SILURIA are one of the few current UK bands that are embracing the rising interest in the combination of folk music and metal. Hailing from Wales, there is no shortage of musical history or cultural heritage to draw from. Could Siluria be the UK’s answer to the current scene making waves in Finland and Scandinavia? We spoke with ‘Taran’, the man behind Siluria, to discover more.

Hi. Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. First off, could you explain where the word ‘Siluria’ comes from?

TARAN: This is a question that gets asked quite a lot…Siluria was the name given in iron age times by Roman writers to a tribal region in South Wales, the territory of the ‘Silures’, a particularly fierce ancient British tribe,who according to legend disposed of an entire legion of Roman soldiers,their remains were never found!

So Welsh history and Celtic culture is at the heart of the band. In what way does the music reflect this?

TARAN: Although the music we make doesn’t always contain an obvious Celtic influence or tune, you can guarantee that there is a Celtic undercurrent in there somewhere, whether it be in the lyrics or in the general feel of the song. There will always be a Celtic feel in there because after all we are a band made up of defiant Celts!

Have you considered using any traditional folk instruments?

TARAN: We already use some folk inspired instruments in the 12 string acoustic and the tin whistle, but as far as traditional welsh instruments then, yeah, in the future it would be great to use things like the pibgorn and the crwth. Many folk metal bands are already using traditional instruments such as the fiddle and bagpipes etc….it would be really nice to use something a bit different to the norm. We have several acoustic based tunes written which could be enhanced by using the aforementioned instruments, we are always experimenting so anything could happen!

How is the folk metal scene in the UK right now? How do you fit in?

TARAN: There are currently quite a lot of folk inspired metal bands in the UK,the scene is quite healthy with a lot of bands taking their music to a live audience. For me it all started with Skyclad and the vision of Martin Walkyier and continues with bands like Cruachan, Waylander, Forefather and the like…As far as bands in Wales go, there ain’t that many… there’s just Siluria, Annwn and a few one man projects. We are also behind the ‘FOLK METAL UK’ page on myspace where we are trying to create a community amongst the bands and fans alike, a place where anybody who is into this kind of music can exchange information about artists/shows/releases etc. A one day mini festival is planned for later this year, keep tabs on the page for news, there will be an announcement pretty soon.

Do your lyrics reflect some of the Celtic and folk background? Could you briefly explain some of your songs?

sleeping giant

TARAN: Our lyrics can be about very many things…whether it be about Welsh mythology or about pagan themed subjects. For instance, one of our earliest songs ‘Sleeping giant’ is written about a mountain in the upper Swansea valley, when viewed from the valley floor it resembles a huge stone-clad sleeping human form. Legend has it that one day this sleeping giant will arise to save and protect the people of this magnificent country!

‘As homelands burn ‘ is a warning to all of how important it is to maintain our own heritage and culture, to fight for our language,our history and our people in a time when we are more and more in danger of losing our identity to a Britain quickly becoming a cosmopolitan state of Europe… We feel it is important to remember who we are and where we come from and what better way is there to get the message across than in the form of an epic heartfelt slab of passionate metal?

Do you think that Welsh mythology is given enough respect or interest here or anywhere?

TARAN: No, not really.There are very few schools in Wales teaching kids about their own history, stupid really as there is an enormous wealth of amazing literature to draw from. Not just the ancient folk tales that have been handed down through generations orally,but also of more recent heroes…people like Caio Evans, Dic Penderyn and the like. The Mabinogion features in the writings of Siluria, an ancient book of welsh folk tales, one of our national treasures and a literary masterpiece written by the hands of forgotten bards.

Do you think that as a Celtic nation, Wales shares a lot of culture with Scandanavia and Finland, places currently producing lots of folk metal?

TARAN: Some of the aspects of our cultures are similar, the Finns for instance are fiercely proud of their history and heritage as are a lot of the Scandinavian countries, they too have immensely rich histories…and so they should be. Our attitudes are quite similar too, probably comes from constantly being considered the underdog.

Do you have any songs sung in Welsh?

Yeah, a few of our tracks have Welsh lyrics, although we haven’t played them live yet, no doubt they will appear in the very near future as our live set gets a bit longer. It was always an idea we had from the very beginnings of Siluria that we would use Welsh lyrics, I speak fluent welsh and quite often find myself composing lyrics in my mother tongue quite naturally. I don’t know what audiences will make of it though…but then, other bands are quite prepared to use their native languages in their music…Tyr for example are from the Pharo isles and use Pharoese, so there’s no reason why Welsh should be any different.

Apart from the mini-festival, what other plans do you have for the rest of 2008?

TARAN: Well, after the huge success of our recent show with Battlelore the future looks quite promising. We have a couple of local gigs booked as well of the possibility of supporting some major acts later on this year, so it looks like its gonna be a busy 2008 for us. We would really love to play the unsigned stage at Bloodstock this year, but for a band like us its difficult to get the right backing, it is however very encouraging to see that people have been asking for us on the BOA forum…who knows…it might happen and if it did you can be sure we will give 110% as usual on the stage!
As for the immediate future,we will soon be entering the studio to record a few tracks for our first EP, ’sleeping giant ‘ will be on there and maybe 2 or 3 others still to be decided. But things could change, we are writing at quite a pace now and new songs are coming along thick and fast.

Diolch yn fawr i chi am siarad â ni!

TARAN: Dim problem, diolch.