Aster is a multi-genre metal band from Kansas City and Missouri. Their sound is compared to icons A Day To Remember, Ice Nine Kills, As I lay Dying, and Korn. Aster has opened for many bands that include Fire From The Gods, We Came As Romans, Slaves and HED PE. Their single "Get Out Of My Head" was critically acclaimed and had featured ATG from St. Louis band Discrepancies and then Aster released their punk-pop cover of "Dancing With a Stranger" from Sam Smith.
Recently, the band released their newest single "I.O.T.M.A. (The Retro Princess)" which is a fun high energy track that features heavy hard-hitting drums, aggressive vocals, airy vocals, and rocking guitar riffs that make you headbang. The key points of this track that make it stand it is the contrasting vocal delivery, it has both airy light qualities before flipping completely and giving an aggressive verse; this contrast keeps the listening experience interesting. "I.O.T.M.A. (The Retro Princess)" paints an interesting picture with its thoughtful well-placed instrumentation and the almost raw feeling vocals; it reminds you of something you have heard before but also brings something new. We can't wait to hear what else Aster has in store for us.
Listen to "I.O.T.M.A. (The Retro Princess)" by Aster here.
Welcome to BuzzMusic Aster! We're loving the latest single "I.O.T.M.A. (The Retro Princess)", its got both familiar and unique feel to it; how did the band capture that sound? Was there a specific thought process in mind? Justin: when it came to vocals on the sound of the song I just had 2009 post-hardcore running through my head and I wanted to kind of bring that back. To me, that was when that genre of music was at its peak. When I wrote lyrics around that time I was hooked on molly real bad so I kinda wanted to capture what I was going through around 2009 and have that solid 09 sound as well Austin: The sound for I.O.T.M.A wasn't really planned on my end honestly. I was just up at 3 am one Saturday and just sat down at my computer, opened my recording stuff and plugged my guitar in just started fiddling around. I only knew I wanted to do something different from the previous two singles we put out beforehand.. Next thing I know boom! Had a single we really enjoyed.. I personally wing a lot of things.. lol.. We know that Aster gets compared to many iconic groups but are any of these inspirations for the music that gets created? Are there any other sources of inspiration for the music? Justin: when it comes to music I have a very wide range of genres that I like. But A Day To Remember and KoRn is where I draw a lot of inspiration for the style I have. Also Chiodos and Periphery I try to copy those two guys as well. Austin: Justin and I are big A Day To Remember fans, so their influence definitely is in there lyrically and musically. Some rappers and some pop stars have found their way into my brain when writing guitar parts. No shame! Love me some Katy Perry! Primarily for me though, I usually just draw from all my favorite bands from the good ole emo days. With having such an aggressive let light sound, what does the songwriting and production process look like? Is there a foundation that the rest of the song gets built from? Justin: songwriting Austin does all the instrumentals for the most part unless our producers write other parts. We go through two producers. One is Bret Liber. If we have a song that we feel we've already made solid and don't want to add anything else we go to him. He mixes really solid and doesn't take long to record because we're already prepared and know what we want. The other guy is Nick Thornton. We use him when we have a great song in mind but want to make it better. That's what he did with IOTMA to help give it that full effect. He also takes his time making sure everything sounds perfect. Austin: the process is rather frustrating and yet fun as it should be. My wife yells at me because she gets tired of hearing drums being worked on or the metronome late at night haha! For foundations.. I usually just go in knowing I want to do something different as much as possible. That's where the frustration parts comes in. Trying to make each song different the best we can. Expect a diverse album for sure! Now that the single is finally out, are there any future plans for Aster? Are there any goals for 2020? Justin: 2020 is looking well for Aster. We have several songs that we're working on. We have an album in store for either this summer or early fall. The goal is to get more fans and release the album and once it's released we plan on making another album.
Austin: The goal is to take our time and build amazing songs for everyone to enjoy. There should be a little of everything in the album we are working on for each person's taste. Goal #1 definitely is hammer the rest of the album! Maybe come the end of summer we can have a music video for you guys too!
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