AVIAN Interview

 

Genre: Heavy Metal

Country: Germany

Questions by: Nick Parastatidis

Answers by: Mario Düssel (Guitars)

Site: Facebook

1. Hello. How are you? How are the things at the AVIAN camp at the moment?

Hi Nick, we are doing fine. As we can’t play any gigs due to the corona pandemic, we write new songs and rehearse some nice cover tunes by Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

2. Let’s talk a bit about the story of the band. AVIAN were formed back in 2000. Which were the reasons that motivated you to form the band back then and which were your plans?

I first met Armin when we had guitar lessons from the same teacher. So we hooked up to play “Deja-Vu” by Iron Maiden (one of our favorite bands). Soon we had the idea to write own songs and came up with “Dreams”. It’s a melodic song that already contained some easy twin guitar melodies so we almost felt like our idols, haha. We still play that song today! We found a young drummer who lived in a village nearby and the lineup was completed by a bassist who we found via a newspaper article.

3. The band went on hiatus for 15 years. Which were the reasons that lead you to that decision? Also what motivated you to revive the band in 2018?

Back then after a while we had some different opinions on the future of the band and on top of that, there were changes related to jobs, relocations for study and so on. This led to the end of the band. In 2017 Armin and I started the band anew with some new musicians who share our musical direction.

4. How and why did you choose the name AVIAN and what does it mean?

AVIAN means “bird-like”. Our singer’s wife came up with the name and we liked it, because it is short, sounds good and is not a typical cliché name. This was long before the American band with the same name was founded.

5. How many of the musicians that started the band are still on the line-up? Can you also present us the current line –up?

Our singer Armin was already with AVIAN in the first installment from 2000 to 2003. Back then he also played rhythm guitar, but now he fully concentrates on singing. Drummer Christian K. and bassist Michael joined AVIAN for the reunion in 2017 and guitarist Christian L. joined in 2018. And then there’s me, Mario, also playing guitar.

6. I have listened to your EP AVIAN and I noticed that you combine NWOBHM influences and U.S. metal influences to your sound. Do you agree? How would you describe your music and which are your influences?

Yes I think that fits really well. To describe our music with big names I’d say we sound like a mix of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica and Metal Church. I guess our sound has some similarities to the rawness of early NWOBHM bands like Tygers of Pan Tang or Jaguar. I also love many U.S. bands like Armored Saint, Jag Panzer, Iced Earth, Manilla Road, Omen, Testament, Vicious Rumors and Medieval Steel. So I guess many of them have left a mark in our sound.

7. I see that lyrically you draw influences from the science fiction genre. Am I right? Is some kind of concept story that you develop through the 4 tracks of the EP?

Yes, Science Fiction and Fantasy are two of our main influences on the lyrics. The four songs of the EP don’t belong to one concept, but “Scylredi Attack” is about the novel “Darkness Weaves” by author Karl Edward Wagner and we have other songs about that novel as well: “Efrel – Queen of Sorn-Ellyn” and “Dan Legeh – The Black Citadel”.

8. By the way since we talk about science fiction which are your favorite movies or books of the genre that have inspired you?

The science fiction movie “Passengers” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt was an inspiration for our song “Interstellar (Lost in the Void)”. Science fiction is rather Armin’s department, I am more the Fantasy guy in the band. I like the old writers like Karl Edward Wagner, Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, David Gemmell, Dave Duncan…

M.P. Shiel’s “The Purple Cloud” was also great. Then I read all stuff by German author Tobias O. Meissner. His book “Sieben Heere” (Seven Armies) had some influence on our song “The Power of Steel”.

Recently I read the book “Rabenmond” (Raven Moon) by the young author Jenny-Mai Nuyen. I liked it a lot although (or because?) it was very depressing at times.
Oh, regarding movies I love “Conan the Barbarian”. Not least because of the fantastic score by Basil Poledouris. In my opinion it’s one of the best movie scores of all time.

9. Is there a certain method that you follow when you create your music? Do you write first the music and then the lyrics or vice versa?

Most of the time the music comes first. Normally Armin, Christian L. or I come up with a new song that will then be smoothed and polished in the rehearsals until we all are fine with it. So we rather bring already whole songs to the rehearsals than only riffs.

10. Are there any of the songs on the EP composed back in the early days of the band? If yes did you keep them as it were composed then or did you add some new elements?

Yes, “Scylredi Attack” and “The New Messiah” are old songs that already existed back then. While “Scylredi Attack” was more or less unchanged, “The New Messiah” was heavily reworked. “Interstellar” and “Gol’gotha” have been written after our reunion.

11. How did press and fans so far have received your music? Can you tell us which is the best comment that you have received so far and which one the most bizarre?

The reviews we got were good, even the important German magazine “DEAF FOREVER” had a very positive review of the CD. The fans also liked it and after we released the lyrics video of our song “Interstellar” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHcChmtA_bA) the people already sang along when we played it live.

There is a review on metal-archives.com that is a little weird. Even after reading it twice you don’t know for sure whether he loved the CD or hated it, haha.

12. Are there any plans for releasing a full length album? If yes, when can we expect it?

We have written a couple of new songs since our EP was released so we would have already enough material for a full length album. We have recorded one song so far (“Ready Player One”) but we don’t know yet when an album will be finished.

13. How all this coronavirus pandemic has affected you both as persons and as musicians?

Regarding the band we suffered from canceled gigs. We were really eager to eventually play again this November, but with rising numbers of Corona infections those gigs also got canceled.

What we had to learn as persons is that you can’t take anything for granted. Many stuff that happened this year could not have been imagined last year like lockdowns, forbidden travelling and a harsh frontier separating supporters and opponents of the measures against Corona. People are calling each other idiots now and it seems that there’s no calm and fact based discussion possible anymore. That’s crazy…

14. Thanks for your time answering my questions. Please close the interview with your own words. Good luck and hope someday soon to see you for a live show here in Greece.  

We would like to thank you for the interview! We want to thank also all of your readers and we hope that they like our music. Playing a gig in Greece would be a really great thing because the Greek fans are the most enthusiastic in the world!