Interview

An Interview With The Vocalist, Guitarist, And Drummer From Antares

New York metallers Antares have recently seen the release of their debut demo "Different Light." All three tracks from the demo can be heard at the band's MySpace page. Vocalist and keyboardist Andrew Neary, guitarist Roy Sico, and drummer Charles Snyder all explained to me the recording process for the demo and shared their thoughts on writing music and their local metal scene.

xFiruath: Tell me about the origin of the band. When did you all meet up and form Antares?

Andrew: Roy, Sean, Stef, and I had all been friends throughout high school and college. And we had played together in various forms. Stef and I were in a classic rock cover band, Roy and I were in a metal cover band. Then in sophomore year of college I decided to take a recorded music class and Roy had some songs he had written that he wanted to try out – so we recorded them, poorly, and that was the original versions of “Different Light” and “Flowing Stream,” and this was the first incarnation of our band, we were called Corsis.

Roy: And Antares really formed from the ashes of that band Corsis. We were playing music in the style of atmospheric doom metal, but we were not very motivated. Everyone who is in Antares was also a part of Corsis, except for Charles, who joined us later. Eventually, we decided that we wanted to take being in a band more seriously and we decided to expand our sound. With our sound constantly changing, we decided that the band should change our name as well, so we could start anew. This turned out to be a very good move for us, as we finally started working harder towards putting out material. We finally decided it was time for a drummer, and I met Charles at college. This turned out to be a miracle, he joined us and we are constantly amazed by him.

Charles: Roy and I just so happened to almost the same schedule in college for a few semesters so we got to know each other pretty well and the styles of music we were into. It was a pretty easy decision to join the band once I heard the songs they had completed and the ones they were working on. Once I jammed with the whole band it felt like a natural fit for me.

xFiruath: When was your personal start in music and why did you want to get into heavier music?

Roy: When I was about ten years old I started to get into metal bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. For a while before that I struggled trying to find a style of music I actually enjoyed and eventually I in love with heavier music. There was a natural progression from power metal and thrash into death metal and eventually black metal. The power behind all the genres of metal is something special and the ability to represent a myriad of different feels and moods is something that constantly keeps me searching for new metal to listen to.

Andrew: I guess when I had a Fischer Price tape player/karaoke machine and I used to sing Warren Zevon for my parents when I was three. But realistically, probably when I was eight and I started taking piano lessons. I was always really interested in the really depressing and/or violent composers. Beethoven, Chopin, etc. So when some older guys on my fencing team in 8th grade told me to check out this band called Children of Bodom, I think the ground work had been laid. Also, and I don’t remember how, I had really taken to Rammstein the year before, and to this day they’re still my favorite band.

Charles: For my start in music I’d say it was when I was about nine or ten I think. I actually started out playing guitar and had lessons for maybe a year. But I quit that as I think a lot of young kids tend to do and didn’t really get serious with music until about age 15, also the first time I got into metal. I had heard some bands like In Flames and Arch Enemy and slowly just got into faster and more extreme music. I loved how the drums were just so in your face and fast I just couldn’t resist picking up the sticks and getting behind the kit.

xFiruath: Are you currently involved with any other projects outside of Antares?

Roy: As of right now I am not, but Charles has a thrash band with one of his friends and I might play with them as second guitarist. I tend to spend most of my free musical time writing new music for Antares or playing jazz/writing film scores.

Andrew: Being in Antares is work enough, especially since I do a lot of the managing aspects of the band, booking, PR, etc, but I also do film/video production. I’m trying to get these guys to come along and do a music video. We’ll see what happens, maybe in coordination with our next EP.

Charles: Like Roy said, I’ve been writing some lyrics and tunes for a currently unnamed thrash band. I’m hoping to get that going pretty soon. I have a hard time really sticking to one thing I always have to be busy. I think it also has something to do with the fact I don’t really write many of the songs so it’s pretty easy to bounce around between bands, write some lyrics and arrange songs.

xFiruath: Where did you record your demo at and who did the cover artwork?

