AN OBSCURE SIGNAL
PHOTO BY: Dan Watson  l  WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/anobscuresignal

Interview answered by Alex Mola (Vocals) and Walter J Huaman (Guitar)

YOU GUYS ARE GEARING UP FOR THE RELEASE OF YOUR DEBUT EP “CREATIONS”. DO YOU HAVE AN IDEA WHEN IT WILL BE COMING OUT AND WHERE WILL PEOPLE BE ABLE TO GET THEIR HANDS ON IT?

WALTER J HUAMAN: We actually just set official dates for both digital and physical releases! On August 24th you’ll be able to download it from iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster and Shockhound! And on September 24th we will be having our EP release show were you can buy the physical copy of “Creations” at and any of our shows after that!

THE BAND HAS BEEN MAKING MUSIC SINCE 2007. ARE ALL THE SONGS ON THE EP NEW SONGS OR ARE THERE ONE OR TWO THAT HAVE BEEN “HOVERING” AROUND AND WAITING TO BE RECORDED SINCE THE BAND STARTED?

WJH: Pretty much all the songs on the EP are new songs that were written after me and Chris (bass) joined the band, the only two guys from the original lineup are Carlos (drums) and Bryan (guitar). Back then AOS stared as a Grindcore band in 2007. We have been talking about rewriting some of the old songs, not sure if it’ll happen. We’ll just have to wait and see!

ALEX MOLA: There have been many old songs and old demos that we sometimes play around with at practice just for fun, but the 5 songs on the EP were written specifically for the EP with our finalized line up.

A BIG CONFIDENCE BOOSTER FOR THE BAND MUST HAVE BEEN WHEN YOU GOT MISHA MANSOOR INVOLVED TO HELP YOU COMPLETE “CREATIONS”. HOW DID THAT OPPORTUNITY COME AROUND BECAUSE YOU ARE PROBABLY REALLY HAPPY WITH THE WAY THE EP TURNED OUT?

WJH: We’re all pretty excited at how the recordings came out. Misha really has a grasp on this whole recording thing! Other than just recording, he gave us a ton of advice on improving our live sound/performance, as well as shedding some light about what goes on in this industry. The way we came in contact was actually kind of funny, I had been digging Periphery since 2007 so I decided to buy an Ibanez RG2228 around the time I joined AOS in Spring of 2009 so that I could perhaps write riffs like Misha and Periphery but after nodding around on it for a couple months I decided that it wasn’t for me. So I put it up on craigslist. I woke up the next morning and my inbox read “You have a new message from Misha Mansoor” at first I didn’t believe it was him haha, I find it kind of ironic that he was the guy directly responsible in influencing me to buy it and in the end he ends up with it (the RG I sold him ended up being used in the Icarus video). Anyway, he came over, we jammed a bit, and I showed him some Demos we recorded at my house. It was at that point that he offered to record us!

AM: I actually didn’t join the band until the instrumentals were recorded, but I had heard that they began working with Misha. I was very happy for the guys for getting to work with him, as I had been good friends with them prior to joining the band. We are VERY happy with the final product, and can’t wait to share it with everyone.

BY THE TIME THE SONGS WERE RECORDED YOU MUST HAVE ALREADY KNOWN THEM SO WELL THAT YOU COULD PROBABLY PLAY THEM BLINDFOLDED; BUT WERE THERE SOME PARTS DURING THE RECORDING PROCESS WHERE YOU COULD IMPROVISE A BIT?

WJH: For the most YES we did have the songs structured and the riffs set to go. But Misha being the creative genius that he is, helped in the production aspect as well! He did take some riffs, rewrote them, added a bend here and there, and showed us certain chords that would go well with the progression that we picked, it was very inspiring watching him work.

AM: Everyone was very open-minded going into recording. We all love Misha’s work so we were very keen on listening to any ideas or advice he had for the band.

APPARENTLY “CREATIONS” IS A CONCEPT EP WITH THE MUSIC AND LYRICS REVOLVING AROUND A SCI-FI STORY LINE; CAN YOU TELL US A BIT MORE?

WJH: That is true! It is a concept! It’s about a catastrophic event in the far future dealing with invading robot/androids and the album lyrics are from the viewpoint of the main character! The concept started back when I joined the band and the original singer had the idea of wanting to write a concept album, so one day we met and both basically wrote out the major plot points and events that take place. After we parted with him I ended up finalizing the characters and background stories. Even though the album is a concept, I wanted the lyrics to remain somewhat ambiguous to listeners out there. When Alex joined I gave him a brief summary of what happened in each chapter/song but wanted him to use his own personal experiences in order to properly portray the emotions that this man is experiencing during this epic struggle.

