When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphany's since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears.
What have been your musical epiphany moments?
Well, we all love Kiss so we definitely fall right in line with Detroit Rock City being a major game changer, but especially for Jake. I don’t think I’ve ever met a single person that knows more, or owns more Kiss memorabilia than Jake. He has an entire shrine in his living room complete with some of Gene’s stage worn boots. So while not maybe that specific song, but Kiss as a whole definitely shaped how Jake approaches anything musically.
For me, it’d probably have to be YOB’s album Illusion of Motion. That album had such a grasp on me when we decided to form Auralayer, and still does along with the rest of their work. From the writing structure, the riffs, and everything else, that album completely opened my eyes for what music could be. Vladimir has always been really into Maiden. Their album Somewhere in Time was that epiphany for him, running around as a kid with a towel on his head and broomstick in his hand head banging away.
Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?
Typically a riff falls into place from us goofing around at practice, and once something cool sticks, we hammer away at it until it’s complete. Composing it from the ground up in the moment with what feels right. We go back and forth a good bit just from how different each of our styles really are, but the end product, in our opinion, usually comes out better for it.
Who has influenced you the most?
For me it would hands down be Dimebag Darrell, without him I wouldn’t be playing guitar as cliche as that sounds, but YOB comes in a close second influence wise. Jake really pulls a lot of his influence from Paul McCartney, Tina Weymouth, Funkadelic, etc. Vladimir is a Neal Peart lifer all the way. He adores his drumming.
Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?
We pull a lot of motivation from our friends we’ve made over the few years of doing Auralayer. Seeing a band we’ve come up with killing it, extremely motivating for us and keeps ideas fresh. It keeps us pushing along.
Our sound, in my opinion, definitely plays in to the southern stoner/doom/prog metal scene that’s been so well known. With neighboring states offering bands like old school heavy hitters like Kylesa, Mastodon, Baroness, Weedeater, Toke, and more, a lot of bands in this region pull from that. It’s a pretty unique area for the scene with a unique sound.
Where'd the band name come from?
Realistically, we thought it was cool. We all brainstormed a few names but that’s the one that stuck, and we feel like over time we’ve grown into it. Auralayer, to us, makes it feel like we should fill quite a bit of air when playing out live, along with interesting sections (or layers). With there only being three of us it allows us to explore our creativity a bit more to do so.
You have one chance, what movie are you going to write the soundtrack for?
Star Wars, any of them. Even though the soundtrack for those are really great, it would be awesome to give that a shot.
You now write for a music publication (The Ripple Effect?). You're going to write a 1,000 word essay on one song. Which would it be and why?
If I had to pick one single song, it would likely be 2112 by Rush. That song has so much material going on, it’d be hard to contain it in 1,000 words.
Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?
Tell us about playing live and the live experience for you and for your fans?
Our live shows for us is something that we try to keep intimate and memorable. Jake always makes it a point to connect with the audience, and we do our absolute best to be a tight band, while still making some creative choices on the fly to make it more fun for the fans who know our music.
What makes a great song?
In our opinion every song needs a hook, without it nobody cares. Whether it’s a riff, a cool lyric, or something else, you’ve got to have some kind of driving force for the song to land back on. Outside of that, a song has to carry an attitude. Whether it’s happy, angry, sad, optimistic, etc., you want the listener to feel something, and to me that falls more on the actual music than the lyrics.
Tell us about the first song you ever wrote?
The first song we wrote was actually our third single, Christ Antler. I came in with the main chorus riff, Jake wrote the intro, and from there it all came together pretty quick. When we finished it that’s when we knew we had to keep Auralayer, which had no name at the time, going.
What piece of your music are particularly proud of?
Honestly, Christ Antler. It still one of our favorite songs as a band, and my personal favorite. That song was the first song I was a part of writing that really made things click for me as a musician.
Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?
Obviously the king of great song writing is always going to be Paul McCartney. To me as far as modern artists are going, I really feel like Slomosa is just amazing when it comes to putting songs together. Every song they have is just a ton of fun with hook after hook.
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?
Personally being a product of the late 90s/early 2000s, I still love CDs. I feel like they sound incredible, and don’t take up a ton of room while being something you can physically collect. Don’t get me wrong though, vinyl is fantastic, and probably Jake’s choice if he were to choose. There’s so much they can do with vinyl now releases now, it’s pretty amazing.
Whiskey or beer? And defend your choice
A beer with a shot of tequila. Cheap, effective, tastes great.
We’ve got a few, but the best hands down to us is Pharmacy Records. The owner Franklin has always been a good friend to us, and has the best underground and mainstream collection in town.
What's next for the band?
We’re currently planning a couple of runs with some cool bands, and are about halfway done with writing our follow up album. Before those runs take place we’re going to really put our heads down for a bit to finish that writing process.
Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?
If you ever have streamed our music, bought merch, or follow us on social media, thank you so much. It really means the world to us. Thousand Petals is coming out July 14th with an exclusive premier on Decibel Magazine, we hope everyone can take some time to check it out.
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