Dark pagan neo folk, we are a fusion of ancient and contemporary instruments, history, Nature and the world of the gods.
Would you like to tell us about the band and what kind of music you play? How many are you in it? Where does you all come from?
Kliff – Yes, hello and firstly thank you for having us.
We are a Dark Folk band from Staffordshire England that uses an array of old traditional instruments with Pagan and historical themes.
There are 5 of us in Galdorcraeft. “Matthew Wudotun” on Vocals and horns. Myself “Kliff Moon” I play a
multitude of instruments but live I concentrate on more the bowed variety. “Marie Moon” on the Lyres and some percussion. “Sean Fisher” on Logs, Bones antlers and hand drums and “Rhys Spooner” on the big floor drums.
“Galdorcraeft ” what does that mean, and does it have a special meaning for you?
Kliff – Galdorcraeft is an old English word that combines magic, incantation with sound & music which resonated with me when we were choosing the name.
How did it start with “Galdorcraeft “, where did you all meet and how long time have you played together as a band?
Kliff: I met Marie 24 years ago in a dingy Goth club. I approached her to pinch a cigarette. The rest is history.
Marie: lessoned learned kids smoking gets you into trouble haha , Ahh the good old goth days .
Kliff: Matt introduced himself to us both through a mutual friend. He phoned at 2 in morning very drunk during yule to express his interest and passion in doing vocals for us.. before we even heard him we just knew he was the right man for the Job, Both Sean and Rhys where introduced to us by Matt and they jelled straight off the bat, both have become an important part of our heavy rhythmic percussion.
Matt: I have been interested in this kind of music for a long time. and desired to do something inspired by the history, folklore and spiritual traditions of England and Britain in general for years and years. I simply didn’t have the vehicle to do it justice in my previous musical endeavors. So when Kliff said he wanted to do something similar, I was obviously very excited by the prospect, the first few songs we wrote together just came into themselves so quickly that it felt like it was meant to be, Wyrd if you will had conspired to put it together. And so after the first track really we began to throw everything at Galdorcraeft, forsaking all other music projects.
Sean: Matt and I have been friends basically since dinosaurs roamed the earth, with Rhys a few years less than that and I met Kliff and Marie. I think in 2021 maybe 2022 I can’t be certain there was a lot of alcohol involved. I joined the band about a year after the others had laid the basic framework although, “press ganged into service” maybe a more apt term than joined, as I found myself agreeing to something about a band whilst incredibly drunk, (leaning on a wheelie bin in the small hours of a Sunday morning) with absolutely no musical talent or experience and about a week later I was in a practice room totally ruining virtually every song, I’m not even sure I was playing anything remotely close to what had originally been created. They were daft enough to invite me back for the next practice and I’ve stuck around ever since
Kliff: How did it start? ..well it’s been a long time coming. Both myself and Marie have been wanting to do
something like this for a very long time, we’d been dreaming about creating music like this since 2001 and due to other commitments and other bands that I was involved in never had the time to acquire and learn new instruments and start something so bold. It was 2020 when we really started turning it into a reality, experimenting with sounds with no restrictions and rules, and after a random drunk phone call with Matt we had a vocalist with the same passion as ourselves.
Marie: We never planned to go live. It was always meant as a recording project but the positive response from folk was to take it live and we always aim to please. So as a live band we’ve been rehearsing and performing together since 2023.
What instruments do you play on in the band?
Kliff: I play a variety of instruments including lyres,
Moraharpa, tagelharpa, Jaw Harp, Bullroarer, bass
crwth, overtone flute, bouzouki, saz, drums rattles
and anything I can get my hands on, I’m currently
working on introducing a nyckelharpa with the new
songs were working on.
Marie: I mainly play different types of lyre including
the Kravik and Anglo-Saxon lyre , I also play the hand
drum, Cajon drum, seed shakers and a horse Jaw, I
recorded myself playing the horn on our album The
Nine but the idea of myself doing that live put the fear
of the gods in me haha so like the gentlemen they are
Kliff and Matt stepped up to take on those duties
Matt: I just do the vocals and the odd bit of horns and
Carnyx (ancient Celtic war horn) but my voice is my
instrument and I like playing with it to create unusual
sounds and styles.
Sean: So I play anything that clicks or clacks, logs
bones antlers I’ve taken a minor foray into hand
drums for our newest song. Basically I play anything
robust enough to be given a good whack nothing
expensive, complex or easily broken, ooh and I got a
cowbell for my log stand just before my birthday that’s
about as hi tech as it gets for me
What music inspired you?
Kliff: That’s a weird one for me, I try not to have active influences, I tend to avoid listening to others music while writing and prefer to go for a walk or read a book for inspiration… but we all have passive influences, I suppose a cross section of some of those for me would be something like Motorhead, Bathory, My Dying Bride, Fields of the Nephilim and Dead can Dance are just a few of the bands that shaped me in my youth.
Marie: Hmm? I get inspiration from all kinds of things, nature is music if you really listen but as far as actual artists and bands? Well that can range widely, anything from the heavy dark dramatic sounds of Cradle of filth to the soft earthy melancholy tones of Heather Nova, I’m quite eclectic.
