1. Hi guys! What's up? What are you doing on this days?
-Heyyyyy first off I just wanna say thanks for takin the time to interview us and help spread the word, we all appreciate it! Honestly these days I think we're all just putting in the last bit of work we can to get this new record out. Aside from that I'd say we're busy focusing on keeping our heads above water in our own personal lives till we can get back on the road full time again.
2. Can you tell to our readers what happened on the last years? You've left Ferret Music...why? What happened with them?
-Well as some might know we broke up for about 2 years until last summer due to different peoples alchohol/drug problems and certain members in the band butting heads constantly. Basically we had been on the road around 300 days a year sacrificing everything in our lives since early 2005 and it all caught up to us at once. It was time to take a step back, re-evaluate our goals, breathe in deep and step back into the ring swinging harder than ever.
As far as Ferret Music goes...they did a lot for the band in our early years with publicity and things like that but after the label was sold to Warner Bros some of the smaller bands on the roster (like ourselves) started receiving less and less attention, which is totally understandable from a business point of view. After taking a 2 year break we wanted to try a few things differently and they were totally cool with it so we parted ways. No drama, no beef, no problems.
3. What have you done after? Have you already searched for a new label? Have you written new stuff? Drunk? Whatever...
-We've basically just been playing shows in the Northeast US, Canada and Europe to help spread the word that we're back while we were writing our new EP 'Welcome to Palm City." scheduled to come out early November. There hasn't been too much done to try and find a new label yet since we've funded this entire EP ourselves in order to give it away for free to the fans that have stuck with us through the years while hopefully reaching out to some new ones as well. We've poured a lot into this record so I hope it doesn't get overlooked.
4. Is anyone doing any side projects?
-Well Keith (our singer) was writing some electronic/R&B type stuff while the band was broken up and I've been working on a folk record very slowly for the last year or 2 but all thats been put on an indefinite hiatus so all of our focus can be back on Ligeia.
5. Well, anyway, the last European tour with Shai Hulud was great, aren't you? We, FIRE ALIVE, went to the concert of Turin, last 30 April. I've awesme pictures of you guys! Well done, it was a great show!
-Thanks a lot! We had a lot of fun on that tour. We shared a van with them the entire time. We were PACKED in there every day and every night, sometimes all the way through the night on long drives so that was painful. Believe it or not though... despite them (Shai Hulud) coming up from the early 1990's hardcore scene on top of being 4/5ths straight edge and us (Ligeia) coming from the early 2000's metalcore era and partying hard as a motherfucker 24/7 being loud, ignorant and obnoxious...we actually got along great. We ended up becoming good friends and some of us still stay in contact to this day. That was a cool experience for me because they were one of my favorite hardcore bands back in the 90's and I got to play shows in a few foreign countries with them.
6. How does a band today stay alive if they don't sell enough records? I know is not your case, I just wanna know your thoughts about this. I mean...we're living hard times. Did you ever think to start your own label?
-BANDS OF THIS GENRE DO NOT SEE A PENNY OF RECORD SALES! So I can not stress this enough; if you wanna support a band the best thing you can do is go to a show and buy a t-shirt. And no I have never thought of starting a label because with a decent manager on board I feel like a label will soon be obsolete. The biggest thing labels had to offer was distribution but with downloading music becoming the normal thing to do these days (sad but true) theres a lot less need to physically get your album in stores Most of them are even closing down (like virgin records, one of the biggest in the game). The labels are becoming just a middle man tryin to make a buck off of the bands who are out doing all the hard work in my opinion.
7. You're currently recording tracks for an upcoming (November 2011) free downloadable ep: for which label will be out? Why the download is free? Do you think in underground scene the rules need a big changing?
-No label, refer back to my last answer. And yes I absolutely do think the rules need a big changing. I wish that all these bigtime names in the industry who are calling all the shots and making every single thing about favors and politics would crash their cars that they bought with the money bands like us have helped them earn on the way home from their offices. The offices that they sit in and literally dictate the underground scene thats supposed to be about heart and rightfully earned respect, deciding who gets to go on tour with who and who should be on fuse tv/warped tour etc etc. I can not even afford to get a cavity filled and I live on a futon in someone elses apartment, how are these people making profit? I would literally cut off one of my own fingers with a pair of rusty pliers if that would somehow take things back to the way they used to be, when the underground punk/metal/hardcore scenes were about the music itself. Not the clothes, not the popularity and not making a buck off of anyone you could.
8. What people should expect for the new stuff that you're recording? Big news?
-People should expect a brutally honest record that doesnt hold back or try to fit any mold. Its intense, its emotional and its pretty psychotic at times.
9. What the future bring for Ligeia? What are your expectations? When will you tour again Europe? I can't wait!
-Well only time will tell what the future will bring for Ligeia but my expectations personally are just to be heard and show people looking to start bands that you can do your OWN thing. Play what YOU feel, not what you think is going to make your band big because the trendy style you try to rip off will most likely be old news by the time your band starts to establish a name for itself. Anyways, we are currently working on booking something within the first couple months of 2012! Most likely the middle of Feb-March so keep an eye/ear out!!!!!!!
10. That's all folks, all the best, thanks a lot for your time!
Thanks again!
Walter
