Silvis Records fans - here's an interview with the elusive Asenath Anyox. Fans of other Silvis Records bands take note, as it's the same personnel, and many of the thoughts apply to various projects.
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Sybaritic Narcissist Zine
Interview with Asenath Anyox, November 2020
If in some delicious universe Loveless and Siamese Dream had a child, it would be Alaska-based artist Asenath Anyox’s 2nd LP “Black September” - a majestically dense shoegazing wall of fuzz with catchy complexity, and vocals that are at once hushed and in-your face, nostalgically emotional and dispassionate. Created in intensely introverted isolation in Alaska, with an unholy devotion to 90s ‘gaze and alt/grunge pioneers, Asenath uses an anachronistic formula to arrive at timeless rock. This swirling mass of contradictions points to silent film, Proust, and - of course - My Bloody Valentine as key influences for creating a world that defies and transcends the COVID-19 era.
SN: You’re from Alaska, and you record shoegaze music. When did this begin?
AA: I moved to Alaska 13 years ago, because it seemed like a healthier and more inspirational environment than anything else I could think of at the time. I haven’t left the island I originally moved to.
SN: What’s your frame of reference for shoegaze? There have been several resurgences over the years
AA: I was listening to shoegaze back in the 90s, and haven’t really branched out much from those original bands. There are a very few imitators I have liked - Fleeting Joys, Skywave (pre-A Place to Bury Strangers), and some of the BJM material, but partly due to a connection a friend of mine had to them.
One of my favorite original shoegaze bands that has had an outsized influence on me is Smashing Orange. I used to know Rob Montejo; he was in a couple of my college German classes when I lived in Delaware, and our bands played some shows together. I am a fan of the early Lilys music - another college-related connection. I was a fair bit younger than those guys, and the other folks who participated in the original shoegaze movement. Growing up, they were the cool local musicians.
SN: Guitar talk. Give us a rig rundown. After all, this is guitar-oriented music.
AA: Yes - and I spent a lot of time on the guitar. I started Asenath Anyox with the intent to be a very guitar-focused band. Everything is done on my 1963 Fender Jazzmaster that I rebuilt, through a single fuzz pedal, and then into a cranked Orange, Marshall, or Vox tube amp running through a 2x12” Vox cab. I pulled out a few other surf guitars to mix it up, including my ‘65 Mustang, an early 90s MIJ Jaguar and an early 90s MIJ Jazzmaster just like one of Kevin Shields’ old favorites.
I have a lot more fuzz than I should, but for Asenath Anyox mostly used a HM-2 just like Bilinda Butcher, plus various Devi Ever and Keeley pedals. I may have also used the germanium big muff, which is what I used on all the Cantharellus stuff - I forget. The germanium, an Orange tube amp head, and my Vox cab are largely the Cantharellus sound. That’s not really what you were asking about, but now you know.
As far as recording goes, I am mostly using Beyer stuff. The M160, M88, and M201. I occasionally mixed in an Audix i5, and a Latvian-made Blue Ball mic. Mostly it’s the M160 and M201. I am especially fond of the M201, and use it a lot on vocals. It reminds me a lot of the Sennheiser 441-U I used a lot for vocals 20 years ago with Young Vulgarians, except it costs a fraction of the price.
Funny side story about gear - Devi Ever herself actually ripped me off during the making of this album. I ordered a few pedals from her on Reverb, paid, then got a series of cryptic messages about the pedals being delayed. This went on for a while, then I opened a Reverb dispute. She shortly thereafter deleted the Reverb webstore. I ended up having to file a Paypal claim, which I won. I think she is a genius, and am not upset at all by the experience. In fact, I would not have expected anything less than that from her, and knew there would be drama going into it, and was totally cool with that. That’s why I used Paypal - the buyer protection. I own a large number of her pedals - including some multiples, and some variations of the same pedal.
SN: How would you describe your style of guitar playing? What’s your technical approach?
AA: With Asenath Anyox, I am using pretty much standard Loveless-era MBV technique - very light picking, and the glide guitar tremolo arm technique, with the electrical tape tremolo arm extender. I don’t use any alternative tunings - I feel like I get a broader range out of standard tuning, and get tired of keeping track of alternatives.
