To the point of tears
Auradrone is a band with a mysterious soul. They are Jon Mack - voice, guitar, electronics, production; Fred Traverso - electronics, production; and Christopher Fudurich –electronics. Their electronic sound goes into darkness looking for the lost light. And here they come with a new album, Bleeding edge (2011), a new night step sounding through the beautiful voice of Jon Mack, their alma mater. Heavy and industrial sounds, dark atmospheres and a strong personality always looking for new hard sounds make Auradrone a special rocktronica band from the American west coast. Let’s taste their melodic blood walking across hard rock, electronic and trip-hop sounds. But first, let’s talk with Jon Mack.
We can read on your facebook the sentence “Live to the point of tears” by Albert Camus. Do you?
As often as possible! I don't subscribe to mediocre.
“The escape” is your new brand video in which you go from darkness to the white light. The sound is a mix between dark electronics and bright melodic moments. From what are you escaping?
“The escape” is your new brand video in which you go from darkness to the white light. The sound is a mix between dark electronics and bright melodic moments. From what are you escaping?
It's about oppression in general, whether that's a relationship or state of being. It's about finding one's inner strength to stand up against those who try to keep us in a box and make us feel inferior or weak.
The new album’s title is “Bleeding edge”. If we talk about Auradrone, could we say your music has a bleeding sound always on the edge?
I'm not sure what a bleeding sound would be but I supposed this could be metaphorically close at times...
One of your songs is “Semantix” in which you sing “I’m being shown I belong on the other side” going through and hypnotic rhythm. What’s on the other side?
What lies beyond the veil of physical reality. Pure energy. “Auto erotic” talks about the new ways of experiencing sex from anonymity.
“I’m a live wire little girl voyeur”. What’s your opinion about that kind of experiences?
I think it has it's place and in modern life it's now become so accepted and often expected, especially with the internet having become such an integral part of our daily lives. There's a bit of voyeur in everyone. Observation has it's own pleasure. Sometimes everyone likes to watch!
“I refuse to play your empty games...” you sing in “Just outside”.
Are social conventions too restrictive?
I try not to feed interpretation of my lyrics to the listener too much since it's such a subjective experience but this song is basically about rising above the din and pettiness of the monkey mind and finding one's grace.
“Petite morte” returns again to sex looking for an orgasm as symbol of beauty and pleasure. Has sex an important place in your life?
Of course. It's important in ALL human life. It's hard wired into us. It's also a way for our souls to relate to the world and opposite sex. We learn a great deal about ourselves through sex and our relation to it. More than the physical act, it effects humans on many levels. To
say it's just physical is just scratching the surface.
“Last nerve” says “Another soul invaded got those desperate wants and needs but they can’t buy your peace of mind, you can’t find it so you want mine”. Has life become so empty?
This song is not about emptiness rather it's about fending off parasites who steal one's energy because they have no inner light of their own.
Returning to the new album, “Shadow” is probably one of your brightest despite the title. Do you like dark sides?
I wouldn't say I like it but it is part of us and we must face that fact. I often try to embrace it for the great teacher that it can be. It also does have it's own strange appeal that can't be denied.
Tell me about your band and the special collaborators on this new album “Bleeding edge”.
This new album I connected with one of my current collaborators, Fred Traverso from Strasbourg, France. Fred and I had met virtually a couple of years back when he remixed some of the Auradrone material from the first album. For some reason we just kind of hit it off musically and things started to progress from there. We have great musical chemistry and work easily together. It all happened quite naturally and we're constantly on this learning curve and focusing our talents and energies to whittle this sound into something special. I also worked with Christopher Fudurich again on some tracks for this album. Chris and I had worked together before on some tracks as well as live shows. The way I see this project is that's it's going to constantly change and morph as people enter and exit the picture. Of course there's always an open door policy with everyone as was my intention upon first creating it. I don't put strict rules on having certain band members bound by blood. These days this seems too difficult as everyone has their hands in many pies. I like the idea of working with new talent because it challenges me in good ways. I also love to see people I've collaborated with in the past return because it's always different in some way. Nothing stays the same and this is what fuels that creative spark. It can go either way really and that's somehow exciting.
What about your different artistic activities? You are also an actress.
Interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Photos courtesy of Auradrone