From musical mastermind Ashton Nyte comes the long-awaited album “Chasm” from goth rock band The Awakening. Having been five years since a new The Awakening song hit the ears of adoring fans, the newest single “Shore” off of the upcoming record revived an excitement in audiences all over the world. Senior journalist Anabel DFlux had the sincerest pleasure of speaking with Mr. Nyte himself, picking his brain on this new release and what is to come in the near future.
RockRevolt Magazine: Hello Ashton! Thank you so much for chatting with RockRevolt Magazine today- how are you?
Ashton: I’m doing fabulously, thank you Anabel! A little tired but nothing another Chai Latte won’t fix.
RR: I am positive that your fans are absolutely delighted to hear of a new The Awakening album in their future! What is the inspiration behind the forthcoming release “Chasm”?
Ashton: Yes, we’re delighted to see a new Awakening album coming out, it has really been far too long! The intention is always to create the best work I possibly can and this album is certainly no exception – and I have the sleep deprivation to prove it! I’ve always enjoyed creating a space for someone to lose or indeed find themself in. I think it is something of a necessity these days, with so little space left for anything.
RR: Can you tell me a bit about the writing, recording, and production process?
Ashton: This album was actually written and demoed over a number of years. The older songs have have gone through various re-inventions, deconstructions and resurrections. Some have been quietly sent off into the wild to make space for newer songs written over the last few months, which I felt better represented where The Awakening is today. As usual I wrote, recorded, sang and played pretty much everything, with the exception of the live drums, brilliantly performed by our long time drummer Sevven. Other than the live drums, it was all hand made in my little studio over thousands of hours well spent.
RR: The album cover for “Chasm” is beautiful. How was the artwork conceptualized?
Ashton: Thank you! The main photograph was taken by our dear friend Todd Davis who has taken a number of photos of both The Awakening and my solo projects over the last 10 years or so. The original photo was taken for my wife, Rose Mortem’s fashion label a few years ago, as Todd has taken photos of her work for ever. The hooded gown in the picture is one of her designs and she is in fact the one wearing it so beautifully. The image has always resonated with me and I immediately adopted it when I first started assembling and dis-assembling this album back in 2014. The final version honestly feels like the music of this album and I can’t imagine another image being used at this stage.
RR: You have been quite busy as of late! Do you feel that your endeavors in your solo work, MGT, and now Beauty In Chaos have contributed to aspects of “Chasm”?
Ashton: Yes, it has been a busy couple of years! Beauty in Chaos has just been released and it has been an absolute joy to be part of that album and see Michael’s vision realized. Honestly, with most of The Awakening album having been written prior to working on the MGT or Beauty In Chaos albums, I wouldn’t say there has been any significant musical influence there in that sense. I would say that working with others certainly brings out something different in each of us and I’d like to think that after having devoted so much passion and energy to those projects, I made sure to give at least that to my eldest child (The Awakening). It may sound strange but I think that’s the effect it had on this album specifically. Fortunately life is multi-dimensional and yields fruits like friendship and the opportunity to learn, when embarking on adventures outside of whichever box you find yourself in. Hopefully everything makes the art better for having lived it.
RR: Let’s talk about the first single off of the record. Why did you select “Shore” to be released first?
Ashton: Quite simply it was a favourite to many people close to me, including my wife, children and my friend Michael Ciravolo (Beauty In Chaos). It is also the oldest song on the album and it seemed like the poor thing had waited long enough to see the light of day. It is actually a rather sad song, written about the loss of someone dear to me. Hopefully it feels like a celebration of her life to some degree…
RR: Having relocated from South Africa to the United States, how do you feel the music world has differed for you between the two countries?
Ashton: The main difficulty for me was naturally the loss of that wonderful devoted fanbase and the network I had enjoyed there for so many years. Starting over is difficult, especially at the point in my career when I relocated but I think I’ve learnt a lot about myself in the process of deconstruction and reconstruction. After all, I moved here for love and I have no regrets!
RR: I hear you have a pre-order campaign out right now where fans can receive a free download of “Shore” and some exclusive items. Can you tell me more about this?
Ashton: Yes, I wanted to be able to re-engage with fans in a significant way. The Awakening has not released any new music since “Fault” (Anthology XV) 5 years ago, which is a considerable period of time, especially as I used to release an album a year in the earlier years, sometimes 2 a year, including the solo albums – wild times indeed. The Awakening’s last tour was 17 European dates with The Mission in 2016, so yeah, the moment has arrived to make up for lost time! Here’s where I sound like an infomercial – the pre-order campaign offers a range of exclusive items for fans, like handwritten lyrics, your name in the credits, signed CD’s and vinyl, acoustic house concerts and much more. All purchases include an immediate download of the first single, the album download one week before official release date and access to all sorts of behind the scenes oddities and weekly extras. Last week we announced an atmospheric alternate version of Shore would be coming soon to those who have pre-ordered, among other things!
RR: Touring plans?
Ashton: Yes indeed. One of the primary motivations for the campaign was to identify where The Awakening should tour next year. At this stage, it looks like the UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, the USA and South Africa are definitely in the running. Any other suggestions?
RR: Any final words for your fans before we conclude this interview?
Ashton: A massive Thank You to everyone who has already supported the pre-order campaign for our new album, “Chasm”! The support has been so encouraging and is dearly appreciated. We’re looking forward to sharing our new work with you, by performing live in your city or at least one close to you! x
RR: Thank you!
Ashton: Thank you Anabel!
You Can Pre-Order “Chasm” Here
