Necrobutcher on Mayhem's Four Decades of Survival

When the bassist of your band murders the guitarist, you’d think the group might call it quits. Most bands implode over petty squabbles about songwriting credits or tour schedules—not criminal trials. Yet here we are, decades later, with Mayhem somehow alive and kicking (metaphorically, of course). Sure, Fleetwood Mac gets all the headlines for “dysfunctional band of the century,” but to my knowledge, no one in that lineup ever pulled a knife. For Mayhem, dysfunction was less soap opera and more true crime.

And yet, founding member Necrobutcher—government name Jørn Stubberud—seems remarkably unfazed by it all. In a chat with Australian webzine Metal-Roos, later documented by the ever-diligent Blabbermouth, Necrobutcher was asked if he could’ve predicted the band’s improbable longevity. His answer? A cool, confident yes.

“Well, actually, the [answer] to that is probably yes, because… I get [that] question a lot,” Necrobutcher mused, in the kind of meandering way only a bassist-philosopher could manage. “For example, in different circumstances, the question is, ‘You didn’t think this would happen when you were 16 years old and started this band?’ But that’s exactly what was going on. I had such faith in the project, and I thought that, ‘This is it. We’re gonna make it.’ And we did.”

Faith in a band called Mayhem might seem like an oxymoron, but Necrobutcher doubles down: “We had to believe. We thought it was possible, and we always thought so. And that’s why we survived, too, because the first thing you have to do is to have faith in yourself. That’s rule number one.”

It’s the kind of pep talk you might expect from a motivational speaker, minus the part about bloodstained knives and police reports. But Necrobutcher wasn’t done. He added, almost wistfully, “I’m surprised how fast life went by. And now I’m 56 years old, and I started when I was 16, so that’s a whole lifetime, basically. I would have gotten a gold watch fucking 15 years ago if I was working for the community, or the 25-year-old gold watch, or something like that. I actually thought to myself that actually I was gonna buy myself a watch. But, as you can see, I don’t wear any watches.”

A bassist contemplating gold watches is peak “aging metalhead energy,” but let’s not lose the plot. Necrobutcher’s unwavering belief in Mayhem’s success is impressive, sure, but it sidesteps the elephant in the room: How did this band not implode? No one’s questioning their musical chops—Mayhem has talent to spare, and their influence in metal is undeniable. What’s mind-boggling is that anyone is still around to celebrate their anniversary.

So yes, Necrobutcher “always believed” Mayhem would last. It’s just that, given the band’s history, the rest of us assumed their trajectory would look more like a cautionary tale than a career retrospective. Still, here they are, four decades in, defying gravity—and logic. You can’t argue with survival, even if it’s tinged with a bit of irony.

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