Wednesday, March 14, 2018

interview: Apostle of Solitude




This year the traditional doom act Apostle of Solitude (U.S.) issued its fourth full-length album From Gold to Ash, which once again earned them accolades from multiple sources. Now that the album is out, we figured it would be a good time to see what’s going on in terms of tours, videos and other promotion for the album. Steve (guitars) answered the questions.

Hey, well done on From Gold to Ash! It has gotten such great reviews! Are you surprised at this point in your career? Did you worry at all that maybe your creative well was running dry?!
Thanks. We appreciate the kind words. Obviously, it’s nice when something you’ve created is recognized. Lots of people really loved it, a few people did not, so on that level there’s no surprise. But, I don’t think we’ll ever worry about the well running dry!

Where is the band in terms of touring and success? Does the band plan to head out on the roads of the United States?
Overall, not much has changed since the beginning. Apostle of Solitude has a strong and passionate fan base that keeps us energized and keeps the music paying for itself. We have done a number of tours across the USA and made it to Europe in 2016. We’re currently planning a summer tour in the States and another Europe trip in the fall.

How much do day jobs and family life interfere with the band becoming full-time road warriors?
Family will always come first. The music is a labor of love and has to be scheduled around everyone’s family commitments, work obligations and other bands. With that being said, when the right opportunity presents itself, we would make it happen.

By the way, what is the status of the band in Europe? Are sales of the album mostly in Europe due to the label being in Europe?
Our label, Cruz Del Sur Music, is a killer metal label based out of Italy. Which makes getting the album in the States a bit more tricky. The reaction in Europe is a bit stronger, since European music fans never stopped embracing heavy metal and related genres like they did here in the States. As far as sales, I’ll have to let you know when I find out.

Your band is in Indianapolis, Indiana. What is that city like for your band?
There are definitely venues for metal bands in Indy. Indianapolis has quite a diverse music background, including some of the best doom metal, death metal, stoner rock, and punk rock bands anywhere.

Do you play in the area? Are the positive reviews turning into something tangible for your band in your city?
We have played here many times. It has always been great for us. I don’t know if anything has changed yet beyond that.

How have you been able to get such a clear sound on the album?
We recorded the album with Mike Bridavsky at Russian Recording in Bloomington, Indiana. Mike has engineered all of the Apostle of Solitude full-length albums and he is a major talent.




“My Heart Is Leaving Here” is probably my favorite song. It's not exactly a happy song, though, is it? What is the situation with making videos for songs for the album? Is “My Heart Is Leaving Here” too long for a video?
It’s not a happy song, no. It’s more like a confessional. It is somewhat cathartic to listen to and perform. We have a new video for “Ruination Be Thy Name” coming soon. We will likely make a video for “My Heart is Leaving Here” at some point. As for being too long, maybe it is for some people, but we’re not really making videos or songs for those people anyway.

How was the experience of making the video for “Keeping the Lighthouse”? The way that you made the video, in a dark room, did it allow you to complete it faster because you did not have to show so many small details? Of course, your drummer does have to play for real, right?
Making the video for “Keeping the Lighthouse” was pretty easy and enjoyable. Our good friend Jason Rich does all the camera work. In this instance we worked at getting enough backlight to create the effect we were looking for, and it turned out killer. The editing part actually was faster than normal, not because of the darkness but because some of the moving shots were so strong, it kind of edited itself. Yes, Corey does have to play drums for real. For this video we played the song at a faster speed so the video could be slowed down in post-production. That can be difficult to do depending on the speed.

What type of merch do you have right now?
We have all the albums, CDs and LPs. New shirts are on the way. Cassettes are in production. I think we have some patches still.

Your entire album is available for streaming on Bandcamp. Where else can people stream the album?
I believe it may be on Spotify. I will have to check!

Which places that have your music are legitimate and do result in money for your band? Not YouTube, right?!
Tough question. Honestly, I think these days if you want to support a band, you should do it directly through the band or record label. I don’t know who’s getting paid from YouTube.

Is there anything else that you would like to mention?
Thanks for taking the time to ask us some questions, we appreciate it. As always, if you’d like to keep up with what we are doing, check out our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. We have a closed FB group called Disciples of Solitude, we are sharing exclusive footage and general Apostle info over there, so join today! Thanks and thanks.





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