Norwegian black metal musician Fenriz elected to town council against his will
Political candidates run to get elected, but not this guy. Norwegian black metal rocker Fenriz has been voted as local town councillor against his will. His campaign posters even begged voters not to vote for him.
Fenriz, whose real name is Gylve Fenris Nagell, had no desire to enter politics. He was even preparing to release his band Darkthrone’s new album “Arctic Thundedr” before he received the bad news that he won the election.
He was just supposed to join a “backup list” of potential candidates for the political party Oppegård Venstre , just to fill in the slots for the local election in the Oslo suburb of Kolbotn. The party called and asked if he wanted to be on the list. Thinking that he wouldn’t really have to do anything and he would only be needed to complete a list, Fenriz agreed.
His campaign material was even a picture of him holding his cat, whose name is roughly translated to “Peanut Butter” in English, saying, “Please don’t vote for me.”
“Basically, they called and asked if I wanted to be on the list [of backup representatives]. I said yeah, thinking I would be like 18th on the list and I wouldn’t really have to do anything. They just need a list to be able to … well, it’s hard to talk local politics in another language,” he told Clrvynt in an interview.
“My campaign was a picture of me holding my cat, saying, ‘Please don’t vote for me.’ But people just went nuts.”
He underestimated the power of a cute cat. Fenriz has been voted to the local council against his will. He is now Councilman Gylve Fenris Nagell, and he must serve for four years before he is allowed to resign. He admitted he wasn’t too pleased about the outcome. “There’s not a lot of money in that, either, I can tell you!”
Fortunately, he doesn’t have to be as active as other politicians.
“Basically, I have to step in when the usual people who go to the big meetings are sick or something. Then I have to go sit there and feel stupid among the straight people.”
Kolbotn, as Fenriz described it, is a small town with “maybe 9,000 people.”
