Band Interview: Anfang
Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life are pleased to bring you an interview with grunge/alt-rock band, Anfang.
1. How did you get started as a band?
Three of Anfang’s current members, Andie Zaragoza (vocals/rhythm guitar), Mark Tonai, (lead guitar), and Christian Newman (bass/rhythm guitar) met while working on another project together. In mid 2018 that project imploded in spectacular fashion due to some “creative differences”. Nonetheless, Andie, Mark, and Christian wanted to continue making music together, but now found themselves without a drummer. Andie had been introduced to Nick Rissler (drums) through a mutual friend and invited him to audition for the vacant drum spot. One jam session later and Anfang was born!
2. How would you describe your sound?
Our sound and style could be defined as a modern interpretation of grunge and alternative rock of the late 90’s and early 2000’s; with aggressive riffs, soaring vocals, and a goldilocks layer of atmospheric accents on top. We think that puts us in a unique position because of how we’ve decided to interpret grunge/alternative rock to make it more modern. Grunge is certainly a riff heavy genre as is, but we think what we add with our vocals and atmospheric tones gives us a unique sound.
3. What bands/artists would you say have influenced your style of music?
We all come from varied musical backgrounds (and sometimes eras) and therefore pull from a lot of different influences. That being said, there are some standouts that we continually find ourselves being influenced by. Queens of the Stone Age is a big one for us, as they have the riffs, the lyrics, the mood, the aura; the sort of cohesiveness and identity we are constantly aiming for as a band. The White Stripes are another, constantly reminding us that keeping things straightforward and finding what naturally fits a song is more important than complexity merely for the sake of being complex.
4. Has the rise of YouTube & music streaming helped or hindered you as a band?
While there are certainly pros and cons to YouTube and music streaming, on the whole we’d say they’ve helped us as a band. It’s much easier and cheaper now to release music to the masses than it was before music streaming was a thing, which has been wildly helpful as an up and coming band. That ease of access comes at a cost though; we think most people can agree that the market is a bit oversaturated with new music, and with all the artists out there now, hardly anyone is able to make enough money to stick with music full time. Too much supply, not enough demand.
5. What do you enjoy doing when you’re not making music?
We all have a lot of various hobbies to keep us occupied when we’re not making music. We’ve been known to go dancing, attend concerts, and occasionally work out together when we’re not busy with band duties. We’re all pretty close so it’s not uncommon for us to hang out before/after practices and gigs and catch up on what’s going on in all of our lives.
6. What are your future plans musically? Tours?
In the immediate future we’d like to record and release as much of our unreleased catalog as possible to get our music out there for everyone to hear… and also for our sanity. There are only so many killer songs we can sit on before we start losing our collective mind. Nick and Christian spent another day in the studio a couple weeks ago and have the foundations for another single finished! In addition to releasing as much music as we can, we also cannot wait to start playing live regularly again, pandemic willing. We don’t want to jinx anything, but with the pandemic starting to wane a bit we cannot wait to start playing shows regularly again. We’ve talked about recording an album and doing a regional tour down the line in the future, but we’re taking things one step at a time. For now. Check us out on any of the sources below for updates!
Links
Spotify | Apple Music | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
