Interview – Alesana
on October 29th, 2011Alesana recently paid us a visit and released their new album ‘A Place Where The Sun Is Silent‘ courtesy of Epitaph Records. Deborah Konopnicki recently caught up with the band’s singer Shawn Milke for a chat about the new release. See below to take a read. The album is in stores now and available online [Here].
Your highly anticipated record “A Place Where The Sun Is Silent” was recently released. How does it feel to finally have the record that you’ve been working on for some time released?
It’s definitely rewarding and a relief too. You know, we made this record so long ago – about six or seven months ago. It’s such a long process until it finally comes out so we’ll celebrate and enjoy.
This one is a concept record much like your earlier work. It’s based on Dante’s ‘The Inferno”. Who decided that that was the theme that the band was going to focus on for this release?
I do the majority of the story writing and Patrick does some of the short ones but conceptually he and I definitely come up with the themes and plots and things like that. We’re both from very scholastic backgrounds and we both enjoy different types of literature in the band. I think that we’re a little bit different to other bands in that we like to write stories with each other for the fans and people like that – for them to write stories that we love.
Is it easy to get caught up into the concept-story-writing frame of mind?
Absolutely. I write short stories and things like that anyway during my free time so to be able to incorporate that into the band is just an extra special treat.
You guys wrote heaps of music for this album. In fact, this release is like a double album with two different ‘acts’. How was it including that much music?
It’s not even all that daunting. Patrick and I are the two songwriters and we’re always writing material together and we have been for a decade now. In the past you get told that you kind of have to make the record shorter. We don’t believe in that. We really believe in bands being able to release everything that they want to release. You take the time to write it and if you’re a fan of the band then you want to hear as much music as you can. We’ve already heard a little bit of criticism for the record being too long and I just don’t understand how it can be considered too long. I know that if one if my favourite bands put out a record that was 30 tracks long then I’d listen to every single second of it.
You were initially keen to release this as two separate EPs. How come that didn’t go through and you decided to just go with the full length?
We’re ambitious when it comes to things and that’s exactly what we wanted to do. Unfortunately that didn’t turn out like that and in the glamorous music industry we’re not the ones with the big bank accounts. We’re not like the big wigs at the head of the record labels so we’ve just go to meet half way with things like that. There were a couple of things that we were able to do that maybe we wouldn’t have been able to do if we didn’t bend for them. Ultimately one day we might be able to release it and have it as two separate EPs. We’re definitely going to release it as a vinyl with each act own it’s own side of the record. That’s for sure.
When I listened to the record for the first time I got the sense that everything was so much bigger than it’s ever been before for you guys. From the production to the musicianship to the massive concept – everything! Would you say that this is the best that Alesana have sounded?
Well yeah there’s no doubt about that. What lends a hand to that is still being a band and still having people that want to listen to your music. We always want to try to get bigger and get better. Being on a bigger label and having a slightly larger budget I was able to do a lot of things that I’ve always wanted to do like compose and entire string quartet for an entire record and not just a few small parts. I got to play a lot more piano on the record and I incorporated horns and choirs. Having been around as long as we have it just opens more doors for us and it’s not like you’re a brand new band that’s bringing out this brand new record – people have come to expect this from us. It’s a challenge. If making a record wasn’t a challenge then it would be no fun to do.
Just touching on the piano for a moment; I noticed that there was a lot more on this record that gave it a bit more of a melodic feel overall compared to your last records. That was obviously something that you were keen on now that you had more of an opportunity?
It’s definitely been a focus. Even from day one on our first EP. I included a bonus track with just the piano. Sneaking it in here and there in the past has been fun but with this record this time around I was like “If we’re going to do this record then I want to have all these piano tracks. I want piano to be all up in everything and for it to become a really important part of the music”.
What about a favourite track on this one? Given that you were given a bit more artistic freedom is there a song on here that you’re really proud of?
It’s hard to say, man. I know that it sounds lame and cliché but we really love the record as a whole and all of the pieces really do play off each other so it’s really hard to choose. My favourite spot on the record as far as full-band material goes is on “Lullaby Of The Crucified”.
Last time that I checked you guys had just played one of the new songs live. Have you had a chance to play anything more on this tour?
Yeah, it’s great. We’re pretty much on our record release tour now so we’ve been playing four tracks during the set off the new record. We’ve also been doing this VIP sound check before the set so we’ve been playing an additional new song there. We’re getting to play five of them a day, which is just awesome. We can’t wait until we’re able to play more.
How would you say fans have been responding to the new music? It’s quite an intense record in places!
Yeah. I think that our fans appreciate what we do and I think that they almost come to expect it to be more epic and more intense. The reaction has just been overwhelming. Kids have just been singing every word to the new material. I know that a lot of bands say this but we obviously have the best fans in the world. With our close cult following – you just can’t ask for anything better.
Yeah I’ve actually noticed that you have quite a passionate core fan base and they were out in force at the Soundwave Counter Revolution last month. I caught a bit of your set in Melbourne and there were some crazy kids up the front. How was the festival for you guys?
It was great! It was definitely a little bit different coming over to a slightly smaller festival than we’d originally anticipated. Being almost certainly the heaviest band there certainly made for some awkward stares with some people. Other than that it was an awesome time. I really liked the last show actually in Perth. It was more like a rock show then a festival. Everybody was inside and it was really intense. There was no barricade and it was just a lot of fun. It was one of the first shows that we’ve played in Australia that just wasn’t outdoors and a big festival show. It was really cool.
Are there any plans at the moment to come back down here and play some headlining shows for the new album?
We would love to. We would love to do a club show down there and bring some of our friends down for the drive with us.
The album was your first on Epitaph Records. How did you get involved with those guys?
They actually approached us! We had ended our contract with Fearless and we wanted to at least explore our options and see what else was out there. Picking labels is an important part of growing as a band as well. You know; bringing in a bunch of new minds with new ideas. They came to us and it was a no-brainier with Epitaph. They’re a huge label. We’re stoked to be there.
Just finally today; what are you hoping that fans can take away from this new record?
Our big thing that we want people to take away from this is to listen with an open mind. Don’t just put the record in and expect a bunch of synthy breakdowns and all of the other cookie-cutter nonsense and all of the other stuff that’s going on in the scene right now. Be willing to experience the record for what it is. Look at the artwork and experience the story. Don’t just put it in and expect to hear a bunch of hardcore music – that’s not the kind of band that we are.
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ALESANA – A Place Where The Sun Is Silent
Out Now via Epitaph Records
[Buy Online Here] with Free Postage
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