Interviews: ANAHATA

In this new occasion we had the great opportunity to interview the Melodic Metalcore band ANAHATA from USA. We have nothing more to say than enjoy this interview and like their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that? 

Christopher: While I was forming the band, or while I had the Idea for the band, a friend of mine came up with the name and we wiki'd it. Finding out that the word "Anahata" meant "Unbeaten" and "Unbroken" struck a chord, and it was really cool at the time. So, we stuck with it.

2.Why did you want to play this genre?

Marvin: It's funny because we didn't really know this scene existed, a number of us just fell into it.

Christopher: I liked a certain number of styles of music, and I kinda never stopped. Metal and Punk just turned out to be the things that I wanted to play. The way the energy is, the crowd, the feeling that you get from exhuming that emotion, and other people sharing common understanding with you is pretty amazing.

Marvin: And it's fast. 

 

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Marvin: One day I wandered into our college's music club and I started jamming with some of the people there (There was this pretty jam thing going on). Turns out Chris was on guitar at the same time. So we're playing and we had this moment where we kept accidentally harmonizing with each other and being surprised by it. He rolls up to me and he gives me this serious look and he goes "Okay so, we're never going to speak of this again." It was hilarious. Soon after though I get a call and boom, I'm here.

Christopher: Everyone that had joined had been a product of seeing Anahata before they joined the band. I met Brian through a Library show that he had helped host, I met Marvin after he saw us play at Hall of Fame studios, I had met Jonathan through my school (and he helped me come up with some business stuff and ideas) and he always wanted to join a band, and Brian met Chris long before he joined the band. So everybody is essentially connected in one way or another.

4. Each band member favourite band?

Marvin: My Chemical Romance.

Chris C: Agollach.

Christopher: The Gazette.

Jonathan: Spite.

Brian: In Flames.

 

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs? 

Christopher: It's really hard when a lot of things are coming at you all at once, but the easiest way I can think of is just before you planned to write something, and you didn't like it and you threw it away, but you then decided, once the tension is gone, to try again. And it turns out that you write an amazing songs. So simply, emotion.

Chris C: The many years I've been playing drums, I've never had to write any sort of music. But when I had joined Anahata, I never had to look for any sort of inspiration. It all just came to me as we played. 

Jonathan: I didn't write the songs in this EP. But, I know I can relate to them. Personal struggles and upbringings have inspired me in my own personal writing, though.

6. Where was your last gig?

Brian: Santos Party House. I couldn't see anything at all. 

Christopher: It's in downtown Manhattan, and we played for Headbang for the Highway (which is basically Battle of the Bands).

 

7. Where would you like to act? 

Chris C: We're willing to play anywhere, as long as we're playing for people.

Brian: Webster Hall would be cool.

Marvin: Wacken. I've always wanted to play a festival. Wacken, Download, Reading & Leeds.

Christopher: I kinda want to play Rock am Ring. But more or less, anywhere that the people are down for it (or not.)

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Chris C: Being as an Ocean, Counterparts, Hotel Books, Ghost or Erra.

Christopher: I just want to write a song with Matt Heafy.

Marvin: There's so many people that I've grown up listening to that I'd love to feature with. I want to see what it would be like to collab with the guys in Darkest Hour. I've been into that band for such a long time. Maybe Dir en Grey? But we can't all get so lucky.

Brian: Steve Harris from Iron Maiden because he's got crazy fingers.

9. Whom not? 

Christopher: We'd rather not be worried about people we don't want to work with. If we don't want to, we wont.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that? 

Brian: I always suffer from stage fright and I hate being the center of people's attention. My advice is to try not to care and if that fails, grow your hair out to cover your face so that you don't notice the crowd.

Jonathan: I never had anything bad. The last show I was nervous but once the set starts, it all just goes away. My only tip is quit giving a fuck what others will think. Bands like Attila or The Acacia Strain don't give a fuck and they're successful. Why should you? 

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

Marvin: For me, it's Until We are Ghosts. I've seen them pass through New York and they played with us when I was going through tons of weird things in my life. The vocalist is really, really down to earth and the lyrics from "Hour Glass" are super close to me. Hardcore inspires me as a whole, though.

Christopher: Honestly, I feel like its the people in bands that inspire me. The ones that are there and that have never left. When times change, people change, and it gets really hard to make a band the same as it was before. It would be Dir En Grey, if I had to pick, because they've been a band for 20 years.

Brian: Iron Maiden, Metallica, Killswitch Engage and in Flames.

Chris C: Pest, Being as an ocean, Agollach, Mourning, Hotel Books. 

Jonathan: Everything I listen to inspires me, in some ways. I want to say ERRA, Code Orange and The Plot In You draw in a lot of inspiration for me, personally.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for? 

Brian: They haven't really asked me anything.

Christopher: They usually ask for emotional investments. 

Chris C: I don't have fans.

13. What do you think of your fans?

Brian: I think they're awesome for taking an interest in what we're doing. It touches my heart in weird places.

Christopher: I think our fans are open minded listeners who don't mind listening to an auditory assault.

Marvin: They's cool as fuck.

 

14. What do you think of our site? 

Christopher: I'd been checking out Breathing the Core's site for a long time. It's really amazing to see people who are interested in smaller acts than always following what the mainstream acts are doing. 

Marvin: The site is really cool. The music reviewed and bands interviewed are all pretty dope.

Chris C: If I had fans, that would be awesome.

Jonathan: BTC is an amazing site for interviews and tons of new bands.

15. Something to add?

Christopher: We've been working for a really long time on our upcoming EP, "Balance", which is coming out very soon. We're very excited about it, and it's LONG overdue. Anahata is: Myself (Chris L) on Guitar, Marvin on Guitar, Jonathan on Vocals, Brian on Bass, and Chris C. on Drums.

Marvin: We can't wait for you guys to hear it, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. And while we were taking this interview, we were listening to "Ocean Man". Its a really good song.