Aaron Smith is the guitarist for the progressive metal band 7 Horns 7 Eyes. The group’s latest album titled “Throes of Absolution” recently released via Century Media Records at the end of April. Media Mikes had a chance to talk with Aaron recently about the band and their new album.
Adam Lawton: Can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Aaron Smith: We started around 2006. 7 Horns 7 Eyes is sort of the evolution of a rock band I was in high school. Around senior year some friends and I really started to get into metal music. We started writing heavier music and the band was born out of that. We put out a self released EP that is still available on the internet. If you have heard it you can tell it sounds quite different than how the band sounds now. We have grown older and are musical tastes have shifted some. In 2009 we got a new drummer and guitar player and that’s when I would say the sound of the current band started.
AL: What can we expect from the band’s new album?
AS: I think a lot of our influences shine through on this recording. You can hear some poly rhythmic stuff on there as we are big fans of Meshuggah. We tried not to rip them off though. There is a lot of ambience and textures. We wanted to make the atmosphere bigger than just guitars, drums, bass and vocals. We really wanted to have a more epic feeling. There is quite a bit of technical guitar playing on the album but, we try to keep it tasteful. I don’t feel music has to be technical all the time just to catch someone’s attention.
AL: Did you guys shoot any videos for the album?
AS: We are cooking up something right now. There hasn’t been any official releases as of yet. There are a few samplers out there that show our album art work while walking you through 30 second clips of the album. There is also some older footage out there of us playing the Key Club in Los Angeles.
AL: What do you think makes 7 Horns & Eyes stand out amongst other bands in the same genre?
AS: I do a majority of the song writing so I can kind of speak from that point of view. When I write I try to not use something that sounds like something else I may have heard. There are a lot of bands I love that inspire me to right but at the same time it doesn’t make me want to emulate them in every way possible. When we are putting songs together there is a strong focus on taking our influences and taking our time to create a fresh spin. What I find the most exciting is when I record something new that I have never heard before. In my mind I think is what makes us unique.
AL: What are the bands tour plans for the release?
AS: The first tour up is with our label mates Stealing Axion. We will be out with them for around 3 weeks. The tour is mainly going to focus on the western part of the States. The tour is called “The Dual Destruction Tour”. It will be mainly to promote our album and Stealing Axion’s digital track that they are releasing. The tour is being sponsored by Guitar World which is pretty cool. That will be sort of our first tour experience in support of the album. There is another tour coming up in Mid-July but it has not been announced yet.