Interview with Faun

«Connection with nature is important to us»

In September 2025, the band FAUN promises to release their long-awaited album "HEX". It will take the listener on a musical journey into the world of witchcraft. The title of the album "Hex" comes from the German word "Hexe" - witch / ahd. "Hagazussa" (she who walks between the worlds). Therefore, FAUN dedicates their twelfth studio album to honoring witches, healers, and medicine women. Moving away from the clich? of the evil fairytale witch, the German ensemble wants to emphasize the various aspects of female magic in different cultures and the legitimate question of why we are still afraid of evil witches and not those who burned them. One of the directions of the album is Germanic culture. The second focus of this album is on Celtic and Anglo-Saxon sources. Both topics are definitely not the most common for the music market. To better understand the intricacies of the various mythologies and musical content of the album, we contacted Alex, and he kindly answered our questions.

Hi! How are you?

Everything is great; we are currently promoting our new album, so I am happy! How are you?

Everything is great! But today is a bit of a sad day for the music industry, because now in England there is a funeral for Ozzy Osbourne. But he lived a great life and gave people a lot of good music.

Absolutely. These guys created a whole genre. I mean, metal would not exist without Black Sabbath. This is a whole milestone in the history of music.

You have to communicate a lot with people and the press right now because of the promotion of the new record. What helps you stay in a good mood and be able to work?

I can say that now is one of the happiest periods of our lives. Dreams come true. Our main job is to be musicians and create art that we like and share thoughts and messages with the world. And from all this we get good energy for our good mood.

Do you remember yourself when you started making music? And how much have you changed since the beginning of your music career?

Of course I do, and I never expected to get this far! Because when you start making music, it doesn’t look like something that can go this far. But if you’re motivated, honest with yourself, and don’t put too much pressure on yourself, success should happen!

You’ve chosen a rather unusual segment of music. Nowadays, on the radio and TV, you’re more likely to hear Taylor Swift or rap music. How difficult is it, on a scale of 1 to 10, to build a career when you’re so different from the mainstream?

I would say that from my perspective and experience in Germany, it could be a little bit easier. But I would also say that our segment of the scene, the medieval scene, is always grateful and open to innovation. I think in the pop or R&B music segment, innovation is not what people are looking for. I don’t mean that people who listen to pop music are not good enough. There are just some patterns in this business. Coming back to your question: it would be very difficult to break into the pop market because of all the work that the companies of existing artists do, but finding your place in the medieval music market is a little bit easier. This segment is very grateful and open. Of course, very often you have to start working for free, but then if you do something really good, you can make money from it. People are ready to pay for good quality.

The new album promises to take listeners into the world of witchcraft. Do you believe in any kind of witchcraft or that some people can influence others?

We talk about witches as women who could heal. In the past, women who could heal or help other people with plants and herbs were literally burned at the stake for it. Many people did not understand this. This is also one of the themes of the new record. It is not about magic spells or abracadabra.

Most musicians use their personal experiences, such as heartbreak, love, and hate, to create songs. You use myths and legends to create music. How does this experience resonate with your real life?

As I said before, now our work is more about uniting with the healing powers of nature. Because we believe that unity with nature and its powers can really help a person. And we respect nature very much. Sometimes going to the forest helps to clear your head and heal your body and soul so that you can see more clearly. If you are constantly in this world, like a squirrel in a wheel, filling your life with TV and such things, it will not help you. So the connection with nature is important for us.

I think music can heal people too.

Of course. Music helps to release our emotions. And it is necessary to not become a robot and to be mentally healthy.

Who would you be interested in collaborating with for a new song, or to do a cover or create a new music video?

All the members of the band have so many artists that inspire us. Of course, we have a few artists that we agree on. For example, the French band Alcest. What these guys do is magic for all of us! I think that musically and emotionally we can be a great fit for each other. So, maybe in the future, we will have a chance to collaborate. It would be interesting.

How long did it take you to make the new album, and were there any ideas you had to skip?