I originally taught myself to play by learning things like early Smashing Pumpkins and Dinosaur Jr., then moved into Suede, Johnny Marr Smiths guitar lines, etc. I used to use super heavy strings, because I read it would help me get better faster, and develop finger strength, then just got used to the tone. I also used to use very heavy picks, and play very hard - I would literally melt picks. Nowadays I use 009s, mostly. A much lighter touch. Dunlop green picks, which are still on the heavy size.
SN: Your vocals with this project are very light and wispy compared to some of the more boisterous vocals of your other rock bands like Cantharellus and Madolenihmw. What’s going on there?
AA: I recorded all of the vocals while very tired - sometimes half-asleep. I wanted a different approach and atmosphere. All the vocals are through a M201 with a huge amount of Apogee gain, which is perhaps an odd choice for that.
SN: How do you make this stuff sound so huge? Lots of effects and overdubs?
AA: The opposite, actually. Everything is pretty much a 60s surf guitar into a single fuzz pedal and a cranked british amp. Even though I set up a ton of mics, I end up using the best-sounding one, and the guitars are mono. Only a couple tracks. No reverb whatsoever. Not a lot of panning. That’s actually the classic MBV formula. Everything sounds huge because the live guitar sound is huge, without a lot of studio fooling around. Siamese Dream got a huge sound by endless overdubs and track layering, but I’d rather play in a way that sounds huge in the first place - how MBV did it. Most of the time the guitar is just two narrowly panned tracks.
SN: “Black September” is your second album, following up “Antiquities.” Antiquities was very aggressive - like Isn’t Anything-era MBV scorching its way through a setlist and aching to get off the stage. The new album (Black September) seems a lot less punk rock, and much more like a huge, heavy rock album. What’s going on here?
AA: Antiquities was an album I have been wanting to make for years - gothic, aggressive shoegaze, yet with light, sensual, half-asleep vocals. Black September has less to prove. The next album will be very aggressive, high-speed. It’s mostly finished, and called “Decay’s Way.”
SN: Talk about gothic influences.
AA: I have been into gothic / dark Victorian literature since I was old enough to get my hands on it. Aside from all that, probably the biggest influence on Asenath Anyox is “Isn’t Anything” by My Bloody Valentine, which has always been my favorite of their albums. I hear a lot of the gothic in that. I think they were listening to a lot of the contemporaneous gothic stuff, exposed to it quite a bit, and some of their Birthday Party influences from their early years are still apparent. It also brings back a lot of memories of my teenage years that have a much darker hue to them.
The other band that obsesses me as my favorite of all time is Lycia. I am fixed on the style, atmosphere, aesthetic, detachment - especially of Ionia. I dream of music that combines some of those stylistic/aesthetic choices with “Isn’t Anything’s” aggression.
SN: You have been working on Asenath Anyox for 3 years. What’s the deal with that? You release a huge amount of music on an ongoing basis, but this stuff has really taken you forever.
AA: I saw My Bloody Valentine in Seattle, and it totally shifted a lot of things about how I think about myself, music, life, time. Even though I had been listening to them for years, many concepts did not connect until seeing and hearing them live, and being touched by the soundwaves that come through their amplifiers. While that may sound odd, there are definitely some very physical aspects of their music / sound waves that only come across live. It is so loud, you physically feel it, and it feels as though it is dispelling all sorts of negativity and meaningless non-issues outside of your consciousness. That’s the whole point, in fact - it is music that is meant to be physically present, and felt. Anyway, after seeing MBV and being detoxed by their soundwaves, I conceptualized Asenath Anyox, and began slowly going about putting it together. There was initially a lot of gear buying / selling, testing things, screwing around with getting the tone just how I wanted it, moving different microphones here and there. Ages of that. There were also technical issues stemming from the fact that my audio interface stopped keeping up with updates to my iMac, which required me to redo a significant part of my studio. I decided to take a “discography” approach to Asenath Anyox, and record the full catalogue at once. That ended up being 66 songs, which is a lot to manage. There are about 7 albums of material. I’d say that recording 7 albums in 3 years is a pretty solid accomplishment, especially bearing in mind I am still working on other projects. Plus I took a detour and went to the trouble to become certified as an accountant despite not having an accounting degree or background, which is not something I recommend others attempt!
