Aeons Interview

 

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Sure. We’re from the Isle of Man, which is a large island between mainland England and Ireland. It’s isolated but beautiful and full of people who love going to the pub and watching live bands. What more is there to ask for? Aeons formed from the Manx Metal scene in 2016 and released the first album in 2019. “A Tragic End” did exceptionally well, but COVID ruined our chances of touring and promoting. So, we spent the time wisely and wrote the second album over 2020. The IOM didn’t have the lockdowns other countries had to suffer so we were lucky to be able to practice and gig locally almost the entire time. We could not have produced the new album otherwise. We were lucky.

 

2.You have a new album coming out in September, musically how does it differ from your previous release?

“A Tragic End” was us finding our feet and rising to the challenges of writing complicated music. It’s a great album and I love listening to it and playing it live but “Consequences” is like two steps ahead. The song writing is tighter, the themes more defined, arrangements dialled in and the performance honed. The thematic concepts are still very Aeons, but the package is a firmer whole. These aren’t just cool riffs with singing on the top; These are very much works from the heart.

 

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?

The lyrics are an integral part of the song-writing process, so a song is shaped by its theme. For that we usually look to historical tales, emotional introspection, character studies or modern allegories. Consequences asks questions of ourselves, of others and – of course – the consequences of each of those scenarios. That’s the pervasive theme. We are looking for concepts that intrigue us with a good story to tell. There is a booklet with the CD and a digital version of the lyrics with the digital downloads because they can hopefully be read as a work of literature not just as words to a song.

 

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Aeons'?

In 2015 I wrote a song called “Strange Aeons” when I was in another band and while Skippy the singer was over he said “If you ever want to start a band to play music like that I’m in.” So we did. I think we were three songs in and were giving them shortened names in the group chat, so when Scott said “Aeons” meaning that song I just liked the way it looked. It speaks of deep time and sounds expansive. Which is exactly what we were looking for to describe the music. We all instantly agreed – which is the most unusual thing for the five of us to ever happen – and there you go… And of course we write long songs so it’s literally describing how long it ill take to listen to one…

 

5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the album cover?

Consequences was originally going to be EP1 of a two EP set, with the other being called “Gods and Monsters”, but we realised a 4-track EP wasn’t going to be enough to contain the concept so we expanded. The Butterfly cover art is a direct reflection of the chaos theory term which I’m sure everyone knows about : A butterfly flapping it’s wings and causing a tornado weeks later somewhere else. While that’s not really the exact context of the quote it’s an easily recognisable iconography and I think when you see a butterfly and the word “Consequences” they sit well together as shorthand. And it looks pretty. Which always helps.

As for “Gods and Monsters”… Well, you’ll have to wait a little…

 

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Unfortunately, COVID scrapped our biggest plans to tour in 2020 – as I’m sure everyone else will bitch about equally! So, for now we’ve just been playing locally, again lucky enough to do so during the Pandemic while others were not so fortunate. But for me the best gig so far was the 2019 “A Tragic End” album launch where in a close, packed venue, we had everyone singing our choruses back to us and dancing along to every song. We hadn’t played live for six months before then and it blew our minds. The Consequences launch gig is coming up soon and we are already buzzing thinking about that one… The IOM music scene is the best in the world.

 

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

Heh…. Under discussion. Between ourselves and other people. We’ll let you know. I think Consequences has shown off what we can do and made some people sit up and notice us. Which is hard enough to manage when you are stuck on an island in the Irish Sea. Let’s see what happens …

 

8.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of progressive and extreme metal?

We were stunned by the response! We sold A Tragic End in so many countries I lost count. I started to colour in a map I had on my wall for every country we had sold to, but it just became a nightmare to maintain. We couldn’t believe it. Again, we are so lucky the metal fan scene is so exceptionally behind the artists. We attended the World Metal Conference in 2019 and stay in touch with the Global Metal Community. Hopefully they will like Consequences as much as they seemed to enjoy A Tragic End. Every time we get an email or a FB message from someone in another country saying how much they like what we do it makes us appreciate the community even more… Again, we are lucky… You lot are awesome. Never forget that.

 

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We try and keep a ratio of “catchy banger” to “long prog” so we don’t alienate any one musical preference over the other.  But recently we just said to each other “no genre is out of the question.” We should just do what we feel like. I hate genre boundaries. As long as it’s full of groove, melody and vocal hooks and slams like only metal can we are all in for anything.

 

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I know a lot of bands say this but we really are an eclectic bunch. Of assholes maybe but definitely eclectic. I think the only band we agree on is Aeons. As long as it’s crushingly heavy, full of melody, has dynamics and makes us want to sing along then it’s all good with us. Between us we like practically everything : Metal, Jazz, Country, EDM, DnB, Hop-Hop, Orchestral, whatever…

As far as other bands outside Aeons go we as a 5 only agree on one. Opeth. Literally that’s it. But that’s what keeps us unique. We have to satisfy 5 different tastes with everything. And it brings genre influences in way outside the usual to the writing.

Oh wait… Mick Gordon. Yeah, definitely Mick Gordon. So that’s two other bands we all agree on. Just two.

 

11.How would you describe the metal scene in 'Isle of Man'?

Fucking incredible. Honestly there is a scene for almost anything here: Celtic music, Rock, EDM, Nu-Folk, Hip Hop, whatever. But the two biggest for us are the Manx Punk and the Manx Metal scenes. Which are basically the same people at their core. Everyone respects and supports each other. I’m not just saying that to be sound gracious, I totally mean it. Again, the IOM is a special place and they are special people. You should all come over here and hang out. You’d all love it …

 

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Just that we hope you’re all safe and happy in these troubled times, and that if you get the opportunity we’d love you to listen to Aeons and the Consequences album and hope that it makes you feel a little better about the world. And put a smile on your face and throw some horns in the air. Go on, have a little mosh around the front room. No one will mind. Not if it’s loud enough….

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