"We Started Off Just Like Any Other Band"

Quote :

-HoM. First of all, Alissa, thanks for your kindness on answering our questions and congratulations for your “Lullabies for the Dormant Mind”, it really sounds great.

So polite! Thank you for thanking me.

-HoM- Where does “The Agonist” comes? How did the idea of setting up the band come up? Tell us about your first steps.


We started off just like any other band. A bunch of people getting together to create music. I think we are still discovering who we are, so we definitely didn't know back then.The Agonist has a few meanings, but the most common do apply to our sound and message. An agonist can be someone/something caught in between, not good or bad, not the protagonist or the antagonist. Our music is in between genres and goes back and forth from super heavy to melodic. An agonist is also the term used for a drug that enduces feeling, like the opposite of an anaesthetic. We would like the think our music and lyrics enduce feeling and thinking as well. We just played lots of shows in Quebec and Ontario and eventually Century Media stumbled upon our stuff and signed us.

HoM. Alissa, it seems that you’re involved in politics and environmental deference. Is it easy to combine all this with your work in a band like “The Agonist”.

Yes it is, because it is simply a part of my life, no matter what.

-HoM. Talking about environment, how do you see the world in a few years? Personally, I’m not very optimistic about it.

I think it is difficult to be optimistic about it, but I am not giving up hope.

-HoM. I first listen to you in your last “Once Only Imagined” and it fast came to me, the word ‘MetalCore’. However, in this new album, your influences go from the ‘Death’ to the ‘BlackMetal’, without forgetting the ‘MetalCore’. I really thank this change as it brings something varied and different, a much more interesting material. I see it as a radical change, did you expected or wanted something like this? Did you need this change?

I think we just evolved as musicians and grew a bit more into our own. I really prefer this album to the last one as well. I never considered Once Only Imagined "metalcore", because to me that is a loaded word just like any other label or title, but I definitely feel closer to this album.

-HoM. Another point I’d like to emphasize like something new, is your voice’s evolution Alissa. There’s no doubt that you’ve brought many changes into it, much more clean and guttural voices. Is it something deliberated or does it became established by other members of the band?

It is not deliberate, it is the result of having more experience and practise as a vocalist.

-HoM. Tell me about recording in “The Agonist”. Who is in charge of it? Who deals with it?

We all do our part, along with producer Christian Donaldson. Vocals take the longest, because I am a freak in studio!

-HoM. Which are the main differences between the recording process of this album and the others? Why, almost everything seems to be much more organized and powerful and however you’ve edited this work in less time than the others?

This album was written in about a year, some parts done directly in studio with very little preparation beforehand. The other album was the recording of songs that we had been playing live for many years. This album feels much more organic, and we are all better at what we do now (including Donaldson) so obviously we have a more concise result.


-HoM. About the lyrics, which were your inspirations this time?

I follow a similar theme, but approached in a different way. Death, mental deterioration, blissful ignorance, over population, animal testing, Nature vs Mankind - these are all present topics. I think the concept of Lullabies came to me when I realized that a lot of people's brains remain asleep even when they are awake, during the day. If a traditional lullaby is supposed to be a soothing song to rest the active mind, then our album is a string of exciting songs created to wake the dormant mind.

-HoM. How your last year tour was, where you launched your first work next to “God Forbid” and “Death Angel”? When are you going to visit Europe? It would be great you shared a tour with any other Canadian group, like “Into Eternety” or “Devin Towsend”, not much seen around here. Would you like it?

I would LOVE to tour with either of those bands, and we do hope to hit Europe very soon! And Death Angel was very cool, and of course we love playing with God Forbid as always.

-HoM. Is there any place where you would like to play but you didn’t do it before?

Yes, basically the whole world other than the US!


-HoM. I had the chance of seeing the band’s promo pictures and they’re pretty similar to the ones of “In This Moment”, your label partners. Do you think that the band’s image is an important matter in order to get the acknowledgement or gratitude you’re looking for?

I don't think they are similar at all! I organized that photo shoot myself before seeing the In This Moment pictures (actually I just went to check them out now, ha ha). Image is important in everything, which is stupid, but unfortunately true. Image won't bring gratitude or acknowledgment without great music though.

-HoM. Last December, your label edited just 2000 copies of a calendar under the name of “Maiden of Metal”. How the idea came up? Did you like being photograph like a model? Is there any copy left? would you mind sending us a few ones? hehe

I don't have any copies so you would have to ask Century Media! I actually hate being in calendars like that, I find it borders on being cheap and disserves metal music, to a certain extent. However, I do realize that it provides good exposure for people to come hear our music, and in the end, that is the goal. So, it is a bit of a compromise but then again, I do love beautiful pictures of beautiful people just as much as anyone else.

-HoM. About your past, how did you discover ‘Metal’? How old were you? Tell us about your main influences.

I started in metal around the age of 15, and I was heavy into grunge and punk before that. I love Muse, Strapping Young Lad, Arch Enemy, Emperor, Sonata Arctica, classical music, etc.


-HoM. Finally, tell us about The Agonist’s future, tours, etc…

"Lullabies for the Dormant Mind" - out in Europe February 23, March 10 in NA! Touring NA rigorously starting March 8th, and hopefully Europe in the fall!

-HoM. Nothing else from us Alissa, thank you very much for your time. All the best with the album. Any words to our readers?

Thank you and please enjoy the new album!

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