Please introduce yourself.
Hi, I’m Apocaleon, multi-instrumentalist and singer of the german studio-project ASKVALD.
Since approximatly 15 years I am playing music and writing lyrics. I have played in several bands in different kinds of Rock and Metal, such as HELLENA (https://www.facebook.com/HellenaOfficial) and STUNNER (https://www.facebook.com/stunnerrocks) . Besides that I am an graphical artist who designs his own layouts as well as for friends / other bands.
When was your band created?
ASKVALD was founded in Dresden (Germany) in the midst of 2013 as result of my increasing interest in avantgarde-/black metal and a growing pool of ideas/lyrics I couldn’t incorporate into the music of the bands/projects I have been playing in at this point.
What style do you play?
Personally I would describe ASKVALD’s style as something between Atmospheric till Avantgarde Black Metal…
but this, I guess, is a matter of perception.
How could you describe your music by several words?
Experimental / diversified / down-to-earth / conflicting
What is the main theme of your lyrics?
The main themes are nature, society and personal conflicts and experiences along with some occational mythological influences.
What would you like to achieve with the band activity?
It is hard to say if there are any special achievements for me to reach with ASKVALD’s music.
In general I am writing about what is important to me to spread or to process and playing what comes to mind and feels good and right to play. When somebody finds a kind of hope or answers to his questions or personal problems in my music, this is definitely an achievement I am proud of!
For the rest… finding a label – recording more material – to sell some material – to be able to record more!
How many gigs have you played so far and maybe you visit other countries with concerts?
Since ASKVALD is more or less a one-man-project, there are no plans of ever playing these songs on stage.
If, however, it should happen that with the time a band is formed around my person, I’m willing to consider it.
Is there anything very important about your band what fans and labels SHOULD know?
In musical matters with ASKVALD I’m doing what I want, how I want, whenever I want… and I am not thinking about changing this. Time, serenity and life are my insperation and my fuel, so don’t try to stress or bend me!
What are the formats you would like to see your releases, CD, Vinyl, Tape…? And how do you see the future of physical releases?
As far as the plan goes, the upcoming album “Geistesreisen durch Dämmertage” will be self-released (in the end of 2015) as Digipack-CD with an 8 pages booklet in a badge of 100 copies and of course as high-quality-download via bandcamp. There were only a handfull of physical copies of the demo “Fernab des Weges”, which is still available as download via bandcamp (https://askvald.bandcamp.com/) as well.
In the future I’d like to be able to put out vinyl versions of my albums/singles too.
When you will get a label deal, would you like to help the label with promotion from your side, or do you want the label to do all without your help?
Of course i would support and promote the label where ever I can! The labels degree of popularity is contributing to my results as well. And I am still promoting my own stuff where ever I can and I would never ever leave that duty to only the label itself.
What’s your reaction towards negative opinions about your music?
In general I think every opinion and every serious comment, positive as negative, is important and can, if processed the right way, contribute to future outcomes. And of course there are always primitive people who have to bitch about the music or statements an artist makes, only because its not their personal taste or opinion… but those people don’t count for me. Fortunately tastes and opinions are different… so what!? 😉
And the last question, how do you like our webzine, do you have some remarks towards its look or functionality?
I think the site is nice and clearly arranged and has a good load of information! Keep it up!!!
www.facebook.com/askvald
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