Italian trio ARMY OF THE UNIVERSE isn’t your typical Industrial dance outfit. Formed in 2008 by trance and techno producer Albert Vorne (aka Trebla) and vocalist Lord K, lead singer of Kult of the Skull God, and joined by guitarist Dave Tavecchia in 2010, AOU combines the visceral intensity of old school Industrial with a more modern electronic dance aesthetic using “analog synths and blade guitars, speeding around the echoes of 80’s vibes and 90’s industrial”. The trio released their newest EP, The Magic + Remixes and are gearing up to drop their full EP and booking a a US tour this summer, but set aside some time to talk music, equipment, and the hottest Sci Fi Film that J.J. Abrams has yet to direct!
Hey guys, thanks so much for sitting down with us! To start out, tell us a little about the upcoming album we’re hearing is going to drop this summer!
We are finalizing it right now, going through mastering in the next days. It will be called 1999 & The Aftershow. It is a very diverse Album, but we did not compromise our identity. We believe it is a more mature work; the sound is much bigger and we took our analog – electronica – guitars experimentation to a different level.
How did each member of Army of the Universe get their start in music? How old were you? What instrument? Did you receive any formal training?
Lord K has always been a real Rock singer and a good guitar player too. Trebla comes from electronica, with an interesting DJ career under the Albert Vorne name, spinning Trance and Techno all over the Globe in his early 20s. Dave is “the guitar player”, but you will be surprised to see what he can do with a drum set.
Who are your greatest musical influences?
Each one of us has his own influences, but they all come together in our experimentation through our individual dark sides. NIN, Faith No More, Depeche Mode and The Prodigy is where we would land together.
What is your favorite track that YOU have produced/written/released??
We will never agree on this one… Let’s say “Resin” which wasthe very first song we wrote together.
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Do you prefer performing at a big festival or late night club? Why? What is the craziest live show you’ve ever performed at?
Night Club hands down. Better atmosphere, we like the dark and the setting walls.
By far the craziest show is the one we did in Rome back in 2011, which was also one of our very first shows. We played in this small club called Testaccio at 2:30am, after the DJ had been spinning random music all night. We kept waiting and waiting and when it was finally time to go on stage, the club owner lights up the place, takes the mic and goes “Now we have pasta for everybody”… Then the lights go off again and we start. Trebla’s keyboard stand broke during the first song, Chris Vrenna (Chris joined us for that Italian mini tour) and his drum kit was hidden in a sort of niche within the brick walls… Dave literally had three square feet to move around with his guitar and Lord K was so mad at that pasta thing… But we all had some after the show and it was actually pretty good.
Trebla: What production software do you prefer? Do you ever combine your tools into a hybrid, how do you decide what to add? What attributes do you look for in the individual components?
Still Logic. I always used Logic and I stick to it. I am a big fan of real analog synth from the 80s and 90s. I have a pretty decent collection. Most of my beats come from real 808 and 909, but also Electron Machinedrum. I am still tracking bass lines from TB303, Moog and Oscar.
Lord K, what’s your number one rule for vocal care on the road?
I usually drink a lot of water in between the singing sessions, but mostly my logopedistic exercises just before sound check and some more before getting on stage. Some stretching and some push ups to relax. Than a shot of Jack Daniel’s and I’m just fine and ready to raise some hell up on stage.
Dave – Can you tell us about your equipment? What is your go-to instrument? If you could choose your #1 dream sponsor, what brand would it be and why?
Being left handed doesn’t leave me a lot of choices instrument wise…I’m currently using an ESP LTD, but I’m also digging the new Schecter lefty models, I might switch to one of those in the near future.
Talking about amps, I’m a huge fan of new technologies (yes, I’m a geek) and I switched from real 
amps to digital ones a long time now, tried literally everything on the market, software and hardware, I ended up using a Kemper, especially on the road.
Honestly I never really dreamed about being sponsored by big companies, since they never seamed to care about lefty players, I’d love to work with a small independent one instead to make my own guitar model, that would be awesome! Oh…and I’d like to get a free amp from Kemper, since my enthusiasm for their amp turned a lot of friends of mine into their company, I think they own me!
Hiking in the Rockies or sunning in Cabo?
Hiking in the Rockies.
Beer, wine , daquiri, bloody mary, whisky & coke, or water?
Tons of beer, rye and good Martinis for Lord K.
Finally, if Army of the Universe were a Sci Fi film, would it feature aliens or robots? Who’s the antagonist? Who’s the hero? How does it end?
Great question. Most of our inspiration comes from retro sci-fi and visionary movies. We say robots, where the antagonist is a human, who’s a robot in the end, but more human than humans, being a robot… and the protagonist is a robot, which in reality was a human, but it is a robot, maybe.
It ends with an open end: who’s the human and who’s the robot? Who is the good guy and who’s the bad guy?
Buy Army of the Universe’s Magic EP + Remixes Online:
iTunes | Amazon
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