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The Rabid Whole

Weiss: How do I do this without being too specific?

'Faith in Yesterday': Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you don't know who or what to believe in, and it can mess with your expectations in people and even make you question your past.

'Collapse': Dealing with the acceptance that most humans, including myself on occasion, feel they need to be with somebody – or even anybody – in order to be happy, and the hard realization of the reason you are still with somebody, whether it be for love or comfort. 'Collapse' is basically knowing something has crashed and burned while having an unwillingness or lack of energy to salvage it.

Your label mates and friends Left Spine Down enjoy remixes. Do you plan on working with them and remixing some material or working with other bands?

Radutu: We were talking with Denyss McKnight, our manager (and guitar player of LSD), and he suggested the possibility of having our music remixed in the next year or so. Although things are up in the air, I can't help but to fantasize my all-time favorite band remixing our songs (I don't want to spoil who). I would literally cream in my pants.

Your lyrics are easy to identify with, honest and raw. Do you feel that bands shy away from real honesty within their lyrics because they are afraid to be pigeonholed?

Andreas: Maybe. I can admit that I initially felt shy about sharing my music and lyrics with others, wondering if I gave away too much. At the same time, I can't write a song unless it's flowing naturally. Any time something felt forced, the entire idea was scrapped. Why fake it? Would you fake it in the bedroom? Autraumaton was written during all the 'extremes' I experienced in the few years leading up to its completion.

Your live shows have been described as epic. What are you most looking forward to about touring? Do you have any new ideas to expand the show?

Ko: What we're most looking forward to about touring is being able to share our live show experience outside of our province and to show what we can pull off as a newer band. We work really hard to provide our audiences with a unique and intriguing experience. Considering the good response we've received in the prairies, we're eager to see what will happen once we get out across the country, especially where our type of music is more thriving.

You are a relatively new band. Was your music always going to be rooted within the industrial niche, and will you continue in this direction?

Ko: We have an industrial edge but are more rooted in the electronic rock scene, making our sound easy to mesh into the mainstream. Our band also enjoys and is capable of performing different types of music.

Your influences appear to be many and varied. What three records were you listening to during the recording of Autraumaton, and how, if at all, did these affect the songs?

Radutu: I'll be the first to admit that the guitars in 'Selfish Nature,' which was the first song we made, are heavily KMFDM-influenced. Around that time, Hau Ruck was their newest release. Dre and myself were listening to that a bit.

Weiss: It's kind of hard to pinpoint exact CDs since it's been so long – years. I think I could say anything from The Greater Wrong of the Right by Skinny Puppy to Violet by The Birthday Massacre. Whether anything I was listening to directly affected the songwriting, I think for the most part it was subconscious.

Can you explain in as much detail as you can the personal significance of the title of the record to the band?

Weiss: It's a mesh of two words, 'automaton' and 'trauma,' automaton meaning self-controlling, doing something automatically on its own, and trauma meaning, well, trauma. Autraumaton to me was a word that could accurately represent the collection of songs I had written at the time, a feeling of being consciously aware of what you are continuously doing to yourself and others but being at a point where you are unwilling or just too exhausted to do anything about it.

You guys seem to be pretty productive. Do you know how you will be progressing from Autraumaton to your next record? Have you begun writing new material?

Ko: Considering all of us have day jobs, I consider us to be a very productive band, especially because each of us is so dedicated and work on band-related business on a daily basis. Once we have exposed Autraumaton to a wider audience, we will be ready to aggressively begin working on a second album, which to some extent has already begun.

What are your hopes for the future of the industrial rock and crossover scene in general the world over? Do you think that it will grow and evolve with the emergence of bands like yourselves?

Radutu: I honestly think that industrial rock will become more apparent in the next 10 years or so. When I think of the year 2017, I think of social unrest plus high tech utilitarianism, vegetarians wearing thick glasses and an Irish pub nightlife involving synths are quickly emerging all over the place. It's only a matter of time before – hopefully – genuine, conscious industrial rock music is accepted by the open-minded Generation O or as I would like to say, 'Generation Zero.'