Band Interview: Sons of Alpha Centauri
Games, Brrraaains and A Head-Banging Life are very pleased to bring you an interview with ambient/progressive electronic alt rock band, Sons of Alpha Centauri.
The wait is over. Over a decade since the release of the debut album Sons of Alpha Centauri return for their second full length album – an epic introspective journey of abrasive and ambient progressive electronic alt rock entitled Continuum. The album will be released on June 1st 2018.
You can listen to the track ‘Io’ below which is our track of the week!
1. Over a decade since your first release! Why so long?
Well, we’ve spent a lot of our time learning you know? We released a split album and a series of 7” records with Karma to Burn and formed a collaboration with Yawning Man called ‘Yawning Sons’. The first ten years of SOAC has been one long learning process, instead of smashing out another load of tracks after the debut in 2007 we decided to work with musicians who honed their instrumental craft. Music to me is a learning process and the first era of SOAC has been just that. Continuum is a milestone to us signalling the end of that process.
2. What helped inspire the album?
The debut album was linked to maritime and abandoned relics of World War II in the area that we live in. There is an abandoned Russian submarine from the Cold war era that is quite near to us which like the next natural evolution of the darker concepts from our debut. We extended this submarine into a vessel for another journey with a more space theme. I always like the idea of the space race but hated the fact that it was fuelled by the Cold War. The submarine blends the Cold War and the Space Race but through the lens of an interstellar journey.
3. Space is obviously a theme and the ambient/electronica throughout often reflects that. Why this particular direction?
We extended the ideology of the submarine as a vessel for an alternative journey – so kind of a symbol really. That symbol is essentially a journey to Jupiter and the return so there are references to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Space Race, Communism and the Cold War. It’s more of a movie soundtrack and the ambient / electronica pieces are moods to transition the major moving scenes of the film.
4. A lot has changed in the music industry since your first release. Are you in a better place to release music then you were?
As a band I think that we’re better placed to release music than we were. We worked a series of six or so vinyl releases which did well and understand the presing runs having worked with the labels. For Continuum we have brought heavyweight vinyl, CD and digital download together in one single physical release. We design our physical releases into something aesthetically desirable but the sonic aspects are equal across all formats. That said, for this release we have a locked groove at the end of side B (Return Voyage) which is an ambient passage that just goes on forever – it’s meant to represent a wormhole and essentially the ‘Continuum’. You don’t get that on digital streaming or a CD!
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5. Are you going out on the road to tour this album?
Yeah man. We are playing Bristol and London with Yawning Man on the 28 / 29 July. We will book in some more shows to promote the album in due course.
6. Games, Brrraaains (Horror) or Head-Banging…what’s your preference?
Head-Banging when I was younger for sure but now I prefer love of music without breaking my neck quite so much so probably horror. Me and Marlon are big psychological horror fans. Asian Tartan Extreme is a fave but yeah, Frontiers, Grotesque, Eden Lake, Juon: The Grudge, Kairo, The Green Inferno – dark music to feed the darker side of SOAC.
We can’t thank Sons of Alpha Centauri for taking the time to speak with us! You can pick up the debut album via Bandcamp here and stream via Spotify here. Pick up merchandise here, find out more on Facebook, Twitter, via their website and watch videos on YouTube.
