Band: Afflicted Creation
Genre: Deathcore / Grindcore
Q:
Where does your band name "Afflicted Creation" come from?
Well
that's a good question. Afflicted Creation describes what our lyrics are about.
They are about all the things wrong with humanity, so we thought Afflicted
Creation would fit well with that. We are really bad of choosing names because
we all have different meanings and different tastes. We always want a consensus
when it comes to these things.
We spent a while coming up with suggestions, and we ended up with taking the suggestion which was "Creation By Affliction" and then one of our guitarists shortened it to be Afflicted Creation. We didn’t intend for the name to be “brutal” but like I said it just suited the lyrics. We are happy with the name and we will not change it like all the other names we had.
Q: You have had previous band names: Battery, Fractured, The Dissonant, then finally Afflicted Creation. Why so many band name changes?
The band started out playing covers such as Guns & Roses and Metallica without vocals and was called Battery. When I stumbled in the band they were still playing Metallica but now they also played Slayer and Pantera. I thought the band needed a new name and the others agreed. We were going to play the first gig with me a few weeks later, and I came up with the suggestion Fractured and the other guys was tired of Battery so they agreed to change the name. After a while as Fractured we just grew tired of the name and we thought it was a little emo for our taste, so we changed it to Dissonant.
Dissonant was actually just a temporary name but we forgot about it. We played a while as Dissonant and we started to grow in our music tastes and playing. We started doing Lamb of God covers and we made our first song. The song we made was the foundation of the genre we play today. After making a few songs we changed the name to Afflicted Creation because of our recording plans. The changes were just because we didn’t feel well with the names and we needed a change because of newer music styles and to be unique.
Q: What was your favorite band growing up, and does that same band play an influence in your music now?
My favorite band growing up wasn’t much of a band. I went through different music phases, but it all started with my dad always waking me up with classical music. I guess at that time my favorite musician was Mozart. When I grew a bit I actually listened to rap and hip hop, but when I started playing guitar I went back to my classical roots and also learnt some Metallica. I think classical music is really fun to play but I discovered rock and metal which gave me new things to learn. I continued playing bad covers of Metallica and some Ozzy Osbourne until I started middle school. On my school I met our drummer which I already knew a bit, and he asked me if I wanted to watch his band on one of their practices. I wanted to play in a band so I immediately said I would come.
The same day I was walking around the school at recess and I saw these three guys sitting alone talking. I thought I could amuse myself by being really awkward and just go and sit with them to make the situation awkward. Before I got to do anything they started talking about metal and music, and being that my school is full of “wangsters” I was really happy there was someone I could talk about music with. They also told me they played in a band and told me to come and watch one of their practices. I finally went to one of their practices and I really wanted to play guitar but those slots were full. They asked if I wanted to sing at a gig they were going to play at, and I said yes. I never had any vocal experience and I never had thought I would be singing in a band. So there we were, at a stage in front of an audience that was to be sick of, and I had only practiced at the song for a couple of weeks. We played South of Heaven by Slayer and I just stood there thinking I was at least decent on the vocals but it sounded awful. The audience shouted “Satanic bastards!” and other stuff to us.
Since then I never had stage fright again because nothing could be worse than that event. After playing those kinds of gigs we started to advance in music styles, but it wasn’t until we started playing Lamb of God I learnt to scream. Lamb of God became my favorite band since then. My vocals advanced after time, I wanted to go lower and lower and higher and higher. I am still influenced by the bands I listen to and I will probably still evolve more and more as time progresses. Right now my favorite bands and my biggest influences are Dysphoria, Infant Annihilator and the old Job for a Cowboy.
We spent a while coming up with suggestions, and we ended up with taking the suggestion which was "Creation By Affliction" and then one of our guitarists shortened it to be Afflicted Creation. We didn’t intend for the name to be “brutal” but like I said it just suited the lyrics. We are happy with the name and we will not change it like all the other names we had.
Q: You have had previous band names: Battery, Fractured, The Dissonant, then finally Afflicted Creation. Why so many band name changes?
The band started out playing covers such as Guns & Roses and Metallica without vocals and was called Battery. When I stumbled in the band they were still playing Metallica but now they also played Slayer and Pantera. I thought the band needed a new name and the others agreed. We were going to play the first gig with me a few weeks later, and I came up with the suggestion Fractured and the other guys was tired of Battery so they agreed to change the name. After a while as Fractured we just grew tired of the name and we thought it was a little emo for our taste, so we changed it to Dissonant.
Dissonant was actually just a temporary name but we forgot about it. We played a while as Dissonant and we started to grow in our music tastes and playing. We started doing Lamb of God covers and we made our first song. The song we made was the foundation of the genre we play today. After making a few songs we changed the name to Afflicted Creation because of our recording plans. The changes were just because we didn’t feel well with the names and we needed a change because of newer music styles and to be unique.
Q: What was your favorite band growing up, and does that same band play an influence in your music now?
