Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Are you looking for some new music to listen to? Well, look no further, because I’m very happy to introduce you to the German band Seven Blood. We chatted with lead singer Azaria and guitarist Oli about their new album, tour life and best friends!
Hello Azaria and Oli, wow are you doing?
Oli Arnold: Good. Thank you so much for having us.
Wonderful. You’ve described Seven Blood as born from a collective moment of personal crisis. I think that’s something so powerful about people coming together to build something. Do you think that the band could have existed if you’d all met during a different time in your lives?
Azaria Nasiri: Well, we tried a few years before, Oli and I met in 2023 for our first session. Five years earlier, we tried already to make some music, but it just got swept up. We actually were able to do what we did, to actually meet and make music thanks to the crisis part, because we had to find a way to survive, just to say very dramatically.
As you were saying in those early like rehearsal session, do you think that did you have something that you wanted to admit either to each other or to yourself, something so vulnerable when you were forming Seven Blood?
Oli Arnold: Yeah, I mean, it was really a lot of vulnerable moments. First time we met, we just met on this kind of blind date situation where we started writing a song. Doing music together can be pretty intense, and this day was really intense, the first day. We wrote the first song within two or three hours. This was really insane, and we were happy with it on the next day. Tthis song was “Killing From The Inside,” which we released last year. It was never planned that this was going to be the first song. But in the end, it was a pretty fun fact that first song we wrote together is the first song we released and it’s still on the debut album. I think what really is a part of Seven Blood is that we handle these moments and we just try to do something, try to create some music out of these.
That’s a really cool answer. What memories or feelings from your childhood have made their way into Seven Blood’s music, even without consciously putting them there?
Azaria Nasiri: Before we started to actually try to make music, we talked about music. We noticed that all of us listen to music a lot through all of our childhood and growing up. Not only rock music, but also R&B, or even we talked about opera. The thing that shaped us also is that we are very genre open, and that we also listen to much music today, since we were children. That’s one big aspect of how we work.
Oli Arnold: Yeah, I would say so too. There are always a lot of things that influence your life when you’re a kid. The world is so intense, and you just soak up everything, every kind of influence you can get. When we just did these songs, I was often surprised that, okay, this kind of music influenced this song. Actually, I just listened to this song more than 20 years ago. It’s really fascinating how deeply this is rooted into your mind, and that it’s still there and some influences that you probably never imagined. I think everything you just experienced so far is always influenced in your music.
Azaria, you described feeling caught between cultures and never fully belonging to anyone. Has Seven Blood finally given you that sense of belonging that you were looking for?
Azaria Nasiri: Yes, of course. It was hard growing up as a teenager, especially I was lucky enough to find my friends that accept me the way I am. So they were my first acceptance group. But now I also arrived musically and friendshiply. As Oli said, the first writing session was very intense, and I was going in there very vulnerable. My mindset was all or nothing, I would just open up right now and let everything out. And they either accept it, or they don’t, either they know how to handle it, or they don’t. Luckily they did. It’s not even not even about culture anymore. It’s more about being able to be vulnerable, and together being able to create something from it. Everyone can agree and understand those feelings or thoughts. It’s a whole new level now.
All four of you, since you’re different people, do you complement each other in the creative process?
Oli Arnold: I think so. Yeah. Because I mean, when we write a song, usually it starts that Azaria, Anfy and me just consider an idea and talking about it. And maybe Anfy or me has a riff or a basic idea, or a concept. Sometimes the song is just more like a concept. Then this concept is to be discussed. From this point on, we have different abilities to make it happen or not. I’m really more on the composing side and not too technical, and Anfy is really kind of the producer of the band. He’s really focused on the detail and I’m 100% not, because I’m not too interested in the detail. I just think I want to hear a song and want to be catched in eight seconds. I’m not interested if in every tone of the guitar solo, I’m just there for the mood, for the message. But this is great. I mean, I know it’s important to have these details, and also great to discuss these details in the group. If Anfy wouldn’t do these details, I would not do my part of the job, so I think in this game, we really complement each other. Then there’s Azaria. When I just write a song melody or a main melody for the lyrics on the piano, it’s so different when she sings it. She has her own tone scale, really. There are tones that I would never consider, but in the context, they work. And they do something which is great, so from the first day on, her ideas from tones to melodies to through the lyrics are just so a big part of the band. Last week, I just said, nobody from us could write a Seven Blood song on its own, because you need to get these parts together. I think this is really special. I just saw some bands who are doing this in a way we do it. It was always the same situation that I thought, okay, this is kind of a chemistry that’s really special. We have kind of the chemistry. If you like it or not, I’m not in a position to say that. But I’m happy that I’m in the process where I can see that everyone is just putting something in and that makes it really special and unique.
