Klonavenus – The Dark Angels of Music
Emerging in the music world as a Goth band is a difficult task to accomplish. Many have tried, like Lacuna Coil. If you’re lucky, you gain a small faithful group of followers or if you’re like Goblin you’re bound to write songs for Dario Argento. Klonavenus has a dark sonority to them with a look that echoes The Cure, in particular Robert Smith. Their dark music takes you to a place that touches the inner part of your noir heart, the place that each of us has but doesn’t always wish to admit.
What inspires you in your song writing?
Saffio:“Personally in the composition of the music for Klonavenus I’m influenced by the progressive rock of the ‘70’s and the music for films seeing that I also work as a composer for film soundtracks, but I also like all the music from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, gothic and industrial.”
Chemnitz:“I’m influenced mostly from the reality that surrounds me, especially by a metropolis at night infested by strange presences or by an abandoned factory, the music alone isn’t enough to inspire me. My inspirations are more towards the literary such as Bataille, Artaud, and the Russian writers of the 18th century, as well as artistic such as the impressionism paintings, but what mostly influences me are my own personal reflections on life and death, in accordance with themes like abandon, eroticism, love, or esotericism, which are present in the lyrics that I write.”
What are your musical influences for your sound?
Saffio:“The sound of Klonavenus has a lot of gothic wave influences from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, but musically we’re closer to bands such as Supiria, Clan of Xymox, London After Midnight, Diary of Dreams, without forgetting the influence of some ‘70’s bands for example Goblin that I’m particularly devoted to.”
Chemnitz:“I grew up listening to Depeche Mode, a lot of synthpop such as And One, Mesh, De/Vision, old EBM, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Leather strip, and the former electro-industrial German scene such as Das Ich, Project Pitchfork, and :Wumpscut:. Today I love the melodies of Deine Lakaien, and there are some interesting furturepop projects, but in reality I listen to a lot of music that is either similar or totally opposite of the Klonavenus sound, from Limbo, to Sopor Aeternus, Coil, Laibach, and every now and then going for neo-folk and eso-industrial, while continuing to listen to fundamental groups such as Strict Confidence.”
Your music is very noir, do you feel as though you’re more inclined towards the darker side of life?
Saffio:“Surely our sound reflects the feelings and emotions that I feel in everyday life, from dreams to nightmares that are a part of me either artistically or humanly. There’s a lot of my personality and my soul in what I do and Klonavenus is surely an expression of that.”
Chemnitz:“The darker side of life is the most true and profound one, far from the superficiality in which the masses gather. Exploring it means to suffer, to grow, to be curious, to live in a cycle that allows us to die and then to be reborn at a level that gives us a superior knowledge, without ever renouncing your own individuality. This is our road, dark, but fascinating.”
If you could collaborate with any musician or band, who would it be?
Saffio:“It would surely be interesting to perform or collaborate with some of the bands that I mentioned before, but I think that every project has a soul and it doesn’t proceed the personality or the creativity behind it, so I think that I can continue on my own road without feeling too much the influence of the musicians or bands that I love.”
Chemnitz:“Electronic music enables a lot of collaborations, such is the case of remixes. It would be nice to be able to remix a few projects that we love or to be remixed by an important group. As for a possible collaboration, my dream will always remain a duet with John Balance of the Coil, but unfortunately he’s no longer here, although for me it’ll always remain a dream!”
What do you think about Dark metal bands such as Lacuna Coil?
Chemnitz:“Goth metal was spawned from the dark sound of the ‘80’s combined with the energy of these new modern metal bands. I only adore Type O Negative for their music and their attitude, and in part I don’t mind Katatonia who are really great, or Paradise Lost, Moonspell, Tiarnat, EverEve, and Theatre of Tragedy. Lacuna Coil are good, but they became popular only after the boom of Evanescence and the current Goth trend that is taking over and that today’s teens like such as HIM, Marilyn Manson, and in part Rammstein.”
Is it true that in Italy it’s harder for Goth music to gain appreciation as opposed to other countries such as Germany, Finland, and USA?
Chemnitz:“I had the luck to visit all three of those countries. Germany is the motor of Goth music, just think about the large festivals such as WGT or M’Era Luna, there they have a real Goth culture, industrial and eltectro. In Finland they’re more partial to Goth Metal such as To/Die/For, Sentenced, black metal and doom, a bit like in Sweden or Norway. In the U.S. there’s a real melting pot, if you go to California you can listen to a lot of deathrock groups, and if you go towards Canada there’s more of an industrial and cyberpunk culture, after all Canada is the home of Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly. As for Italy, no comment, we’re in the hands of Sanremo, and disposable pop that a few music channels with a mind of their own about music seem to provide as the only source of music. There would have to be a real cultural revolution, but they would only be a few that would really want it.”
With songs that reflect the human condition of disorientation, confusion, and a sense of isolation, Klonavenus provides an alternative for the usual Goth music. With songs like Social Psychosis and Your Beauty is Lost the listener enters a noir spiral that one doesn’t easily come out of as the seductive lyrics accompanied by the dark atmospheres provide a unique Goth experience.