My favorite band growing up wasn’t much of a band. I went through different music phases, but it all started with my dad always waking me up with classical music. I guess at that time my favorite musician was Mozart. When I grew a bit I actually listened to rap and hip hop, but when I started playing guitar I went back to my classical roots and also learnt some Metallica. I think classical music is really fun to play but I discovered rock and metal which gave me new things to learn. I continued playing bad covers of Metallica and some Ozzy Osbourne until I started middle school. On my school I met our drummer which I already knew a bit, and he asked me if I wanted to watch his band on one of their practices. I wanted to play in a band so I immediately said I would come.
The same day I was walking around the school at recess and I saw these three guys sitting alone talking. I thought I could amuse myself by being really awkward and just go and sit with them to make the situation awkward. Before I got to do anything they started talking about metal and music, and being that my school is full of “wangsters” I was really happy there was someone I could talk about music with. They also told me they played in a band and told me to come and watch one of their practices. I finally went to one of their practices and I really wanted to play guitar but those slots were full. They asked if I wanted to sing at a gig they were going to play at, and I said yes. I never had any vocal experience and I never had thought I would be singing in a band. So there we were, at a stage in front of an audience that was to be sick of, and I had only practiced at the song for a couple of weeks. We played South of Heaven by Slayer and I just stood there thinking I was at least decent on the vocals but it sounded awful. The audience shouted “Satanic bastards!” and other stuff to us.
Since then I never had stage fright again because nothing could be worse than that event. After playing those kinds of gigs we started to advance in music styles, but it wasn’t until we started playing Lamb of God I learnt to scream. Lamb of God became my favorite band since then. My vocals advanced after time, I wanted to go lower and lower and higher and higher. I am still influenced by the bands I listen to and I will probably still evolve more and more as time progresses. Right now my favorite bands and my biggest influences are Dysphoria, Infant Annihilator and the old Job for a Cowboy.
Q: How is the metal underground scene in Ellingsrud, Oslo, Norway?
I started laughing when I read this question because the answer is ridiculous. There is no metal scene where we live. There is us in the band and maybe a few others here who listen to metal, but there is just us who listens to deathcore and such. Frost from Satyricon lives here but he usually keeps to himself and his girlfriend, so we don’t count him in. The environment where we live is based on rap and hip hop, and we are almost outcasts of their society. We are friends with most of the people here but not the “wangsters” and the ones that we are friends with don’t listen to the same music so we can’t talk about music with them.
If we are talking about the metal scene in Oslo it is more people to talk about. The problem is that there are not many who like the core genre. When good core bands come here to Oslo it might be 400 persons who come to see them, maybe more. If Metallica comes to Norway, there will be full packed arenas. I think it’s really hard being a deathcore or any other core band here in Norway. All we can hope for is that other countries will hear about us and maybe listen to our music. I wish more people would listen to the genre we play because it’s more fun playing for more people than playing for 10 people who actually care about the music. It is also hard to get more fans and promotion here and that is something I wish would change.
Q: Does your family support your choice in music, and the band itself?
My parents have always been supportive in everything I do except doing drugs and stuff. They have never complained about the music I play. In fact, even though they don’t like metal in general they think that we got talent and are happy we’re doing something else than doing drugs and all that shit. My parents are supportive in many ways; they can give both good and constructive criticism when I ask for their opinion. They are also willing to help with the financial stuff if we would need that, but so far we have managed mostly on our own. My parents also are willing to drive our equipment to gigs which help us out a lot because there is a lot of stuff with much weight to it. I can thank my own parents and the other guys’ parents for all their support over me and the band.
Q: What are your plans for 2013?
Our plans for 2013 is to first of all release our EP. We have worked hard and spent a lot of money to make this EP and we hope people will enjoy it. We also want to go on a little tour and play for more people, and we hope to possibly get signed by a record label. We haven’t got plans to get huge or play gigs at arenas but we just want to get a little recognition. We play mostly because we think it’s fun and it’s what we love to do.
We are just teenagers and I myself just turned 16, so to be where we’re at already is actually really cool. We’ve gotten good feedback even from people around the world and we appreciate the feedback and all the likes we’ve gotten from sites like PSAB. We actually want more constructive criticism because we can’t get any better if people always say we’re good. In 2013 we’re going to make a lot more songs so we can record our first full-length album in 2014. The songs are going to be more technical and some will be heavier than others, we still hope people will enjoy our music.
Q: Any shout outs to give?
There are many we would like to thank and give shout out to. I would start with thanking our dear manager and my teacher Cecilie Sæther for supporting us and helping us. We also want to give a shout out to Redline Studios for having the patience to deal with us teenagers. We have a few friends in other bands that we would like to give a shout out to: Causing the Exile and Turn The Tables for giving us tips and letting us play gigs with them, and we want to thank all the bands we look up to and are influenced by. We will also give a shout out to SubScene for letting us play at their.
Our parents need a shout out to just for being supportive and my dad especially for driving our equipment. Ellingsrud Fritidsklubb for letting us practice in their basement and helping us out with equipment and money. Our fans need a shout out for supporting us and just being awesome people! There’s a few more and that is Pig Squeals and Breakdowns, Pure Deathcore and other promotion pages just for promoting us and helping us out! Last but not least I want to personally thank my band for being good friends and being the incredible people they are!
That's it :) May be a bit long, but i couldn't make it shorter.
Best regards!
Stian Hebjerk
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