Ahren Stringer (The Amity Afflicition)

THE AMITY AFFLICTION bringen mit „This Could Be Heartbreak“ ihr mittlerweile fünftes Album auf den Markt. Mit den Vorgängeralben „Let The Ocean Take Me“ und „Chasing Ghosts“ schafften sie es in ihrer Heimat Australien auf den ersten Platz der offiziellen Albumcharts. Was wir von der neuen Platte erwarten können und ob die Erfolge der Vergangenheit besonderen Druck aufbauen erzählt uns Bassist Ahren Stringer im Interview.

Your new album „This Could Be Heartbreak“ is out in August. What can we expect from it?
You can expect our best album yet! Also our most diverse, I think it’s got a little bit of everything from super heavy breakdowns to super soft acoustic chilled out stuff.

What is your favorite song on the new album and why?
It changes from time to time but at the moment I’d have to say track 3 -„Nightmare“ – it’s just a super poppy and happy sounding song but with very dark lyrics and I like the way those two elements work together so well on the track.

What differences do you notice in the audience and your shows when you are touring in different countries? Are there any? 
Mainly the size, in Australia our home country we’re quite big so we play to thousands of people in our capital cities but over here in Germany or Europe we play to much smaller crowds in clubs, but the fans are just as crazy and full of energy especially Germany! We love being able to see the world and play in different countries and it’s awesome that there are always slightly different fan bases but all just as loving and loyal.

Your last album „Let The Ocean Take Me“ made it no. 1 in the Australian album charts. Did this affect you while writing the new album? Did you feel any pressure? 
I think there is always pressure, and there definitely was for this record, we always try to harness that energy while writing, because we always want to create a better album than the last.  „Let The Ocean Take Me“ was our breakthrough album so it was a hard one to beat but I think we did! We are all quite perfectionists so we would never release anything we weren’t all 100% proud of and I think it definitely shows on this record.

What could be heartbreak and what makes your heart break? 
I think that’s a question for everyone really, almost rhetorical. I think it’s up to the reader. My heart breaks when my Orioles lose.

What are your future plans?
I guess we’ll be touring, touring, touring this album around the world for the next couple of years until we get a break to write the next one!

von Hanna
Photocredits: WMG