Interviews: Astral Path

In this new occassion we have had the opportunity to interview the  Progressive Modern Death Metal band Astral Path, from Italy. Check out this band and give them a like on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

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

 The name Astral Path came out one year ago, when some members of the band had a sleep paralysis experience and some lucid dreams. Astral stands for an abstract dimension that can be reached according to some cultures, like New Age and Buddhism. So we thought that the name Astral Path could be appropriated to include all this elements and our influences as well.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

First of all playing metal is very spontaneus for us. It's a challenging outpouring genre to play, with a lot of contact with the fans, that also support al lot the bands, buying T-Shirts and CDs. Most of the acts we dealed with are friendly, so it's always a pleasure playing live.

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

Well, actually the band members had the opportunity to know each other as the band grew up.

I mean, the band as it's now is just a little reminder of what it was years ago, many members passed through this process and those who slowly joined the band were simply friends of friends, or people we met by chance.

The common passion and music tastes brought us together.

4. Each band member favourite band? 

Talking about metal there are surely Tool, Cynic, Opeth, Between The Buried and Me, The Contortionist for all the members of the band. Anyway everyone of us listens to a different kind of music, but our meeting point is what we play and compose. 

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs? 

The inspiration that leads our composing process comes from many different moments of our lives or simply of our days.

Basically it comes while listening to music, while sitting in the Subway facing our daily routine.

Suddenly our head and ears are fullfilled with a riff, an harmony and we can't get rid of it until we can finally play it or write it down.

Of course we do listen to favourite bands and musicians, but the genres we refer to go from classical to black metal, passing through jazz, breakcore, hip hop, so the process is definetely the creation of something new which takes life in our heads and is gradually completed trying to make our songs sound exactly as if we had to listen to our music without knowing it. It has to be directly linked to what we like and who we are.

6. Where was your last gig?

Our last gig took place in June at the Barrio's Cafè here in Milan. It marked a "new era" for Astral Path, well kinda of ahah

It was the first time we could show (and sell) our brand new Cds (if you haven't bought it yet, you can find it almost everywhere in the web under the title "Ashes Dancer"); moreover for the first time Astral Path played live with its current line-up, with a new Guitar Player and a Keyboardist. It will be a pleasure to play the next gig as headliner in Padua, on the 18th of November!

 

7. Where would you like to act? 

We'd love to act in cities such as Prague, Berlin, and other places e.g. in Germany, where we know this genre would be well valued, and where of course we could have fun ourselves before and after the shows eheh

 

8. Whom would you like to feature with? 

Some bands we'd like to feature with are The Contorsionist and Black Crown Initiate. They play slightly different genres, but we think their originality, their ability in composing is amazing and not so far from the idea of Music we reconnect with.

Recently we've been compared to Black Crown Initiate and that was such a surprise for us we could barely believe it!

9. Whom not? 

We don't want to say bands or artists names, we don't think that judging basing on our personal taste would be correct.

But something we are completely sure of is that we'd never play with someone who creates his musical career and success on his appearance.

We firmly believe that poor lyrics and banal music won't ever be compensated by a nice stage presence.

Our idea of music is based on a direct connection between the artist and the audience, there must be a two-way relationship where not only the music is composed to be liked by everybody, but rather where the artist create something that matches his tastes to those of the listeners.

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

We all started playing live during the childhood, but we are always a bit in tension before starting to play. So it's normal, don't worry.  The stage is not an exam, it's your show, and you have to enjoy it every time. Think only about having fun! 

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

During the composition of Ashes Dancer, Opeth, Katatonia, Arch Enemy, Lamb Of God and a bit of The Ocean and Alcest. Now we are influenced by more modern bands, like BTBAM, The Contortionist, Black Crown Initiate, looking for something more personal.

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

Well well...since we don't have that big amount of fans (or probably they're milions, but too shy to show eheh) we haven't heard very weird things, but something a fan told us which totally left us surprised was a guy from the U.S.A who asked us if we were planning to go there for a tour or some gigs, highlighting the presence of an Astral Path little fan club across the ocean waiting for us to play live and waiting for our t-shirts and Merch.

Ok, that probably doesn't sound weird at all, but that made us sooo proud of ourselves!

13. What do you think of your fans?

For what concerns our close fans, those who come to our gigs, we can surely call them a bunch of veeeery supportive people. We can consider them like our second family as long as we can always count on their presence, not only in terms of enthusiasm, but also for their constructive criticism about our music and the quality of our shows.

Furthermore, the fans who still haven't attended a gig of ours (we are planning a ten years-long galactic tour just to remedy this awful tragedy) show their interest by contacting us on our social profiles and by mail, asking for merch and updating on our projects. They come from every part of the world and this is a matter of pride for us, it means that music is really an universal language and that we speak it!

14. What do you think of our site? 

It seems to us that you consider the reliability and the production of quality music as chief assets of a band. Also we note that your job with artists is accurate and never trivial and your site reflects these valuable attitude. We consider your site a good "springboard" for emerging bands and a fine support for bands already known.

We are pleased to collaborate with you and answer your question!

 15. Something to add?

Yess, we just want to add that we're composing a lot of new stuff, and we're sure you'll like these sophisticated riffs and new profound atmospheres!

So, if you don't want to miss a "once in a life time" chance to listen soon to our new music, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and of course buy our Album on Bandcamp!