laura started to make some growls, more than before. It offers quite a diversity in your music…

She has quite the voice to do it. But we did the growls earlier as well, but she didn’t do it, we did.

• Is tonight your first show in France ?

No. We have been playing in France I think two times back in 2012, on a European-wide tour with Arkona. We played in Lyon, and not too far from Marseille but I can’t remember the name.

• So far, what are you thinking about France ?

From the shows we have only positive thoughts and experiences. You know you can’t really say there’s a country where you don’t like to go. It’s always a pleasure to play abroad, it’s always a pleasure to play in a new country to us. And it’s also good to come back to a country where we have already been playing because the people got to know our music, they started to listen to it, buying our records and stuff. Playing music like this, in an active band, is of course about music, but also about travelling a lot and getting to know new countries and new people.

• New traditions…

Exactly ! New traditions also. I can say for both of us that we love to travel. We see different cultures, a lot of places that are beautiful… I really like the landscape of Brittany ! Actually, two years ago I think I played with another traditionnal Hungarian band (not Dalriada) in Rouen which was beautiful.

• So you are expecting a great show tonight I guess ?

Hopefully, of course !

• I hope there will be many people…

We hope so ! Even if it’s gonna be late. [The band had some trouble coming to the festival. They were originally supposed to play at 6:30PM, they were moved to 1:00AM] We will give our best I can guarantee you that !

• We previously talked about how Dalriada is quite an old band. You changed the name from « Echoes of Dalriada » to « Dalriada ». Why that ?

Yes. To be specific, when we first formed Dalriada, we were called that way. But then we learned there was another Australian band that had the same name….

• …from Australia wow ! Far far away !

Indeed, like the other end of the world.And we thought there could be some juristical issues, but after a couple of years, we just thought « oh fuck it then ». Since then, nobody cares. The word itself « Dalriada » is quite difficult to recognize, to understand, so « Echoes of Dalriada »… It’s a lot easier that way.

• You must hear it al the time, but we still wanted to ask about the Eurovision thing ! You were candidates. Did you expect to win it or was it just « for fun » ?

Actually, we were talking about it, but more in funny ways, we weren’t thinking honestly about joining the Eurovision contest. Especially because the song we had in mind for the contest, since it was half a Hungarian folk song, and half a metal song, that wouldn’t suit the contest because you can only join it with your own songs. That would have disqualified us from the beginning.

• You are now touring quite a lot in Europe. Do you have any plans ?

Yes, we have some gigs in Germany, in Russia…

• … with Arkona ?

No, not this time.

• Ewwwwww…

[Laughs] We can’t say yet with which bands, but you’ll know. Some gigs in Hungary as well.

• Talking of live performances, have you already thought about releasing a live DVD ?

Yes. This is a quite old idea of us, we want to do a live DVD and we even had some experiments, we tried to record some shows, but there was always something wrong. Either the sound quality wasn’t good enough, or it was the visual quality. But in one or two years lets say, I think there will be a live DVD. We want to make it special.

• I wanted to ask about « Foras » also. It’s a kind of compilation of rearranged songs, and two covers. Do you really consider it a new album, or just like a « bonus » to the fans ?

It’s not a real album, right it’s more a compilation. It’s kind of a best of but with a new approach. We always wanted to do an acoustic album. We wanted to try ourselves out in the acoustic world since we had some acoustic gigs in the last couple of years.

• So, we are going to finish the interview. Do you have any plans, things you would like to say, to add ?

Well, we are already working on some new songs but we can’t say anything specific about it yet. But don’t worry, sooner or later it’s gonna be a new album ! And unless we loose our legs and arms, we will be touring.

• Thank you very much for your time and good luck on stage !

Thank you !

Interview made by Thrall and Morrigan. Huge thanks to Karine and the whole Motocultor team for their welcoming, and many thanks to the band for accepting to talk with them in spite of the conditions.