Matt: I have a background in making weird unorthodox music, that never really fit into typical genres, and that is largely what has informed my decisions in this project, I listen to large amounts of minimalist neo classical music like Nils Frahm and Rachel’s, this music is often melancholic in tone and I have always gravitated towards the more thoughtful aspects of music in terms of lyrics, I listened to a lot of Abstract Hip Hop growing up such as Anticon and Sage Francis and dense lyrics are something I enjoy writing in order to wrap in layers of meaning within the words. But in terms of this project specifically for my vocals I would say Tuvan throat singing and metal music, alongside the European contemporary Pagan music that is quite popular these days, but to a much smaller extent than you would imagine, I just kind of experimented with different styles and felt what the music needed.
Does Galdorcræft play on festivals and other live arrangement?
Kliff: Yes, we have just played 3 festivals, and we have 2 more events this year, music port in October and Whitby Krampus run in December.
Have you as a band done any collabs with others and would you do any collabs.?
Kliff: We haven’t done any collabs yet, but we are in talks to do one, I can’t give any details on that yet. But we are writing towards it.
Does the band make other kind of music than what we know you for?
Kliff: We don’t write any other styles of music, Galdorcræft has a sound and a message that will stay true to its roots and the road which it travels on
Where do you typically get your inspiration to compose/ produce music and is there only one that write your lyrics in the band?
Kliff: All the music is composed by myself and Marie, Inspiration for our music can come from anywhere.
Sometimes I’ll wake up in the morning and I can just hear a song in my head and then I just need to get it
out and down fast.
Marie: Yes and sometimes we have a subject or theme in mind and we imagine all the feelings that it would
conjure whether it be dread anxiety pride or whatever and we let these feeling take over our fingers and flow into what the song “wants to become” sometimes I feel like fate plays a big part. Matt writes all the lyrics and again the inspiration can come from anywhere the environment and also a lot of research and reading which he loves doing anyway.
Matt: Yeah, sometimes there are themes we have already discussed, and sometimes it’s just from history,
nature or the Gods. Often, I will get a piece of music with an Obscure title and just let my imagination run
wild, like with barrow sleeper, it was just the title when Kliff played me the skeleton of the track, and I wrote the concept out of those two words. I am the only one who writes the lyrics at present but if anyone else has
something to share we would absolutely work on it, I don’t know if they all want to faff about for hours with
Eald Enlisc though.
Are you a believer of the Nordic/old ways or finding the history interesting?
Kliff: Yes both myself and Marie follow a mix of Germanic and Celtic paganism, which is the major focus and drive to what we do musically.
Matt: I have my own spiritual path that is oriented around the Gods my ancestors worshipped and ancestor worship to some degree also, it is not rigid, it is my own personal connection with nature and the Gods.
Do you as a band find it challenging times in the music industry with YT and other streaming places? (Other musicians are saying that)
Kliff: It can be Yes, you don’t get a lot of revenue through steaming and the algorithm can suck, but on the other hand it does help you reach a wider audience. But you can’t just rely on streaming alone.
Do you have any advice for others what to do and what is working best for your band?
Kliff: Best advice I can think of is to be true to yourself. Don’t copy your idols. Create something you truly believe in yourself.
Marie: Yes i totally agree , passion is everything and if you truly enjoy what you do it reflects back to the
audience. Dare to be different , and do it with gusto
Matt: I don’t think I can really offer anything salient other than to believe in what you are doing and do it for
good reasons, the best music you will ever make is because you care to communicate something that is a
part of yourself.
Any new releases of tracks or album soon?
Kliff: We released a new track Krampus a couple of weeks ago and most recently a cover of Deaf Forever by
Motörhead as a Tribute to fellow Stoke born “Lemmy” we have a lot of new material at various stages of the
writing/recording process. So yeah, a lot more to come.
In you free time do you hang out there a lot or do you have other interest as sport or crafting maybe?
Kliff: Free time? What’s that haha? I’m a workaholic and need some serious help…I pretty much spend all my time writing or doing something connected to Galdorcraeft. I do enjoy making instruments, some of what we use now I crafted myself. I’m a huge Tolkien fan and do enjoy reading when I get the chance, family time is also important.
Marie: Kliff and I have a teenage daughter that lives with us and has just started college, so we spend some
time with educating her on the important things in life yak now, like good music, films and food hahaha… I do
actually enjoy laundry haha. I know that sounds boring but I’m really sensitive to smells and one of my favourite things is fresh linen. Obviously Galdorcraefting takes up a lot of time researching and learning, reading is very important , one of my favourite authors right now is Sigurd Odinsson I highly recommend his books (available on amazon) wink wink….
Matt: I don’t have free time very often, but when I do, I read or spend time with my loved ones.
Sean: Outside the band I’m a very big fan of Warhammer 40k. I’ve got a few painting projects on at the minute which keep me occupied and (more importantly for my long-suffering girlfriend) quiet on rainy days.
Where can we see you live next year or maybe before?
Krill: You can see us next at Whitby Krampus run In December which is now sold out, we have started taking
bookings for 2025, so keep your eye out on our website, www.galdorcraeft.net
We would like to thank you for answering our questions about your band, and glad we could do this
written interview, and I am sure many are interested in getting to know you better….
