Aonia interview

1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Dave: It was all a big mistake and we were too polite to say.
Mel: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, (guitarist) James’ band (From the Depths) and my band (Cathexis) collapsed. The remaining members of both bands joined forces, and from that lineup, James and I remain today. Slick (guitarist) came to us from a band members networking site. I’d met Tim (keyboards) on a band members networking site as well – he was too snowed under to join at the time, but we became Facebook friends and he messaged me when some of his time freed up. 
Around that time, we were playing a M2M heat in Birmingham. It was a Wednesday night, so our friends were going to have to take half-days off from work to come and support us – as a thank you to them, we invited my good friend Joanne to join us as a special guest on backing vocals to make the performance extra-special. It went down so well that we invited her to join as a permanent member about five nanoseconds later and bumped her up from backing to co-vocalist. (She’s far too talented to be backing!) Our bassist and drummer left in 2016, and we were fortunate enough to connect with Matt (bass) on a musicians networking site. Dave got in touch via our Facebook page. For both of them, as soon as they came down to audition, we knew we’d formed our best lineup yet. They’re both incredibly talented – but, more importantly, they are really great guys. 
Sadly, we had to sack Dave earlier this year for refusing to give serious interview answers, but he keeps turning up to rehearsals and we don’t have the heart to tell him.

2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
Dave: Aonia begins with ‘A.’
Mel: Well, Dave knows the alphabet, so he’s starting to buck the drummer stereotype there. Aonia is a place in Greek mythology which means ‘where the muses dwell.’ It seems to fit our band – creative, inspired…and slightly pretentious.

3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are
there any local bands you could recommend?
Dave: Facebook. The online music scene is far too crowded.
Mel: We rehearse in Doncaster – and we come from all over. I’m American; Slick is Polish…but we live everywhere from Grantham to Barnsley and come together for rehearsals and gigs. 
The most local scene for us (as it’s in the middle of everyone) is Sheffield, which is an incredible city. There are great venues there – The Corporation, The Mulberry, The RS Bar – and the whole city has a fantastic vibe about it that makes it totally unique. 
There are also a number of talented bands in Sheffield and the surrounding area – Burn Down the District, Air Drawn Dagger, Psython, Arkdown, Soul Shredder, Epitaph, Sobriquet, This State of Ours, Bleating Apocalypse, and Dionysis are just a few that come to mind!

4. How would you describe your style?
Dave: Old.
Mel: You only say that because you’re the youngest.
Tim: Awkwardly, with a lot of vague references to bands which, to be honest, we are often compared to but don't actually sound anything like. I might try and remember some song names, but fail miserably, and then just say come and see us live and find out for yourself; we are adequately acceptable.
Mel: Usually when we come offstage we’re described as ‘loud.’ Genre-wise – I can’t remember if it was Tim or Jo who coined the term ‘oprog’ – operatic, progressive metal. I’d like to whack ‘symphonic’ in there as well, as the keys are really integral to our sound, but the keyboard work Tim does isn’t particularly symphonic – he uses a lot of pad sounds, organs and pianos rather than the more traditional strings and woodwinds you find in symphonic metal music. Basically, we’ve got a lot going on – two lead vocalists, two backing vocalists, two guitars, keyboards, plus a driving drum and bass that hold the whole thing together. It means we can play with melodies a lot, interweave different lines, and compose really unique and interesting songs.

5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your
works?
Dave: I released a spider back into the garden today. Don’t expect anything. Be pleasantly surprised.
Tim: Melodic songs that can be both powerful and serene, but always leave you wanting to listen again.
Mel: We released the “Violet Hours” single last November, and the “Sunchaser” EP in 2014 – it has five tracks on it which we’re immensely proud of. As for what to expect – we are big in every way. As mentioned before, we are LOUD. There’s a lot going on, with different melodies and rhythms all building on each other, so it’s definitely music to listen to more than once. While Jo and I were recording backing vocals for Blaze Bayley’s “Endure and Survive” album, Blaze told us about the ‘hundredth listen’ rule – someone listening to your song for the hundredth time should be able to discover something new that they didn’t notice on the previous 99 plays. I think we aspire to that with our music.

6. Do you have any new music in the works?
Tim: Yes.
Dave: No.
Mel: YES! We are releasing our debut album on October the 6th this year at AoniaFest at the Corporation in Sheffield. It’s called “The Seven,” has ten tracks, and is currently being mixed at Black Carrot Studios. We have some exciting guest vocalists on it as well: Blaze Bayley (Blaze Bayley, Wolfsbane, ex-Iron Maiden) and Iliana Basileios Tsakiraki (Enemy of Reality) have kindly loaned us their voices for two of the tracks. We’ve had the album artwork through from ‘Very Metal Art’ – it’s up on our Instagram page – and we love it. We will be playing four of the tracks from the new album during our set on the New Blood Stage.

7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
Tim: Someone mentioned a gig we have in August - Bloopstick, or something similar.
Dave: Yes, but it never goes to plan.
Mel: Obviously we are playing the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock this year. Also, we just did a short tour in France, Belgium, and The Netherlands with our friends in Alwaid (F). We have AoniaFest coming up on the 6th of October in Sheffield, and then, after we release the album, we’ll be playing extensively around the country to promote it. As Alwaid are playing AoniaFest, we’re also planning to organise some shows with them around that date so that they can make the most of their time in the UK. 

8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
Tim: Write more music and play more gigs.
Dave: Try not to kill each other.
Mel: We’re deep in the planning and promotion of AoniaFest 2018, and we’ve started planning out AoniaFest 2019 too. While the dust begins to settle on “The Seven,” it’ll be time to start writing Album #2. Maybe we’ll get a saxophone player and it’ll be “The Eight.” Who knows? 
We’d like to spread out and start playing shows in places we’ve never been – we’ve played shows in mainland Europe but haven’t actually played in Wales or Scotland yet! We’d also love to be able to buy onto a tour support for a band of a similar genre as they tour the UK to increase our exposure even further. 

9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Dave: Be in the same room at the same time as us.
Mel: We have a video up on our YouTube channel for “Violet Hours,” which is our current single. We’re on iTunes, Amazon Music, Play.com, Spotify – pretty much anywhere you can legally stream or download music! Here are some links:
Video for current single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVttKybVJEQ 
Website: http://www.aoniaband.co.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aoniauk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/aonia_band
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/aoniaband
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/aoniaband
Soundcloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/aonia 
Bandcamp: http://aonia.bandcamp.com
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/aonia

Online streaming and downloading: 
CDBaby - https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/aonia3
iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/aonia/492845388
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/18iAVfKVMfGfrVX8mIN7Te
Play Music - https://play.google.com/store/music/artist?id=Al55wybcuooyvsf4gv4zyvymds4
Amazon Music - https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=ntt_srch_drd_B006Q3XX4U?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Aonia&index=digital-music&search-type=ss 


10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
Tim: The keyboard parts.
Mel: Tim gets the Diva Crown then.
Tim: I wasn’t aware I’d lost it. 
Dave: The keyboard failures.
Mel: I want people to remember how they felt after hearing our music for the first time. If we can write, record, and perform music that makes people feel something down in the core of their being, then we’ve done our job right as a band.