interview with Avernus
Avernus captures the essence of their original doom metal roots and pushes their sound into new, intense territories. This year (2024) they released a new album, Grievances, recorded over two years in several studios, embodying the band's determination to achieve the perfect balance of heaviness and melody.
Alan – Hi Avernus, what's new besides the album?
Avernus (Erik Kikke) - We just played Heavy Chicago ll which is a 3 day fest here in our hometown Chicago. We have our official record release show on Dec 7th 2024. Staying busy and working on new material in between. It has been a very exciting year to say the least.
Alan – You worked on the Grievances album for two years. It was recorded in several studios. Can you describe this work of yours?
Avernus (Erik Kikke) - We had a habit of rushing into recording songs in the past (with less than desirable results) so we wanted to take our time and track everything "when and where" we felt was appropriate for each part of the process . We started out tracking Drums first in the studio called Bricktop Recording with Joe Scaletta (engineer). We tracked the guitars, guitar synth, bass, and vocals at Word Of Mouth Recording, again with Joe Scaletta. Throughout various different sessions we would add the keyboard sections and ambient parts that Jimmy tracked in his home studio and add them as we needed. We did some additional guitar tracking with Chuck Macak (engineer) at Electrowerks Recording. This was done shortly after the record was mixed. There were a few guitar parts we didn't quite capture the way we wanted so we had Chuck Macak track these parts again. We then tracked additional vocals performed by Suzanne Lynch with Andy Lagis (engineer) at Earshot Audio. Rick Yifrach recorded the spoken word section with Lance Lencioni (Corporate Death) from Macabre in his home. The final session was a very short one with Andy Lagis remotely at my home. We tracked a few guitar synth parts…. Finally Finished! It was certainly a process.
Alan – Where did you mix the album? So that it has a constant sound. Or better yet, describe the events surrounding it.
Avernus (Erik Kikke) - Our longtime friend Shaun Glass recommended Chuck Macak to mix the record at Electrowerks Recording. As I mentioned earlier, we also tracked some additional guitars with him. Only having a few short conversations with Chuck he knew exactly what approach to take. He has been doing this for quite a while so we put our trust and faith in him. The first song he mixed was Nemesis. He wanted us to hear it and make sure we were on point. From that first mix, Chuck hit all the right points and what we were looking for.
Alan – The album has been out for a while, what have your fans been saying about going back to your roots?
Avernus (Erik Kikke) - So far the feedback has been very positive and has especially been noted by fans and reviews that we have gotten have made the remark on us returning to our roots which I would have to agree. We really just went out there and tried to do what we do. Some of the similar comments I saw pop up in social media and on YouTube that the songs on grievances were very reminiscent of our early material. I had read a few different comments on YouTube from the release of our first single Nemesis. Everybody seemed pretty happy that Rick McCoy went back to his early style of vocals (harsh dirty growls), the heavier guitar tones and drum tones were much closer to our early stuff but we still wanted to keep everything fresh and doing some things we haven't done before.,
Alan – What was the promotion of the album? Apart from zines, radio, etc..... Have you been on any tours?
Avernus (Erik Kikke) - No tours as of yet. We have some careful planning to consider. We are planning on some festivals in the US and overseas next year (we hope).
Alan – Briefly describe what the songs are about. (Erik Kikke/Rick McCoy/Rick Yifrach)
All lyrics by Rick McCoy except for Utter Euphoria by James Genenz
Calling The Void - (Erik Kikke ) This song is an instrumental and we felt this song sets the tone.
Nemesis - (Rick McCoy) The harm to our planet that is done by human hand.. “Nemesis” is about realizing humans are unfortunately more interested in living vicariously through crappy politicians, religions, and celebrities instead of trying to make life better for all of us here on this planet I don’t see us ever moving past our own bullshit, at least in my lifetime.
