Interview: Aux Animaux

The infected spoke with Aux Animaux about her song ‘The War’ from the album Black Holes, life and more…

Personally, I am an introvert. I enjoy watching horror movies and being at home, which is why I have a home studio. Being a solo artist makes it easier. I have a lot of horror themes in my music and videos. Things that are a pretty big deal to me are, for instance, animal rights, feminism and the rottenness of capitalism.

The source of my energy is probably the joy of creating something, may it be composing music or performing. I get a lot of energy from being with my pets and close friends, as well as from interacting with other musicians with similar interests. On the other hand, having to make small talk with people I have nothing in common with is power consuming. It makes me want to run away.

‘The War’ came into existence because I have been a vegan for quite some time, and I wanted to be a voice to all animals in captivity in my own way. I think music is a great way to reach people. I also borrowed footage from an animal rights group in Sweden to strengthen the message. It’s not that I expect people to go and become vegan after seeing or hearing it, but if one can plant a seed in a person’s mind and get them to think about animal rights, that’s always something. The best place for this song is when I play it at live shows, then I can get the attention of a big crowd and I always say a word or two about the song afterwards. I hope it will make them question the choices we make every day and think about how the animals have to live their lives because of these choices they make. Do they really need to make these choices? Can they change them? What are the consequences?

A lot of the world is out of date. We are not coming up with new stuff lately, and that can be applied to various arts. In music we revive a lot of 80s and 90s stuff, and we do a lot of remakes of films, etc. Not that I am one to judge, as I my music is influenced heavily by the 80s. However, it would be interesting to see new alternative music styles come to life and be recognized.

I would have really wished that I could make a living from making music only so I would not have to work a day job. Day jobs take a lot of the energy that could have gone to creating. I do miss watching the stars in a clear night sky. Living in a city, it is rare to see them these days, with all the light and air pollution.

I grew up with the grunge culture, and I played the bass in bands for many years. Then for a while I was into indie stuff as well. It was around the time I decided to start aux animaux I got into synth, as I was yearning for creating something inspired by horror movie soundtracks, such as John Carpenter, etc. As I got more and more into synth culture I grew more into wave, goth, postpunk, etc. I feel like I finally found a piece of myself that was missing. It was everything I have ever been into. The culture, the music, the style…

I hope people who read this will support me by buying my music, following and interacting with me on social media, sharing links to my music on their social media, coming to my gigs, when life is back to normal again, asking local promoters to bring me to their cities, etc.

AUX ANIMAUX HAS A BRAND NEW ALBUM: STOCKHOLM SYNTHROME!