Interview with the group the Black Academy

The Black Academy modern rock has not been on the music scene for even 10 years, and they are
already garnering great admiration for their work. We should (hopefully) meet this group in 2024 at
concerts in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, including festivals.
Alan – Hi Gregory and everyone else.
Gregory – Hi Alan, nice to meet you. Thanks for having us!

Alan – I already had a short talk about the band in the article. Could you tell us a little about yourself again?
Gregory – Sure! We are a Deathrock band from Switzerland, we formed the band in 2015. We released our first album „DeadSuperHeroes“ in 2016 and it took us 6 years to come out with our second official album „The Devil’s Home“ (2022) because we changed a lot of musicians since we started the project, it was very hard to convince people to play together as a band since the world was pushing individual artists so much in that period of time and everyone was just so isolated in their own world as individuals. But after a long research we finally put up a strong and motivated band. Now we’re all working on our third album, which personally I believe is gonna be the best thing we ever released.

Alan – When you say modern rock, it can be a bit misleading, and you don't only have rock music in your work. You can absorb much more, you can hear elements of metal here, but also hardcore.
Gregory – Very true. That’s why I like to call it Deathrock. I also published on our YouTube page‘s description that we are the very first Deathrock band in the world because I think this is the best way to explain to someone what a mix of emo, punk, rock, metal, hardcore and pop music sounds like.

Alan – Your initial journey was quite arduous to gain visibility, as you did everything yourself at the beginning of your career. Arranging concerts, releasing the first album, etc .... Describe this journey for us.
Gregory – It was horrible man, everything was just so hard. People would just call me crazy or tell me that everything that I was trying to achieve was impossible etc. But in the end the secret to success in my personal opinion is persistance. You should just never stop or never listen to anyone that tries and pull you down, only listen and follow your own ideas because your mind is the only thing that knows better than anyone else what you are trying to achieve in this life. So listen to it. There were some fun moments of course but the majority of my memories today recall all the sweat and tears that I put in this project but I’m glad to finally see some results and especially I’m very happy to work with these incredible people that rapprest what The Black Academy is today.

Alan – Although you were not, as they say, a bed of roses. So you played with a lot of well-known bands in a relatively short time, and even the first album received a warm reception.
Gregory – Yes we did! I like how crazy our first album sounds, songs from that cd make me smile everytime I listen to them. They remind me of all the passion and motivation that a boy with a dream can have, it’s very nice.

Alan – Just a random one, in passing, what bands have you played with? And how do you feel about playing with them?
Gregory - We played with Prophets of Rage, The Kooks, Crystal Castles and others, it was very fun! Now we can’t actually wait to share the stage with even more bands, we just love what we do. Best job in the world!

Alan – After all this hard work, getting exposure. You've been noticed in Canada. You could write more here. Was it just a contract to sign a contract for an album(s), or was it also an opportunity to play in Canada?
Gregory – So, after years and years of researches I finally found Tiziana Hurd, president of Sol Music Management. She’s the one that has been helping us a lot lately and I must admit that she really knows how this field works, so I’m very glad that we have this oppurtinity to work together. Now we still talk day after day about how to grow up even more and we’re always looking to seize any opportunity that we can or make plans for the future of the band together, which is awesome!

Alan – Lately you have also reached out to promoters and booking agents. Who do you work with? And do you have any responses from them yet about playing in 2024?
Gregory – We work with Tiziana of course and Klaus Stracke from KSmusic Booking. Yes we did have some response and our very first live show of 2024 has already been booked, it is going to be at TopFest in Slovakia. We’re very excited to play there, can’t wait for the whole tour to be honest!

Alan – Just hearsay, may not be true. You should probably go all over Europe in the summer and even visit my homeland / Czech Republic + Slovakia. What is the truth?
Gregory – That’s the truth, we’re coming to see you, Alan! We hope you’ll enjoy the show!

Alan – For 2024, if nothing major happens and you go around Europe. Will you have a new album with you? LP – CD – MC?
Gregory – The idea is too play our latest album „The Devil’s Home“ since we still never got a chance to expose it properly. We really want to let people experience it. As for the new album instead, we thought of release it after the tour is over so that would be end of 2024. It’s gonna be amazing.

Alan – If you compare the first album to the second. There were differences. Will the third album be more musically different? I like both albums, the first appealed to me more - that's just my perception.
Gregory – I once asked my friend: „Why are there some people who like the first album more than the second one? I mean, our second one is just better!“ and he just answered: „Tastes are tastes.“ Which makes a lot of sense because I also happen to like a previous album more than a new one from some bands. That’s just how it is! But yes, in our third album I feel like we’re really making this Deathrock a thing. It’s so unique that the only way that someone will be able to define it’s genre will be Deathrock! I literally can’t wait to show you and the world what I’m talking about, it’s just the best thing that we’ve ever done, I promise.

Alan - So we'll be looking forward to the summer. Thanks for the interview.
Gregory – Thank you so much for having us, Alan.
he answered Gregory Crimson
https://theblackacademyband.com
https://www.instagram.com/theblackacademy

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBlackAcademy/featured