Hi Aerik, you are the front man of Black Moon Rising, a New York based band, ready to release your demo. Can you tell me more about the demo and the music?

Well then, the first actual records we've released are "Hell and Damnation" (a cassette), "Iz Yamy" (another cassette) and the upcoming CD-r release "Tales from the Pit - The Live and Unreleased". The tapes are more for the fun of exposing some ideas and jams we did in the early days to those whom might give a shit and the CD-r is a bunch of stuff recorded live and in preparation to hit the studio for the official "Transilvanian Blues" EP. The songs on "Tales from the Pit" are all the rare and live versions we recorded for the first year of being a band. A lot of good (albeit shoddily produced) tracks…good fun and good times. This record will be out during July of 2002. I don't know when Vic is planning to release it yet… No matter though, I am proud of where the band is headed right now and I think we are going to shake things up a tiny bit!

What are your main influences? I can hear a lot of bluesy influences in your solos and in your vocals at time.

Ah shit. This is a long answer. I'd say the main two influences are The Misfits and Black Sabbath with shades of OLD Mayhem/Motorhead/Countess and Blue Oyster Cult influences. We wanted to make doomy, moody songs with short lengths (more exciting live for us) and lots of ideas packed in. We may write longer songs in the future but I am happy making these blasting, short little tunes. I also listen to Robert Johnson and Johnny Cash quite a bit. I used to sing a lot like a deeper toned U.D.O. in Snake Shift but now I just kind of try to capture the vibe of the lyrics…which are pretty pissed off/depressed hehe.

You also plan to release an unreleased track album, isn't that kind of odd, since you didn't really release anything besides mp3's on the net?

See my first answer for the details on this release. It is a little odd…but it's also a way to collect our genesis on one CD. I did that more for me than any of you. I've already had a few of these tracks lost and deleted so I am hoping to preserve them for all time. I was working on ideas one day and I realized that a lot of my friends kind of liked these songs and always were asking me for different versions of this and that. So I am having most of these tracks remixed and re-mastered so people can enjoy what they want. It's a weird but extremely personal project that some will understand and some will not.
Also…the "Iz Yamy" and "Hell and Damnation" tapes did come before this record. So it's not our first release in some ways. It's all about getting music to people who want it…it's not like I am pulling a profit from any of these releases.

Another thing I heard is that you are doing a side project in the future, totally independent from Black Moon Rising, right?

Yes, with Vic. It will be a lot less "raw" and a tribute to the classic metal bands like Priest and Accept that I grew up listening too. It will have about six originals and two undisclosed covers. That should hopefully being written by August and recorded by December. Not too much more I can say on this right now…

A song I heard by you, After Hours really caught my attention, and I wonder what you meant with the lyrics?

It's a drinking song and partially a very sad memory. It's about younger times and growing older… I thought about doing something different, maybe something evil or occult but it lacked the original sadness of the lyrics when I did. There have been many times I had nothing and I mean NOTHING but the companionship of close friends. This song is dedicated to their memory as well as the memory of the bar we used to all hang out with. Most of those friends have either died or moved away. So…I wrote the song to remember it. We actually have a single version of it with a different cover/version. It will be out sometime next year as well as the "31" single to be released on Halloween.
Thanks for appreciating After Hours…a lot of the metal community didn't like/know what to think about the track.

Are you planning to release a full album somewhere in time?

Yes, when the time is right it will happen. For now I will release more "short" records to keep people interested. I am not a rock/metal star yet so I feel the need to keep people fed as I don't want to release a self-indulgent epic that will be impossible for new fans to digest. I'd rather give people a chance to listen to my ideas in pairs of four instead of a 12 song record they would not be sure of. There will be a time for this…but the time is not now.

Thanks for your cooperation Aerik :)

Of course, I really appreciate you caring enough about my career to give me press!