Aeon Sable - Interview (no.3)

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Published on Sunday, 28 September 2014 23:16

Interview with: Nino Sable, Din-Tah Aeon
Conducted by: T.V.

In those times of the so called third wave revival of gothic rock and its subgenres where almost every band or artist involved is trying to sound as much 80s alike as possible, not trying to bring new vital components in the sole style, there's a name Aeon Sable doing the opposite. Now, the German band with their fourth studio album right behind the corner, Visionaers, once again proves that they are one of rare bands trying to exceed the boundaries of dark/gothic rock and showing that it's not everything in playing and replaying the same good old formula over and over again. Aeon Sable are responsible for making gothic rock modern, yet extravagant, bringing new ideas again, creating memorable soothing ambiances and writing the history of the genre. If you are still not aware of the greatness of Aeon Sable after everything they did in the past with albums Per Aspera Ad Astra (2010), Saturn Return (2012) and Aequinoctium (2013), now it's another chance to strive for that. Visionaers will be released on the 17th October by one of the most renowned gothic rock labels - Solar Lodge. We did already the third interview with the band for Terra Relicta webmagazine and both, the main force behind the band, vocalist Nino Sable and guitarist Din-Tah Aeon kindly answered our curious questions once again.

T.V.: Hi Nino and Din, how are you? This is already the third time we are doing an interview for Terra Relicta. It seems that you like to answer our questions?
Din-Tah: Hi there. We are doing well, thank you. Well, you guys from Terra Relicta have been great supporters, so, we love to answer your questions.
T.V.: Aeon Sable made some huge steps in the last couple of months. New label, new album on the way, quite a lot of live gigs, a new video... so, how do you feel about all that and what are the anticipations?
Nino: Yes, in fact it seems like we are walking in seven miles boots lately but you must keep in mind that we had no real output in the last time and now the time has come to show what we have been working hard on for the whole time. We expect that the people still like what we are doing – art is a very strange good – sometimes you go just a bit too far and nobody likes it except yourself, other times you do something really unexpected and you are über-successful. We expect that people still recognize us as a part of the underground – since we still do 95% of everything on our own. This is a fundamental part of the “aeon sable-principle”. I think that the most important thing right now is the new album, Visionaers.
T.V.: We all heard the first revealed song "Visions" and I think that everyone is pretty amazed by it. Is the whole album in the same vein?
Din-Tah: "Visions" is the track, which fitted best for a single or video output. If you like this song, you will also like the rest of the album. Visionaers is a variety of dance floor compatible songs, and deliberate, deep ones. Furthermore as usual there is one “stormed” version of an older Deied track. Visionaers is as unique and distinctive as all our latest releases. We are very proud of our product and we are looking forward to the people to love it the same way we do.
T.V.: I've got a feeling that each new album of yours is a thematical continuation of a previous one. Maybe I am wrong, but many things points at that, from album artworks on...
Din-Tah: You are absolutely right. Every album can be interpreted as a part of a puzzle. In the same way as we move straight into the light, the design of our albums also indicates a certain continuity into a very certain direction. As our first album (Per Aspera Ad Astra) was more experimental, even the design was still raw at that time, we got more sophisticated on the following ones, and you will find a strict continuity in terms of music composition and artwork.
T.V.: And yet it seems that you guys found some kind of fountain of inspiration in the last couple of years. Not so many bands are able to make so many great releases in such a short time. What's the secret?
Nino: Thank you very much. Well – I guess there is no secret formula. Maybe it is because we’ve just been sleeping for too long. And we are hyperactive what concerns creating music and art in general.
T.V.: What can you tell me about the compositional process of Visionaers?
Din-Tah: Since we want to vivify the imagination of our fans and not simply squeeze our own inside someones head, we are attentive that we create our visions as clear as it needs to be, but leave enough room for a personal interpretation.
T.V.: You guys are always very secretive and don't want to talk about your personal interpretation of the lyrics. Maybe some words this time?
Nino: We are sorry, but we feel like everything we want to say is hidden in the lyrics and has to be rediscovered by the precious listener. free your mind and follow the white rabbit...
T.V.: Ok, but at least tell me what inspires you when writing them?
