INTERVIEW WITH AEGES & Concert Photo’s
SOFA KING COOL CAUGHT UP WITH THE GUYS FROM AEGES AND WE TALKED ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM, TOURING, INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING AND WHAT IS NEXT FOR THE BAND
In ÆGES (pronounced “ages”), ambitious rock n’ roll soundscapes and
melodies the size of mountains are the electrifying result of four men
from diverse musical backgrounds united by their shared love of loud
guitars, big drums and catchy songs. Since joining forces in Downtown
Los Angeles, guitarists/vocalists Kemble Walters and Cory Clark,
drummer Mike Land and bassist Tony Baumeister have concocted a
thrilling sound that’s both nostalgic and forward thinking.
ÆGES has made the improbable marriage of massive extremes their
hallmark, steering beyond the simple combination of sonic crunch and
melodic hooks into a hypnotizing and enchanting lane occupied by
pioneering acts like Queens Of The Stone Age and Soundgarden.
The group has earned accolades from respected outlets like
BrooklynVegan, Decibel, Exclaim!, MetalSucks, Guitar World,
and Alternative Press; shared stages with Tool, Coheed & Cambria,
Thrice, Buckcherry, FLOOR, and Local H; and joined tastemaker festivals
like Fun Fun Fun
Fest, Power Of The Riff, and South By Southwest.
The interplay between Walters and Clark in particular is an absolute
standout all over Weightless, the most fully realized work from ÆGES
thus far. The duo’s separate screams, blending harmonies, jagged duels
and unrelenting passion simply blow the doors down.
Weightless is as fierce and chaotic as it is earnest and atmospheric.
For their first album with Another Century, ÆGES worked with veteran
rock producer Bob Marlette (Black Sabbath, Shinedown, Rob Zombie,
Seether) and mixer/Saosin guitarist Beau Burchell (The Bronx, Emery,
Middle Class Rut), with additional production on a couple of the
Weightless tracks handled by the band themselves.
The Bridge (2012) was a guitar driven affair whose singular focus
gave way to the even bigger sonic tapestry found onAbove & Down
Below (2014), cementing ÆGES as four players with distinctive strengths
that combine to make something virtually unrivaled today, as clearly
evidenced by every single song on Weightless.
The new record from ÆGES takes listeners on a journey to a place
somewhere between The Green Albumby Baroness,Colour & The
Shape by Foo Fighters, and Superunknown by Soundgarden.
Weightless is fully charged by powerful guitars, pounding drums, rich
melodies, and delays veering between dense and sometimes sparse.
Massive sonic heft, magical melodies, odd – time signatures and raw
power cohabitate with transcendent catchiness throughout, as various
combinations of sonic strength and spacey noise build tension that is
both organic and dramatic, earning each of the album’s biggest moments
with authentic earnestness. ÆGES has mastered the slow psychedelic
jam as well, intertwining all of these elements with desert rock, flashes of
prog, and thick guitars that ebb and flow.
ÆGES is prone to experiment with dissonant sounds without the
pretensions of art – rock; they swing for the fences with unabashedly huge
vocal hooks, without the vapidity of pop rock. This is a band with
unstoppable potential, owing much to the fact that they can shake the
earth with grandiose bombast without the boundaries and limitations of
hard rock, hardcore – punk or any associated subculture.
With nothing tying ÆGES down, their future is truly Weightless.
https://www.facebook.com/aegesband/
