PLEASE TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.
I’m Al Aston, and I’m the singer-songwriter behind Atomic Agent, a Finnish Hard Goth Rock band. I sing and play all the instruments on all the songs so far, so Atomic Agent has been my solo effort until now that I’ve formed a line-up in order to rehearse for future live shows. Still searching for a lead guitarist though. At the moment I’m running this and a certain metal band as my main acts.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR LATEST ALBUM OR SINGLE
The debut album, Secret Society, was released last December, and it features ten songs. Some are fresh and some a bit older, but I wanted the album to have a dynamic collection of songs that would give you an idea how varied the material can be, and it’s still just a narrow glimpse. Some of it is faster, some slower and heavier, some brighter, some gloomy, some more disciplined, some with more of a jamming feeling to it and so on. Amongst all the guitar-oriented rocking there is a delicate piano track too, called No Higher Force.
I had originally planned that Secret Society – named after the title track – would be the name of the second album, but I somehow just had this sudden feeling one day, that I’d have to include that song on the debut already, so I also had to rename the debut album.
WHICH SONG WOULD YOU SAY SUMS UP YOUR SOUND THE BEST?
I guess I have to go with Kiss the Sky. It has some calmer moments on the verses, and
faster stuff on the choruses.
DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC IN A FEW WORDS.
Dark, emotional, melodic, groovy, varied.
WHO HAVE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES BEEN?
The first influence would have been The Sisters Of Mercy, but since the days of those first songs, the sound has expanded quite a bit, into some more guitar-oriented stuff in the vein of Love Like Blood and Fields Of The Nephilim. The groove owes a lot to some rockabilly/psychobilly and punk acts, I think. But for name-dropping purposes I could mention a long list of the likes of Billy Idol, Danzig, Nick Cave, Rosetta Stone, Paradise Lost, Type O Negative, Sielun Veljet, Smack etc.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC?
I bought an Elvis Presley Best Of cassette with my allowance when I was a kid. I was flabbergasted by songs like Suspicious Minds, Hound Dog and In the Ghetto and there you had it. Whereas most of the other kids listened to stuff made for children, I listened to real music. I also remember liking David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Dead Kennedys and Stray Cats early on, before Heavy Metal turned a whole new leaf, and that actually sparked me playing music myself.
I’ve always been involved with music. First by listening of course, then by playing, co-arranging gigs, then by writing reviews and interviews and so on, so you could say I pretty much live and breathe music.
WHAT IS THE CREATIVE PROCESS LIKE FOR YOU WHEN MAKING MUSIC?
There is no one specific process, but the most typical case would be coming up with a cool guitar melody, and then building the rest around it. Sometimes I come up with nice lyrical line that just starts playing in my head. Some other times it can be a new riff, a compelling drum rhythm or a bass pattern. And for writing lyrics it can be pretty much anything that sets it up.
WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD BE THE COOLEST COLLABORATION PROJECT BETWEEN YOU AND ANOTHER ARTIST?
I’m open to collaborations, and actually there is a two-way collaboration in the works with a certain Finnish talent, but more about that later. But it would be nice to make a song with Mirel Wagner, who is a Finnish singer-songwriter with an extraordinary knack for some very grim and minimalistic stories.
PLEASE TELL US A RANDOM FACT ABOUT YOURSELF.
I have a wonderful, batshit crazy Husky/Wolfhound-mix that not only I love to bits, but who also occasionally drives me crazy with her goofball antics and endless energy. I also build Steampunk/Weird Science-styled lamps whenever I have the time (which is not much, thanks to making music and having the wacky dog).
WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?
“Do not pee on an electric fence.” Did it anyway, which made the very young me understand why it was told not to do so originally. Maybe that’s where I got my natural groove.
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT THE INDUSTRY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
That’s a can of worms, but here goes shortly: I’d make all the digital streaming platforms give artists a bigger chunk of their income, and lower the prices of physical releases a little bit at the same time.
WHAT'S NEXT?
A few single and music video releases, then an EP later on, and then the second full-
length album. In the meanwhile, we’ll be rehearsing a live set and it makes me giddy to think how much fun this stuff will be onstage. I also want this band to get a lot attention of course!