We’ve spoken to Aphyxion before, some time ago, but with new music and lineup and – most importantly – both an album and video being released today, it was definitely time to catch up with them!
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re from Denmark – and more specifically the south western part of Denmark, a city called Ribe.
How did you meet?
Jonas, Jais, Jesper and Jakob went to the same school and started hanging out with Michael from another school. Skating, playing some really bad Black Sabbath covers and just doing nothing really. We did however feel the need to actually do something with our lives – and decided to start the band and play our own songs.
How long have you been playing as a band?
It started in 2007 when we were 14 years old. So it’s been a part of more than half of our lives now.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
It’s been a few interviews and a few years since that question started boring us! Aphyxion doesn’t really mean anything, it was just a cool sounding word that came to a couple of young fellas. I think the name derived from the word ‘asphyxia’ though, which is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body.
What are your influences?
Everything from Bring me the Horizon, Spiritbox and Architects to ABBA, At the Gates and Soilwork. And probably a lot more in between.
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Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
On the new Ad Astra album I think we’re touching a lot of different lyrical themes – our fans might be used to themes like identity and maybe some social criticism, but on the Ad Astra album we also work with more everyday struggles in friendship, love, loneliness and much more.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
I guess we’ve played around 450 shows by now. We like to believe that we’re good at starting the party: We bring a “don’t-give-a-fuck-let’s-party-and-have-fun”-attitude to our shows which seems to work quite well. Our production and the team behind is pretty tight.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
I’ve jumped 5 meters down from the top of a speaker into a crowd at a show once, that was pretty dope.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
I haven’t got the slightest clue, I yell into a microphone that my band mates bought for me.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Well, as I’m writing this, it’s February 9 – and tomorrow we’ll be releasing Ad Astra, our fourth studio album. We’re throwing a huge party in our home town, Ribe, where we’ll be playing a show with free entry and 3000 free beers. It’s first come, first serve and if it’s just gonna be half as fun as last time we threw the release party for the Void album in 2019, it’s gonna be completely fucking mental!
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
Touring Germany and Denmark. Can’t wait to get back on the road
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
We’d love to support a band like In Flames. From what we’ve heard they’re a bunch of really cool guys, and they’ve been a musical inspiration for us from the start. Siamese should open for us, just because those guys needs to calm the fuck down and stop being in such a hurry with getting their own headline tour around Europe and everything (we’re not jealous here or anything obviously).
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Aphyxion: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify | bandcamp | youtube
