AMEN RA INTERVIEW

Mass IIII came out a while ago. How were the reactions ‘till now?

up untill now.all reactions were positive.it astounds us that it’s the 4th album now, and we’ve always been wellreceiced.by critics.we have been more than lucky.we always write for ourselves.and it’s always  interesting to read or know what people think of it. 

The new album seems to be a little more subtle and refined than the previous one. Some songs really take their time to grow. Is that something that grew naturally, or was that the intention when you started writing?

we never start something with a sole ‘intention’, like stated it grows naturally we give it time.i think that’s the most important ingredient of our music.we don’t want to force the music onto ourselves we just simply give ourselves the time to absorbe the whole and make it ours.

You guys just got signed to INIT records, can you tell us what that will mean for the band?

well it’ll mean we get a decent distribution in the states, since we’re planning to head out there from time to time now, it can be convenient. shipping costs can be really high when people have to buy their cd’s or vinyl overseas. especially euro  releases shipped to the us... we are really thankful to steven for releasing the double cd.

Recently Lennart joined AMEN RA on guitars. I ‘ve known him from his previous projects dating way back and he’s definitely a great guitar player.  How do you think he will influence the songwriting process? And how do you feel about him joing the band?

i am most pleased with him in the band, i used to go to the same school as him and at some point we actually had a band together longlong ago.something always told me that we’d end up playing in a band together ,someday and now we do. him joining us, gives amenra a second breath, the 5 of us are really having the time of our lives again.his coming seemed rejuvenating. as for influence, that’s something we’ll see in the future.he is talented indeed, but in amenra ‘feeling of emotion’ can be as important as talent.

Colin your lyrics, seem very dark and personal. You really succeed to transfer a tremendous amount of pain to the listeners. This process seems very hard and intense because I can imagine that takes a lot of introspection?

it takes pretty much all of my energy, during the writing process i  

dig deep.in away i hurt myself over and over again.

It seems that AMEN RA slowly evolved into some kind of “melancholic religion”, where the albums are the masses and lyrics are your prayers. I personally think melancholy can also be something beautiful and motivating, what’s your opinion?

i follow you.in a way beauty comes from uglyness.you need the two in  life to really comprehend the whole, life itself. “there’s no light without darkness” it’s about redefining your purpose in this life. it’s about telling everyones story. and making it inspirational to others. something to hold on to when you fall.creating something that ‘ ll always be there.

Another part of AMEN RA that keeps coming back are dead animals.  What’s the meaning behind that?

life and death. beginning and end. ‘vluchtigheid’. not nescesseraly the animals, it’s the dead that matters.using something ‘negative’ to form something ‘beautiful’ ...  use the negativity and bow it into something positive.

Your live shows are so intense they can easily be linked with performance art. They always make me think of Herman Nitsch’s work  (dead animals, religion is really important in his work as well). Since the artwork is an important piece of AMEN RA, do you think it would possible to collaborate with performance artists at some point?

we will at some point. there is a very big link with performance art indeed.even though we never worked with it.

Colin you have some very cool tattoos and you seem very  interested in bodymodifications. What does it mean to you, and what does it do to you?

me being into branding scarification suspension whatever..it helps me realise that there are no boundaries in life. the human body can take in a lot, and so does the mind. i live through experience, and only experience can let someone have an opinion about it. aspects of physical pain often set foot in my lyrics and words.i was thinking about what i write or wanted to write at some point in amenra’s existence and i came to the conclusion that if i wanted to talk about smelling my own burnt flesh, i’d at least had to have smelled  it.felt it...if i write about  cutting someones name into my leg, i should ve done it...i give blood as sacrifice to those i love.

In februari you guys are heading to the US(and Canada) again. How  was the previous US tour and what do you expect of this one?

we expect nothing in hope to have anything.experience. time spent together with my peers, my brothers. experience, to look back to when i’m about to die. i expect us to live.together.

 

How is Kingdom; your other project doing? Any new plans?

recording new songs this summer. did some shows in germany and poland. slowly but surely move on.

 Any last words ?

none.