Интервю с Adam Agius (The Levitation Hex, Alchemist)

Adam Agius

Hey Adam, thanks for the interview. Tell us something about your new band The Levitation Hex first.

– I formed the band after the collapse of my old band Alchemist with the intention of continuing my writing style, The Levitation Hex is similar in  approach but heavier, a little similar and really it’s a brand new beast.

Your colleagues in TLH are quite well-known, don’t you think it is actually a supergroup? How do the guys manage their full-time bands? Alarum had a very good album last year and Aeon of Horus is still active …

– The gents just have to be organized; Alarum and TLH will be touring Europe and Australia together a lot so it works out well. I guess the guys can balance the two bands simply because they want to do it. It would not be possible otherwise.

Is THE LEVITATION HEX a proper band or it’s a project of yours? Do the others participate in songwriting?

– It started out as a project but is now a fully-fledged band, Most of the initial writing was done by me and the other guys added their parts but it will remain as mostly my songwriting. At the moment Ben Hocking (Drums) and I are writing together so it’s really a band effort.

The Levitation Hex

The album is already out and I really like it, it’s among my favorites for the year. Do you have other feedback from fans?

– Yes it’s been very well received , I have not heard anything negative about it, it has been very positive with many people saying it’s their album of the year, I couldn’t be happier at the response it feels really
good to hear all the positive news.

How do you describe the album? What style is it, what kind of people would appreciate it, fans of what bands do you aim at?

– It’s always been a hard thing to describe my music; it has a lot of different elements, so I would say it’s Progressive Death/Thrash with a touch of PsycheDelia.

The cover art is quite interesting and much different from Alchemist ones.Roy Torkington was responsible for cover art at Alchemist, what’s the story behind the new one? And what does the name The Levitation Hex mean?

– Yes the art is much different and that’s because it’s a new band. Roy’s art was great but I wanted something completely different I wanted it to be hand drawn and not digital. I approached a great artist named Glenn Smith and he was very responsive to my ideas, everybody seems to love the art work. He also designed the logo. I will keep the logo the same for the entire life of the band. It will be like our brand. One thing that I did not like about Alchemist is that the logo changed every album but at the same time I was glad Roy could own the art work.

The Levitation Hex sort of means something but then again a band name does not have to mean anything I mean what’s Pink Floyd mean? Initially I wanted a name that represented the following statement and that’s, the want of better things is a curse. So at first it was The Elevation Curse and eventually through changing words around I can up with The Levitation Hex. You have to make some wild jumps in imagination to find the initial meaning but we all really liked it.

You changed your singing through time from death growling to something specific and recognizable; your voice is like a whole new instrument. Was this change your own intent or it came naturally with the band heading to new music horizons?

– Yeah I just wanted to try different things and I suppose for the aggressive stuff I do I wanted people to be able to understand what I was singing. The aggressive vocal is modeled from the style I had around Alchemists 91 demo, it’s a death/thrash sort of approach.

If you had to choose one, would you prefer doing vocals or guitar?

– Guitar.

How did you start making music? Did you play something as a child? How did you decide to play in a band, tell us something spicy from the early years.

– I started fooling around on Guitar at about 14 years old and wanted to learn to play like some of early heroes like Iron Maiden, Twisted Sister and Sabbath. I saved enough money to buy my first electric at about 14 and half years old and my parents bought me some lessons. I was immediately hooked. I went to a local concert called Heavy Metal Holocaust that had some great bands, one was Armoured Angel, I was so blown away and so were some of my friends so on that day we decided to start Alchemist, we were very shit but older guys in Armoured Angel and Transylvania gave us a lot of help and advice. I will always be thankful for the nurturing they provided. I don’t know about anything spicy but we recorded our demo in 1986 , it’s pretty bad but for 16 year old it showed a lot of promise we used to play the youth café in the city of Canberra…there was a lot of head banging going on and I remember thinking that this is all I want to do.

Wasn’t it easier playing the same 3 chords over and over, like other Australians AC-DC 😉 )Why do you make your music so sophisticated?

– Well you see I don’t see it as sophisticated its just music that comes out of my mind when I sit down and write, I try not to think of anything and just simply play. I see no point in being anything but myself so I guess that’s why TLH is similar to Alchemist.

The album begins where Alchemist ended. Does this make THE LEVITATION HEX a successor to the old band? What’s its status, the website says “hibernating indefinitely”, while I see “Alchemist R.I.P.” in album credits?

– Yes well I certainly see TLH as my successor. The line “hibernating indefinitely”, was not penned by me but I can honestly say that I have no intention of re-forming Alchemist. I don’t have really anything nice to say about the collapse but I will say that it became fucking horrible. In short a band cannot exist unless all the members are 100% into it and I can also honestly say that no one but me was over the last few years of the band. It was depressing and I thought I would not recover but starting TLH gives me a platform for my music and I pretty happy at the moment.

Do you keep in touch with other Alchemist members? Should we expect a reunion somewhere in the future?

– I’m in touch with Rodney occasionally and No do not expect a reunion.

Alchemist hosted “Metal for the Brain” – one of the largest fests in Australia. You stopped doing this in 2006, at its peak. What happened?

– It became too expensive, there are times I really regret letting it stop but I was under a lot of pressure to do so. Pressure from people who did not have the financial or spiritual attachment to it as I did. I was trying to keep a band together so I made a poor decision. No regrets really, it was great to be a part of.

Tell us about the gig that you wish didn’t happen and the one you will always remember?

– The gig I wish didn’t happen was in 2009 in Melbourne, It was actually Alchemists last show, a dodgy promoter booked the band and made a complete disaster out of the show, it was horrible. The show I will never forget was M4TB 200 when we played with the amazing VoiVod.

You come from the capital Canberra, not one of the largest towns like Sidney or Melbourne. Tell us how this affected your career? What’s the metal stage like in Australia, we know almost nothing about it here?

– OK it’s a small town but in the 1990s it had the best metal scene in Australia. Now it’s sort of fragmented. It affected our career in a very positive manner. Its in-between Sydney and Melbourne so it’s a good touring position. Australia’s scene is much like anywhere else in the world, There are some great bands and also some shit ones and like anywhere else there are way too many festivals way to many shit bands and the scene is fragmented an stale. I can see the world scene self- destructing if it keeps promoting shit.

Do you follow new waves in metal and do you think they will add new dimensions to our favorite music? Or you really stay old-school like you said („Thrashing out to old school thrash in the shower.”)?

– I like what I like, it can be new it can be old but I have to say I don’t care about what the kids think is cool or not cool. I just listen to whatever I like it does not matter what era it comes from. Still love my old school thrash!

I see you are a complete workaholic, don’t you ever chill out? Beer with friends, sport, movies, books, anything, what’s your hobby? What are your favorite movie or book titles?

– Yes I actually brew beer for a hobby so dose Mark and Ben from TLH. I chill out with beers with friends all the time but most of the time I just feel like working on music. I love holidays with my girlfriend and walking my dog. I’m pretty normal and boring I suppose…ha ha. I don’t really read too many books. I love comedy and some very silly TV shows.

What would make you cut your hair? 😉

– If I started going bald…Off it goes 🙂

Thanks once again for the interview! What are your final words to METAL HANGAR 18, Alchemist and hopefully The Levitation Hex fans in Bulgaria?

– Thanks so much for your support over the years! Alchemist is gone so cherish the albums. The Levitation Hex will hopefully bring you some more great albums.

Enjoy life the best you can! 🙂

(photos – Facebook)