The Aerium Interview
Morphing heavy metal, classical music and gothic overtones would definately be the speciality of russian metal outfit The Aerium. Although often compared to Nightwish because of the similar vibe, this is a band that definately has a sound that is all thieir own. The Gauntlet speaks with Alex Gubko about "Songs For The Dead King", The band's latest Black Lotus Records release and Alex sheds some light on the bands all new forthcoming album as well...
The Gauntlet: What is the metal scene like in Russia? Do you find that your music is readily accepted by your countrymen? What impact has Russian living had upon the music of the group?
Alex Gubko: Ok, let's tell a few words about the Russian metal scene. There are many acts from Russia that forge metal although they are not as well-known as some others. Some of them are signed with big labels like World Chaos and Earache (Tvangeste and Forest Stream for example). I dare if you dig - you'll find a lot of information about Russian bands on the pages of different 'zines. Most of these bands have English lyrics (as we do), because there're no conditions to advance metal scene in Russia still. We had a lot of gigs in Russia and we can say that people like our music, but they don't understand our decision to play metal for European auditory (we still have no distribution in Russia, although we recorded the CD here). It's not so easy to be metal musicians in Russia and sing in English, mixing different styles. Russia is very conservative. As for music, we don't think that Russian living has great influence on it. Air, water and human feelings are the same anywhere: If you're in deep Siberia or in the Alps.
The Gauntlet: How do you go about composing your music? Which band members have the largest hand in songwriting?
Alex Gubko: Andrew writes all the music now and all the lyrics as well. It's easier when the song is written by one composer, but then all the members take part in editing the scores. In the end, the song quite differs from the first variant. Because no-one excepting the drummer can write the best drum scores for the song, and no-one excepting the guitarist knows how to play his scores better. But the music for Queen Of Snows from SFDK album is written by our guitarist Kirill completely. So this song differs from the rest.
The Gauntlet: What other bands would you most compare the style of The Aerium to?
Alex Gubko: People very often compare us with Nightwish, although the harmonies, rhythms and the main ideas differ. At the moment we cannot see any band working in the same direction. Yes, there're many acts using symphonic elements or opera vocals, but no-one defines it as base. But we're not planning to stay with it for long, we got some experiments in our music and they'll appear in our next album.
The Gauntlet: Sevostjanova has a remarkably unique sounding voice. Is this a result of training?
Alex Gubko: Yes, she studies under her personal instructor in vocals since childhood and she's going to enter a conservatory soon. Now she trains to expand her vocal abilities to make her voice much varied and expressive. A week without vocal trainings makes months of hard work before in vain.
The Gauntlet: How did you go about composing the material for the record? Is there a specific songwriting structure that you employ?
Alex Gubko: As for songwriting, this process has its own structure. We have a part of music in the beginning, this part defines the main idea of the future song as vocal score, and then this part grows, acquiring strings or guitar scores. The lyrics are written later, when all the scores are written. It's often we got the idea of lyrics for the song before it's finished, but sometimes we have to listen to the future song again and again trying to catch what this song should be about. Here we have some mystic elements. (smiles)
The Gauntlet: Tell us about some of the best live performances of the band that really stand out in your mind�
Alex Gubko: Yes, sure! It was a festival devoted to beer-lovers! It was open air gig, really great sound and light, unforgettable atmosphere and a lot of free beer! We played over an hour in the face of a huge audience, and it was really cool. No club gigs can be equal to open air.
The Gauntlet: Who are some of the artists that have inspired you the most?
Alex Gubko: You know...Each of us prefers different bands. But we all like such great acts as Dream Theater, Rage, Iced Earth, Sirenia, Dimmu Borgir and Centre of Gravity (Russia) Forest Stream (Russia) Tvangeste (Russia). Exploring the metal scene nowadays, we gain some inspiration for creating new stuff.And, we are inspired by classical music of course!
The Gauntlet: How do you feel about the response that "Songs For The Dead King" has garnered thus far?
