Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Some ancient history then… Well, myself and Scott were at school together and have pretty much been in bands together since then, started Achren a good few years after that along with our original drummer Gordon who came here via Sweden and is back home in New Zealand now. John we just knew from the local scene [pub], and he joined in 2009. From then on things started going well, finally got our first album out in 2011, played some decent gigs over the next couple of years before Gordon left. At that point, we regrouped and put out an EP with our good friend Qball of Co-Exist and Bacchus Baracus doing session drums. We toured with another drummer Ryan Shepherd once the recording sessions were done; Ryan has now left, so we have Qball back filling in on drums.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Well we call it “Blood Metal” because it comes from the heart, and we don’t fit neatly into a specific genre description- there’s elements of death, black, thrash and heavy metal in there somewhere but we never aimed for a specific sound other than what sounds good to us. Our influences probably reflect that- it’s anything from Motorhead, Kreator, Immortal, Iron Maiden, Darkthrone…
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
Other than going into a rant about the total death of culture when nobody pays the artist… It’s true music from the heart; heavy, dark and triumphant- songs about our own dark humour and experiences, and prolonged listening while consuming alcohol is sure to enrich your life.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
Since the demo days, we’ve had the Blood Soaked Banner single, The Forgotten King, and now the latest The White Death EP. Public reaction has been really good, especially for the latest EP which I think has been a definite step forward for us musically. Press wise the album went down well, so now we’re hoping for the same for the current release.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
We always play live as much as we can; we’ve done some big gigs in the past at Bloodstock, Metalcamp, Wacken and supporting some bigger bands like Morbid Angel etc. plus some less glamorous tours around the country over the years and a couple of Finnish expeditions. Right now we’ve got Beermageddon on the horizon before we start planning some dates for the next year.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We’ve been at this a long time and don’t seem to have the ability to give up! We always deliver a live show, and the new material especially is really gonna melt some eardrums...
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
We’re in the midst of demoing tracks for the next album; we spent a good few weeks up in the hills last winter writing so we’re pretty much sifting through that lot at the moment and aim to be recording later this year.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Most of the stuff should be up on all the usual sites- itunes, spotify, amazon etc. with download sales from the same. Physical copies are available at http://achren.bigcartel.com/ and http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Achren
August 2014