Aither
Well, I've been trying
to think of a suitable prologue to present this interview to you, but everything
seems inadequate to me... I think Domenico and Rubens have done such a
great job presenting the band and transmitting the essence and passion
surrounding Aither, that everything else will just be too little...
1. HELLO! HOW ARE YOU? SINCE YOU ARE A NEW
BAND AND THIS IS OUR FIRST INTERVIEW, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO TELL US A FEW
THINGS ABOUT YOU.
Domenico: Hi! We’re a band from Cosenza, Italy
and we’re a six piece. Our line-up consists of: Rubens Lanzillotti (vocals),
Pierluigi “Aries” Ammirata (guitar), Alberto “Ishtar” Filippelli (guitar),
Fabrizio Saullo (keyboards), Domenico “Captain Spacefrog” De Cicco (bass),
Alex Adriano (drums). The idea of the band came from Pierluigi during May
2005, and I was the second to join. Alex, Fabrizio and Rubens joined the
band some time after. With this line-up we recorded our first demo-CD,
called “Awoken from Beyond”, during July 2005 at Alex’s home studio. After
the recording of the demo Alberto, who already played with me, Rubens and
Alex in another band ( I also have already played with Pierluigi in my
other group, Aeternal, and Alex and Pierluigi played together in a black
metal band called Darkshine), and also made the photos that are in the
booklet, joined the band.
Rubens: After Alberto’s entry we started working
on new songs trying to create a more personal style which shows our different
influences. Right now we finished the pre-production of our second demo,
who took more time than the other to develop a better work. We’re very
proud of our purposes, and we hope to reach them in a good way. Now we’re
going to record the definitive versions of the new compositions.
2. NOW THAT YOUR FIRST RELEASE IS COMPLETED, HOW
DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT? ARE THERE ANY THINGS YOU DON’T LIKE AND YOU’D LIKE
TO IMPROVE?
Rubens: To be honest after our the release
we felt very happy, also because we did it in a very short time and we
thought that it was just a way to begin for us. That made us more self-conscious
about what we’re doing. Certainly there are a lot of things that we could
do better, but at that time it was probably the best thing we could do.
Domenico: You must also know that the tracks
that featured on “Awoken from Beyond” were older songs composed by Pierluigi
and we also arranged them a little bit.
3. FROM THE 3 COMPOSITIONS THAT YOU HAVE INCLUDED
IN YOUR CD, WHICH ONE WAS THE EASIEST TO COMPOSE AND WHICH ONE TOOK YOU
MORE TIME AND WHY?
Domenico: I can’t say something about the
feelings of the other members of the band, but for me “Alone under the
sky” was the most difficult to work on and “A fragment of memory”, the
instrumental intro was the easiest just because I didn’t have to play in
it! :)
Rubens: I think that every track was difficult
for some aspects, every one of us surely had his own challenges, for example
I had some problems with the clean vocals on “The Coming of The Blessed
Age” and the interpretation of “Alone Under the Sky” because of the particular
mood of that song. After all I’m still a self-trained singer.
4. IS THERE A SPECIFIC METHOD YOU FOLLOW WHILE
YOU ARE COMPOSING THE SONGS? FROM WHICH SOURCES DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION?
Rubens: This a quite tough question… I think
that the composition is the most important moment in this band and we’re
becoming really accurate about how we want to create our songs, although
they come from our feelings and emotions. Normally everything starts with
one specific idea and then everyone tries to develop it in the best possible
way. We also try to listen to everyone’s idea, trying to avoid clichés.
Domenico: Talking about the inspirations for
the songs, we are inspired by tons of different things: music, books, films,
poetry, graphic arts and life in general, it depends on mood!
5. “AITHER”, THE NAME OF THE BAND IS A GREEK WORD.
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO CHOOSE THIS NAME? IS THERE A SYMBOLISM BEHIND IT?
Rubens: The name represents the quintessence
of Aristoteles’ philosophy, it represents the highest part of the sky,
“the sphere of fire” (this concept have an orphic origin). We chose this
name to represent the purity and the strength of the creative side of human
spirit.
Domenico: And also because it’s a good name,
it sounds interesting. We thought it was better than “Malignant Cacophonous
Bloody Vomit Of Satan’s Demons of Fuckin’ Hellbound”! :)
6. CAN YOU TELL US IN A FEW WORDS WHICH THE THEME
OF EACH SONG INCLUDED IN YOUR NEW ALBUM IS?
