Interview with Neven of

Neven rules.
Ashes You Leave are a Doom/Gothic (REAL Gothic, not MTV Goth) band out of Croatia. Their lates album "The inheritance of Sin and Shame" is out now and has been out for quite sometime. This interview was conducted by email.

Sony Estrella: My first question is, Do you think women will crush all barriers built by men in the metal business?

Neven: Eventually they will, of course, but I can't really say why there is as little as a handful of female fronted bands in the business. I guess male individuals often more easily express anything they feel through music than women do. Let's face it: Only 10 bands out of a hundred have a female majority within the band, or the female members write music. This shouldn't be so, I know but who's to say what will happen in the future eh?

SD: Would you say it wasn’t easy being a female in a male-dominated genre? I hear from many female artists that they have to put up with a lot of shit.

N: I bet they do. The remains of the paternal society still linger on, they will so for quite some time in the future. Women are more liberated nowadays of course and are given a choice whether they want to break free of the male domination over them or return to the basic male-dominates-female relationship. The music business is no different. I believe that solo female artists (people won't make trouble to AYL of course since the leaders of the band are male) do tend to put up with crappy "sleep with me or the deal is off" kind of attitude and I believe it pisses off most of female artists that have a thing or two to say in this biz. A lot of male bands also look on down from a certain height upon female bands, but that's just primitive thinking.

SD: Who is your idol?

N: I used to idolize people when I was a kid, now I am way past the looking-up-to phase. People should try and learn more about themselves and not be someone else.

SD: What are your favorite bands?

N: I do have a lot of favorite bands. Whatever suits the mood, really. To name a few: Candlemass, Carcass, Amorphis, Sisters Of Mercy, The Gathering (at least the Nighttime Birds album), Mazzy Star, Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil. Tool are okay, Aeternus are also not bad. We were playing this gig in Germany and Aeternus played before Mayhem. There is something about that voice that intrigued me and the music was also sort-of nostalgic. Later on Mayhem played and were a bit of a disappointment since that kind of black metal never amazed me. BM as well as the rest of the music just has to have that certain touch to make me want to stay and listen to the band through the whole show. I left half way through Mayhem's concert while the band before just glued me to the floor. To return to the subject, I mostly listen to moody music since moody is mostly what I've been feeling for a lot of time now. Don't get me wrong, I am a happy man (and can be a party animal heh), but don't you sometimes get the need to calm down when everything feels overweight and it's hovering above you. The last day of our tour I listened to This Mortal Coil's "It Will End In Tears" album just because the bloody tour often was a lot tiresome and I needed a long rest. You can get homesick on those tours, no really, it can be quite hard. The opposite half of my moodiness asks for hard distorted riffs only a handful of bands get right. The bands range from hard 'n' heavy metal like Carcass, Stratovarius, Dream Theater to more grungy bands like Circus Of Power, Alice In Chains, Life Sex And Death and Soundgarden. Phew. Don't ask me this question again, I could write a small novel about it. (ed- What I Dig, by Neven Mendrila -Sony Estrella)

SD: If you are familiar with the band Kittie, do you think they’re ruining it for the rest of us as serious female musicians, even though I’m not a musician...yet?

N: Never heard of the band or whether they are good or bad but, judging by their idiotic name, I'll take your word for it. I think the scene must spawn a lot of shitty bands just so the good bands would feel good about themselves and how they are actually doing a good job about everything haha. Bands like Kittie will switch to a whole different music once they realize most of the people have seen through their music.

SD: How long have you been interested in the music business? Was it one of those things you decided when you were four, or did it take some time?

N: Well music was always important to me, from the childhood era to my present age I was surrounded one way or another by music. But it was not until the age of fourteen that I actually picked up an instrument (acoustic guitar) and started learning how to play it.

SD: How were you affected during the Croatian/Bosnia war? I’m not sure what it was called, so if you can correct me. I do know that there was a war involving both countries. Many Bosnians and Croatians immigrated to the state I live in, which is Idaho.

N: Rijeka was untouched by the war, really. I am not sure either since it is quite confusing who was battling who back then. All I know is that Serbia attacked Croatia because of Croatia's independence issue, but later on, I can't really say. Neither do I bother myself with it. I'm glad that its over.

SD: Do you have a website available so more people can learn more about Ashes You Leave?

N: No, we still don't have an official website, only the Morbid Records advertising-sort-of page. If anyone is interested in making our website, contact AYL and we'll arrange something.

SD: Where can you see yourself in ten years?

N: Hard one. I haven't thought about it that much, but one thing is pretty clear. I will always be in the music business, no matter what. Hate to call it business, though, for then I would be a business man, which I am most certainly not.

SD: Well, that’s all I have for this interview. I hope to hear new stuff from AYL soon. Any last words?

N: Take care all of you that have stood by AYL throughout all this time. You know who you are.