Andrew: We were very fortunate in that our good friend Adam Guttmann had a home “studio.” And it really wasn’t a studio per se, but when I say we recorded in his basement, I don’t want you to think we were just fucking around. He went to the Berkelee School of Music, and he takes everything very seriously – so we had ProTools, Reason, a DigiRack, the whole nine. Good equipment plus an excellent engineer is why I think the album came out so well.

Roy: It was a nightmare for all parties involved, but also an amazing experience that I would not trade for anything. As for the artwork, it is brought to us courtesy of Andrew, who did a great job as conveying the image we really wanted to get across.

Andrew: Like I said before, I do film/video and that brings with it knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. At the time we were starting the cover art, I was working with this company that had a subscription to istockphoto.com, which provides a great deal of royalty free images, there’s about 30 layers in that cover, all from various royalty free image websites.

xFiruath: Between the cover artwork and some of the lyrics there seems to be a strong theme of landscapes and nature. Does the demo have a particular concept in mind and what do the lyrics generally deal with?

Roy: The demo is actually a unified concept. We wanted to tell a story with our music as well as lyrically. It is about a man who goes on a journey to find himself, but the lyrics deal mostly about his experiences and his thoughts on them. We become the character and see the places he has seen, and understand his thoughts. Despite this, we also tried to get across some important points that we felt we needed to say. For example, the song “Flowing Stream” is about a man who stands at the edge of the water, and his thoughts as he stands there. However, it also makes the point that just because something is clear and easy, it is not always the right way. Sometimes we have to work hard even when it seems pointless. I think as a band we wanted to make songs that could be looked at and be understood easily, but also have a deeper meaning that can be deciphered many ways according to each person's own experiences.

xFiruath: How do you go about writing songs? Does everyone collaborate together or does each musician write their own parts? Do the lyrics get added in last or are the songs built around the lyrics?

Roy: Each song is a different creature. For the demo, I wrote most of the music before it was recorded, but the other members bring the parts to life but adding their own special touches to it. This could be filling out a chord, or playing a slightly different rhythm, or even just adding a harmonic to a note. Sometimes the songs are written long before lyrics have been added, yet other times lyrics come first and the music is shaped to match that. Doing it differently each time is something that I think keeps us from getting formulaic and allows us to really expand with our sounds. Sometimes you hear music in your head and you just write a song, but other times you hear nothing until you read the lyrics, and then you write a song that you never thought you could. I think it is for this reason that we don't have a set way we write songs. However, in the future, I can definitely see everyone having a bigger role in shaping their own parts. We have all improved on our instruments greatly even since the last demo and we all have something we can contribute.

Andrew: For the most part Roy writes the guitars and bass and some keys, then I’ll go through it and add more keyboard parts, or fix ones that are unplayable. It’s actually kind of funny because he’ll write a passage for a piano on his guitar, and on a guitar it might be really easy to play, and it is murder on a piano, so I’ll have to rework it a little bit. Recently we’ve stopped really writing the drums and just letting Charles do his own thing, which was a fantastic idea, because Charles is amazing, and if you ever get the chance to hear us live, I hope you can see what he’s doing back there.

Charles: Thank you Andrew, yeah for the newer songs I was just told to do whatever, that’s really just how it goes now. Charles, here’s the riff, do whatever, kind of like a triplet feel but do whatever. It works for me I like to be able to put my creative stamp on the band.

xFiruath: Has Antares been able to play any live shows up to this point and do you have any shows planned for the near future?

Roy: Yes, we have played about 6 shows this summer. All of them have gone pretty smoothly and were a lot of fun for us to play. It was a very good experience and I think we learned a lot from it.

Andrew: Our next goal is to really try and maximize the number of new fans we can play for. Currently, we’re aiming to play a place called The Chance in upstate New York, which should be a great opportunity for us.

xFiruath: What is the metal live scene like in your area? Are the bands more varied or there are other bands that play in a similar style to yours?