Alex Gubko: At the moment we really don't care about it. We think that SFDK did everything we expected from it. Now we're working on the next album, so all thoughts are about it only, we're focused on how to make it better and so on.
The Gauntlet: What has been the most challenging aspect of your professional music career?
Alex Gubko: Perhaps, the great striving for music as the only professional activity and small abilities to realize this striving. It is maybe also a wish to overcome all of the troubles concerned with the absence of necessary equipment and instruments. All our forces were directed to the music, all funds to the music, we live this idea from the moment of creation of The Aerium. Since that it's for us the best we can do, and we do it with pleasure. This striving makes us overcome any new problems and makes us grow. We suppose we solved many really hard troubles in past and we're ready for any new ones in the future.
The Gauntlet: Do you believe your music is relevant to the worldwide metal scene in 2005?
Alex Gubko: Definitely, yes. Classical music and metal music will be a reality for a long time, and their combination won't become out of date, only become classical, maybe. So their combination won't lose its actuality and it's audience as well. Many people have said that heavy metal music was dead and that metal acts just copied one another trying to get something new from the style, but in vain. We don't agree, and the stadiums or concert halls full of people on metal gigs in Europe are the best arguments for this.
The Gauntlet: The band combines many different types of sounds in order to create a vast sonic landscape, especially in your utilization of classical influences. Is this something that simply comes naturally for you?
Alex Gubko: Many people in our country love classical music, maybe the explanation of this fact is in Russian history. But there are so few metal-bands where music is based on classical elements, where these classical influences are the main idea. Tvangeste is one of these bands, and we hold high respect for them, by the way their "Firestorm" is in our CD-collection. The main idea of our band was born after listening to the classics! But it's not so natural and simple as some people think. The whole metal scene in Russia is not simple too.
The Gauntlet: What has been the greatest obstacle that The Aerium has managed to overcome thus far?
Alex Gubko: The greatest obstacle for The Aerium was the recording session of SFDK. It was a long and hard process. We started having a minimum of experience about the process. We were recording only drums for over two months trying to catch a suitable sound. Then all the rest. We had no necessary equipment and so we tried to get the best sound from everything we had. It took us about five to six months to make something harmonious enough for ears, we did all we could. Now I can say it was a kind of experiment, recording metal in a country town, 'cause only few really believed in its success at the beginning. But we solved it.
The Gauntlet: What is the most important thing that each member of the group brings to the overall sound of The Aerium?
Alex Gubko: Our music is based on combination of classical and heavy metal elements. From this point of view, we can say that drums, bass and guitar bring the necessary rhythmic component for the metal part, as voice, choirs and strings bring the melodic component for the classical part. Besides any of us is a single person with his or her own vision of the music that should be. So we all polished our scores trying to make overall sound of The Aerium better.
The Gauntlet: Do you believe that your style is one that will be widely accepted by Western audiences?
Alex Gubko: We really hope on it, our first CD already sells well in Europe; the second one will be much stronger in all ways, much expressive and melodic at the same time. We're counting on it much. There are many metal bands in Europe so it won't be easy to surprise the European audiences. But don't forget that we play the music we like and we hope that Western metalheads will share our tastes.
The Gauntlet: Is the group currently developing new material? When could fans expect to hear a new record from the band?
Alex Gubko: Yes. At present we are finishing the material for the second album. All 13 songs are already written and we're polishing them up. It will be conceptual album; it will be a story where every song is a chapter. The story begins, lasts and tragically finishes with the last song. This album is titled "Silver Bullet For The Honest Heart". We're beginning the recording of this album approximately in December, so in the end of winter it will be released.
The Gauntlet: What is the thing that you most enjoy about being able to play music on a professional level?
Alex Gubko: Definitely this is an ability to do favorite work in good conditions, not to look aside on any disturbing factors, to forge for the metal auditory and for ourselves high-quality metal, not to stop at what we have already reached, to have an ability to discover something new. This is an ability to share your progress with people who cares about metal culture. Thank you for the interview. Cheers.