SN: What are you hoping people take from the music?
AA: Whatever they want. I’m not really thinking about the listener at all. Except for me as a listener. I guess at this point in time I would hope it helps others get through COVID-19 and do whatever it is they want to do, without worrying so much about other peoples’ expectations.
SN: You have been releasing one LP per month, which seems like insane volume. What’s the rationale behind that?
AA: I guess I could release one album per year for the next several years instead of doing it on a monthly basis, but I like staying productive. I’d prefer to be done and on to the next thing sooner. There’s no benefit in delaying. And because we are surrounded by a deadly pandemic, there’s a greater sense of mortality in the air, and a natural tendency to release music - which transcends, and life - into the universe.
SN: Golden Hours in the Velvet Plague is clearly about COVID, right? Give us some added insight into that song.
AA: Essentially, it’s a song about hiding out from humanity all the time, and how that’s what I’d be doing anyway. Sort-of beyond COVID. I have had that mentality for years - I lived in rural Africa surrounded by medieval disease and bad public health decisions. Death was more in-your-face there. COVID isn’t a surprise to me. It’s to eventually be expected due to the nature of human contact and conduct. Isolation and working alone is a big component of my various musical projects. Everyone else is having to isolate to varying degrees, and struggling with it, and I’ve been doing it all along. It’s like a validation of that lifestyle. I truly think the inclination towards isolation is a survival instinct.
SN: Where is the name Asenath Anyox from?
AA: It’s a combination of an Ancient Egyptian first name relating to the Goddess Neith, of weaving and war, combined with the name of a northwest British Columbia ghost town not far from where I live. They have a rad Eastwood multiple arch dam there - it is incredible engineering.
SN: What are some of the other bands you are involved with that people who like A.A. might check out?
AA: Cantharellus is a shoegaze predecessor of Asenath Anyox, and will definitely appeal to the same crowd. Bartram Haugh is somewhat shoegazey - more darkwave. Masquerade Generation (synth darkwave) is the most popular of my projects. Skaltros is an Alaska black metal classic. Silvis Records - my label - has a compilation on Bandcamp listed under Masquerade Generation. Or you can go to silvisrecords.blogspot.com
SN: What do your lyrics focus on?
AA: Someone did an analysis where they looked at the most common words, and told me memory, nostalgia, and beverages. That seems like it must be right, especially if they counted the words. They made a comment that in my lyrics, “the past marches onwards as pitilessly as the future.” Isolation. Tropical environments have a big influence on me. Temperatures like heat, and cold - living with them every day. I’ve lived in Africa and Alaska. Extreme temperature changes how you think about and experience the world.
I carried malaria in my body for a year and had to take and then recover from terrible malaria medications, and that experience is part of my psyche, so you’ll find disease lurking around the lyrics. That will be especially true of “Tropicapitulation,” the 4th album. There are going to be around 3 malaria songs on that.
I used to have an attitude that lyrics are meant to be heard rather than read. It didn’t make sense to me, the importance people that people attach to lyrics. For many people, lyrics are a main draw - the featured component of music, and what they connect to. To me, lyrics are mostly sounds that happen to shape themselves into words, which make subconscious suggestions. I don’t try to “connect” with other peoples’ lyrics - I mostly just listen to the sound of them. I view them very objectively as sounds. I think of them almost like a synthesizer part. I used to refuse to share lyrics with people who wrote asking, but now I don’t really mind.
I have other opinions about other genres of music, though - I’m really into Ghostface’s brilliant lyrics. He’s better than James Joyce, by far.
SN: What do you think the purpose of making music is? For you?
AA: I used to think that the purpose of making music was to outlive yourself. Then after I lived in Africa, I decided the purpose of art was to accomplish things indirectly when you can’t do them directly - the same as witchcraft. I also concluded that it is better to do things directly, but if you do that for a while, you yearn for more. Now I am back to feeling like I want to be making things that outlive me - probably because I am approaching a midlife crisis while living in a pandemic.
