Burzum mastermind Varg Vikernes is a convicted murderer and outspoken white supremacist, but he’s still in high demand to perform live. Varg has never put together a live band for his acclaimed one-man black metal project, and offers of nearly half a million dollars isn’t changing that.

In a new video, Vikernes claims he turned down £300,000 (roughly $425,000) to play just two shows on London. Even more surprising, Vikernes says he’d rather spend a month in prison than spend a month rehearsing with musicians… and this is coming from a guy who already did 14 years in prison for killing Mayhem guitarist Euronymous.

"I’ve said it many times before; –I don’t play live. I don’t like to play live. And if I don’t like to do it, why should I?” Vikernes asks. “Some say money. Okay. Well, I can tell you something. I’ve been offered, I think it was £300,000 to play live two concerts in London some years ago. And I said ‘No. No thanks.’”

Varg continues, “I would rather stay home here and change oil on my car, or collect some rotten wood from the forest, spread on my ruined former agricultural land. I’d rather spend time with my family, with my kids. I would rather spend time here in the car talking to those who subscribe to [my YouTube channel] Thulean Perspective. I don’t give a shit about money. I never do anything to make money. I do make money, but that’s because I do something. Big difference. I never do anything to make money, but I make money because I do something.”

“To be honest, I would probably rather spend like a month in prison than spend a month rehearsing with some musicians, metalheads,” the musician adds. “I pick prison over that, really. And I say that knowing well what prison is like, so don’t get me wrong here. Prison sucks big time … Happiness is to be satisfied with little. Wanting more and more and more is a completely meaningless downward going spiral into decadence, corruption, decay, and unhappiness.” [via Ultimate Guitar]

Burzum’s most recent album, The Ways of Yore, came out in 2014 and a trio of singles followed the next year. Since then, there has been no word of new music from Varg Vikernes.

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