Ashes You Leave has really impressed those who are into honest Doom Metal with their brilliant debut album "The Passage Back To Life". It is one of the very few brilliant Doom Metal albums this decade.
We contacted Gordan in Ashes You Leave for an update.
1. When and where was Ashes You Leave formed ? What is the philosophy
behind the band ?
As You already know A.y.l. was formed back in 1995 by Loris (ex bass player) and
Gordan (drums). The idea of forming the band dated long before that, but we needed
some time to accomplish the task. The band was formed from the remains of a dark
oriented band where the above mentioned played in. We sought the best music style
compatible with our emotions and beliefs and it turned out to be doom metal. We also
wanted to prove that there are people in Croatia who like marginal and darker aspects
of music and not just plain trends.
2. What is the story behind your choice of band name ?
The first name of the band was Icon because we wanted it to be connected with religion, mysticism and ancient times, and since icons were old sacred pictures from the VI and VII centuries we believed it to be the best name for us. Unfortunately, that is also the name of an album of Paradise Lost (and a AOR band from USA -ed), and not wanting to have anything to do with other band titles, we decided to look for a more original name and so we became Ashes You Leave. The name is connected with the moment of death, when the body dies and turns to ashes while the soul travels to Heaven, Hell, Valhalla or some other place depending on someone’s beliefs.
3. I do not want to dwell to much on your problems with your two previous labels. They are well documented somewhere else in this magazine. Anyway; your CD was eventually released on Morbid Records. How did you get in touch with Morbid Records label ?
The first deal offer came from the Norwegian label Effigy Records. It was all great at
the time being, since we were promised a good promotion and a big European tour
but just before the actual publishing of the album Effigy records bankrupted and the
deal was thus broken. Afterwards we received an offer from Arctic Serenades (also a
Norwegian label), but the same thing happened to them . Finally, we recorded our
second demo album named "Desperate Existence" which was then sent to most
European labels. The best offer came from Morbid records and the deal was accepted.
Olaf and his crew presented themselves as professionals and continued the good work
‘till the present day, so we have absolutely no fears and doubts and trust them
completely.
4. Please tell us more about your album "The Passage Back To Life" in
your own words.
The album is a combination of slow and depressive doom riffs and ambient vocals combined with classic instruments such as the violin, the flute and the piano. "The passage back to life"; consists of seven songs that are mainly based on the female vocal and violin melodies. We wanted the album to have a more classical sound so we deliberately didn’t put the accent on the guitars. We tried to express our opinions
about life, death, good and evil through depressive music and a dark ambient.
5. As we all remember too well; Croatia was the scene of a nasty war in the beginning of the ’90. How was it to live in a warzone ? Were you or other members of AYL involved in the fighting ?
We were lucky that the position of our town is such that we managed to avoid the terrors of war and just had to pass through a few air alerts and a few exploded bombs. Unfortunately not all towns had such fortune and were thus destroyed and even annihilated. A lot of people from our (and other) towns got killed which affected us and the making of "The passage back to life" greatly. The members of A.y.l. hate war, weapons and any form of violence.
6. Has the war influenced your new album and your attitude to music in general ?
Yes, as I already mentioned, the war affected us both as persons and as musicians.
7. I believe things are quite peaceful in Croatia now, except from the gruesome noises from yours and Castrum’s rehearsal studio. How is it to live in Croatia after the war and with the warlords in Serbia as your
closest neighbour ?
First, I’d like to point out that Castrum has its own studio while A.y.l. has only an abandoned, unfinished house to practice in. During winter it gets so cold and wet that we can as well invite some penguins and plant some rice in the same time, ha, ha, ha. This is a true fact, so we’ll have really few and unpleasant rehearsals in the following months. As far as life in Croatia is concerned, it is really hard, loaded with corruption and thievery so that we who remain honest barely manage to live decently. As far as Serbs are concerned, I don’t bother myself with them and think of smarter things like music, for example.
8. Back to music again, for a change. It is my impression that the new Goth Music scene follow the same pattern as the Romantic New Wave scene did 20 years ago with bands like ABC, Duran Duran and The Human League. The similarities are striking. The Romantic New Wave scene was a reaction to the Punk music; the new Goth Metal scene is a reaction to the Death Metal scene. What is your view ???
My opinion about the existing gothic metal scene is quite negative. It is being commercialized totally and is unfortunately bringing down with itself other bands that were once loyal to their style and beliefs. It is just a reaction to money and the open market since selling records seems to be the only goal.
