ARTAIUS interview

I interviewed Enrico from ARTAIUS.

01. Hi! Can you tell us the ARTAIUS story from its beginning to now ?

We started playing together in 2008, with the aim of merging folk tunes and atmospheres with the raw power of metal music: after some lineup changes, we finally got the right people to grow up as a band. We released an EP in 2011 and started playing live more intensively, sharing the stage with great acts such as Kalevala, Furor Gallico, Diabula Rasa. Meanwhile, we recorded our very first full-length and now we’re looking for gigs to promote it!

02. The band is influenced by a lot of musical genres, how was it integrated inside the band ? 

Everyone of us has different musical tastes, ranging from metalcore to jazz: we try to blend all of them in something unique. Sometimes it’s a hard quest, but we strongly believe that all that different influences can definitely enrich our sound.

03. Why have you chosen that Celtic epithet name, ARTAIUS, for your band ?

Artaius is the name of a Gaulish god. Originally he was probably related to nature and herding, but later he appeared to be an epithet for the Roman God Mercury, who, among other things, protected travellers. We chosen it because our homeland has always been a crossroad between different peoples and cultures, so we felt it was quite meaningful.

04. 3 years after the birthdate of the band, you released your very first demo .Why couldn’t you before ?

As we said before, we had to deal with some lineup changes. Furthermore, we wanted to let our music grow and develop in some stable proposal before recording it!

05. Then your first album entitled “The Fifth Season” was out this April 2013. 

Can you explain us the artwork ?

The artwork is basically about the continuous changing of time and passing of seasons, symbolized with the river, the bridge and the clock in the front. This is a theme that really grabbed us during the recording days and later, when we had to finish the artwork.

06. did the recordings happen good ? 

Yes, they did. We worked with Carlo Izzo, an amazing soundengineer that did an excellent job. He had been very friendly since the first time we met and we had a really good time with him.

07. Is your album focused more on Nature ?

We took some inspirations from Nature for the artwork, some lyrics and some music, but it’s not the main theme of the whole album. To be honest, there are no main themes in this album!

08. Can you describe the 5th season ?

The Fifth Season is our effort to “break the cycle” of the four seasons, the endless revolving of time. It’s like a desire to getting out from the continuous fading away of time to create something that shall stand.

09. First thing I notice once I posted the tracklist is the wind there… Wind of truth, quest, revenge & wisdom.  What means the Wind for ARTAIUS ?

In the concept behind the four songs the Wind always brings something: the truth of a brutal slaughter, the quest of men searching for the murderers of their families, the revenge over them, and finally the wisdom, the awareness that all that blood was spelt for nothing. 

It’s like a reminder that, in the end, war and bloody revenges are pointless.

10. Next month, you’ll share the stage with bands like Ensiferum, SKyforger, Cruachan, Wolfchant and more at maybe the greatest paganfest in Italy so called FOSCH FEST. What do you expect from there ?

First of all, we’ve to say that playing there will be like a dream that becomes reality! Second, we hope that we’ll get the chance to bring our music to more people and to make a great experience, learning from such great bands. We are sure that we’ll have a lot of fun with our friends and we encourage everyone to join us!

11. Some other bands from Italy will be there. I think to Lou Quinse or Maladecia. Have you already shared the stage with these Italian bands earlier ?

No, we have never played with them before, but we shared the stage with Ulvedharr, another cool Italian band and our labelmates. 

12. Moonlight Records signed ARTAIUS. Was it one difficult process ?

Well, of course you have to carefully consider everything before making such a step ahead, but we believe that signing with Moonlight has been the right choice for us.

13. Do you plan one official video for the album ?

We are planning something, maybe for next Fall…so, stay tuned!

14. What are your next plans ?

Actually we’re looking for gigs. Our first aim is to play live as much as possible to bring our music to new people: this summer we’ll play at Female&Folk Fest on the 22th of June and at Fosch Fest on the 14th of July. Everyone who wants to come and listen to us is more than welcome!

15. Some words to add for the ones reading the interview ?

We want to thank you for the interview and all the readers for their interest and support: we hope to see all of you at some our gig! Keep up the good work with SwordChant and check out our Facebook page and Youtube Channel for more news and songs!

Thank you, Enrico!