A lot of times I look at the world, and time, and how I use time, and I measure things in “songs that won’t be recorded” if I do those things instead. Like, I spent a year becoming an accountant, probably at the expense of over 100 songs. Maybe closer to 200. What were those songs?
SN: What is your creative process like?
AA: It’s really like going into a job working in a garage, doing oil changes all day long. I have a disciplined approach, with a lot of focus on efficiency and not wasting time. I have all the steps sort-of lined out, and work at all of them in order. I try to batch things - recording all the guitars for dozens of songs, then recording all the bass, then recording all the vocals, etc. I will spend ages getting a mic set up right, an EQ the way I want it - then will save that just as it is and use it over and over. Asenath has a lot more quality control than some of the other projects I’ve been involved in. I care about smaller details more lately. It could be due to becoming an accountant recently. Or maybe just wanting to feel like I have improved. If something isn’t working out, I try to stop for the evening. I work on something every day, but will sometimes take breaks to rest my ears.
SN: Can you talk about the format of your releases?
AA: I am very much old school in the sense that I think of releases like “LPs” or “CDs” in terms of length, and cohesion. Nowadays, you are supposed to do lots of small releases - lots of singles, EPs, etc. I am experimenting with that a bit. I really like the feeling of listening to an entire album at once - that is most enjoyable to me. I don’t want to write “hooks” or ringtones.
With other bands, years ago, I had been doing a lot of double albums because I was using CD Baby, and I could list a double album for half the price of two single albums. For example, Skaltros. I would record enough content for a double-album, which is more than two albums, as you can't use everything. And then there were other projects like Naukati, where some of the albums ended up being 5 hours long. So the production process became production of multiple albums of material. It's a tremendous mental challenge to manage that much music, and going back to creating only 60 minutes of content at a time is less thrilling.
Then CDBaby sort-of disappeared from the internet, along with my songs, and the money I spent listing my music there evaporated. I should have gone to Bandcamp much sooner, but from a distance, Bandcamp seemed like a trend at first, and I oftentimes lack perspective into cultural changes since I live on an island in Alaska. Or I will look at something like Bandcamp when it is new, then miss out on how it evolves.
SN: What’s next for Asenath Anyox?
AA: I’m in the process of releasing the entire catalogue, which will run through spring. Then there will probably be a greatest hits album. I’m doing something similar with Bartram Haugh, which is a darkwave/shoegaze project - there are 6 or 7 albums of material, and I’m releasing one per month. I’m also finishing up Mulozhi’s “The Power Broker Vol. 2,” which is going to be fantastic - it is black metal trap music. All of that stuff is in the point in the project lifecycle where I’m mostly just mixing and mastering.
I’m also working on a lot of stuff that sounds like Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins. Incredibly close. I am not sure if that will be released under Asenath Anyox, or another moniker.
SN: What are your goals for your music career? You give everything away for free, currently, and you don’t do any social media marketing.
AA: I think that money blights music - if you are making music with money on your mind, you will inevitably gravitate towards the lowest common denominator, and make yourself miserable or insane. I determined a long time ago that the way to become a financially successful musician is to become financially successful, and to be a musician. I have been working at those goals for years. I don’t have any desire of profiting financially from my music… with any of my projects, or with Silvis Records. Also, it's simply not a good investment. I'd rather focus on better investments, and on better music - separately.
As far as maximizing fans or exposure, I do not have any goals along those lines, mostly because I can only deal with a small number of people at a time. And after doing that even just a bit, I need a break. I deal with people to my maximum capacity at my non-music day job, so why would I want a lot of “fans” or “listeners” in my non-work hours? It seems exhausting to think about it interacting with people… especially with regard to my music. I am very much into sticking to my vision of what I want to do with music without external influence, pressure, audiences, etc. If people want to listen, that is fine, but I don’t need a mass audience, and I definitely can’t handle that volume of people.
I don’t do social media because is much higher quality information out there for me to spend my time looking at and thinking about. Also, I like sticking to my own thoughts - I need to in order to pursue them to their conclusions and realize their value and beauty. I have things that I am thinking about and exploring that require concentration, and do not necessitate outside validation.
