It’s Saturday, November 11th, a special day for Asemic, as they are celebrating their ten years anniversary with a special event in Quantic Pub. They have guests: Keops Vexa, Taiga Dream and Apa Simbetii will warm up the party tonight.
On this occasion, after the soundcheck, we caught the guys from Asemic in the backstage for a short (really… this is short) interview, or recollection of memories… call it as you wish!
DinIntunerec: Hi guys! What does this anniversary mean to you? Is ten years a lot or not that much, compared to the expectations you had when you started?
Vlad Datcu– guitar: A lot of stuff has happened in the past 10 years, both highs and lows as one would expect. It’s quite a period, considering a lot of underground bands don’t get to be active for this much time, unfortunately. It’s mostly proof that hard work, dedication and a bit of patience go a long way. Too many things to be summarised here.
Liviu Maxim– drums: I am glad that we somehow stayed together in these hard years. Ten years is not a lot at all, we are barely visible and it is only the start of our journey. We had no expectations and that kept us sane and grounded.
Andrei Bogdan– guitar: It means a recollection of memories, 7 years (in my case) of ups and downs while playing with my band mates in Asemic.
Alexei Nichiforof– bass guitar: For me, this anniversary means that time passes really quickly. It does mean a lot, it means friendship in the first place.
DinIntunerec: Since it is a nostalgic moment, of counting the ups and lows… by the way…Romanians have a saying… in autumn one should count the ducklings ( free translation) What is the worst memory from all these years? OR the most awkward…
Liviu Maxim– drums: The worst memories are those related to lack of motivation that surrounded us in many periods and that lead us to members departing and returning after some time. The awkward ones happen on a daily basis.
Alexei Nichiforof– bass guitar: Nothing comes to mind… nothing that bad happened!
Vlad Datcu– guitar: Worst is by far playing the gig in May 2016, after the Colectiv incident. Most awkward is a bass drop so loud that our live setup got screwed so we had a good 10s of awkward silence on stage until we were to get back on track.
Andrei Bogdan– guitar: Most awkward was definitely our second gig together, when our interface disconnected after a sub hit, leading to several minutes of silence.
DinIntunerec: What is the best memory?
Andrei Bogdan– guitar: For one of our gigs we travelled in a borrowed car and, after reaching the motorway, we noticed that the automatic drive wouldn’t switch past third gear. This was a three hour ride at 80 km/h and 4k rpm.
Liviu Maxim– drums: The best memories are those related to touring, usually we have a lot of fun.
Vlad Datcu– guitar: Every live gig is a good memory, but the best one for me is the Lucid album launch in Control where everything went 10 times better than expected (that was on a Wednesday).
Alexei Nichiforof– bass guitar: Best memories… the whiskey we have after rehearsals in winter time.
DinIntunerec: Well… sharing memories was great, but let’s get a little bit into the depths… Is the name of the band explainable by the absence of lyrics? I mean… asemic writing creates a vacuum of meaning…leaving room for multiple interpretation. Did you apply the same concept to your music?
Alexei Nichiforof– bass guitar: Yes, you got that right.
Liviu Maxim– drums: The name is related to our music, meaning that we are offering a musical language of our own, and besides that, we are trying to stimulate our listeners to visualize their own thoughts and feelings rather than imposing a certain vision with spoken words.
Andrei Bogdan– guitar: Right, far from subtle … The guys wanted a name which would reflect artistic freedom on a musical and functional level. Similarly to the meaning of the name, we hope that everyone listening can interpret the music in his or her unique way.
Vlad Datcu– guitar: The name indeed somehow describes the music we play, which, as I’m sure our listeners have already noticed, ranges from mellow atmospheric parts to fast and aggressive parts with more intricate rhythmic structures. This shows that we try to encompass everything we think sounds good and we don’t try to follow conventions or any dogma.
DinIntunerec: What are we to expect from Asemic in the future?
Liviu Maxim– drums: A new album, some touring and the same discrete way of dealing with the industry. Normal stuff, as I previously said, low expectations helps running long distances for us as a band.
Andrei Bogdan– guitar: More as well as less of the same. While growing as individuals, we continue exploring music and are sometimes drawn to different attributes. We strive however to maintain artistic freedom which is what we think appealed to our fan base in the first place.
Vlad Datcu– guitar: More music, maybe more sonic experiments and obviously the worst of jokes, definitely.
Alexei Nichiforof– bass guitar: More music that nobody asked for!
DinIntunerec: Any special thoughts now, at the end of the interview? Any message to the public?
Vlad Datcu– guitar: Thanks for the all support, nice words and putting up with our crap.
Alexei Nichiforof– bass guitar: Thanks for your support.
Andrei Bogdan– guitar: We can’t wait to celebrate the anniversary with everyone and would like to thank you for your ongoing support. Seeing so many people coming to see us and appreciating our music means the world to us.
Liviu Maxim– drums: We thank everybody that followed our work, supported us unconditionally throughout our journey, and many thanks for all the community members that are keeping the Romanian scene alive in these weird times we are living.
DinIntunerec: Guys, thank you for the interview! Can’t wait for the show tonight!
