Interviews: AS WE STRAY

AS WE STRAY is a metalcore band hailing from Italy, known for their heavy breakdowns, catchy choruses, and intense live performances. Since their formation in 2018, the band has been making waves in the Italian metal scene, sharing the stage with acts like Crystal Lake and Novelists FR. Follow AS WE STRAY on Facebook for the latest updates on their music and upcoming shows.

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

The idea behind the band name came when Mark (our guitarist) was lost in Bangkok. he was planning to start a project that could help him express himself. but the actual name was born in early 2019 during an intensive thinking session 

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

Despite our love for this music genre, we have not chosen to approach it. I think that realistically speaking, certain types of lyrics and emotions that we want to convey are more imprinted through this genre. the emotions and sonority of the band are strongly correlated

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

First of all, we wanna welcome Alan and Lorenzo, our new band members, they are amazing musicians and we’re working extremely hard together. The founder, Mark, was working with other guys to establish this project, but the band basically started when he met Dave in 2020

4. Each band member's favorite band?

Mark goes with While She Sleeps Lorenzo has a special place for Dream Theater Dave has Wag War in his EDC Alan has plenty of bands who love, but for sure he goes with Korn

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Many bands and artists inspired us to write songs, but the main reason why we decided to write music is to reach as many people as possible who are experiencing or have experienced our own emotions. we realized that many people don't have an escape from their problems, for us it was music, and we want to convey this message. Mental health is a strong topic for us

6. Where was your last gig?

We had the honor to share the stage with Meshuggah, Nergal, Soilwork, Jinjer, At The Gates, and many more at Gefle Metal Fest in Sweden last year

7. Where would you like to act?

The pandemic prevented us from playing two American tours and several dates in England. So basically we’d like to play in London next and then move to the United States

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Fortunately, we have many big artists as friends, and now that we are writing the album we will call some of them, Adam Ramey is one of them but also some amazing Uk-based rappers like Synsy. in a parallel world we would like to call Matt Shadow of Avenged Sevenfold and Ryo Kinoshita to join our writing process.

9. Whom not?

Even tho our newest release is a “diss-track” we don’t dislike many artists. Probably we would never call some Italian artists to work with us.

10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

That time in Sweden was kinda scary, having a huge crowd in front of you after years at home due to the pandemic. We don’t believe in alcohol or drugs, I guess the only way to beat the fright is to let go, enjoy the moment and remember why you are on that stage.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

As we told you before, we have many artists on our list. But the ones we’re always looking for are Wage War, Bad Omens, While She Sleeps, Bring Me The Horizon 

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

Actually nothing as crazy as you might think, we happened to autograph passports several times, which makes them invalid In the past we witnessed crazy experiences, that are probably “too much” to talk openly about it

13. What do you think of your fans?

We’re experiencing now a fast-increasing fanbase. We love to study strategies to spread our name, and right now is working perfectly. All our fans are amazing, we love to keep in touch with them and answer every time we can

14. What do you think of our site? 

We took a tour of the site and the Instagram page. finally, someone pushing up-and-coming bands. thumbs up, we are honored to be a part of it

15. Something to add?

Firstly, thank you so much for having us We are doing our best to promote our music and to be on tour. Stick around cause we’ll announce our online store this Monday