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One might say 'just another female-fronted band', but if you checked out Rise, you will know better - they aren't just another female-fronted band! As the band just released their debut album last November, it was time to learn more about them! AnsoticcA were so nice to answer some questions, time to learn more about them!
Please tell us something about the beginning of AnsoticcA!
AnsoticcA was found by Adrian (Delborg) and Maarten (de Vries) who came together at the end of 2008 to write some songs with a focus on gothic / symphonic metal. The first rough recordings made clear that there would be a need for a female singer to give life to the material created so far. After a few try-outs of different singers they got in contact with Carie van Heden, who was studying at the Rock Academy in Tilburg (NL) at that time. After the album was recorded (besides other feat. Johan v. Stratum - Stream Of Passion - on bass) there was another need for additional musicians to bring the whole project on stage. With the Berlin-based musicians JayZee and Zack Rabarti the line-up was complete. The debut album Rise was released on Nov. 5th and now in 2011 the band will hopefully perform live throughout Europe.
What does the name mean?
The idea for the name came from a friend of ours. AnsoticcA originates from the old Celtic language and can be seen as synonym for the roman 'Venus'. It was used in the area of Serbia / Croatia. It was originally written with just one 'c', but for the look of the name we decided to use two instead of one. That's how AnsoticcA was born. The name just felt right for the music that we created.
What bands / artists inspire(d) you? And how would you describe your sound?
5 musicians – 5 musical backgrounds. That's the shortest way to describe the influences. AnsoticcA's sound is strongly influenced by the fact that it's members come from different musical fields, starting with death metal over progressive rock up to pop and film music. So it is very hard to name one or two major influences because there are so much that get into the sound of AnsoticcA. But due to the fact that we're a gothic metal band – you'll definitely find elements on the album that are typical for that genre.
There are similarities to bands who use operatic vocals, but you don't use operatic vocals. A decision you made to be different?
Not intentionally for the sake of being different. Maybe partly. The gothic metal scene is full of bands that let their front woman climb a lot of high areas concerning vocals. Although Carie shows on the album that she is truly capable of singing that style too, it doesn't necessarily fit all the songs. Carie has a very unique singing style for that genre – more of a pop / rock approach, this makes the sound different in general compared to other bands which use operatic vocals. It was a happy situation that we got to know Carie – and the way she interpreted the material we gave her. In the end this sound differs from what is usual for that genre and that is on the one hand intentional 'cause we don't want to be just a copy of something that already exists, on the other hand it happened by chance – and we are truly glad about it.
You did a video for I'm Alive, why did you choose this song? Where did you shot the video? Tell us a bit about the video shooting!
Coming along with a debut album the video that we made was a kind of visual introduction of AnsoticcA. We have been thinking a lot about which song to take for the first video, but in the end we found that I'm Alive contains a lot of elements that are typical for AnsoticcA sound. The video was shot with ROAX Films in a castle near Berlin called Burg Rabenstein. The location seemed perfect for a first video of AnsoticcA. We filmed the whole thing within one day. To be honest, a very long day. J But we had a lot of fun during the shoot and we are very happy with the final result.
You did a video for I'm Alive, will you do another video? Which song would you choose?
We surely hope that I'm Alive will not have been the last video we've done. But at the moment there are no precise plans concerning the second video. There are some songs that would work well visually, as there are Rise, Heaven Burns or Willing To Believe. Let's see what 2011 brings...
At some songs there are passages which sound quite familiar... Reminiscences to some composer / artist who influenced you?
Creating music is always a process of being creative and assimilating experiences or listening habits. So of course there are reminiscences to the music we like or listen to. Maarten is a fan of film music in general or to be precise Hans Zimmer or Howard Shore. Adrian has a more heavy metal oriented background, Carie more of a pop background. Of course there are reminiscences to the music and musicians we like. On the other hand there are some musical elements that are absolutely essential or in other words absolutely typical for the genre gothic metal – as there are the use of choirs / flutes, Celtic or world music influences, epic orchestra scores – at some point these typical elements make the overall sound 'quite familiar' to what has been there before.
Do you write songs as a band? Or do you have a main songwriter?
All the songs and lyrics have been written by Adrian and Maarten. They are the creative engine behind AnsoticcA.
Your album is out for awhile now, are you satisfied with the reactions you got?
We have received incredible reactions on the album, starting with excellent reviews in different metal magazines and webzines from all over the world as well as direct reactions via mail or Facebook. It feels fantastic to get such positive reactions on the album and also in regard to the live performances we had so far. We are more than satisfied, it feels great.
What about playing live? So far only a few shows scheduled. Can we expect more shows to be announced soon?
Just check the tour dates regularly, we are planning for more live appearances in 2011. Our label Rockfeld Records is working hard backstage to realize more live shows – hopefully there will be more live gigs during the year.
I really hope that they can hit the road soon, coz it would be interesting to see AnsoticcA live on stage, but it's just a matter of time. The future looks bright for AnsoticcA.
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