AM: There is a story line behind “Creations” however I wrote my own lyrics that are very personal to me, but they still fit the story metaphorically. There aren’t any specifics as to characters and such, but the songs are more about the events and struggles that not only we go through in life, but also of the characters. Lyrics, to me, have always been about the reader/listener. If someone were to read my lyrics and relate to them, whether it’d the meaning I had for them or not, they still relate and it still means something to them.

ARE THERE PLANS FOR A MUSIC VIDEO AND IF YOU HAD AN UNLIMITED BUDGET; WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN YOUR DREAM MUSIC VIDEO?

AM: We actually just finished making a music video for the first song on the CD, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”.  We’re all totally stoked on how it’s turning out.

WJH: A friend of ours Vance Jones, shot and directed the video. Keep an eye out for it soon! But if we had an unlimited budget, I’d probably put all of it towards CGI! LOTS AND LOTS OF CGI! Perhaps make everybody in the band half human/giraffes in the process as well! Wouldn’t that be something!

AM: As far as a Dream Music Video without any budget, I would definitely want to play in a huge cave or something, and throw some crazy effects to make it INSANE!

WHEN IT COMES TO GEAR ARE YOU GUYS ALSO INTO USING SEVEN AND EIGHT STRING GUITARS OR ARE SIX STRINGS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR YOU?

WJH: We actually recorded one of the tracks (Time Left) with my old RG2228 tuning the 8th string down to G! We’ve always toyed with the idea of using seven’s and I even had an eight for a brief period, but honestly, for what we do, six stringers are perfect!

AFTER THE EP IS OUT I GUESS YOU WILL BE TOURING AND GETTING YOUR MUSIC OUT THERE IN AS MANY WAYS AS POSSIBLE; AND HAVING A NEW EP IN HAND SHOULD OPEN NEW DOORS FOR THE BAND AS WELL?

WJH: I Hope! We don’t have any solid tours planned at the moment but we are looking into hopefully going back out for a couple weekend warrior tours here and there. Once winter break hits though we hope to take on a 2 or 3-week tour.

AM: We are most certainly going to do whatever it takes to promote the heck out of the EP. We’re all really happy with the way it turned out. We have the best group of friends who give us the best support, giving us a very positive outlook on the band in general. With all the help from old and new friends, we are more motivated than ever to get to where we want to go as band.

ARE ALL OF YOU STILL DOING THE DAY JOB THING TO SUPPORT YOURSELVES AND THE BAND; AND IF SO IN WHAT WAYS DOES IT HAVE IT’S ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES WHEN IT COMES TO BAND RELATED THINGS LIKE TOURING?

WJH: Man let me tell you! Yes all the members in the band have steady day jobs and a couple of us are actually still in school, so it does get hard sometimes when it comes to touring. We try our best to do as many weekend warrior type tours but anytime there are breaks whether it be winter/spring/summer we take advantage of those breaks and try to book tours for those timeframes. The jobs we have, for the most part, understand that we are in a band so they are lenient when we request off dates.

THE WORST NIGHTS SLEEP YOU EVER HAD ON TOUR?

WJH: I assume each member has a different story but for me it was this last tour we went on into the Midwest with Behold The Flood. We were in the middle of Kansas and we had to drive two hours right after a show to the promoter’s house since we were going to sleep there. I didn’t get any sleep the night before and at the show the whole band including most of BTF got drunk except for me… AOS, our merch guy and three guys from BTF piled into our van while the other two BTF guys drove in their van ahead of us. Let’s just that it’s NEVER fun being the sober driver especially having eight dudes all singing at the top of their lungs loudly to the entire Periphery album. Needless to say we got to the promoter’s house and I passed out in the van since we took turns sleeping out there. Woke up the next morning to the worst head and body ache ever. The rest of the guys slept fine and had no hangovers - haha.

ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR ANYTHING ELSE FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR?

WJH: Keep an eye out on our Myspace for the music video to “Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead”!! ALSO on August 24th, PLEASE download our EP “Creations” from either iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster or Shockhound! And then SPREAD IT LIKE WILDFIRE!

INTERVIEW BY NEIL VAN ZYL