Angels on Acid

Tell us a little about your band Angels on Acid.
- "I started Angels on Acid in 2003 as a psy/industrial project focusing on production only. By 2005 I began experimenting with vocals and brought in The Omen as a full time guitar player. Our style is influenced by everything from EBM, Psychedelic Trance, Goa, Industrial, and Synthpop."

You're making a new album, what can you tell us about it?
- "The new album has definitely been a step up from our last album in terms of melody, structure, and over all production quality while continuing to experiment with diversity. There seems to be an on going fusion of EBM, PSY, and Synthpop that our fans crave expanding on our Dance Music roots. There's alot more use of vocal layering with our signature melodic and scream styles."

Is there any big change between this new material and the old one?
- "So far the album has been a work of labor and love. In 2007 I my brother almost died twice, I lost my job due to the economy, and lost five tracks due to the motherboard and hard drive burning out on my last PC. I lost everything... vocals, guitar, production, wav and midi. However, despite the setbacks, the struggles only made me stronger and more driven. And the heartache has only made the music more personal to me. The patience has paid off and our finished products are something I am very proud of. I truly believe our fans deserve 110%. Anything less would be selling us short."

Your touring right now, met any interesting bands? Any good shows?
- "Shows are going well. Rather than doing a full tour this summer we decided to do a couple of large shows a month so that there is still time to work on new material. It has been great to expanding our fan base and meeting new friends. In these uncertain financial times we are grateful that there are still good people out there who still love the music as much as we do. Thank you so much to all of the bands, record labels, DJs, and promoters, and radio stations who let the music be heard! It's always great when someone tells you how much a certain song means to them or how it helped them through a tough time in their life. There are some great shows coming up. We got in one of the shows for the Combichrist/Julien K tour here in the US. We had the opportunity to play with Combichrist last year as well and it's always an honor. August 9th we headline in Jersey with Sonik Foundry and End the Dj. August 29th we fly out San Antonio to play at Club Atomix. September we open for Slick Idiot here in Charlotte NC and then off to Salem Mass for a special Halloween show in late October. It's good we have been able to play and make it back home to write."

What is the future having in store for Angels on Acid?
- "More album and touring. Our goal is to never limit ourselves and continue to master the art that we love so much. We are looking to add a few more members for a national tour when our next album is released. I'm also keeping our fingers crossed for a few shows in Europe as well."

What are your biggest influences?
- "Life experience has been my biggest influence. It has shaped me into the man that I am today and without life experience there would be nothing to share or our fans to relate to. As far as artist and music there are some many bands that I know I will leave out a few. Much thank you to Slayer, Hocico, Front Line Assembly , Front 242, VNV Nation, Icon of Coil, Depeche Mode, Infected Mushroom, Skinny Puppy,Dark Soho, Iron Maiden, Morbid Angel, Xenomorph, Parasense, Osom. Like I said there are just too many and it's lot fair to leave and of them out. Both me and Damien (The Omen) started out in bands when we were 15. He was always a great metal guitarist and I worked one of the original drummer of Between the Buried and Me who recently signed on major label. As we got older we got more into the club scene and eventually replaced our in our decks for gear so we could start producing on own. I got my first drum machine in 1998 and never looked back. I will never forget the first time I heard "Full Metal Jacket" form Ron D Core at the club with a good sound system. That was the first time I ever heard Gabber. It was fast, hard, and aggressive, something that was lacking in house and epic trance. Both Damien and I became big fans of Psychedelic Trance and Goa in the late nineties. It became a large influence on our style. The EBM influence is most predominating but if listen closely you will pick up on a lot of other underlying elements as well."

Would you say that digital distribution is a good way to sell music?
- "At this point there is no safe way to distribute music due to downloading. It's a two edged sword. In one respect it allows underground and new bands to get their music out to the public and get it heard. Unfortunately there is no money in CDs anymore. Hell there no money in downloading either. It's all a racket. The only way for an artist to make money is to tour and sell merchandise that is too expensive to reproduce. Like T-shirts or Posters. No one is going to put their own money into stealing someone's logos to print out T-shirts. They just do it because it's easy. Shit I used to download artist before I started writing. It wasn't until I released my first album and saw it up on FTP sites within the first days of its release that I truly understood the impact the pirating music has had on our economy and the future of music. I'm happy to say that the feeling I get when performing with fans. The interaction and the energy are unexplainable. But the energy far exceeds the money out of pocket to produce and album or the cost to tour. I just don't think people realize how broke musicians in our genre of music are right now. We are ALL struggling just to get by."

Would you like to add anything else?
- "I would just like to thank you for taking the time to put together the interview and how much we appreciate any one who has taken the time to learn more about the music we love so much. Thank you to all of our wonderful fans who have been a great source of encouragement and support over the years. Thank you to all the DJs, Musicians, Producers, Promoters, Record Labels, and Radio Stations for allowing our voice to be heard. Continue to keep in contact with us as we prepare for the release of our next album and many good things to come!"

Thanks for taking your time and hope to see you in Europe soon!
- "Thank you my friend and let's keep our fingers crossed!"