I think if you include the time we spent recording everything and mixing and mastering it, it was about 3 years. That's a good question about the ideas we had to abandon. The main problem was that we had too many songs for this record. If you put too many songs on one album, it takes too long to listen to it, and we have a certain timing. Of course, we are preparing the next release, and we have all these songs saved on our computers and in our heads. And we will try to find a place for them all in future releases! It's the musicians' job to save and tell all these stories on new albums.

Some musicians need something like 6 or 7 years to make a new album. Others release a new record every year...

Of course! Everyone has a different approach to work. It's impressive how some can release albums every year. If it happens without losing quality—that's great! But someone releases songs and records too often, just to be on the wave, and the quality drops over time. This is what we would like to avoid. So, we'd rather take a slot of 3-4 years to prepare everything properly, and everyone will be happy with the end result.

Can your fans help you become more successful?

The main help from the fans is that they come to our shows. We have some special visual ideas in mind that we would like to implement. If you have seen the artwork on our album, you can understand what I am talking about. Each of our shows also has a great light show and decorations that are unique. For another album, it will be something else. They will also have great opening bands. Fans who come to see the live shows are a big help! Also, a great help to our success is to go to our online store and buy some beautiful merch. It is very important to us that our t-shirts have such beautiful artwork and that we now have neck jewelry that is handcrafted. This is exactly the level of quality that we want to give to music lovers.

Now you are planning your tour and live shows. Maybe there are some secrets that can be revealed?

As I said, we are planning to invite other great bands to our shows as well. But it might not be the usual schedule of a show, where one band comes on after another has played a set. Maybe, for some songs, we will share the stage with different musicians from other projects. And these will sometimes be unique shows, because this band or this musician will join us only for one or a couple of shows.

Also, I would like to note that our album will be released in a limited edition, which will include colored vinyl and a book with art, in which you will be able to find a lot of explanations about all these stories and songs. I would like to recommend this for all fans who would like to feel a deeper immersion in our world.

Which of your songs can you call the most successful, perhaps the most successful from a technical point of view?

It’s hard to judge these things now. But when I think about the new record, the song that opens the album, «Belladonna», comes to mind. I think this song has a lot of promise because we mixed so many genres of composition. And it’s real art that contains so many aspects of Faun. It’s heavy in some way but also has a beautiful atmosphere. But it’s not Frankenstein’s monster; it’s a real piece of art, and I hope people can understand and appreciate it. We also created a beautiful video for this song. And I think all this will come out in September, when the album will be officially released.

What would you like to change in the modern world?

Oh, I could name many things. Perhaps the main problem now, in my opinion, is lobbying. It creates so many problems, and the threads lead to different places. When big companies pay the government to close their interests, it’s always a problem. I would like to stop this practice, but it seems that it is impossible, because some companies have too much money and can pay for anything they want.

I have a tricky question. How long do you think you could have survived in the Middle Ages or the Viking Age?

If I had been born in that era, I would have been used to all those difficult living conditions. If a modern person, who is used to all the modern conveniences, like hot water, were thrown into those times, I don’t think they could have survived more than a week. Those were too harsh conditions. And if you don’t have modern medicine, one strong virus can finish you off. So, we are really lucky with the times we live in.

What do you think we could have given to people of that time?

I think a little less romanticization of that time. Because often people who write about that time choose the most beautiful things from the era. It would have been a little more respectful to our ancestors to realize what a difficult world they lived in. And to have a little more respect for what they survived and what they did at that time. I mean all the songs and art they created. We should appreciate that more.

The most important thing you learned from music.

The most important thing I learned is that music can convey emotions. You can work with two people, and one of them is just an artist, and the other one is a creator. They can play the same note exactly. But they will put completely different emotions into it. And sometimes it’s very interesting: you can see musicians playing something, and it’s completely empty. Other times you can see musicians with a very simple song. They will only have a guitar and a voice, but they will convey so much emotion that you can even start crying because it’s so touching! That’s something that I have a lot of respect for. All the times when musicians can be so open on stage that they can be fragile and vulnerable. If you close yourself off in your world and close off your emotions, then it’s hard for people to find an entrance into your art.

Interviewed by Jenet Bonishi