Hello Elitsa how are you doing? Hello, I am very well, thank you! Please tell us about the City/Village where you are living? I live in Sofia, it is a green and nice city. We have parks, nice restaurants and clubs, and also a high mountain right next to the city, where one can go hiking during hers/his free time. How is the Metal scène in your Area and Bulgaria in general..? Many big bands come to Sofia and Bulgaria in the last years. There are really a lot of lives and concerts going on all the time. How did Aegonia got started in 2011? Several years ago our guitarist/vocalist Niki and me were playing in another band with friends of ours. It was nothing serious, we just played our own music for pleasure. At some point the other band members did not have time to rehearse any more, so we decided to start a new project. We did not have any plans for the future, we just wanted to play our own music. In the beginning we only played short improvisations with guitar and violin. When we had a few songs ready, our friend Nasko (Atanas Georgiev) joined us on bass. Soon we were invited to play on a small festival, so we searched for a drummer. Rosen Paskulov joined us, he plays the drums on our debut album “The Forgotten Song”. The Forgotten song is (what I know) the first album of the band. Please tell us about the writing process and the time in the studio recording the album? Yes, it is our first album. When we started Aegonia, it was an acoustic project of Niki and me playing with guitar and violin. The first song we wrote was “Restless Mind” – at that time it was called “Gothic” and had no lyrics. I remember the first lyrics we wrote was for “Rain Of Tears” – it was an improvisation, something that I began to sing with Niki’s guitar without thinking too much about the words. When we had a few songs ready, we realized that the lyrics of those songs are related to each other and are telling us a fantasy story. I was so thrilled from this discovery, that I started thinking about this story all the time. I began to write it as a novel. The songs we composed led to more facts from the story, and the writing led to more music. From the very beginning we wanted to record and mix the album ourselves. Back at that time we started recording it, but we were very unpleased with the result. We realized we are not good musicians, composers and sound engineers and we have a lot to learn. We really liked the melodies and the feeling of the songs, so we decided we will not release the album until we are satisfied with the result, even if it takes years. So we started taking musical lessons and we recorded and mixed again and again. Even now we feel the album can be played and mixed better, but we decided we are satisfied with the result and it is time to move on. We did the best we can at this point of our lives. How did the press and fans receive the album? We do have good response. We don’t have many fans, but there are some people that really enjoyed this music and we are very happy with this. Please tell us about the Heart of the Music. The Bulgarian Culture/Spirit that is A big part of the band..? In Aegonia we develop two different directions – one is doom/gothic like “The Forgotten Song”, but we also have songs that are pretty much folklore. Those are the songs “The Maid And The Mountain” and “Samodiva”, to which we filmed beautiful videos. Our idea was to show in those videos the beauty of Bulgarian folklore and nature. Niki and me were always fascinated by authentic folklore music from Bulgaria and from all over the world. There is pure and raw beauty in folklore. Just imagine how much power there is in a song that lives through centuries, passed from one person to another! We played in a folklore orchestra for two years and this deeply inspired us to work on songs in that direction. Why the band choose the Fantasy Novel of Nea Stand/ And the Tales from the lands of Aegonia..? To be the content of the album? When we wrote the first songs from the album, we realized their lyrics are connected to each other, telling us a fantasy story. Although I had not written anything before, I decided to try to write this story as a novel. I used the writer’s name Nea Stand to publish it. We got to know this story through the music, in the process of composing the songs of “The Forgotten Song”. But the story did not end with the album. We already have book two – “The River Of Memories” – completed, and I am currently working on book three. We already have songs based on them. We named the series “Tales From The Lands Of Aegonia”. Are you planning to play in West- Europe in the near future? We would love to, but unfortunately for now we have not planned anything specific. What are Some of your favorite bands/artists? I very much enjoy to listen to Trees Of Eternity, Katatonia, Insomnium, Charm Designer, Be’Lakor… Do you have a last word to our readers? Thank you very much to all of you who took your time to read this interview. Thank you for your interest. I wish you all the best, and keep supporting the underground! Aegonia Video-Clip