Andrew: New York has a very interesting metal scene, in that, they sound nothing like us, and there aren’t really any bands, especially none that we’ve played with, that I particularly care for. And I’m not knocking these other bands, but there’s a lot of deathcore, metalcore, emocore, lotta cores, and I’m not a fan. We would love to find a band out there that is at the same point in their career and plays a more similar type of music. Again, not to knock any one band or type of music, but a friend of ours hooked us up to play at a backyard show, and when we get there it was all these 16 year old scene kids who were into Attack Attack and other scream-O bands, and after we played our set, I went up to him and said, “So how was it? Do you think the crowd liked us?” And he said they looked really confused and one girl had actually come up to him and said, “I don’t get it.” I guess we’ll have to put more breakdowns into our songs.

Roy: There are a lot of bands in the area that play metal, however most do not seem to be serious about being a band. There aren't really any other bands that sound like we do, but I would not say the scene is greatly varied. Most of the bands we play with tend to be metalcore or deathcore. Many of these bands put on great live shows, but tend to be forgettable and sound exactly like the bands that influenced them. Nevertheless we get a decent crowd every show and all the bands that are part of the scene try to support each other.

xFiruath: Outside of Antares what bands or albums do you listen to the most that you’d recommend to our readers?

Roy: Very long list but I'll name a few. Sieges Even – “The Art of Navigating by the Stars,” Thurisaz – “Circadian Rhythm,” Emperor –“Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise,” Novembre – “Novembrine Waltz,” Disillusion – “Back to Times of Splendor,” Spawn of Possession – “Noctambulant,” Borknagar – “Empiricism,” Gorguts – “Obscura,” Cynic – “Focus,” Guthrie Govan – “Erotic Cakes,” Arcturus - "The Sham Mirrors,” Richard Strauss – “Metamorphosen,” The Lord of the Rings.

Andrew: First thing that comes to mind is “Back to Times of Splendor” by Disillusion, and I have a feeling that Roy is going to second me on this one. It’s as close to a perfect album as you can get, except for when he mispronounces words egregiously. You can also hear a lot of our influences if you check out some earlier Opeth, like “Deliverance” and “Blackwater Park,” and earlier Dimmu Borgir, like “Spiritual Black Dimensions” and “Enthroned Darkness Triumphant”. I’ve also really started getting into UneXpect’s album “In a Flesh Aquarium,” which I wouldn’t recommend for the faint of heart.

Charles: Well these are just some albums that I’ve been listening to a lot recently. Toxic Holocaust – “An overdose of death,” Absu – “Absu,” Benediction – “Transcend the rubicon,” Carcass – “Symphonies of sickness,” Frightmare – “Bringing back the bloodshed,” Ghoul – “Maniaxe,” Obituary – “Cause of death,” Dying Fetus – “Destroy the opposition.”

xFiruath: Anything else you’d like to discuss at all, whether related to metal or not?

Roy: Well first off we would like to thank you for the interview and the review! It really means a lot to us and we are very excited to do this. One of the best parts of being a metal musician and lifetime fan of the genre is the amazing amount of new music we are able to discover. It is great that we are able to hear so many bands that sound nothing alike, but can all be part of the same genre. It is even better to hear fans of metal unite and support these bands, even if they are very different. I believe it shows great open-mindedness and I also believe it is why metal will always live on. The ability to evolve yet retain a sense of roots is what makes metal such an amazing form of music.

Andrew: Dr. Pepper is the shit, by the way. I don’t know if you like it or not, but just a tip to any other metal vocalists out there, if you want raspy growls, drink some Dr. Pepper before/during your set. Especially if you don’t smoke cigarettes and don’t have that raspy/phlegmy/emphysema type growl. I’m talking about you Randy Blythe). That’s a fun fact though, none of the members of this band smoke, which for a metal band in strange. Also, I just wanted to touch on what’s next for Antares. Currently, we’re trying to book some shows outside our comfort area, but more importantly, we’re going to record our next album, which is going to be a six track EP. Our music has started to fall into place, and it’ll definitely be a much more cohesive effort than “Different Light” was. We’ve decided to go, musically, in the direction of “Now That The Earth…” - so much more black metal, while still being absolutely epic and melodic. If you enjoyed any of what we produced before, you should be pleasantly surprised with this next effort. Also having a real drummer instead of programmed drums is sure to make a world of difference!