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Welcome To
An
Interview with
Kelly: How are you? Anders:
Pretty good, just over working myself
on the new album due out in early 2006, in between playing shows and
festivals. It’s been crazy but excellent fun! Kelly: Are you ready for Goth Stock? Anders: Absolutely, I’m so humbled by
Diego (one of the promoters) booking me as one of the headliners. There are
really some great bands playing this thing and it should be well worth the
ticket price, several times over. Kelly: How did
that come about? Anders: Diego just hit me up on line and asked me to play. I agreed and
the rest is history Kelly: Do you find this festival to
be different than playing other gigs? Anders: It’s always a challenge when
you’re playing with so many different bands. Getting on and off the stage on
time etc… but I love festivals. You get to play for other fans of bands and
hopefully win a few over. Kelly: Excited? Is this your first gig of such magnitude? Anders: I think Dracula’s Ball as
been defiantly a favorite show so far. That place was packed and everyone was
incredibly awesome and supportive. I got to sign so many CD’s after the show
and met so many excellent fans. Kelly: Okay, enough about Goth
Stock, I want to know more about you, is that cool? Anders: The name is Anders, I’m a Taurus…you come here often? ; _ ) Kelly: When did you first become a singer/songwriter/ Producer of you own music? You do write most your material
correct? Anders: I can remember always being a control freak. I never really worked
that well with others as far as songwriting and being creative. Songwriting
to me is a very personal space and I get weird when people try to invade it.
I’m definitely working on it though and having Sco& Boito (two synth
players in Anders Manga’s live band) lay down some layers on the new album. They
did a amazing job of coming up with layers for tracks off of “One up for the
Dying” for the live show so I’m letting my guard down and learning that other
people can actually have good ideas (laughs). I can remember always being a
control freak. I never really worked that well with others as far as
songwriting and being creative. Songwriting to me is a very personal space
and I get weird when people try to invade it. I’m definitely working on it
though and having Sco& Boito (two synth players in Anders Manga’s live
band) lay down some layers on the new album. They did a amazing job of coming
up with layers for tracks off of “One up for the Dying” for the live show so
I’m letting my guard down and learning that other people can actually have
good ideas (laughs). Kelly: You did a remake of Gary Numan’s Car, great 80’s classic tunage,
why Anders: It was the
first 45 I ever owned as a kid and it was very inspirational to me. The
reason I covered it was really a one-off for a show at the Secret Room in the
Atlanta Underground we did during DragonCon. The night also featured a Star
Wars costume contest and Kilingon girl oil wrestling…it was crazy. Kelly: The song “Heart of Black”, a beautiful song I might add, off “One
Up For The Dying”, Do you care to elaborate on it? Is it a song true to your
life experience or of any individual? Are your songs a basis of your life, or
life in general? Anders: Yes. I do write fiction
sometimes but for the most part they always come from something I feel or
have some sort of experience with. “Heart Of Black” is very personal but I
guess it’s based on the numbing we do to ourselves or walls we put up when
love comes knocking. The dreadful vulnerability you have when you put your
heart out there for someone to potentially grind it to little bits. Kelly: Other than” One Up from the Dying” do you have any other CD’s out?
Where can one purchase your music? Anders: You can find my debut album “One Up From The Dying” available at www.andersmanga.com, www.cdbaby.com, www.amazon.com, just to name a few. The new
album will be out January 2006. As a independent artist I’d like to thank any of your readers who
have bought the CD. Us Indie artists sacrifice so much to put the music out
there and we definitely need the financial support from the fans to keep us
going. Kelly: Who are your musical influences? Anders: My influences are all over the place. Alice Cooper, Gary
Numan, John Lennon, Bauhaus, Bowie, Sisters of Mercy, George Jones … I’m a
music whore and I can’t allow myself to live in one genre box. There is so
much awesome music out there on a indie level as well. I just found a band
called Idom of Sad, a dark trip duo out of Colorado that is incredible. Kelly: How does a man from North
Carolina, caught in the bible belt begin forming an interest in Gothic music?
What made you gravitate towards that genre? Do you catch hell for it in your
corner of the world since Gothic music is so misunderstood or do you find
most people to be receptive? How did you get your start? Anders: I got my start through word of
mouth. A DJ here named Spider was passed my demo “Solitary Heaven” and she
loved it enough to play it at all of her fetish/goth night gigs. Word spread
to other DJ’s and on to the fans and it just blew up. In addition to that my
website has brought in people from all over the world according to my stats. I’m
just very humbled by all the support so far. As far as coming from the bible belt, I think that a good percentage of the scene here is made up of victims of organized religion. The church can be pretty damn psycho here in the south and any alternative to that is attractive. Kelly: Where can one catch you on the
road? Any other club dates or tours planned in the future? Do you plan on
coming back to CT? You WILL let Concert Connections know RIGHT? Anders: I’ve been talking to the Black
Sun Festival people (festival in CT). Hopefully, that will pan out. Right now
I’m just taking gigs as they come and simultaneously finishing this new
album. I will definitely let you know m’lady! Kelly: Okay, last question…this is a tuff
one, in your words tell the world “who is Anders Manga”? Anders: I’m just a bill on Capital
Hill.
© DJX2 2005 |
