Eisenwald Artist- Autumn's Dawn Interview is up
1. For those on the US and European shore's very need to Autumn Dawn. Tell us a bit about the band..
Anguish: The band began when Sorrow was assembling live musicians for his solo project Germ in mid-2013. I had not previously met him, but we knew of each other through mutual friends. We ended up getting along great musically and personally, so one day I sent him a riff I was working on. He thought it was cool, so he added some vocals and 2 days later we had our 30 minute E.P. written (released May 2014)... We wrote and recorded our debut album "Gone" in the (Australian) autumn of 2014 and it was released last week!
2. This is a very odd mix of styles as will put many into a weird frame of mind mixing Shoegazer sounds of the 90's UK bands like Catherine wheel, Slowdive, Mira and Swervedriver mix with the post black metal sounds on bands like Alcest, Svarti Loghin, Fen and Agalloch etc. Where did the idea to merge these ideal together come from?
Anguish: While the E.P. was very much in the style of more standard "DSBM" (if you wish to use that term) with some post-rock guitar leads thrown in, the first song written for "Gone" ("The Ashes of a Life") went in a completely different direction, yet still felt very natural. We liked the idea of condensing these moods and themes into 'compact' song structures, and playing around with dynamics (both in terms of loud/soft tone colours and clean/screamed vocals) in such a context. It was never a conscious decision as much as it just felt to us that that is what the music called for. In a lot of ways I feel we took what the E.P. offered and "streamlined" it into a more unique style.
3. What are you looking for fans or listeners of Autumn's Dawn to come away with after checking out " Gone"?
Anguish: I think the overriding thing I would like listeners to take away is that it is an album full of great "songs". While the music and themes are certainly dark and heavy, we really explored the sonic avenues of what we can do within that realm from nice soft clean guitars to tremelo picking and blast beats.
4. The clean vocals are so melodic with the droning, drifting and noise filled guitars . Then go to the cold harsh blackened style . Was this the initial direction or was it worked on through out the writing process to become this way as final product?
Anguish: As I said above, it was never a pre-determined decision, it just happened as the sections came up in the songs and we used what we saw fit. In a low of cases it was to place emphasis on the following section (for example a heavy screamed section will have much more impact if it follows a clean sung 'pretty' section and vice versa).
5. Your working with Eisenwald a label that is not as well know as others but has some very impressive Fringe bands on it. How are they doing for you so far and if you could move to a larger label would you or is this really the perfect fit?
Anguish: Working with Eisenwald has been great so far. As Sorrow obviously has a previous working relationship with them, it started of great and has continued so. They are very commited to helping us achieve our vision of how our music should be presented (for example, the 2CD packaging of Gone is jaw dropping).
6. The two of you have played in many other bands as well to many to mention most in the extreme metal realm is Autumn's Dawn you only focus now now are there other project the would should know about?
Anguish: I don't think either myself or Sorrow could have a band or project as just the 'only focus'... I actually have another album being released this week for proof of that! In saying that, Autumn's Dawn is unique to it's sound and different than Sorrow and my other projects.
7. What are Autumn's Dawn listening too? I really does help us look into here the band is heading musically?
Anguish: For me personally, my listening tastes are ALL over the shop. The last three albums I listened to were Backstreet Boy's "Millennium", Igorrr's "Hallelujah" and "Red" by Taylor Swift. So two out of those three will give you absolutely NO insight into where the band is heading musically, but I think that good music is good music and I actively seek out things I haven't heard before. I actually find that NOT listening to bands of the same style helps when writing as you avoid being a bit TOO influenced by certain riffs and whatnot.
8. Will Autumn's Dawn be performing live for Gone or more a studio project to the time being?
Anguish: This is something he have only really discussed in passing- we are not against playing live at all (I actually think a lot of the album material would lend itself to some great live energy). However, I also feel that we are certainly not the type of band to go around playing pubs every weekend. I think that if we got a good offer for a show we would surely consider it, but we are in no rush to jump into the 'local live circuit'.
9.Will there be any Video's for the tracks on Gone or if you could what track would you like to focus on and why?
Anguish: Nothing has been discussed yet, but a video could be a cool idea. "The Ashes of a Life" would be the obvious "single" due to it's somewhat poppy nature, but I think it would misrepresent the band a bit too much. Something like "Until My Heart Corrodes with Rust" could work well.
10. Australia has become a hotbed for underground music as of the last decade or so why do you think more exposure is being focused on that region?
Anguish: I daresay the internet has a lot to do with this. Where in the past, Australian bands were stuck in Australia with no one to listen, now they are just as easily accessible as a European or American band.
11. What the bands thoughts on Social media is it the only way to get the word out today has traditional media print, radio and websites for bands faded for Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Blog's!!!
Anguish: As I am rather young, since I have started playing in bands social media has always been the main way to promote yourself, so I personally know no different. As we are not (yet) a live act, the internet is the easiest and most viable way to promote ourselves, so we try to stay relatively active on our facebook page, and do regular interviews and so on.
12. Is there a running theme on " Gone" or just a collection of powerful and passionate songs?
Anguish: My friend actually asked my this yesterday- he gave me his hypothesis for a concept in the lyrics... one that I didn't know about! Sorrow would be better to answer this one, but I think that generally the songs are self-sufficient but with an overriding theme of despair, sorrow and loss throughout the album. The placement of "The Ashes of a Life" as track #1 was 100% intentional and really makes sense within the context of an album. We thought the idea of opening with an almost 'uplifting' song before plunging into the abyss would work great, and I personally thing it does.
13.Are there any project out there that impress you the world may not know about yet you would like to exposure to use.
Anguish: Not really metal (despite a release titled "But Mostly Metal"), but if you like GREAT songs played by GREAT musicians that balance the line between emotional and fun, Melbourne's TOEHIDER are right up your alley. So much passion and talent in front man Michael Mills, who is a master at practically every instrument and style- it's depressing for the rest of us really.
14. Do you think Heavy Electronic and Metal music is sisters of the underground. It seems to me both are about extremes, breaking boundaries and letting the listener have something special that is really their own?
Anguish: I think when you break it down, most underground scenes are like that- letting the audience feel as if they are a piece of the scene itself. I'm not really the best person to answer though, as I don't really involve myself in types of scenes or whatever, I just try and immerse myself with as much music as I can- be it commercial pop or world drone music.
15. Thank you for the time any closing thoughts here..
Anguish: Thanks for the interview, enjoy the album.
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