ARTAS are back with a follow up to their 2011 album “Riotology” called “Ora et Gomorrha”. Read what they have to say for themselves. Anders Ekdahl ©2018 <!–more–>

When the band came into creation what was the main purpose for it?
–Artas came to live around 2006. We all had a weakness for aggressive music and decided to turn it into easy money and fame. It’s been a breeze

How hard is it to come up with a sound that is all yours? What bits’n’pieces do you pick up from other stuff to make it your sound?
–I’s say that anyone trying to sell you their “unique sound” is probably full of shit. Here’s two reasons why: First, they’ll come up with the same set of generic elitist influences, and I think that’s especially for metal bands. But the second and more important thing is that you don’t get to decide how your listeners will perceive your stuff. We take exactly what we like and stick it together, and don’t care even if it’s a fucking shameless

I have no idea what kind of creative process you guys go through but how hard is it to record and release new songs?
–Everyone has a say and everyone has strong opinions on everything, so recording and delivering something that we all agree on is always a huge pain. It feels a bit like fight club, and it’s actually surprising that everyone’s still in.

Today technology allows you to record at home and release your music digitally. But in doing so is there a risk that you release only single songs because that is what is demanded to stay atop and therefore you end up killing the album for example?
–A studio in very bedroom is great… But the “constant content” thing, bands posting bullshit teasers, bullshit songs, bullshit streams, bullshit christmas wishes from the rehearsal.. I find that fucking annoying. I guess we all see an albums and artworks as milestones in our lives, and don’t want to deal with all the myopic stuff.

I for one feel that the change in how people listen to music today, by downloading it and expecting to get it for free, will kill music as we know it. What kind of future is there for music?
–If they want it for free, let them have it… I don’t care and don’t whine about it. I think the biggest hype for us so far was when our second record leaked into the depths of the Russian net, and for some weird reason we still have a pretty interesting fan base there. I that’s not fair enough you should probably reconsider what you’re doing in the first place

What kind of responses do you get to your music? What has been the thing that has gotten the most attention?
–My favorite so far was “worse than a case of leprosy” in some online review for the last records, the guy seems really touched. For the last two records we were signed to napalm, who have an entire machinery of online and offline routines – I couldn’t single out one thing that really gets you attention. I always found it challenging to play along with supporting the promo, reacting to social media, generic interviews. But you tell me, do people really read this stuff?

We live in a world where there are no real distances between people communicating anymore. What has been the most surprising contact so far?
–That would probably be pre-facebook, on our first tour supporting Hatesphere. Objectively, the tour was went just straight up terrible empty venues and frustrated headliners. But we didn’t know shit and were just super-stoked to finally be on the road, running around like grinning idiots. Somewhere halfway through the thing we were playing some random German city on a weekday, so everyone was preparing to get it over with. Right in the beginning of our set the place gets packed with kids in Artas shirts, who simply destroy the place sing along every line. Apparently, one of them distributed the records in school, and they all collectively decided to be hardcore fans for live. Post-facebook, we’re still in touch with them. Maybe a bit off-topic, but I still like how the word diffused there.

Does playing in a band make you feel like you are a part of a greater community? What has music brought with it that you would have otherwise missed out on?
–The band itself always did that for me, that’s for sure. But it feels like we’ve always been outsiders to any “scene”, and also didn’t care about connecting too much. Creating your own stuff and just throwing it out there is a very special and weird experience though, and It will teach you a few very specific things that are quite usable – being able to expose yourself and not give shit.. I find that quite valuable.

What is the live scene like for you? Do you feel that playing live helps building a bigger following?
–I’m sure it does, it’s also hard work if your that kind of “builder”. I’m sure many bands will be way more professional about that, but I think for us it was never really about systematically growing your following – we rather just go out there to explode.

What plans do you have for the future?
–We’ll try to fuck the internet in early 2019. Also maybe sue our ex label.