Din-Tah: Our inspiration comes from the real life. It doesn’t leads us directly to write songs but more in a long term. Situations happen, were melted with our thoughts and impressions, grow inside of us and - one day, while we were working on the tracks, they appear on the surface.
T.V.: I see. Back to music. How much was the rest of Aeon Sable crew, Jo and Quoth, involved in the creation of new songs?
Nino: The whole creative process of creating the music is done by Din and myself. The job of Jo and Quoth is to rock the stage on live performances, and they are doing their job very well. It’s hard to find musician who are competent on their instruments, reliable and fitting in the chemistry of the group, so we are lucky that those guys joined our force.
T.V.: And Aeon Sable became in the last year or two a real live experts... ok, you had a lot of live appearances and I wonder which gig was the best for you and gave you the best possible feeling while being on stage?
Nino: Each performance has its own very special charm. There is no “best gig ever”. All (except one) have been wonderful until yet. Sometimes we remember this year’s Gotham Sounds Festival and the Wave Gotik Treffen as two must have gigs.
T.V.: If I'm not mistaken Gotham Sounds Festival is partly organized also by you. So, tell me what are the future plans about this festival and what can people expect in the years to come?
Nino: Well I cannot answer this. Mainly this festival is organized by a friend of mine called “DJ Wahni” – I just helped him a little bit with the festival in 2014. We wanted to talk about a future Gotham Sounds festival but we didn’t found the time yet – but I guess there will be a 2015 edition of the Gotham Sounds festival...
T.V.: And which festival/venue/country/place would you like to play on that you haven't yet? Anything specific?
Nino: Of course there are some main Festivals around the corner, like the NCN Festival in Leipzig, the Blackfield Festival and the Amphi Festival or even the Castle Party Festival in Poland. One of our goals is to play also at Portugals Entremuralhas. But we are not begging to play.
T.V.: Ok, good choices! But lets talk about something else. Recently you signed a record deal with Solar Lodge. How are the first impressions on this label?
Din-Tah: Solar Lodge has delivered a lot of solid works lately (Merciful Nuns, Opened Paradise, Whispers In The Shadow). We love their releases so we just had to sign to the best record label we know. As we are releasing our new album through Solar Lodge we have the chance to get an inside view on the business side of the label and we must admit that we like what we see. This is evolution!
T.V.: That's good to hear. Please tell me what happened with your previous label AF-music as there were so many speculations about some crooked business and I think that you are one of those that can clarify the things once and for all. Can you?
Nino: No, I'm really sorry about the rumors that some really talented bands have been fooled by AF-music, but we left AF-music one year ago and we never had any problems with them. Since we left that label one year ago we rarely talked. Only one or two times because our latest album went sold out and they asked us if we still had some. There is no real communication since we signed to Solar Lodge.
T.V.: That's good to hear that Aequinoction and as well your first album (Per Aspera Ad Astra) are sold out. Do you have any plans to re-issue them?
Nino: Maybe... Maybe as a special bundled limited edition in a few years. Who knows, maybe one day some major label wants to re-release them. Since we've got all the rights on the albums we can do that any time. Ha,ha.
T.V.: Recently you released a very interesting and good video for "Visions". You become real experts regarding the video production and did once more a fantastic job. Tell me, how it was shoting this one and please give us a slight insight into the story on the video.
Din-Tah: About the video – we knew that we had to invite our friend Upie Guava to make this video. He did an excellent job back in 2011 with our first video called "Agnosia". After booking his flights (he lives in Indonesia) we started with the script of the video. We wanted to build up some kind of love story with a couple (girl and boy). They should be vampires but they shouldn’t ever taste the blood of “bad people”. This couple should have the ability to see the character of the people when they put off their sunglasses. At the end one of the main characters dies because she tasted “bad blood”. After having the script written, we started asking people to help us. (This video was made mostly by friends.) We had Upie on one camera and Danny EleVator (from Sweet Ermengarde) on the other camera. We asked a friend of mine who has a gothic second hand clothes shop if he could provide us with clothes. We asked a bar where we played recently if we could shot the bar scene at their place... The funny thing is – we have been looking for a boy and a girl to play the main roles in the video but we only got girls – no boys. We even wrote an advertisement for the newspaper telling that we are looking for characters... we only got girls.