Exitus - (Rick McCoy) I wrote this song from the perspective of growing older. I’m in my early fifties now and this is my way of reflecting on life and acknowledging I am no longer the same young man who was cool with 3 hours of sleep a night and then could function just fine the next day, had my head stuck in a cloud of possibilities for the world and didn’t experience the physical pains that come with being half a century old!
Plateau - (Erik Kikke) Another instrumental song that I felt personally captured that hopeless feeling. Being lost in the dark.
The Burning Down - (Rick McCoy) Avernus is not a satanic band, or anything like that, but everyone in this band is very much anti-religion of any kind and that is definitely reflected in these lyrics. This song in particular, is a response to the awful White Christian Nationalism that is a cancer to American society at this moment.
Return to Dust - (Rick McCoy) The lyrics for the most part, attune to the recurring theme of getting older and closer to death, This song does not carry a “wanting to die” mentality rather, it’s more contemplative in nature.
Open Arms (To The Apocalypse) - (Erik Kikke) although this is another instrumental without lyrics. A clear sense to the end of the world.
Quietus - (Erik Kikke) This song takes a more skeptical view of life in that none of us ask to be here, but here we are, thick in the trenches of working ourselves to death, and if we have time, maybe find something purposeful in life that makes it a little bit easier to exist.
Alan – A bit to lighten up. Any funny experiences from shooting an album or music video?
Avernus - (Erik Kikke) Always loads of laughs in most situations with us. I will give you a couple funny stories. We played Michigan DeathFest in 1995. At this time, Rick was playing with a broken femur and was still using crutches. We accidentally left him back at the hotel and drove to the venue without him. While we were setting up, we looked around and we couldn't find Rick anywhere. He finally burst through the doors and was pretty angry with all of us. Not as funny and the time but we get a good laugh about it now. Back in 1994 we played a club called Bogarts in Cincinnati. We Arrived at the venue extremely late. I believe our bass player Tony was trying to solder and repair one of our guitars right before we went on stage. If memory serves, I remember we got lost backstage trying to find our way to the stage. Ricky Yfrach had to play while sitting on an empty bucket. The show went off relatively well if I remember correctly and not quite as funny at the time, but now one of those stories that we can laugh about.
Alan – What about Europe? When are you going here?
Avernus - (Erik Kikke) We hope to be doing some festival dates and possible short runs next year.
Alan – We will stay in Europe. How many times have you played in Europe? Where? Festivals?
Avernus - (Erik Kikke) We haven't been to Europe yet. Hopefully next year 2025.
Alan – Do you know Slovakia or the Czech Republic? Have you been here before?
Avernus - (Erik Kikke) We have not been there yet, but hopefully next year or in the coming years we would love to visit Slovakia or the Czech Republic.
Alan – For our Czech or Slovak readers. Do you/do you know any groups from these two countries?
Avernus - (Erik Kikke) When I was younger. I was much better at keeping up with new music . I have since started to change that and stop being lazy🤣.. And since this interview, I was curious about that part of the world. I recently found a few bands I really like. Lykathea Aflame. Technical and beautiful. You just don’t know what direction the songs will take. Very engaging amd interesting. Started taking a sonic dive with Godless Truth, And I’m really glad I did. I’m really enjoying them. I also just discovered a band called Hypnos. Just so happens the particular record I started listening to features a guest appearance by Paul Speakman of Master (originally from Chicago. I believe he now lives in the Czech Republic.
Alan - What's new for the future? I'm not asking about the CD/album, it's out now. Perhaps an extensive tour of the USA or other continents?
Avernus - (Erik Kikke) Long run touring and extensive tours do require careful scheduling and financing. We have quite a few things that we are looking into with festival dates and short run dates so far. We haven’t thought that far ahead just yet. We will see what the future brings.
Alan – Thanks for the interview and I hope to see you here next year.
Avernus - (Erik Kikke) Thank you so much for your time Alan. I hope to see you in the Czeck Republic next year if the conditions are right.
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