1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We’re a five-piece band from Adelaide, South Australia that began writing music back in 2013 and gradually formed over the years between then and now. We took our time in finding members that were well suited to the band before officially announcing ourselves. We finalized our lineup early this year and in doing so have just released our debut EP ‘Corrode’ and are looking to now start playing shows and establish ourselves in the local Adelaide scene. Our style takes influence from both melodic death metal and the modern progressive metal movement.
2.Recently you have released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
The EP is really a mixed bag of different musical styles. We can’t really nail it down to one specific genre or subgenre, and prefer to let the listeners make up their own minds. As a band, we feel that the EP strikes a fairly natural balance somewhere between progressive metal and melodic death metal.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
We like to challenge the monotonous cycle of reality and question our purpose and existence. Many songs are lyrically written in a somewhat cynical tone. However, the ultimate questioning of 'why and how' remains prevalent. Other themes include religion, morality, emotions, dreams, personal struggles, life, creation and death.
Within our debut EP 'Corrode', all songs have a connecting theme, which is a negative ending, or hope for something more. 'Corrosion' is metaphorically used as the antagonist within the stories. Clouds and rain are symbolized as a darkness leading to the corrosion, a god-like figure in times of desperation or an evidence of the mark that humanity has left. Though narrative stories, the lyrics have some real meaning and personal truth behind them- such as suicide, fear for the environment, inner demons, traumatic experiences and acceptance of death resulting from terminal illness.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Sun Of Gaia'?
As a band, we take much of our artistic influence from the natural world and have a significant appreciation for the environment. This can be exemplified in our song ‘Blinding Light’, so we thought it would be fitting that our band name aligned with our personal views and beliefs. ‘Gaia’ was the name given to the Greek goddess/embodiment of Earth, and we had always liked the idea of having the word ‘Sun’ in our name as it evokes a certain kind of imagery and poeticism. After months of consideration and many name changes in the process, we were finally able to decide on ‘Sun of Gaia’ as our final band name.
5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We are yet to play any shows but have been busily preparing and organising for our first performance for the past few months and we eagerly await the opportunity.
6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We currently have our first show lined up in mid-June, playing with a few other local thrash and progressive metal bands. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to play our songs live in front of a crowd and hopefully pick up a few new fans in the process.
7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
At the moment we’re just focusing on writing new music and playing what we have recently released live. We haven’t really given a whole lot of thought to being signed by a label just yet; however we are certainly open to the idea.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?
We’ve been very humbled by the response that the EP has received from many of our mates and members of other bands in the local metal scene. Most of our feedback has come from there, but we’ve been quite surprised when we’ve found people from around the world, namely Europe, giving their thoughts on what we do. It’s always interesting seeing what bands we remind people of, too. We’ve had a few comments from people who were reminded of bands like Death and Protest The Hero when they listened to our music and it’s a great feeling to know that people can associate you with some of your musical idols.
We get a great sense of fulfilment when we see people taking a liking to what we’ve spent so much time creating, and right now it’s really the only validation we could ask for from music fans around the world.
9.When can we expect a full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We’re currently writing new material with hopes of recording a full length sometime next year; maybe between July and December 2017. We’re really pushing both our limits and musical ability in writing it and plan to establish each song around a central conceptual theme. We expect it to be quite a leap forward and in somewhat of a different direction in comparison to our EP.
In the meantime, however, we are planning to record a single which will act as kind of a musical bridge between the style of our EP and what we feel our album will sound like. The single will be a culmination of what we’ve done and what we plan to do, and we expect to head into the studio to record this either late this year or early next year.
10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We all have a huge number of different musical influences. Jakob and Hayden, for example, draw some of their influence from more of a death metal background, whereas Lachlan, Nathan and Rory take influence from some of the more modern progressive metal acts which have seen a rise in prominence in the local and international stage over recent years. We find it quite it quite easy to come to a common ground during the writing process and find that our interests and influences tend to align naturally.
11.What are some of your non musical interests?
Music plays a fairly central role in all of our lives; it’s what we do when we aren’t at work or studying. We are all quite interested in history and philosophy however, and enjoy having conversations about existence and what it means to be ‘human’. I guess you could also say that we follow the typical metal band stereotype through our love for food and beer. We wouldn’t be a proper band if we didn’t list video games as one of our mutual interests too; November last year saw a bit of a rough patch for the band due to Rory having to consider whether he’d rather come to band practice or play Fallout 4.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We’d just like to thank everyone who’s been supportive of us in our short time as a band; it means so much to know that people enjoy what we do. Also, a big thank you to everyone who supports independent music/local/underground artists, too; these people are truly our lifeblood at this stage in our musical career and we’ll always be appreciative of those who go and have gone out of their way to help us out as a band!