9. Following this question. What would you call AYL’s music ?
A.y.l. started purely as a doom metal band because we felt and thought like that at the time being. In our subsequent works we developed and mixed doom with other styles.
Whatever happens we’ll stay true to our ideas and surely won’t follow some new trends.
10. You did some festivals in Germany earlier this year. How was the
response on these gigs ?
Our concerts and appearances on some German festivals were meant to happen, but because of our financial situation we weren’t able to come. We only played in Slovenia so far, but I hope we’ll also play in other parts of Europe in the future.
11. Ashes You Leave consists of seven members. Is that a problem when you do gigs in small clubs ?
First of all I’ve got to tell you that A.y.l. has six members now because our keyboard player left the band not having enough time to dedicate to it. In spite of this, the songs didn’t suffer this change since characteristic key parts were substituted with the flute, the guitar and the violin making them even more powerful. We simply didn’t want another person in the band because he would probably join us just because we published a CD or something of a kind and we don’t need people like that in the band. We have got a lot of problems with organizing the rehearsals since some of us work, others are students and worst of all Dunja studies in Italy and is rarely in our town. We have got a lot of things to arrange so short rehearsals and small stages are a big handicap.
12. What is the advantages and disadvantages being based in Croatia ?
There are no advantages from the fact that we come from Croatia, there are only disadvantages. No one believes that a band from Croatia could be worth listening to. They all view us with distance and have a hard time believing our music. If we were from some Scandinavian country people would kneel before us, no matter the music. I don’t want to offend anyone because that’s not my intention, but people deem Scandinavian bands as something fantastic while tend to ignore other countries completely. I must admit though, that Norway and the other countries produced some really good bands, hail to them.
13. What is your view on politics, philosophy and religion ?
We are absolutely not into politics. We let shitheads with nothing better to do to cope with that. We are musicians and not politicians. As far as religion is concerned, we are all believers in the band and we believe in life after death. This is also one of the most important aspects of our music.
14. The previous unknown scene in Croatia has managed to come up with three very good bands in Ashes You Leave, Castrum and The Bleeding. How is the state of the Croatian metal scene ?
The situation of the metal scene in Croatia is pretty catastrophic. No one dares to put money into the metal scene promotion, while they are drugged with CRO-dance, rave and some sort of hard core. Only a few brave people dare to promote the metal scene. Take Rijeka for example. Some ten or so people hold the whole scene and these are frequently members of Castrum and A.y.l., but it seems as though some other guys are starting some metal projects too.
15. According to the press- statement which we got together with the promo CD; you will release the second album "Desperate Existence" in early ’99. Please give us a preview of this album.
The album "Desperate Existence" will present the band in a more developed and matured musical context. It is basically the true Ashes you leave. Besides doom metal, this album will mix several influences which range from hippy-rock, gothic metal and dark all the way to black metal. Melancholic melodies and atmospheres will still prevail over these and a solo guitar will be something really new. More space has been given to the female vocals and the flute while the violin has been somewhat restrained. These are just a few things about the new album since it is supposed to be a sort of surprise.
16. It is my honest opinion that your demo tape "As Kingdom Lies" from 1995 are a masterpiece. Although some of the material appeared on "The Passage Back To Life"; is there any chance that this masterpiece will be released as an MCD ??
Firstly I must correct you a bit,and tell you that the name of ours second demo tape is "The kingdom before the lies". That demo consists of almost the same material recorded for the album "The passage back to life", excluded our second composed song "In the time of only two falls".
We really don’t know if that demo will be realised on a CD, but honestly,I think that there is no need for
that.
17. What is your plans for the coming months and year ? Any upcoming tours ?
Our future plans are to continue our cooperation with Morbid Records and to finish our new album. I hope we’ll go on a tour soon I don’t think we’ll have enough resources. Perhaps by the end of 1999.
18. Do you have a merchandise list ? From what address can the band be contacted ?
The merchandise list, so far, consists just of the CD "The passage back to life", but I hope that it will soon be expanded. The band contacts are:
CENÈIÆ GORDAN
FRANJE ÈANDEKA 23/B
51000 RIJEKA
CROATIA
FAX: ++385/51/257-030 (between 8-16 cet except Saturdays and Sundays)
E-MAIL: dovla@cyberdude.com