Despite delivering some excellent albums, Australian experimental/post metal outfit Alchemist never really managed to garner much public recognition and acclaim. Some years ago, the band folded leaving singer/guitarist Adam Agius disillusioned about his music career. Luckily he managed to regain his focus and formed a new band, called The Levitation Hex. Ghost Cult sat down with Adam to discuss his post-Alchemist life and future plans for his new band.
Hi Adam, thank you for this interview. Before we start talking about The Levitation Hex can you take us through the period when Alchemist called it quits and when ‘Hex’ came into view?
It was the end of 2010 when Alchemist split and the whole process left me feeling really very emotionally damaged. I lived my life for Alchemist and there was a time after the split that I swore I would never write or perform music ever again. That lasted about two weeks and then I was downstairs working on new material.
Why did Alchemist break up? You guys had something truly astonishing going on.
I guess things with Alchemist started falling apart after our very successful European festival tour in summer 2008. When we got back Rodney and I started compiling many ideas for the next record and it was met with pretty flat and unenthusiastic attitudes from the others. It then progressed to getting some bad attitudes and it became a battle just to get a smile on people’s faces.
I love the tracks we completed but they will never be heard by anybody other than us. It became so bad that I left the band, as it was sort of a situation where no one else wanted to work on the band but at the same time they didn’t want to leave either. I am really proud of everything we did and it was very unique and I can’t fault any of the other guys, 20 years in an underground band battling away is very difficult so I’m just happy we did what we did.
Let’s talk about the The Levitation Hex album. It’s designed as one single piece of music. How did you came up with that idea?
Its not a new idea. In fact I’ve used that template for albums I’ve done in the past; but it’s simply the way I like albums to run. I also believe albums should not exceed 50 minutes and really should be about 40 minutes. I got the idea from being a 70s prog fan and there are so many albums from that era that use this concept.
What I really like about the album is that you guys draw from a wide range of musical influences, yet you manage to forge them into memorable songs. What is your secret?
No secret apart from having a huge record collection of many different styles. I have got more closed minded I guess as I’ve got older and I really have a hard time tolerating anything I am not comfortable with. We all like a wide variety of music but we want The Levitation Hex to be a heavy and catchy band so I guess its just trying to write interesting heavy metal and using your musical palette to do so.
There seems to be something of a concept going on with the album. Care to explain?
There is actually no concept but all of the lyrics are stories or ideas or even just thoughts of mine. They are about experiences in my life or things I have witnessed. There is no deep meaning to them, they are designed to be very easy to understand and I believe that anyone who reads them can relate to a lot of what I’m writing about.
How did you guys go about the writing and recording process? What were you aiming for?
When I started this project I did not have the idea to become a band so everything was written and recorded in garage studio initially, over about two years. I really wanted some great bass playing so I approached Mark Palfreyman from Alarum. He laid down some tracks and really dug the music. He also did a whole bunch of vocals and the twin pronged aggressive vocal approach is something we will make a lot more use of on the second album.
We sent a couple of tracks to key people and from that we got the offer to play Prog Power EU festival. It was then that Mark suggested forming a band and he recruited Scott Young on lead guitar and Ben Hocking on drums. A little bit of re-recording parts and the album was done.
The album was released last year. Are you guys working on new material? If so, what can we expect?
Yes it was released in Australia and will be available in Europe and the UK on the 26th of April 2013 through High Roller Records in Germany. It will be available on gatefold vinyl and CD. It’s been re-packaged so it’s a little different from the Aussie release.
We are working on new material and you can expect a heavy and interesting album with splashes of psychedelia and stoner rock. This time around I am using a traditional heavy rock band format. That is guitars, bass, drums, vocals and organs… a little Mellotron, but very very minimal synths. The album will sound more TLH and less Alchemist as a result. That’s also because the others have more input this time.
You guys did some touring in Europe last year, including a performance at Prog Power. How was the whole experience? Are there any plans to return to Europe anytime soon?
It was a very hardcore underground tour but it served its purpose. It got the people talking and it got us a record deal for Europe. Prog Power was amazing as usual and I love the fact that the guys who organise it have always got behind my music. We are now searching for the best promoter to book our next tour and I expect it will be in 2014.
There’s plenty of musical talent down under, but it seems harder for Australian bands to get noticed compared to their European and American counterparts. How do you see things?
Yes that’s true but what’s even worse now is that the new generation of fans do not support Australian music. They will go and see every international band but not the band in the local pub. There are too many bands, too many people posing as promoters, and too many half-arsed festivals. I believe it will all implode on itself and start all over again.
Finally, what is next for the band in terms of touring and possible other projects?
We are booking shows here in Australia and trying to be very careful about it. We are trying to avoid clashing with other bands and trying to ensure the best possible exposure to fans. We are also writing material that should be released mid 2014 and we are negotiating with European promoters to get back over there.
Raymond Westland