Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
The idea of Bird From The Abyss goes way back, some of the traces I can relate (and remember) to it go approx. 10 years back, but I started seriously recording
stuff for it in 2008. The project/band or as I recall it, an anti-band, consists only of me, J. M. Aaltonen. I play pretty much everything I get my hands on,
but for now the recordings include basically; acoustic and electric guitars, bass, all sorts of percussions (frame drum, chimes etc...), wooden flutes,
concert zither, baglama, synths and voice.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?My style is quite eclectic (, maybe that can be figured from the instrument list above), and always when this is asked, it's a pain in the ass for me to figure a well articulated answer. Ok, here we go... Think if the 70's psych-folk band Comus would write very minimalistic compositions mixed with early Black Sabbath's doomy and bluesy stuff and then blend that to more extreme stuff like drone doom. To that malformed mix we add some traditional oriental influences, 60's psych fuzz, ambient-like soundscapes and maybe even some shades of classical music. And all that is inlaid to this, very strong, mythological concept. And, voilà, we have now a (somewhat vague) description of Bird From The Abyss. I've come across some really strange genre suggestions, from "music journalists", to mention one; "mariachi doom"...
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
First I must say that I don't consider myself as a "metalhead" and I've been a bit skeptic about how well BFTA is going do it's work on metalheads, but I've been pretty much proven wrong and been very surprised of comments like (concerning "I"): "the best thing happened to black metal in 2009" etc, while I've never considered the music have any relation with black metal... So, as a conclusion, purists are purists, but if your open-minded, give it a try!
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
I self-released my first effort "I", an EP/demo/whateva as a homemade CD-r in April 2009. And with it I got the attention of an American label, Starlight Temple Society, a label with vey healty DIY-attidute. We made a pact for releasing the first BFTA full-leght "II", it was released in November 2009. I have received a decent amount of feedback (keep it coming, people!) and for the most part it, has been very positive but in some cases it could've been more constructive. Of course there is also the negative feedback, mainly about the lenght of "I".
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
I don't play this music live at the moment, mainly because it's pretty much impossible, I would like to, some day, though, just need to figure out how...
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?Well, I'm already on a label where I'm happy so I really don't need any label's interest. I've got this twisted (and a never-gonna-happen-type) idea to grant every human-being on this planet (hey, gotta start somewhere, right?) an opportunity to listen to my project. Just saying that, this is quite new of a project, (I'm really trying NOT to sound like a complete ass-wipe here) and the music is quite unique and original, there might be alot of potential fans out there, just how to get their attention? Interested to help me with my out-of-this-world visions / spread the word? Just contact me...
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
We've been planning with Starlight Temple Society to release "I" as a 7" and "II" as a 12" in 2010 and propably a new EP will emerge this year too...
I invest a lot of time to this project (maybe sometimes too much...) so there is A LOT to come. Stay tuned!
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Bird From The Abyss' offical page can be found at http://birdfromtheabyss.com , at my Bandcamp page one can listen and download "I" the EP, also "II" can be streamed there, in it's full lenght. At the moment Starlight Temple Soceity is the main supplier of "II", I'm pretty much out of copies at the moment, so order "II" from STS at a very low price, only $4.50 + shipping; www.starlighttemplesociety.com
February 2010