Aaron
Vilk is an industrial musician currently living in Cleveland who has released
music for six years under the name Nyodene D. He also performs and records as a
member of the hardcore band Mere Phantoms.
Here are links to his work:
Here are links to his work:
How has your experience been now that you're back in the
Cleveland area?
Returning to Cleveland as a resident rather than a visitor
(long-term or otherwise) has been a new experience. A lot of the people I
remember from being constant fixtures have moved away or settled down and
aren't as much of a presence. On one hand it's sad to see some friends go,
especially those whose projects were consistently well-executed and inspiring.
At the same time, I have no love for the people whose behavior or
attitudes were alienating or harmful who have finally fucked off from the
scene. On the other hand, it's exciting to see that the remaining people in the
community have made it more accessible for people to participate in the
dialogue between performers in the experimental music community and have taken
this relatively clean slate as an opportunity for better growth and
development.
On a personal level, I've been far more interested in carving out
space for my interests in scenes other than experimental music, or rather
trying to get those more interwoven. It brings together a healthy amount
of outside influences that might otherwise cause myself to stagnate
(artistically, politically, personally), something that I've really gladly
moved past from my earlier youth of cognitive dissonance and apathetic
self-isolation.
What do you think of recent crossovers between hardcore, power
electronics and powerviolence these days?
I think it's really nothing new. Rather, the crossover is quite
old (Relapse signing and distroing harsh noise / industrial acts,
collaborations and splits between artists and side projects in those and other
genres, etc). I think Cleveland has been far less muddled together lately
than it previously has been, mostly because most of the noise crowd and
hardcore / grind crowd stays apart for lack of a uniting factor such as a band
in town that truly appeals to both crowds. I rarely play shows with only noise
acts any longer - I'm open to it, but my own tastes and attention, as well as
some stylistic / subgenre stuff, make it easier for me to fit in on shows
featuring post punk, EBM, extreme metal or hardcore. Those crowds are
surprisingly receptive to what I do, and the bands and shows I end up playing
with are typically enthusiastic about seeing something different on the
bill.
How is midwestern industrial music different now than it was
five years ago? What do you see now that didn't exist then, and what is lost?
It's hard for me to say, as I think the scene isn't exclusive or
monolithic along the bounds of its geography. On a purely compositional level,
I think other scenes I pay attention to have made a recent move toward
incorporating more rhythmic and melodic - otherwise "musical" - and
cross-pollinated influences from other scenes, which I believe draws people to
it a bit more easily. Meanwhile, I think that the scene in the Midwest / Rust
Belt - with some very notable exceptions - gets too caught up in the
theater of "transgression" and "deviance" as a way of
trying to keep itself more "authentic" and free of
"hipster" influences (as if "authenticity" or
"hipster" fucking means anything legitimate uttered by a bunch of
20-somethings now in the fourth decade of a musical movement). This isn't
really emblematic of JUST the Midwest in 2014 though - nor are my six years of
particpation (regretably in some of the same aesthetic post-modernism that I
now find cringe-worthy) anything worth claiming to be an authority. Things just
seem to be intentionally devolving out here - which is probably intentional
and, on some level, understandable - but not the direction I choose for my own
work.
I heard you have a vegan catering company--what's going on with
that?
I prefer not to discuss this aspect of my personal life in
conjunction with my art except to say that I am pleased that my professional
work affords me an equal amount of creativity as my more
conventionally-artistic output.
What projects are you working on this summer, and do you have
any upcoming shows you're excited about?
This summer I am working on several collaborative releases which
have challenged myself creatively in several ways. One is the new Mere Phantoms
EP "Famine For A Slow Death" (Pittsburgh hardcore) for which I do
electronics and some vocals in a completely different fashion than I undertake
as my own work in Nyodene D. The other is a collaboration EP with East
Coast shoegaze act Planning For Burial, which was recorded almost entirely on
the 4th of July while Thom was in town for some shows in Cleveland, and written
almost entirely on the spot.
Additionally, I am putting the finishing touches on my next
full-length "Witness To The Flood" and will likely start immediately
on the next full-length, which will continue to explore the more melodic,
rhythmic and composed territories I have been treading on since
"Edenfall".
Show-wise, I am booking a variety of hardcore, metal, industrial
and post punk shows throughout the summer and autumn. I will be honored to
perform with my good friend Stephen Petrus as part of our duo Lupus Sol in
support of Swedish industrial legends Brighter Death Now, Deutsch Nepal and
raison d'etre.
I have tenative plans for short Midwest and East Coast tours
later this year with several acts, including the stellar Canadian acts Death
Kneel and RM. I also hope to take a week or so to do some shows on the
West Coast, perhaps this time next year.
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