Xenoyr – Ne Obliviscaris

Ne Obliviscaris has to be one of Australia’s most successful bands of 2015. Constantly on the road overseas, the band returned home this week. However, that doesn’t mean that the rest will be very long, as they head out on an Australian tour starting this Thursday in Brisbane. I emailed some questions about the band’s recent adventures across to mastermind/harsh vocalist Xenoyr for some in-flight entertainment, this is what he had to say.

The recent European tour alongside Cradle of Filth has taken the band to many new destinations and new faces. I was naturally curious about what kind of crowd receptions they’ve gotten, if they differed from country to country, and also, based on experience, which country Xenoyr would like to return to in the future.

“Most countries have been relatively consistent in terms of response to what we do, however there have been a few variations. The German crowds seem to show appreciation in very different way, during the set they’ll be somewhat quieter in general and most of the cheering will be saved for at the end (I’d like not to think that was because it had finished…). On the other hand, more Eastern European countries like Romania and Poland seem to be quite fervent and openly appreciative, there’s a sense of freedom in how they so display their enthusiasm.

Personally, Romania will always have a place in my heart; I’ve probably said this a few times but it’s raw, open minded and alive. Helsinki (and Finland in general) seems to embrace what we do, we’ve had some of our best responses there and following from that, Switzerland and The Netherlands have definitely treated us rather well too. In all honesty, I wouldn’t really object to playing anywhere though, each country is a different experience, I’ll take the good with the bad…fans are fans wherever they’re from.”

Personal space comes in limited quantities whilst on tour, it’s something every touring musician have to deal with. I wanted to know if it’s an issue, and if so, how they are handing it.  

“Space (for what little we have on a tour bus or better known as the incubator) and the respect for privacy is always something that we need to be conscious off, it’s our sanity I guess. The better the understanding of how we each are helps to create an equilibrium and a far more productive environment. This last tour we’ve had 6 weeks on the road and a show on most days so not much time to explore whichever city we’re in. If we do have a day off, we’ll take the opportunity to make the most of a new experience, but we do have different interests so quite often we may go off in groups or venture forth on our own. On a normal show day, after traveling the night to the next city we’ll maybe only have a couple hours at most to explore close proximity to the venue as soundcheck and other band requirements need to happen. In our downtime we all have our various things we do, for instance I’ll do some artwork, write, read, listen to music or do some planning, some of the guys may find a gym to de-stress, and some may just get more sleep.”

Only a brief social media scan is required to see that the members of NeO have taken every opportunity to do a bit of exploring/sightseeing in Europe.

“Before I go to a city/country I’ll usually like to read a little about it, I guess it’s a respect thing…I feel I really should know something about a country if I’m going to spend time there regardless of the duration. For me, whenever I get the chance I’ll go exploring, every new experience has the potential to influence what I put into the band (as for the others too), whether that be from watching a cellist busking on the sidewalk in Paris to getting lost in Rome. I like to visit the local galleries and museums, churches, forests and darker, quirkier places that don’t necessarily gather tourists…or people in general. The next album will undoubtedly have an influence from my experience in Europe, afterall I’m constantly writing down ideas wherever I go.”

Cradle of Filth is one of the veterans in the genre, and whilst they get a lot of (undeserved) hate from the metal community in general, they must be doing something right since they’re still very much in the game. How did touring with such a band shape NeO’s touring experience?

“I think touring with Cradle has opened our eyes quite a lot; it’s been such a big learning curve which we’ve been very grateful to have such an intense experience. I’ve a new level of respect for them, most people only see them on stage…we’ve seen the hard work, the stresses and professionalism behind closed doors from everyone within the Cradle camp. I think a lot of people could learn a few things from their work ethic.”

NeO have enjoyed a lot of success lately, starting with Citadel, the epic crowd funding campaign and the subsequent tours overseas. I told Xenoyr how happy I, and many Australian metalheads with me, are for the band. Speaking of the fans, what can they expect of the band in the near future?

“Thank you for the support. We’ll be touring into 2016 on Citadel, obviously with the upcoming US tour with Cradle of Filth, but after that we’re working on more overseas touring within the next 12 months which we can’t say too much at the moment. We’ve started working on material but depending on the amount of touring we do depends on how quickly we’ll get a new album out. Ideally we’d like to have everything written and to start recording by this time next year…and possibly have a mid 2017 release… Regardless, we’re not going to rush writing an album just to get something out, we’ll release something when we’re satisfied.”

Since NeO are doing yet another tour with Cradle of Filth next year, I assumed that they had become great friends whilst travelling Europe together. Is a future collaboration with Dani Filth be possible at all?

“We’d played with Cradle a few years ago, and shared a few festivals with them earlier this year so we already had a rapport of sorts going, however with this tour we’ve become great friends. Cradle have given us so much respect and generosity throughout the tour, it’s been overwhelming…and when you spend almost every day with them, it’s hard for bonds not to form.

In terms of a collaboration, nothing is really ever out of the question…working with Dani would be great and likely a rewarding experience, but for him or anyone for that matter to contribute, it would need to be about the music first not just the novelty of having access to a big name/talent.”

I witnessed the band live for the first time almost exactly a year ago. It was an absolutely brilliant show. It feels like NeO has come such an unbelievably long way since that November night at The Bald Faced Stag.

“We’ve grown the most over the last 12 months than we have in our whole career…touring constantly for months has taught us so much about the music industry, about the band and ourselves not only as musicians but as people too. We’ve known that doing what you’re passionate about in life is a must, but the last year reaffirms that there is no real wrong or right way to live, society’s ideals on what life is about is sad…we don’t care to be wealthy, we just want to create and hopefully inspire others to help carry the torch in this freedom of thought.”

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