25 Sep 2011 // An interview by Shade
With the dawn of Swampfest in Palmerston North comes the release of AmosAnon’s new EP 'Darkness from Light', and when we say release we mean it in the ‘return to the wild’ sense of the word. You can’t buy AmosAnon’s album from anywhere; you have to find it hidden around the city or even better, legally download it. We talk to AmosAnon’s Peter-James Dries about the album.
Why is this album free?
It’s not just this album. AmosAnon’s music is always free. It gives the torrent freaks something to seed while we wait for this Skynet law to fail. Plus, I’d feel kinda bad charging for the CD. It’s not right when it costs me less than a dollar to make. I mean you get a 50 pack of CDs for ten bucks… That’s like twenty cents for the CD, and it’s like seven cents for the cover, eight cents for the sticky CD label… So I can recover those costs for like 35 cents. And it’s not your fault I bought a second hand guitar and an amp, and I already had a computer, so I’m not trying to recoup those costs at all. So what would I be charging you for? For my service? It’s a hobby not a job. I shouldn’t have to get paid for doing something I enjoy. For the guitar lessons I never took? For my talent? What talent? And what’s the point trying to charge when people will just download it for free if they like it anyway…
What can you tell us about the new album?
Darkness from Light is in the same vain as theLachrymist, as opposed to My Schizophrenic Acoustic, but it’s far from theLachrymist 2. It’s sung in it’s entirety by Palmerston North’s most famous busker, Marque Duckmanton. He was the singer on Kill your Darlings off theLachrymist. You’ll find it’s a lot more accessible than our other releases, but it’s also a lot heavier at the same time. It’s very atmospheric too; like the other releases I experimented with infrasound in the background. Like they used in that movie Paranormal Activity. Stuff you can’t hear, but can feel.
What Artists have inspired you while making this album?
I’d usually say no one inspires me, but this time it’s not entirely true. Marque’s said he’s been drawing on Zakk Wilde and Black Label Society, Rob Zombie, Josh Homme but also people like Nick Cave and Bob Dylan. I’d agree with the Rob Zombie; Venereal came out of me playing Dragula wrong. I’d also say a bit of Marilyn Manson. The obligatory Tool. Chevelle. HLAH. Deja Voodoo and by extension Buckethead. There’s even a bit of Chopin in there.
Will there be any touring for Darkness from Light?
Sure. One day. Supply where there’s demand and all that. But at the moment we’re more like early Nine Inch Nails. I remember reading the press release for 1992’s Broken where it said something like, “Nine Inch Nails is not a real band with real people playing real instruments. There will be no touring for this…” and that really struck a chord. If people want it, I’ll look into rustling up a band. I’ll see how this release goes.
What’s next for the band?
I’m preparing an EP of the lighter stuff that came out of the jam sessions for Darkness from Light, just like the My Schizophrenic Acoustic followed theLachrymist. It’s sounding a lot happier this time around, whereas last time the acoustic stuff was just as dark as the heavy stuff, maybe even darker at times. I’m also wondering about two onlineonly Remix releases for Darkness from Light; a Doom Metal mix in honour of CEOMONG, the music.net.nz reviewer that coined our style Progressive Doom Metal, and an Ambient mix, which will bring the atmospheric surround track to the front, in the style of say Lustmord or NZ’s Seabed.
For those of you that can’t find a copy of Darkness from Light you can download it for free from AmosAnon’s Bandcamp (
http://amosanon.bandcamp.com/).