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Interview with Andrea of At
The Soundawn
May 2nd 2008 by Luke Goaman-Dodson |
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At The Soundawn’s recently released their
debut, ‘Red Square: We Come In Waves’, on Lifeforce Records,
revealing a promising new name in the world of experimental metal. I
caught up with guitarist Andrea to see what makes them tick.
First off, could you give us a little introduction on who you guys
are and what each of you play?
We are five fellows from Italy, all around 26 years old. My name is
Andrea and I’m a guitarist. Then there’s Matteo on the other guitar,
Enrico on the drums, Alessio on the bass and Mirco singing.
We are from Modena, a town in the centre-north of Italy, known for
its traditional balsamic vinegar, for Ferrari, Pavarotti and many
other things.
How did you originally get together?
We were already friends, we all attended to the same high school and
sometimes we hung out together. Until 1999 we used to play in
different metal and hardcore bands, quite popular in the local area.
Actually Matteo was a fan of the band me and Alessio were playing
in, a Swedish death metal band called All In Vain. Music is the
reason why we became friends.
Anyway, in 1999 each band we used to play in split and we decide to
make this new act together.
How would you describe At The Soundawn’s
music? And which artists have influenced your sound the most?
Our music is intense and strongly emotional. It can be heavy or
soft, fast or slow, but we always try to put a lot of passion in it.
We individually have very different musical tastes and I can only
tell you what bands influenced me the most. The first band that
opened my mind to new sonic landscapes were Isis without any doubt.
From them I moved both to heavier and softer bands like Neurosis and
Breach or Mogwai and Sigur Ros. More recently, Porcupine Tree and
Jaga Jazzist strongly impressed me for their pathos and their
refined taste for melodies. |
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What
is the story behind the band name?
Well, it’s quite simple. The name is taken from Grails album “At The
Soundless Dawn”. Anyway it’s not a real tribute to the band - Grails
is just one of our influences. It’s more that we were looking for
something possibly unique and At The Soundawn seemed to be a good
name.
Where do you get your lyrical inspiration
from? And on a related note, I was wondering what the significance
of the title ‘Red Square: We Come In Waves’? It brings images of the
Russian Revolution to my mind…
We take inspiration from our lives, from what happens around us,
from what happens inside us.
Yeah, we suppose that the Russian Revolution could be related to
“Red Square”, anyway there’s no real connection to it. We wanted to
give also a strong graphic impact to the album and the graphic
studio proposed us that red square icon. It immediately conquered us
so we decided to use it.
At those times the title for the cd was only “We Come In Waves”. We
wanted to make this icon thing a main part of this record and
artwork, so we simply add the word Red Square. It’s nearly silly but
that’s the way it is and we are really satisfied!
Your music is highly impassioned – would you
say you’re an emotionally intense bunch of guys?
I would say we care too much of everything. We live everything
strongly and we tend to think too much. You know, sometimes life is
just easy or, in a paradoxical way, incomprehensible and what you
have to do is to face it directly, even if it’s difficult. We often
swing between these two habits and I think it can be partly noticed
in our music: our songs can be intended as intricate or simple,
depending on which layer you are focusing on.
What occupies your time outside music?
I’m still a student and I’m graduating soon in Cinema Study. The
other guys already finished university and three of them have a job,
another one is taking a break because he just got his degree.
Beside this we try to make some sport, watch movies, have huge
dinner together and share time with our girlfriends.
Say an acclaimed director decides to use At
The Soundawn as a soundtrack to his latest feature. What sort of
film would best suit your music?
Well, that’s a hard question. Some time ago we were discussing about
a possible video shooting and we already asked ourselves this
question. What would be the best video stream for our music? We
didn’t find an answer actually, but I can say that Alejandro
Amenabar or Godfrey Reggio would be a great choice! |
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Live
performance can be both exhilarating and immensely frustrating,
often at the same time. What are some of your best and worst gigs so
far?
The best gig was for sure the first one of our Swedish tour, in
Orebro. The venue was crowded and the people was really captured by
our music. We had a great time playing and someone also requested
for autographs and photos with us… nearly unbelievable!
The worst one was the first gig in Italy right after we came back
from Sweden. We played at a cool festival near our town and I have
to say we did an awful job. We couldn’t have rehearsal for almost 10
days, right before the show, because our drummer was abroad until
five hours before going on stage. The singer was sick and couldn’t
sleep a single hour the night before. A part of my gear broke down
and I had to borrow it from another band. The result was a chaotic
concert with no real hold on what we was playing. Right after the
show we were so frustrated. We had been waiting for that festival
for a long time, there were a lot of people and a lot of band we
like and support... Shit happens!
Which bands/artists would you most like to
share the stage with?
They are a lot. Isis, Porcupine Tree, Tool, Khoma, Kongh… but yes, I
think Isis most of all.
What is the music scene like in Italy? It
seems to be a pretty productive time for the metal scene there at
the moment.
You are right. In these last times the scene grew a lot and many new
bands are recording great albums. Let me just remind you of The
Orange Man Theory, Lento, Slowmotion Apocalypse, Ephel Duath… and
there are much more bands I’m pretty sure you will hear about!
Good luck promoting the debut; I hope you can
come to the UK soon. Are there any final thoughts you’d like to
share?
We hope that too and we are gonna work our ass off to make it
happen!
I invite all of you to take a look of our profile here:
www.myspace.com/atthesoundawn Don’t miss our album and spread
the word! |
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