Anubis: "Ohne Web hätten wir nicht überlebt" (Interview Teil 2)

"A Tower Of Silence" tells a strange, exceptional story of a young girl's spirit. How did you find this stuff, why did you choose it and whose idea was it?

Robert: Myself and Dave had a few ideas floating around whilst we were in the middle of tracking '230503'. It was something we had to shelve for the time being in order to concentrate on finishing the first album. But it all began with those initial ideas.

Dave: The basic themes and ideas of the record were then decided upon around a table at Nick's house at the end of the '230503' tour. We had the songs and song ideas we wanted to use written and demoed. The six of us threw those conceptual ideas into the hat and Rob and I had to go away and write those themes into a narrative and a lyric. What we came back with, I think, was a very good metaphor for limbo and entrapment; which are the central themes to the record.
Robert: It is essentially about entrapment, and relates to anyone who has been put in a position who can't find their way forward, are stuck living day to day with fears or guilt or regret, whatever - and are waiting for a resolution to come, and not knowing if it's ever going to arrive.
You joined Bird's Robe Records, which is not very popular and known in Europe. Which other possibilities of selfmarketing you're using? And what do you think about selling/copying music in the net? What does this mean for bands like Anubis?

Dave: Bird's Robe is the only label of it's kind in Australia and has been wonderful for us. It has all of our favourite Australian bands on it and we feel very fortunate to be involved with them. Nobody in the world has done more for Anubis than Mike from Bird's Robe.
The Internet is absolutely vital to us and bands like us. Only through the Internet could we have dreamed of self releasing '230503', getting it out there, initially for free, finding Just for Kicks, and getting it into Europe. Without it, we'd not have survived. As simple as that.
Just for Kicks is responsible for most of our European exposure. Not to mention Musicwaves in France, and the wonderful Progzilla podcast from the UK. We've been so lucky.

Robert: We have taken to making use of social networking sites like facebook, myspace, soundcloud, twitter, as well as our website to help create a name internationally. The style of music we play is liked more by people in Europe, Japan & South America and we needed to create a connection with these people. The internet has made the world very small and made accessing music very easy.
In the end, though, we are only in it to write and play music. Having Birds Robe Records on board has helped us on the business end of things. They don't want to control what we create and don't feel the need to have their say. They know what it is that a band like us needs to exist. And that's what they give us.
In the www.progarchives.com your new album is listed in the Top 5 at the moment. What does this mean to you?

Robert: Firstly, there's no greater shock than to find your band listed alongside some of the most talented and popular prog bands and musicians around today. If anything it means all the hard work we have poured into both these records has paid off and they're only getting bigger.

Dave: And, really, it means more than we can possibly say. We are humbled, honored and grateful for the faith we've been shown by a growing number of fans. They've put us up there in that chart alongside, as Rob said, some of the best bands in the world, and we're all very touched at that. Thank you all so much.
You've been on tour with Unitopia. What did this mean to you?

Dave: Unitopia are a great group. Very generous with their time and knowledge and extremely talented. We enjoyed the tour very much. For us, it's certainly been a very valuable opportunity to play for a 'prog' crowd- which really doesn't exist in Australia; outside of Floyd, Yes and perhaps Jethro Tull fans- plus, Unitopia and Anubis share a fair bit of musical DNA by virtue of common influences and our song structures. I'd like to think we made a good match.

Robert: It was great to play with other talented bands on the those bills and within the same genre of music. Unitopia have a strong following and a lot of their fans loved what we did but had never heard of us purely because we are not signed to a major international label. Now, because of the internet, prog fans are finding us right there on their own doorsteps and had had no idea we even existed let alone had released two albums!
Would you like to play some concerts or festivals in Europe and are there any plans?

Dave: We really hope we can. We have tentative plans for maybe 2013, if the support remains strong. The end of this year will hopefully see a DVD of a 'Tower' show come out, so after that, if the interest is there, it's quite possible.

Robert: We get asked this a lot and we always say the same thing... If it was possible we would do it in a heartbeat. It is definitely something we hope will happen!
Anubis in the year 2020?

Dave: Too early to tell. Older, greyer, occasionally balder and quite a bit grumpier. But still making music we're proud of. I can't see us doing anything else. Even at this level, I'd think we'd continue making records.

Robert: We'll still be here.
Your message for your european fans?

Robert: Thank you for everything.

Dave: Thank you for taking our music into your hearts. We never expected it, and give thanks for it every day. We are very lucky to have you and hope to see you very soon. Much love.

