Saturday, April 25, 2015

Strong Addiction Interview

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Anssi: It all started nearly a decade ago, when we were just a teenage guys who wanted to make music. We never made any decisions about the musical style or genres which we should follow, so therefore we have managed to create the style of our own. Basically we want to give unique sound for metal music, and an alternate choice against all the clichés which are running the rock/metal scene nowadays.
Sebastian: Our band has a unique authentic music flavored by metal and rock n sweet ambient of space eternal timeless melodies here to eternity. As a singer i always try to create something new that has'nt done before.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
Anssi: The style of sounds and ambiance on "Anesthesia" is strong, but also soft in a dreamlike way. You can hear the heavy guitar walls, with a strong and ethereal guitar melodies. The vocals in many songs sounds like something you would hear in a dream, with the massive echoes. The production of the ambiance was a big part of the work with Anesthesia. We wanted to shape the sounds to match the visions of the songs, and again we wanted to have rather "odd" sounds than a pop sound which you can find from many new albums. I guess that the bigger investment on sound production differs from what we have recorded earlier.

3.In 2010 you had released an ep but waited until 2015 to put out a full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the 5 year wait?
Anssi: There's many challenges in writing our music, cause there's no certain reference points to get inspiration from. In past five years we have made some 20 songs, and half of them were scrapped, some of them even before we played them live anywhere. I would say that the quality requirement is far more important for us than the high quantity of albums. We also played a lot of gigs in past five years which slowed the writing even more.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Sebastian: I always write lyrics about my life and experiences of my human relations and how i see the world around me. For example those emotions of cold winter nights to hot summer nights to anywhere.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Strong Addiction'?
Anssi: It's a part of human characteristic to create addictions on different things. Many of those things are something that no one really needs, but some "inner voice" makes people reliant on them. Everyone can find their addictions from 'Strong Addiction'.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Anssi: I'd say that the best shows has been those where we can feel that we are one with the audience. When the stage height isn't separating us from the audience there is lots of positive vibes going on. Then we can fully reach them with our music and with our message. I like to go deep into my thoughts while we are playing live. Then I can play some melodies which I wouldn't play otherwise. Other guys are just letting the music flow, and that's really energetic. I guess that everyone are putting their emotions 100% on the show. It's therapeutic in a way I guess.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of alternative and metal?
Anssi: We have received a lot of positive feedback from different people. We are really grateful of it. Of course I hope to spread the word even further!

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
Anssi: At the moment we are just focusing on new songs, and I guess we are going to drop a new lyrics video sometime soon. We also sadly parted our ways with our drummer just a while ago, so we are at the moment searching a new one. When we are done with these tasks, we are definitely going to play a lot of gigs with totally new songs!

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future
Anssi: It's good to keep future open in an artistic way. I guess that the ambiance of our next album is starting to be clear. Anesthesia was a bit dark, and as I said "dreamlike", so we could explore other possibilities in our musical style. When I'm writing music, I like to think that it's made for a movie. I can make a movie script in my mind, and think of the scenes and which kind of music would fit in them. So as the Ansesthesia was perhaps a dark sci-fi film, the next album has a lot of different opportunities. Future will show our way.

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?
Anssi: Our influences stem from many different music genres. From Rock, Metal, Grunge,  Ambient, Progressive, Psychedelic, Classical etc. There's even some cinematic features in our music. It's really hard to pick influential bands because there's so many artists who are inspiring us. Personally I listen to many kinds of music, and I also like to compose cinematic ambient music along with the Strong Addiction.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
Anssi: I like to do some visual arts, such as digital art and photographing. I also love astronomy, I have read a lot of books about it. It's something I have been interested since I was a kid. I have found a way to create one totality of my interests. For example when I'm editing my photos or making some other form of visual arts, I like to think about different things while working. Sometimes I even think about some big astronomical theories. That is something which then inspires me to make music.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Anssi: I would like to encourage people to search music more widely over genres. Music has become something that media offers with a huge hype and usually it offers too similar artists. That makes music scene a bit monotonous. Music shouldn't be so categorized as it is nowadays.
Sebastian: Keep on following us, cause we are going to hit big soon.

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