Achren
This is the second time
we present Achren and each time things seem brighter for the band and their
future! Why is that? Because these guys have created an unbelievable mini
CD that will take your mind away! Here we have Callum, one of the band's
guitarist, offering us some insight on the band...
1. You are a completely new band in the
territory of extreme metal since the band’s formation goes only three years
back. Can you give us a small presentation of the band?
We formed the band in Glasgow, Scotland, in
2003 because we wanted to create a real extreme metal band, obnoxious and
belligerent bastard metal. The band is Scott on Guitar and Vocals, myself
on Guitar, Miranda on Bass and Gordon on Drums. We’ve been gigging
constantly since the start, and playing live is always going to be at the
heart of this band, but the new MCD Blood Metal comes close to capturing
our live energy.
2. From what I know you and Scott constituted
former members of Soulgreed. What went wrong with your previous band and
which are the differences between them and Achren?
Well, Soulgreed was our first serious metal
band and we were constantly evolving towards our own style, it was really
a learning process and we never had the right line-up for what me and Scott
wanted to achieve. You can hear the root of our sound in some of
the Soulgreed riffing, but Achren’s music is much more focussed and we’ve
stamped our own sound on the new material.
3. Your drummer also was a former member of
Coercion. How exactly did you contact him?
Well actually we met him in a pub in Glasgow!
Heheh… After he left Coercion he moved to Scotland and ended up meeting
me in the Solid Rock (a local metal bar). We met through friends
and got on instantly; once I found out he was a drummer I asked if he fancied
having an audition. For the audition were all really hungover and it didn’t
go well- we thought he didn’t want to join and he thought we didn’t want
him! Heheh. Luckily Kelvin, a local promoter, persuaded us to get
in touch with him again and after the second audition we had a band!
4. On the other hand there’s also a woman in
your line-up, and she is responsible for the bass lines. Was this something
you sought for certain reasons or was she just the right person for the
musical direction and chemistry of Achren?
We held out for a long time without a bass
player although we did get a lot of offers, because we wanted to get the
right person in terms of ability and personality. Sex was never an issue.
A local promoter (Kelvin again) recommended Miranda; we all knew of her
through the Glasgow scene and reckoned she was the kind of character that
could put up with the rest of us so the chemistry came very naturally.
Gordon saw her play a gig and was blown away so we asked her to try out
on bass and we all agreed she had to be a part of Achren.
5. Describing the sound of Achren you have
elements from different types of aggressive metal. Musically you move between
thrash / death / black. Was this an objective from the beginning or simply
it came out in the course?
Personally I always try to write the kind
of music I would want to listen to. I started out listening to thrash then
gradually got into death and then black metal so it’s natural to bring
all those out in the music, I don’t think we have any need to stick to
one extreme genre as that would be too limiting musically- as long as it’s
heavy as fuck and has a tune of some sort then I’m happy!
6. Which were the first reactions until now
from the press and the metal fans?
The reactions for the new CD so far have been
great- reviews have been good and magazines are starting to be interested
in interviews and features now so that’s really good for us. We’ve also
been selling a lot of CDs in shops and online too and we haven’t even started
to gig yet so I’d expect to sell even more once we hit the road as we’ve
always sold most of our merch at gigs.
7. What are the main influences in your music?
We’ve all been influenced a lot by the Scandinavian
scene as well as old classic metal. I think we all have our own influences
that combine to make Achren- for instance, Miranda used to play in a folk
band and I played with pipe bands for years (as did Gordon in New Zealand!)
although there’s no obvious folk/Gaelic sound to our music, what we learned
there has helped in Achren. We basically all want to be loud!
8. Is there only one person in charge of the
songwriting and lyrics or do you all contribute in this?
The lyrics are pretty much only written by
Scott, although the rest of us might have an idea for a song title or concept.
Musically, we jam most of our songs in the rehearsal room so we’ve all
got an input and Gordon and I do the majority of the arrangements.
9. What are mostly the subjects that inspire
your lyrics?
Unfortunately Scott isn’t here to answer that
but he has said in the past that misfortune is a recurrent theme. His own
misfortune and the misfortunes of others are definitely things that he
enjoys writing about!
10. Does the name of the band have any relation
with the villain character in the fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain,
written by Lloyd Alexander? If not where did you inspire it from
and what does it mean?
I hadn’t even heard of those books until after
I named the band, although it’s maybe not entirely unlike us heheh. The
name actually comes from the word for the Old Celtic Otherworld so it has
a Scottish/Celtic root.
11. “Blood Metal” was a clearly self financed
production. How easy was this for you and how satisfied are you with the
final result?
Well, I recorded the first two demos as well
so I had some ideas on how to develop the sound, although adding in the
bass was definitely a big change. We also spent some time at Forth St.
Studio after I recorded it where we got a guy to master the CD to give
it an extra edge. I’m very pleased with what we achieved, although there
are always things you wish you could tweak- basically all that’s holding
us back is budget but it still compares favourably to a lot of signed releases
and a lot of people have commented favourably on the production quality.
12. Are there any current contacts so far with
any labels for the signing-up of a contract?
We’re not currently in contact with any Labels,
although hopefully that will change in the near future. We’ve had some
contact in the past but nothing worthwhile yet- there are a lot of bands
going through the whole vanity publishing thing in the UK just now and
we’ve been doing fine without that so we’re waiting for the right deal
just now.
13. Since we don’t know much about the Scottish
metal scene can you enlighten us a little bit?
Right now the extreme metal scene in Glasgow
is very strong- there are a lot of new promoters and bands coming though
all the time and most touring acts play there so it’s a very exciting place
to be from just now. It’s a very competitive scene in terms of local bands
trying to outdo each other, but there’s also a great camaraderie.Glasgow
has always been the heart of the Scottish scene since it’s the biggest
city but there are other parts of the country now that have dedicated metal
records shops and local gigs or underground touring acts as well so it
seems to be growing all the time.
14. How easy can it be for a Scottish band
to ascend from the underground?
I think it’s easy in some ways because the
scene is so competitive- for a band to come through the Scottish underground
to the stage of being able to play outside their hometown they have to
become very good at what they do. For gigging it’s good but in terms of
Label recognition and press interest it’s a lot harder because there are
virtually no labels and no magazines here so for that you really need to
become part of the English/London scene as well.
15. You already have plans for some gigs in
your country. Is there a possibility to move outside Great Britain soon
for a tour?
I’ve been trying to book some gigs in Belgium
and Holland recently and we’ve had some offers but not enough yet to confirm
a tour as it’s a long and expensive journey for us so we need to have enough
dates to pay for it- hopefully we’ll have something later this year.
16. Have you ever been to Greece?
I’ve never been to Greece itself although
I did go to Cyprus a few years ago- Greece is definitely on the list.
17. Do you know anything about the Greek metal
scene?
We’ve actually had contact with a few webzines
& radio stations in Greece and our CD is available from Secret Port
Records in Greece at www.secretport.com
so we have some interest in the underground. I don’t know much about the
live scene but it’s something we’d love to get into sometime in the future.
18. Alright, that’s it for now! Do you want
to pass a last message to the metal fans?
Support the underground and Stay Metal as
Fuck!
Vaso Prassa
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