The Alchemy Index Interview
The Alchemy Index based out of New Haven, Connecticut consists of a group of five musicians who are full of energy and committed to making music. With their ambient progressive rock style and their upbeat personality, The Alchemy Index make sure the crowd goes home remembering their name after every performance. Check out the interview below to find out how the band came together and what’s in the future for The Alchemy Index.
How long have you known each other and how did the members of The Alchemy Index meet?
The majority have known each other for a couple of years. We met through out different bands and we actually met Eric via YouTube as weird as it is.
What inspired you guys to want to create music together?
We’ve all always been drawn to play music purely because it’s a feeling that can’t be replicated in any other way.
Tell me about your band name. How did you come up with “The Alchemy Index” and what were some of the names you threw out?
That’s actually a funny story. Michael and I are huge fans of Thrice and they are a huge inspiration to us, even if it doesn’t show in our music. The only other name we juggled around was The Common Collective but Common Courtesy by ADTR had just dropped so we strayed away from it.
The Alchemy Index is based out of New Haven CT. How’s the music scene there? Do you have a lot of fans and supporters back home?
The music scene is actually changing a lot where we are. A lot of bands are breaking up and reforming as new bands so it’s interesting to see where it’s gonna go.
On your Facebook page it says your influences are Anberlin, Silverstein, Circa Survive, Hands Like Houses, Erra, and Saosin. What is it about those bands that makes you look up to them? How have they had an impact on your music?
These bands are huge inspirations to all of us for a few simple reasons. They all have high driving music, incredible vocals and a passion that a lot of bands in the scene lack nowadays. We strive to bring back the scene from early 2005/2006 because we all grew up with it and we’re all inspired by it.
You’re playing South By So What and Never Say Never in a couple of weeks, What do you think separates being a part of these festivals from others?
I think the biggest thing that draws us to these festivals is the sense of community. These festivals are staples of the communities and strive to bring new music and new bands to the area as often as they can.
How has your sound evolved from when you first started playing to your most recent release In Your Head//Not Your Heart?
The biggest evolution of our music is that when we recorded the EP we were “bound” by predetermined ideas of what we would sound like. After we released it we went through member changes and realized that we didn’t want to stuck inside one genre or style. The few lineup changes that happened have allowed us all to perform to a higher level of musicianship then we previously could.
“In Your Head // Not Your Heart happens to be one of my favorite tracks from The Alchemy Index. What else can you tell me about the track and the recording process?
When we wrote this song we focused purely on how it would feel to play and the raw and aggressive emotion it would provoke. We tracked everything digital this time which is a huge change from the EP. We also allowed Eric to handle all the screaming on this as opposed to Andrew because his voice fit the feeling and energy we needed.
I saw on Facebook that you just bought your first van as a band. Does that mean there’s a tour in the near future?
We can only hope haha but we might have some things in the works.
Is there anything else you would like to say to the readers of By the Barricade?
Thank you guys for taking the time to talk and to all the fans for reading this and we hope you guys stick around and enjoy the new music we release!
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