Do you think there’s something specifically German in Seven Blood or like Germany is just the place where you live and there’s nothing more to it?
Oli Arnold: We just grew up in Germany, we as a group already show how different that can be. We grew up in a small village in the middle of nowhere, Josi grew up in Berlin, even these parts were probably pretty different. Everyone has a different background. We were born in a country called the GDR, so it’s not there anymore. But in my life, it never played a role. All these things just influenced us as people and as human beings. Berlin is just the best city for us because to find people who are doing this kind of music is not easy. And people who have this kind of mindset and want to do this kind of art is not easy.
“Life Is Just A Phase” can be read in a comforting way, but also like a devastating way. Which interpretation do you want the listeners to take away after they listen to the album?
Azaria Nasiri: Actually, both. You just took all the essence of the album out. Sometimes when you’re in a bad time of your life, you can say it’s just a phase. It will be over. But also when you’re in a happy time, you should also be aware of the fact it will be over. It’s just a phase, but let’s just enjoy it. Tthat’s actually the essence.
Oli Arnold: The good and the bad times are a phase; enjoy them if you’re in a good mood and in a good phase. And yeah, just focus on the good things that are coming in case you’re in a bad shape or in a bad phase.
I’ve read in a press release that you wanted to provide safety and support for fans to find empowerment through vulnerability. Can you share with us a moment that touched you, like an encounter with a fan or with someone that listened to your music who was so moved by it?
Azaria Nasiri: We are lucky, very lucky that people actually came to us after shows and told us personally about their situations. Maybe you can tell Oli, I think I wasn’t there, with “House ≠ Home“.
Oli Arnold: It was when we played in Berlin this summer. There was a guy who just wanted to say hi to everyone in the band. He was talking to me and to Josi and to Anfy. He just asked us how we wrote the song “House ≠ Home“, it’s his story. So how can we know his story? It’s just insane for him, because it’s just kind of his own personal song. I just said, “Yeah, I mean, you know what, we wrote it together as a trio. Azaria, Anfi and me and we talked about these things and how it feels not that your home doesn’t feel like a home. Then we put it in a song. And in the studio, we already knew that it works for us.” So it’s really great to see that it works for other people, too. It’s really touching to see that these people come to us and can’t believe that this is not only their story, but also our story. We can share it and we have the same approach to things.
Azaria Nasiri: Also that they say that they are thankful that they finally understand that other people can understand their stories. We want to be that place for them to say, you’re not alone. We’re here and we make songs about it. You can listen to it if you feel like it.
Speaking of live shows, you played with Ankor, you played with Future Palace and so many amazing bands. What have you learned from watching other artists perform?
Oli Arnold: I think we learned a lot from them how to create good and interesting shows, to catch the people. But to be honest, on the non-musical side, we also just could learn how to have to take care of people. I mean, especially when we’ve been on tour with Ankor and Conquer Divide, when we shared a bus with 20 people, which is insane. We’ve been just kind of a family for three weeks. It’s just great how welcoming the Ankor people have been and also the Conquer Divide people. We’re still in touch to date and we just appreciate that we could have this experience and this kind of being together on the road, not being in different rooms and not seeing each other for weeks and just saying hi on the floor or something. It was one of the best things I have experienced.
I wanted to play a little game with you, if that’s all right. If all the songs from “Life Is Just A Phase“ became human being, which one would be your best friend?
Azaria Nasiri: “Not Your Misery” would be my best friend, because she is brave, she is strong. She would punch someone in the face for me.
Oli Arnold: Wow, this is a tough question, but probably “Monsters“, because this “Monsters” person is kind of mysterious, but pretty cool and strong on the same side. Also fighting the demons and maybe a bit like, I would imagine, like a superhero a bit.
Azaria Nasiri: Like Batman in the night.
Oli Arnold: Yeah, exactly. Fighting all these bad demons and looking good at it.
Thank you so much for being such good sports and for taking the time to do this interview with me. Is there anything else that you want to add to our readers?
Oli Arnold: Just check out the new record that’s going to be out on November 21st, “Life Is Just a Phase”. And we’re really super excited to talking to tons of people about it.
Azaria Nasiri: It’s insane that this is happening.
Oli Arnold: Yeah, still can’t believe it.
