Its indeed a strange thing. It starts with a lyrical idea. Maybe a few chords. Maybe a drum rhythm. Usually for us the most important aspect is the emotion a piece conveys. We always go for the most dramatic chord change. Its sometime amazing how a song blooms into live with just a few chords and rhythm ideas.
I've read in a few interviews that you have little hope for humanity. I agree completely with this assessment, and it continues to get worse. Rampant wars, absolute misery everywhere. How do you stay somewhat positive amidst these gloomy days?
Very hard very hard. But one must go on you know, concentrate on small things nearby. Turn off the outside world, turning our attention to people around us. But on the whole we are fucked. Seems like people only get more stupid with each new generation.
I think it's important for artists to utilize each other for the creation of their own art. Your music has acted as a catalyst to create some of my own new writing and explore some of the sadder passages in my work. What artists or media does your band explore to create the sonic landscape for AAFCC? Do you have to be in a certain mindset to write the somber pieces that AAFCC create so spectacularly?
No special mindset. This is the music we like to write the most. We listen to all kinds of music but we are all old metal heads in the first place. I still think nineties doom/death metal like early my dying bride and anathema are still at the heart of our material. It might be difficult for other people to hear that.
People that have a more technical mind don't understand the subtle and almost eerie art of creation. When I have that "aha" moment in my writing, it's one of the best feelings I can describe. Do AAFCC have those moments in their songwriting (essentially that moment when you don't find it, but it seems to find you)?
Yes best feeling there is when something 'clicks'. We might have some chords which sounds dull.We start to fiddle with something on top of the chords and sometimes yet something magical happens.
One of the worst things for any writer/musician/artist is the dreaded writers block... Do you have any advice for combating writer's block? From where do you draw your inspiration?
Advice: step away from what your are doing. Visit it again the next day. If, after a couple of tries it still doesn't work..its probably not such a good idea to begin with. Don't be afraid to throw stuff away. Until now we haven't experienced any blocks. We realize we need to do something with our sounds in the future to avoid albums sounding the same.
I always hear from people that music is dead and there is nothing exciting happening. I simply tell them they aren't looking in the right places. The internet has opened up a portal (for better or worse)that wasn't accessible before. It took much more research before. A person could literally listen to a new band every hour for the rest of his life. It's constantly on tap like a faucet that pours out new sounds. What are the positives and negatives of having music flow so freely over the internet? Has this helped or hurt AAFCC?
The downside of so much music is that nobody really explores an album anymore. I experienced this first hand. You listen to a album a couple of times and already the next great record is available. I try to avoid this by actually buying records and only spinning things i bought. Without the internet AAFCC would have been nowhere i guess. We do everything over the internet since we want to stay anonymous.
(In response to your answer, I agree that
everything is fucked. Greed and stupidity have basically put the nail in
our coffin.When I think of the average person barely living week to
week or not at all, while people like Mark Cuban make billions (yet
don't have enough). When I think of 300,000,0000 people downloading
kitten videos on youtube or talking about the color of a dress, this
might be the end of it all or a good place to hit the reset button.)
Yes but it just human nature. I can act all high and mighty but i too watch kitten videos and ignore bad news on tv. You need something else sometimes otherwise you go crazy. But 99% of things out there is bullshit (except kittens :) )
Yes but it just human nature. I can act all high and mighty but i too watch kitten videos and ignore bad news on tv. You need something else sometimes otherwise you go crazy. But 99% of things out there is bullshit (except kittens :) )
But underneath it all seems to be this underlying theme of unity under the sadness. There is a common thread that holds things together beyond the misery. There is a beauty that we all seek, but we have lost the way. The artist tries to fill in the gaps with their interpretation of that beauty. Essentially it's like plugging the holes of the titanic with bubble gum Eventually the whole damn thing is going down. There is so much under the surface and something appears to be holding all of this together.AAFCC seems to represent that statement. Is there an underlying theme to your music? What is the ultimate message you are trying to convey?
Our music is so personal. I could never share lyrics etc. We have no idea about a message. We just do what we do the best i guess. And what we like to do the most: create music the fills our needs. A very indirect form of expressing ourselves. The underlying theme is probably live is both dark AND light. Try to cope with both.
What can you tell me about the new album, "The Long Goodbye"? It sounds more fully realized than some of the other records, "Everything," "Try Not to Destroy Everything that you love," "Only the Ocean knows" and "Lost" were all terrific, but this seems to have more urgency. What were the themes that drove this album? What can you say about the title? How do you usually generate album names/titles?
I think the new album is the most stripped down we've done. No extra parts, only super 'functional' parts. For these songs it all worked great. We had some pretty sad things happening these past years. No use in discussing it here. Basic human things but intense for us personally. Lets just say that the 'long goodbye' was a long, painful sad one (no relationship bulls. btw). We only write about real things (maybe not on the first album 'lost') That's how we get names and titles.
I was telling a friend about your band the other day, and he immediately questioned the band name. I assured him that AAFCC were brilliant, and the name truly does suit the music. What has been the overall reaction to the name?
The name is a little out there (hahaha)..but that was just what we where looking for. You just can't not see the name and have no reaction. Its a song title by the band 'Ebony Lake' a great band from the UK. The name is a typical love it or hate it. I think most people think its silly but when they listen to the music it doesn't matter anymore. Like most names it becomes abstract after a while.
In this day and age, do you think not playing live will help or hurt AAFCC? (I think not playing live adds to the mystique. Sometimes seeing a band ruins that) Is not playing live a continuation of your desire for anonymity? What's in the immediate future for AAFCC? Its purely a practical decision. Our live are very difficult to synchronize. Its pretty bad actually, because we get offers to play a lot. And we want to, but just can't.
Anything else you would like to add?
Thanks very much! Great interview!
