Every now and then a band comes along that completely blows you away because you’re not really able to describe exactly what you’re listening to. In the case of Germany’s Vianova, that same feeling washed over me with the release of every new single. From the cyberpunk tinged “Melachronic” to the just plain bonkers “Uh Yaya,” the band upped their game with every new video over the past year. In celebration of the surprise release of their debut album HIT IT! , I had the opportunity to speak with vocalist Alex Kerski about the album creation process, how they developed the narrative across their music videos, and the lasting impact of the Big 3 on him. Tell us a bit about your new album, HIT IT! Alex Kerski : It's wild, it's fun, it's emotional, it's expressive and all over the place! If listeners felt like laughing, crying, dancing and smashing something after the first listen it did its job right. Leave your expectations at the door, turn the speakers up and HIT IT! Was anime on or around while you were writing or recording? Kerski : There is no real anime influence in the album directly, however manga and anime used to be one of my early gateways into art (which influenced my day job as a graphic designer) and rock music. I read the classic big three back in the days ( Naruto , Bleach and ONE PIECE ) and loved to draw the characters and weapons from the franchises. I was also blasting the youtube mp3-rips of the openings on my busted Sony Ericsson phone. RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Lore Premieres Video for New Single "Senpai" and Discuss How Anime Is Always On When They're Writing You’ve really put a lot of thought into your music videos! How did the narrative for those develop? Kerski : We really wanted to embrace new mediums and craft something that's memorable and gives you a sense of our identity. It's important that every piece of content feels like it comes from “our world.” The concept for the music videos are usually based around the core subject matter of the track but it's hard to pinpoint how exactly they come together. Sometimes I come up with ideas and scripts. That's pretty much the case for all the content and the overarching story. Sometimes the whole band is involved in brainstorming ideas. For instance, for “Melanchronic” we somehow collectively knew it had to be a car video. In the case of “Whatever Alright” we collectively wanted to do a dance video, I came up with the rough concept. Greta, the dancer, took care of the rest in terms of scripting and choreographing. I also have to give credit to our videographer Chris aka Strangeworks who makes sure it all comes together well in the end. Can you tell me a little about your anime journey? Kerski : I used to be a big fan of the Big 3 anime/manga when I was an early teen. Probably seems super basic nowadays but back in the day that was what you could get into easily, as a few of those were running on TV. I loved drawing the characters and weapons from each series, especially the swords from Bleach . I started reading new chapters online weekly but eventually stopped when I grew a bit older. From then on I always have phases where it comes back (mostly reading manga) and I binge hard. When a friend of mine introduced me to Berserk , I finished all available chapters super quick since I was reading 24/7. Same with Chainsaw Man . The last proper anime I watched was Attack on Titan . I foolishly thought it was surface level but when I watched it I was very impressed by its heavy existentialism. I binged all four seasons in like two weeks. What is the anime fandom like in Germany? It seems like it has grown a lot over the past few years! Kerski : I feel like anime really hit the mainstream in the last few years, which can probably be attributed to a lot of us watching it on TV back in the day. There also seems to be a huge crossover between gym culture and anime fans for some reason. Honestly I can just provide an outsider perspective, as I am not an active part of the community, rather someone who tunes in from time to time. Also wild to see how Naruto and ONE PIECE are still super relevant nowadays. Felix (guitar) and Paul (drums) both used to work with kids and told me how they are still watching and referencing Naruto , which is awesome to me. RELATED: Employed to Serve's Justine Jones: Dragon Ball Z is Metal From that starting point, have you found an anime or genre of anime that is your favorite? Kerski : Shonen is always fun since they give me that nostalgic feeling, but sometimes they can feel a bit samey if you look too close. I feel the ones that leave the biggest impression on me are the outliers with weird conceptual stories. For instance my favourite Ghibli movie is Porco Rosso since I love how it manages to tell a story about war and guilt in such a fun and life-loving way. Are there any other anime series that got you deeper into music or taught you something musically? Kerski : I have to say Naruto since I loved all of the intro songs. I still get goosebumps over “Blue Bird.” There is also the classic 2000s kid experience of discovering a sick song with an AMV. My favorite was an edit of the fight between Gaara and Rock Lee that was dubbed with “Red Flag” by Billy Talent. It was the most intense stuff I had ever seen at that point in my life. Did you get into music around the same time as you got into anime? Or were they separate from each other? Kerski : I probably got into music a little bit earlier, since my first musical obsession was the Beatles when I was like nine-ish years old. Anime came in around one to two years later. Why do you think anime fans are drawn to heavy music and vice versa? Kerski : I would lie if I said that I got an exact idea. Maybe anime fans are used to more unconventional/shocking aesthetics and storytelling? Anime can get quite hardcore and gory (which is also sometimes the appeal, let's be real here) so maybe fans are also not put off by heavier elements in music? It’s a tough question! RELATED: Force Model on How Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad Inspired Them to Form a Band I can honestly say there is not another band that sounds like Vianova. How do you approach such boundary free songwriting? Do anime openings, endings, or OSTs play a part in that inspiration? Kerski : I think we are just inspired by a wide range of music and want to portray a wide spectrum of emotions in our songs. I wouldn't say anime openings play a big role in that, even though they did influence me personally with a certain emotion that I love, that bittersweet “we did it but at what cost” kinda feeling you get with some j-rock songs. Which anime have you been watching lately? Kerski : I recently restarted Attack on Titan since I wanted to show it to my girlfriend. Let's see if I can get her into it! If any of your songs could be used in an anime, which song would you want and what type of show would it be? Kerski: I can see two options: A new anime about a guy that wakes up in an alternative dimension called “Berlin” as a guitar called “Help I got Reincarnated as a Fender Squier Baritone.” OF COURSE NARUTO HECK YESSSS!!! Is there anything you’d like to plug or say to the Crunchyroll audience out there who may not be familiar with your music? Kerski : You may never get that second season of Highschool of the Dead but you know what's just as good? THAT'S RIGHT: THE NEW ALBUM HIT IT BY VIANOVA!!!