Domenico: The lyrics of the first demo were
written by Pierluigi: “The Coming of The Blessed Age” talks about an esoteric
theory, the “Theory of the Four Ages” and the “Blessed Age” represents
the coming of a new golden age. “Alone Under The Sky” has a more emotional
topic and it is about a man that has lost his faith in life and feels desperate
and useless… On the new upcoming demo I wrote the lyrics of two songs:
one is about the human tendency to discover the deepest and darkest of
mind and soul and it is inspired by H.P. Lovecraft; the other song is about
anxiety and irrational fears and it is quite abstract and hallucinated.
Rubens: I wrote the other 3 lyrics for the
new demo, that are about different themes. I usually get inspired by books,
films or everything that can hit me, trying also to link together the different
tastes of every one of us. In one of the tracks I was inspired by the Stoic
resistance, something that could go beyond the limits of human vices; on
another track I wrote about “Metropolis”, the great film by Fritz Lang.
The last track is about my way of being, and I compared myself with Coleridge’s
“Ancient Mariner”, a character that lives between eternity and reality.
7. SINCE YOU HAVE YOUR SONGS ONLINE ON YOUR SITE,
CAN YOU TELL ME HOW THE FANS HAVE REACTED SO FAR AND WHICH COMPOSITION
THEY PREFER THE MOST?
Domenico: Well, I think that for a very young
band like us it is quite premature to talk about its “FANS”! To be honest
I know that people download our songs and that makes me happy, but I think
that everyone’s got his own taste and so I don’t know which song is their
favorite… Maybe in a year or two I will be more conscious about that and
my reply will be more accurate!
Rubens: I think the same, too. Also during
the live shows I didn’t understand what song is the most loved…
8. HAVE YOU DONE ANY LIVE SHOWS OR DO YOU WANT
TO RELEASE MORE WORKS IN ORDER TO PLAY LIVE?
Rubens: As I said before, we had some live
experiences, but not so much to define ourselves as “stage veterans”! :)
We did just four concerts with some underground bands in our city, but
we hope to have some good occasions to show the little hungry (and angry)
lions that we are! :) In my opinion live shows are important, also because
is the way to feel alive!
Domenico: During the last two months or so
we are concentrating on every aspect of the recording of our new demo,
but when we will finish that we will surely organize something….
9. IF SOMEONE ASKED YOU TO DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC
IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU PLAY, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO HIM?
Domenico: Maybe I would say: listen to it!
:) Really, it’s very difficult for me to define our own music, because
we have so many influences and so many ideas to express… We listen to everything,
from classical to death metal, from progressive to blues rock, someone
in the band also likes trip hop, disco or hip hop! Apart from that, it’s
obvious that our metal roots are evident, and they probably will always
be, but I think that when the new demo will be released it will be very
difficult to define our genre, because we went really far from the things
that we showed on “Awoken from Beyond”.
Rubens: First of all, I wanna thank you for
the question, because it’ s the same question that sometimes we ask ourselves,
even before going to sleep or when we wake up! :) Despite everything else
that was never a problem for us, because we’re looking for a personal identity
and not a genre for our sound. The history of rock’n’roll is long and the
influences are a lot! Personally I would define our music as “versatile”,
because it can be good to prepare for a fight or to a romantic reflection.
10. DO YOU THINK THAT MUSIC IS A “SAFE” OR A “REVOLUTIONARY”
WAY OF EXPRESSING YOUR THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS AND SEEING IF PEOPLE AGREE
WITH YOU? PLEASE JUSTIFY YOUR OPINION…
Domenico: I think that music can be both “safe”
and “revolutionary”. It can be a secret and happy place as well as a weapon
to use to fight all the shit that fills the world. My personal goal is
to give people some good vibration and an inspiration to do something good
in their life, just because as a kid music became my greatest force and
friend and it still is. Maybe a song can’t change the world, but it can
give you some joy and believe me, sometimes this is all that we need.
Rubens: If I am what I am it is just because
of the music, and I think that the rest of the band shares this opinion
with me, with the addition of their personal experiences. During my life
I passed through a lot of crisis and it could happen again and music was
the only thing that made sure I had to start a revolution inside of me.
You can bet your life that every single note for me is a new goal that
everyone can live and reach with us because music is harmony and equilibrium.
11. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME! GOOD LUCK WITH THE BAND!
THE LAST WORDS BELONG TO YOU…
Rubens & Domenico: Thanks for giving us
this good opportunity and good luck with your work! Keep on rockin’! Visit
our site www.aither.it
to download completely free our demo (both songs and artwork), the samples
from some concerts and from the new demo coming soon and to find some more
information and news from the band! We also have our myspace page: www.myspace.com/aithercrew
Goodbye!!!
Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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