Aleksi Susi - Interview

Also a single may catch your attention, and after listening to "Winter Rain" I decided to ask an interview with HIS artist. 

A:S:Örchestra is an experimental new band from Aleksi Susi (Alexanred, 2 Wolves, Scent of Flesh),  and today he chats with us. (HERE our review of Winter Rain)

Hi Aleksi!  First of all, I want to thank you for your time and Joni of Inverse Records for giving us your email address :)

LFdM: I do not know if you've tried to translate my review ( Italian is a language as wonderful as complicated). I started the review using these adjectives: melodic, theatrical, cold, cynical.
Rather than describe an album, I like to describe the feelings that it transmits, and these are the top three. Had you something special in mind when you wrote it?

Aleksi: Yes. I actually did translate it.

When I wrote "Winter Rain", I felt anxiety, fear and desperation. I had a headache because of the high blood pressure and stress. Various personal reasons caused that state. At the same time I still was happy. Happy that I mostly live for my calling and feel free in my life. Living, not suffocating in some useless intimate relationship that only restrains my life. 

LFdM: I think this single is a distillation of all you have assimilated over the years, is that? Can you tell us what led you to this project?

A: To be honest, I´m not sure,  it 's a "distillation". It´s hard for me to say. Maybe the listener knows the answer better than the composer in this case.

The function of this project was to do something different and to be some kind of therapy for me. I take my main band "Alexanred" very seriously and try not to experiment too much with that material, so I needed a channel for more experimental stuff. No bigger pressures, only as much fun as possible.

LFdM: I love electronic music and I found this track extraordinary and very personal. Out of the standards. I strongly feel  the Teutonic influences but at the same time it is as if you denaturalized them, isn’t it?

A: Well, I am a huge fan of Rammstein, Crematory and Scooter, so it´s possible that these influences are in everything I create. When I write new material, I try to do something new. Everything is done in music. I take influences, like every song writer does, but I don´t want to copy.

LFdM: Especially with Scent Of Flesh (amazing band) you have always brought to the scene - through the music - violence, darkness, death. Matter of fascination or issues that you are trying to exorcise in some way?

A: In S.o.F. I was a guitar player on "Become Malignity" EP and "Deform in Torture" album, during years 2005-2007. I did compose riffs but did not do any lyrics.

My issues are a bit different. Violence, darkness and death aren´t the problem in my case. Among other things, regret, depression (both mental and economic), desperation, anxiety, melancholia, cynicism, sarcasm and weird humor are closer subjects to me. But when I do these negative lyrics (which can be heard on the releases of "Alexanred", "A:S:Örchestra" and three first albums of "2 Wolves"), it´s mostly a way to make me feel better. Like a discharge that will wash away the negative feeling.

LFdM: We can talk about of Winter Rain as a sort of compromise between the diseased part of Marilyn Manson (the good times that were alas) that new romantic Depeche Mode and the destruction of Type O Negative? I could dig even a little bit in the past but the industrial part keeps it much younger than the gentlemen mentioned above.

A: I love T.o.N. When I was forming A:S:Ö, I already then decided that I will definitely take influences from T.o.N. (Thank You and R.I.P.).

I listen to M.M. and D.M. sometimes, but they are not the strongest influences in this case.     

LFdM: How much a song should penetrate the DNA of its creator?

A: In this case I want it to be as personal as possible. Lyrics will mostly be from my own life. That´s the point of A:S:Ö. But generally speaking - a good song is a good song. It doesn´t have to tell about the composer at all. And there´s a lot of boring or irritating songs about lifes of their creators playing on the radio.

LFdM: Why the decision to publish only one song? Suspense or what?

A: No. The reason is very simple - I don´t have the money to spend the whole week in the recording studio anymore.

LFdM: Music can be considered as a sort of rehabilitation, in general?

A: Yes, definitely. To me it is sometimes not only a rehabilitation, but even a salvation. It does not erase the problems, but it makes the bad times easier.

LFdM: For those who lived through the goth at its highest (I’m no longer a little girl) and saw it transfigured into a mere consumer use and aesthetics at the expense of its meaning, one wonders how much a track of great value like this one can be understood and appreciated?

A: Well, this song is not fully gothic, but a mixture of different genres (mostly gothic, but also doom, industrial, punk and rock). I try to bring a lot of gothic influences to A:S:Ö, but not trying to do "pure" gothic music.

I guess this track will be understood and appreciated by a certain type of people, who like these genres. But on the other hand, it was not meant for everybody in the first place. You can´t please everyone.

LFdM: From a musical point of view, but also literary, all the ideas, inspirations seem to be generated from the same land in which you live. But is it true? I mean, would you write the same kind of music if you lived in another place?

A: This is a very difficult question. Your environment shapes you. Different places have their own musical scenes. That´s why territories have their own sounds and the representers. I´m sorry, I can´t give the straight answer...

LFdM: What would happen now?

A: The plan is to concentrate on creating of upcoming material of "Alexanred" and to record a few songs of "TupakkaPappa" too. After that I guess there will be another song (or two) of A:S:Ö. A lot of things are up to the financial situation. But I guess every cloud has a silver lining. Thank you.

LFdM: I hope you did not get bored and, as often I’m in your neighbours, I hope to see you soon live.

Interview by Michela @LFdM

Editing by Alessandra Gargiulo @LFdM

Picture by Antti K.

Aleksi Susi Facebook Page
A.S.Orchestra

Tupakkapappa Facebook Page

Alexanred Facebook Page