haastis arselum GMA

Hi Anssi,

    Could you give us a brief history of Asylum 8, has there been any challenges that were tough to overcome?

	We started in 2013. Myself, Henry and Sami P knew each other from earlier projects already. We've had quite a many
	changes in our line-up to be honest, and that was a big problem at the time. We almost quit entirely at one point
	because we did not seem to find a drummer. Luckily Pasi contacted us and he turned out to be a kick-ass drummer. We are
	extremely happy to have him aboard. That was sometime around late summer of 2015, when we actually had just one guitar
	player and Sami H was still on the bass. Tatu took over the bass at the end of 2015 and Sami H moved to the second guitar.
	That's how our current line-up was formed, and now it seems we have the right guys on all spots.

    Would you consider yourself Modern Metal or Electro-Death Metal? Do you feel there are too many sub-genres in metal nowadays?

	Anssi:

	I'd like to describe Asylum 8 as modern metal. That gives a broad description of our style, but doesn't give too accurate information.
	There are definitely too many sub-genres in metal nowadays; I don't like categorizing music too much. While labeling bands according to
	different genres to some extent is a good way for people to discover new music they might like, I'd rather encourage people to listen
	to the music and not put too much value on any genre just for the sake of it.
	"If you like modern death metal, you might like this" VS "Check out this awesome regressive vegan grind-porngore band".
	Defining a genre too tightly will force the listener to have too many expectations about what the band will sound like. It kills the element of surprise
	and the joy of discovery and only enhances stereotypes.

	Henry:

	I've always hated narrowminded categorizing and making up all kinds of sub-sub-subgenres, but now I seriously need the regressive vegan grind-porngore in my life. Thx Anssi!

	Sami P:

	I don't want to categorize our band in any genre. I would love to hear people think that Asylum 8's genre would be Asylum 8, but there are definitely
	too many of these "Rock cops" who stand in the live crowd hands crossed, chin up and judge the band by it's genre in a way like : "That band sounds like Bee Gees, but there
	are too many growling vocals so this is unpure bullshit!"

    What is the current state of the Finnish metal scene, is it as popular as it has been?

	There's a huge amount of good bands and incredibly talented players out there, but the problem is just that. There's so much to choose from, and venues are swamped
	with artist requests particularily in metal genre. Today when overall popularity of metal has gone down from the early 2000's glory days, every new band has to make
	extra effort just to get noticed. Just playing tight and making good songs might sadly not be enough nowadays.

    How does it feel being signed to Inverse Records, who arguably are sweet at bringing up fresh Finnish talent?

	We were really surprised and happy that we got contacted though we didn't even send any demos to them. Joni has been a great help and motivator
	throughout the publishing process, and we have a good feeling about the album release.

    Your debut album 'Repressed' is due soon for release, talk us through the making of the album - production, writing, inspiration, etc.

	Sami P:

	(about songwriting)
	Writing Asylum 8 songs is all about the mental state. I cannot simply write songs if I don't feel anything mentally. All of the tracks on
	"Repressed" are very personal to me and when I listen to them afterwards I can feel the agony and pain in those tunes. 6 tracks on Repressed
	(excluding Acceptance which was mainly composed by Sami) came together pretty fast. I made the core of the song with synths and then we started to put
	guitars and bass together with Anssi and Sami. Then Pasi his drum parts for the song with those insane blast beats and last but not least Henry
	floods his words of misery to those tunes and voilá! When I'm composing metal songs I mainly listen to something like Michael Jackson, 2 Pac, Skrillex, Synth wawe etc.
	I listen to everything else except metal! That is the way I get my inspiration.

	Henkka:

	(about lyrics and themes)
	I never really wanted to make up stories and fantasies or battle against corruption in A8's lyrics, I'll leave that stuff for other projects.
	Not really sure how I can describe the text I write without making it sound too emo, but in all honesty the lyrical theme of all I've written for A8 has
	always been about hardships of life on personal level. Battle against fears and mental distress.
	Songs featured on "Repressed" contain stories that all spring from anxiety, depression, neglect, fear of death and such.

	Anssi:

	(about recording)
	We recorded the album on quite a loose schedule. Most of the recording was done by ourselves (guitars, bass, synths and vocals). Drums were recorded at Studio 33 in Kuopio.
	Majority of the technical side of the production went smoothly, but there were a couple of setbacks, since one of our recording hard drives broke, and the guitar track
	files were corrupted once. Nothing major luckily, and we managed to stay on set publishing times for the single Deliverance and the entire album as well.
 	The album was mixed and mastered by Veli Pekka Kuronen in Kuopio.

    I checked out your video 'Thanatophobia' - was it always the vision to mix EDM with Melodic Death Metal?

	Anssi:

	When we first started, we had some songs ready, that were more on the traditional melodeath side of things. Sami P brought some cool EDM elements to our songs, and
	we figured that it could be brought a bit farther. We joked about our music being called progressive night club metal. Most of our songs are today based on synths rather
	than guitars like they were before. That may not be the most traditional way of making modern metal music, but we've come to like that, and it has worked well for us.

	Sami P:

	When Asylum 8 was at it's weakest point, when Henry, Anssi and me were wondering should we go on or end the journey of A8 in the late 2015, we decided
	to give it one last push. At that point everything had to change in our music. We wanted more action, different stuff and new elements incorporated to our music.
	We even thought that there should be something like "Dubstep" in our metal songs, like there is in "Deliverance". Thanatophobia in other hand came up when we were at a
	rehearsals somewhere around 2014-2015 and I was playing something randomly between our live set songs. Then I had the main melody playing in my head and instantly
	I went home and started composing that song. It wouldn't sound as it sounds now without other band members. We produce and arrange all our songs together for them to
	become masterpieces!

    What plans have you got for the rest of the year, leading into 2018?

	We're looking for a booking agent, since that would free us a lot of time to focus on rehearsing and writing.
	At the moment we're selling our shows ourselves (mainly contacting Finnish venues for Q4 2017 and Q1 2018)
	We're also applying for any showcases possible (Tallinn Music Week for example).
	There's been some talk to start writing new material at some point, but that we'll look into a bit later.


    Finally have you got any greetings you wish to send out?

	Anssi:

	Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! Do you what you love and be proud of it!

	Henry:

	I like turtles.

	Sami P:

	People think they have heard it all? Oh no no no, we haven't even started! Keep banging your heads till the end of times!