You would think a local government would want to have little if anything to do with a legendary black metal musician. Scandinavian black metal bands are more associated with burning down churches than sitting on city councils. You would also probably assume a black metal legend would want nothing to do with local community government. You would be right about that point because Norwegian metal god Fenriz did not want to be on his local neighborhood council. However, owing in part to his cat, he now is.
Fenriz is a member of Darkthrone, who since 1986 have been one of the preeminent bands in the Norwegian black metal scene. He also evidently lives in a suburb of Oslo called Kolbotn. They have a local council, presumably not unlike your local city council, and were looking for backup representatives. This is where Fenriz ran into his problem. He was called and asked if he wanted to be on a list of potential backup representatives. While you might expect a black metal legend to be very surly at being asked for such a favor, Fenriz was too nice for his own good. “They called and asked if I wanted to be on the list. 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.”
Things did not turn out as Fenriz anticipated. Backup representatives were voted on, and Fenriz made a campaign error. “My campaign was a picture of me holding my cat saying, ‘Please don’t vote for me’,” he said. People love cats, and if you tell people not to vote you for something, they are probably going to vote for you. Now, Fenriz is Councilman Glyve Fenris Nagell. For the next four years, he’s a backup representative for Kolbotn’s local council.
“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…I’m a pillar of my community.” Needless to say, Fenriz is not happy about being elected. You spend 30 years dedicating your life to black metal, and then one day you wake up and you are a local government official.