PureVolume

Interview with Caz Bevan for NowOnTour.com:
http://www.nowontour.com/news/interviews/00118.php

Ayin is a melodic and experimental rock band from Salt Lake City, UT.

After playing with CKY during the Zumiez Couch Tour, Ayin is locking down and getting serious. Currently recording their debut full-length album and making plans to tour, Ayin's Brad Verrier gets real about the their favorites among the Utah scene.

NowOnTour: You've been recording this last summer. What's happening with that?
Brad: We actually started our first full-length earlier this Spring, and it's still a work in progress. We are doing it completely on our own, production and engineering. But, we do have an occasional friend help us out in a few different ways.

You also got a new guitarist?
Tyler started playing with us in January, and he's been filling out the sound and expanding more possibilities. Skaught (lead vocals) still plays guitar but he can focus more on singing now.

What has he added overall to the band?
He will usually double Skaught's parts to add ambience, or to bring more intensity. Tyler and Skaught switch lead and rhythm depending on the song. For the most part Tyler will usually follow me.

Ayin also played a lot of big shows this last summer, like the Couch Tour right?
The Couch Tour was amazing. Zumiez really hooked us up with a great show by putting on this contest of sorts. At first we didn't want to apply but we ended up doing it anyway, and they chose us to play the show. It was one of the better shows we've played - with a crowd of over 2,000 I was told. The Couch Tour was at the Layton Hills mall and we got to play for CKY. We were all surprised at how well CKY played live and got the crowd going. Really, really good live band.

Tell me all about the opportunities you've had to play with other bands and get yourselves out there.
We've played with some incredible bands from the Salt Lake scene, and some out of state bands that completely blow us away, like Kaddisfly and Vedera. Both bands hold our highest respect.

What, in your mind, separates Ayin from the crowd?
We all have a deep respect and love of music. It's kind of our therapy where we can all vent our frustrations and turn a lot of negative energy into creative and healing tunes. We all have a unique way of approaching our instruments, and some of that is conscience but a lot of it is just in our blood. I would say that we also have a mutual hatred for most of the popular music on the radio and what would be considered "scene." We try to stray from it as much as possible.

What sort of creative sound do you try to accomplish as a band? Would you say you project your sound more, or your lyrics, as far as being more defining to Ayin?
I think we try to accomplish making our audience confused as to who is playing what. In Ayin, music people will think a certain part is a guitar, but it's really bass, or vice versa.

As far as defining Ayin, it has to be both music and lyrics. A balance between the two is important to us, but in all reality we try to accomplish to make the music that makes us happy and it doesn't matter what genre the music is, which you will further understand once the album is finished.

When do you predict you'll finish your full length debut?
It's hard to say now, because we wanted it to be released the end of September, and well, that didn't go so well. I'd say a winter release to be safe. Hopefully.

Do you plan on touring?
We've done only one out of state show with our good friends Super So Far. Once we get the chance we all anticipate to tour as much as possible. Until then, we still lack a few key ingredients to tour, such as vehicle and more merchandise to sell to fuel the cause.

What are your favorite Utah venues and bands to play with?
We love Liquid Joe's and our family there. Avalon is a pretty cool place, as well as Velour (even though we've never played there). Bands that we will always love and play with - Broke, Super So Far, The New Nervous, Royal Bliss, A Film In The Ballroom, man, there's really too many to list!