Anubis: "Wir sind altmodisch" (Interview Teil 1)

Im aktuellen Eclipsed" (Januar 2012) gibt's mein Feature zur australischen Band Anubis zu lesen. Das komplette Interview mit Robert James Moulding (Vocals) and David Eaton (Keyboards) hier in voller Länge:

There's no big prog scene in Australia. So how did you get to play progmusic? What was your "awakening"?

Dave: My personal 'awakening', as such, was seeing Genesis, in London in 1992. My Dad took me for my 13th birthday. I remember they played the opening of 'Dance on a Volcano', and it was where that first big chord comes in, with the bass pedal, the strings, and that video of fire came up on the big screen above the stage, and the lights all changed colour to red. A huge, dramatic and completely new experience for an impressionable 13 year old! It affected me more deeply than anything else I'd ever seen. And I knew right there and then that it was that type of music I had to make.

Robert: I found I had become totally underwhelmed by the music I listened to as a teenager. Punk Rock became very stagnant after a while so I found myself drawn to Prog when I heard the first Mars Volta album, which was at the total other end of the spectrum of popular music. It was the change I needed and found most enjoyable.

Dave: When we started writing '230503', there was no plan to be anything - it really didn't matter if anybody heard it. We certainly didn't expect it. It's a record we had to make, so we made it in a style that came naturally to us. Thankfully, a lot of people are glad we did. And we're very grateful for that.

Which bands/musicians are your musical idols?

Dave: The answer would be different for each of us. I know apart from Genesis, who I mentioned already, there's all the usual suspects - Crimson, Floyd, Yes, Marillion- and I really love them all. Vocally, the blueprint for the harmony arrangements goes back to the Beatles. Rob listens to a lot more of the darker music, like Van der Graff Generator, which I don't enjoy quite as much. I guess it's summed up by Yes. I like 'Close To The Edge' best, but if pushed he normally says 'Relayer'.

Robert: Definitely 'Relayer'. Or 'Drama'.

How would you describe your music? And what is your ideal?

Robert: Anubis music is first and foremost driven by emotion. It's obviously progressive in style but our main focus is the emotion we wish to portray in our songs, based on the story and the characters within it. It's music that matters. We always place the music above ourselves.

Dave: The song itself has to take precedence over technique. Substance over style. Any of the tricky bits exist to serve the mood of the music rather than to show off our chops.

How can we imagine the creative processes in the band? Do you have a "mastermind" or is it a democratic process? Do you develop your musical ideas together?

Dave: On the first album, it literally was Rob and I doing virtually all the writing. Concept, lyrics, music. The lot. Some parts we improvised, very early on, with Steve, because at that time Anubis was just the three of us. When we formed the band, in the middle of the recording process, there was a period of arranging and Doug and Nick were certainly involved in that. Five years on, Rob and I still have a lot of the initial ideas, but now we also have Dougie bringing musical ideas and sections as well, and Dean is also a great songwriter. From there on in, much of the album was played live in a rehearsal studio, with a lot of group work on arrangements- which is a vital part of the process in itself. Dean also produced both records, and is very much a musical director in the rehearsal room too, as he can hear all the component parts individually. Whilst Rob and I, to be fair, probably still sit rather in the driver's seat, creatively speaking, everybody in the group now has a much bigger say in the direction the music needs to go.

Robert: So, there is no 'mastermind' in Anubis, as such. Just a very solid group who all have a part to play - whatever that may be - in order for us to develop our music.

Some critics call you a retroprogband (correct?) that is not really innovative. What would you reply?

Dave: We respond by completely ignoring that criticism! We do things a fairly old fashioned way. For example, on this last album, you have a 6 or 7 piece band, including our sax player - a real band of musicians who play together every week- recording in real time, with as many real instruments as possible, through analog gear into amps. It's not a studio band. It's a performing group, like in the old days. So yes, that will of course dictate the sound of the record to a large extent. These days, long-form music has pigeonholed itself so much. We write the songs we feel compelled to; from deep inside of us, and if we did anything else it would be dishonest. Disrespectful to us, our music and our fans. We couldn't play, say, 'The Collapse' if we didn't feel it. In saying that, there's no set idea of what an Anubis record has to be. The next one may sound totally different. Which is why '230503' and 'Tower' are different. Obviously there will be musical common ground, but we write what we feel is right for that moment. You use the instruments and sounds that work for the song. Tower, being very historical, conceptually, needed the sound of the mellotron, for instance. Next time, it might not appear. There's no set plan of what we are or what we have to be. Besides, you don't have to re-invent the wheel every time. Sometimes you just want to enjoy the ride.

Robert: We have had far more people tell us that they love our music for what it is rather than tell us they dislike it for what it's not.