T.V.: It seems that you really attract girls, ha,ha. Ok nevermind... Interesting story and I have the feeling that it has kinda of a deeper meaning, somehow connected with the real world, or am I wrong?
Din-Tah: Yes, everything we do is connected to the real world. But we will not decode the whole thing here. See, we rarely talk about how to interpret our art because we believe that our fans are able to think for themselves. That’s why books are often better than movies... because you use your own imagination.
T.V.: Another answer that leaves us guessing, so I won't bother you anymore with this kind of questions. "Use your imagination should be the answer", isn't it? One song on your new album, "A Serpente e o andarilho" is written completely in Portuguese language, but this is not something new from your side. Tell me, from where this passion for Portuguese derives from?
Din-Tah: Our singer, Nino has been living in Portugal for many years. He knows that Portuguese people are very proud of their poets and as Aeon Sable has a lot of fans in Portugal as well, we always try to include something very especial for our fans at the Iberian Peninsula. “A serpente e o andarilho” was written in cooperation with Luiza Nilo. Thank you once again Luiza.
T.V.: And is very interesting that you are one of those rare gothic bands from Germany that doesn't have lyrics in German. It seems that Aeon Sable are more open to the wider audience than most of your country-mates?
Nino: You already answered that question, haha. Maybe – the fact is that with a few exceptions, we just don’t listen to music that includes German language and we are global citizen. If we would write and perform lyrics in German we would exclude a lot of people. We will continue in English until we find a better universal language.
T.V.: Recently you did two cover songs, one for Joy Division's track and one for Angels Of Liberty's. How came that you never feature any cover track on your album, neither as a bonus?
Din-Tah: Well, we don’t want to make money with the work of others. We covered Angels Of Liberty’s "Monster In Me" because we really like the band a lot and we covered Joy Division’s "Ceremony" because the track provided on their record was just crap. For us it would be just unfair to sell a cover song. Sorry capitalists.
T.V.: But do you play those tracks on live sets?
Nino: We played "Ceremony" one time live. It was a very good performance but we don’t need to repeat it. We have enough own tracks to play and we are pretty sure that they are good enough to keep the visitors satisfied.
T.V.: Some of your songs became a real hits amongst the followers of dark rock music and I'm interested if people on your live shows already scream out for some tracks that they desire to hear?
Din-Tah: Yes, of course – most of them visit our shows to hear "Dancefloor Satellite" and at the end some want to hear "Praying Mantis" – "Secret Flower" is also a very popular song.
T.V.: Have you already played live any songs from the new album, Visionaers, and if yes how the audience accepted them?
Nino: We are playing "Visions" live since May 2014 and the audience just freaks out when we play it. Lately we played another track from the new album called "Star Causalities" and the crowd accepted it, but we believe that the people will love it after the release of the album. It is one of the songs you need to listen to a few times before you get affected by it.
T.V.: I can imagine that. Terra Relicta webmagazine build some kind of a strong connection with Aeon Sable ever since this website was put online and now we put on a remix contest for the track "Visions". Tell me what do you expect from a good remix to offer? (Enter the "Visions" Remix Contest over HERE)
Nino: Yes Terra Relicta has been a great supporter since the first day. Thank you! A good remix? Be inspired. Be creative. You can make a remix, a cover version or whatever. C’mon surprise us. "Visions" is a track designed for you.
T.V.: You are often including at the end of your albums kind-of "hidden tracks". What's the purpose of those?
Din-Tah: We like a recognition value in all our products, so everything is clearly assignable to the Aeon Sable universe. As our songs are normally quite long, a tracknumber of seven is the perfect match. In contrast to our seven long stories we like to add one short sensation, virtually to add the shiny cherry on top of the cake. As those wouldn’t stand up against the main songs, they are added as a hidden track. It’s like a glass of sherry after a extensive meal, not that essential, but one would miss it when it’s not there.
T.V.: Can you reveal us when and where will you have your next live appearances?
Nino: Yes - this year we will have two more shows. One in Porto (Portugal – Heaven’s Bar on 15th November) and another one here in Germany in Rostock on 13th December. We also have a lot of shows planned for 2015, but we will not talk about them right now. If you want to know our Tour dates, please visit our website – we update the dates in real time.
T.V.: Yet Aeon Sable are one of rare bands in todays gothic rock movement that tends to come forth with some new and modern ideas that are pushing the scene forward... any words about this matter?
Din-Tah: We just do what we like, what we want to hear ourselves and as we are strange people, we make strange music. We are really into the old stuff, not restricted to gothic music but several other musical styles. We are happy that there is a revival of the classic gothic- and deathrock with it’s special morbid charme, as we also pick up this morbid charme of the past, but just repeating this stuff is insufficient for our personal satisfaction. Like said we melt this with all our other musical origins and add the extra sable-flavour. We are quite certain we couldn’t do anything else so we are happy we found our way.
T.V.: There's even some of that good old "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" in your visual appearance...
Din-Tah: We are glad to hear this because after all, we are just a bunch of boys who want to rock the stage. We believe that gothic has it’s roots in punk, not in pretty designer stuff, so wear your darkest clothes, move like there’s no tomorrow and get wasted. In the end, there’s nothing much nicer in life besides sex, drugs and goth'n'roll.
T.V.: Ok, it seems this is everything. Do you guys have anything else to add for our readers and your fans?
Nino, Din-Tah: Thanks to everyone supporting Aeon Sable and special thanks for the interest in interviewing us or reading our interview. You know who your are and are greatly appreciated.

Aeon Sable links: Official website, Facebook,Bandcamp

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