Aviyn: Unsigned Oklahoma Metalcore Upstarts Remained Focused
Hailing from Oklahoma, Aviyn are a five piece dropping equally punishing and infectious metalcore-flavored songwriting. After recording a few demo CDs, the band released their proper self-titled debut album earlier this summer. With writers comparing Aviyn to groups like Asking Alexandria and The Devil Wears Prada, Noisecreep is sure the relatively unknown act will soon find itself with a crop of new fans.
Noisecreep caught up with Aviyn guitarist Richie Perrin to get the skinny on their new record and the struggles of being an indie artist.
First things first, how did Aviyn get together?
Four of us are from a very small town, Hominy, Okla. We always played music together growing up and have just continued from High School till now. We found Josh [Warman, vocals] through MySpace at not too distant Claremore and he fit right into what we wanted to do so that's how Aviyn was formed.
There's really not too much to do in such small towns so playing music was always our best choice. We were always driven to accomplish something musically and our surroundings definitely push that. We are determined to achieve something more and when that happens our home state will be totally to thank.
Watch 'Red Shield' Lyric Video
What kind of pressures do you deal with as an unsigned band?
I guess mainly just the feeling of not knowing. Not knowing exactly what the next step is. Not knowing really how "well" the band is doing in general. I really believe signed bands have this advantage. They ,for the most part, know something is always in the works for them. Shows will come, tours will come. Being unsigned leaves those questions always open. When's the next show? How are we doing? Also I know a lot of signed bands don't get much financial help but we fund every aspect of this band ourselves. Gas, equipment, van, trailer, merch, promotion, and much much more. We pay for all of this out of our own pockets. It is a tough profession for sure but we wouldn't ever want to do anything else. I promise you the positives outweigh the pressures for us at least.
Emmett [Neves, bass] has really worked his butt off to become a good engineer and producer. We just felt Emmett could easily handle the project and having total control of our product was a must for us. We wanted exactly a certain sound and Emmett definitely delivered. Nick Sampson (In Fear and Faith, I Am Abomination, and Adestria) mixed and mastered the new album for us and he did great. He really helped us out in the post-production so we are eternal grateful. We hope everyone picks up are self-titled debut album out now on iTunes, Amazon, and CDBaby.
What do you want the band to grow into?
We really talk a lot about not having a "genre." We don't want to be typecast as a certain sound when we truly feel with time we can sound like whatever we want. Be able to play within all different genres and feel confident. We also want to focus on our live show and push the limits of ourselves there. We want people to truly enjoy themselves when they watch us perform.The live performers we want to grow into will be dynamic and very entertaining.
For information on Aviyn, head over to their official Facebook page.
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