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Interview with Boethius of
Empire Auriga
October 2008 by Dave Schalek |
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Recently, I’ve reviewed a number of releases
from Moribund Cult Records. One act that particularly piqued my
interest was Empire Auriga, a duo from Lansing, Michigan that play a
unique combination of industrial and black metal, resulting in
memorable, bleak soundscapes. I recently had the opportunity to
question Boethius, a member of Empire Auriga.
Briefly describe the history of Empire Auriga.
Did the band members play in more traditional black metal projects
prior to Empire Auriga?
We had met a number of years before and partook in a project which
was named, "The Hearing Blood". It was very inspired by Ulver, in
particular the Bergtatt album. It was a strange and foresty project
and it went very well, but we were all really wanting to do some
different things, so we moved on for a while. The Hearing Blood name
was given to a new project by another member of the old project. It
all gets convoluted and hard to follow. Basically there is a small
group of us from the mid-Michigan area who all play in each others’
projects and start various bands together. It ranges from Empire
Auriga to nasty black thrash to bizarre folk music tales...
whatever. We jokingly refer to ourselves as the MMMM, the Mid
Michigan Metal Militia. But anyhow, a few years post-Hearing Blood
and 90000065b asked me if I wanted to do some vocals on an
industrial type of project. We toyed with a number of different
sounds before the draw of droning black space captured our interests
and we've really enjoyed that sound so far.
I am intrigued by your choice of project name.
Tell me how the name Empire Auriga came about?
To be truthful, it was inspired by Fenriz and his mighty Empire
Algol from the Neptune Towers albums. Neptune Towers is some godly
fucking music. When we thought we might go more industrial we had
some other names, but they were all pretty crappy and not worth
mention.
What role, if any, does astronomy play in your
thematic and lyrical content?
None. The name was chosen as a means by which we could convey the
idea that the events in the lyrics are taking place in a real
portion of space, but in a time and space that is removed beyond
current memory. That, and I'm generally fascinated by space and the
overwhelming power of it's presence.
Your band’s information lists two members.
Describe each member’s role, if you would, in the project.
As Boethius I am mostly just there for vocals and lyrics. I help
with the general structure of each song, but 90000065b writes almost
all of the riffs and beats and effects. Once he has a couple of them
which go together very well then we get together and try to make a
cohesive song out of it. Occasionally he writes all on his own, and
we acquire the help of Gestalt when possible. Gestalt is not
entirely reliable, but when he does show up and lend his ideas they
are often quite genius and we are thankful for his contributions.
His role in the second album may well be expanded quite some bit. |
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Do
you characterize Empire Auriga as black metal, or something more (or
less, for that matter)? Why or why not?
I try not to characterize it as much of anything. Black metal has
been and likely always will be a primary influence and factor in
what I do. There are purists and there are "experimentalists" but I
really don't care how you try to classify it because as long as
something has its roots in black metal you can always recognize that
bleak and lost feeling of emptiness. The feeling of the void that
black metal produces is something that I hope my music never loses.
What musical influences are present in the
music of Empire Auriga?
At the time we wrote Auriga Dying both Burzum and Summoning were
large in our minds. We were always trying to get the epic sweeping
feeling that Summoning so often achieves with great success.
Burzum's Filosofem was an album of astounding foresight on the part
of Varg. He took black metal to the next logical step before anybody
else could even begin to |
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Also present in our music is influence from Vangelis, Xasthur, Fripp,
Eno, Tangerine Dream, Darkthrone, Popol Vuh, Mayhem, Taake,
Gorgoroth, Lustmord, Pink Floyd, Sombrous... the list could go on
and on and on.... Any plans to play in a
live setting?
No. Much of the point behind Empire Auriga is to try to put your
mind into a place which it cannot be in any other way. No
experience, natural or otherwise, can do for the mind what a pure
ethereal and space bending musical journey can do. I love music
because of it's ability to cause one to travel in the mind and a
live show of Empire Auriga would completely destroy any chance we
have of conveying that feeling to the listener. Aside from that,
there are only two of us and too many parts to play, if we could
ever even remember one riff.
How does Michigan’s decaying economic
climate contribute, if at all, to the themes of Empire Auriga?
Well, economic decay is certainly an inescapable aspect of life
right now. I never really thought of it as something that helped to
propel music along, but on the Sodom DVD Tom Angelripper was talking
about how destitute his hometown was when he was growing up and how
he thinks that had a lot to do with so much good thrash coming out
of Germany at the time. Maybe he has something there and maybe that
is part of why so many good things have come out of Michigan
recently. All of that theoretical junk aside, I am greatly inspired
by the ideals of personal freedom and anti-state thought. I'm not
sure that this has to do with Michigan in particular (In fact, I
myself am now in Boston), but the ideas of freedom and
self-sufficiency are pretty core to my beliefs. Of course, this all
gets back to religion as a crutch and government as a crutch and how
you need to stand for yourself and not all this other stupid shit of
politicians and messiahs. Use your brain and think for yourself! So,
I suppose, yes, this does come through in the lyrics for Auriga and
the sense of retaliation and fight that I hope the songs convey.
Empire Auriga has been a place of oppression for eons and the
townspeople are taking to the pitchforks!
Do you have any affiliations with other bands
from the Michigan scene?
I mentioned above that Empire Auriga really came from a small group
of us all playing in different projects together. Some are mere
basement wailings and some are a bit more involved and real, but
here is a short list of our musical attempts: Sauron (Witches Brew),
Quintessence, Araphat, Elsewhere, Wastelander, The Hearing Blood,
Carnage Bastards, ROT, and I could go on. Doomy G. Blackthrash from
Sauron has been doing some work with Nocturnal Fear as well. Summon
are also from Michigan and we've been in contact with them for some
years now. Michigan is a good metal place. Boston fucking sucks for
metal.
How did your partnership with Moribund Cult
Records come about?
We sent out a bunch of promo type things and got responses from a
couple labels, one of which we signed to. Then, Moribund contacted
us a couple months later and we couldn't sign with them because we
had already signed at the other place. Well, two fucking years went
by and the first label never did release us, but we were under
contract and kept waiting and waiting. Finally, we talked them into
breaking the contract and letting us go, at which point we were able
to go back to Moribund and ask if they still wanted us. Obviously,
it all worked out and there are no hard feelings with the previous
label, just caused things to be a little extra delayed. We are very
happy with Moribund so far.
www.myspace.com/empireauriga |
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