Ankor’s new EP Shoganai (Mini album vol. 1) has been released at the end of October (2024). After causing quite a stir with several of their videos on YouTube for the past two years, the band – often both praised and reviled for their uncommon combination of metalcore, rap, rock, (Asian) pop and Electronic Dance Music – revealed the EP. About two weeks after the release, singer Jessie Williams found the time to talk us through the importance of videos, narrow-mindedness in the metal scene, the usage of autotune and the influence of Japan on the band.
Hi Jessie, how are you doing? How has your day been thus far?
Thanks for asking, Patrick. I am actually quite fine. And how about you?
Same here. You are in the middle of a run of promotional talks. Are you not fed up yet with having to answer the more or less similar questions time and time again?
Oh, I love Ankor so much that there is no such thing as talking too often about the band, to tell others about us. I’m so excited about the new album that I can’t wait to tell you about it.
Before you do, let’s take a little look into who Ankor is. Although stirring quite some noise on YouTube, you may not be the most known name in the metal scene. Could you introduce the band a little to our readers?
Of course. Ankor goes way, way back. Ankor was formed in 2003 by friends in Catalunya. When they started – I say they because I wasn’t even in the band at the time – they started in Spanish, so Ankor‘s first album was actually in Spanish (Al Fin Descansar), after which they changed to English. I joined the band years later in 2014, so that’s ten years ago already, which is also a long time, but nothing compared to what the band has been doing for twenty years, more than twenty years. So, Ankor is a bunch of friends, basically, who make music together. We all listen to so many styles of music, and we just put everything together into one little pot, which is Ankor. And I think all these different influences and mixes of styles that we like are what make Ankor what it is today.
Well, that is safe to say. Shoganai turns out to be quite a diverse album. It holds songs with a fusion of Asian pop-culture, contemporary metalcore, and a dash of Spanish heritage, but it also holds quite some EDM. There’s quite a different approach in your music, even when you compare it to your previous albums. You used to sound more like bands such as Paramore and likewise but come more from the metalcore corner now.
True. I think these changes come from our influences and us evolving as people as well. Your taste changes, your way of thinking changes, the things you have experienced in your life contribute as well. Everything influences how we make music and how everyone makes music, of course.
Can you say that an important change in the sound of the band has also been the addition of Eleni?
Oh, yes. The addition of Eleni has definitely contribtuted. The main reason is that our former drummers were not really metal drummers. They were musicians, but not metal drummers. And Eleni has been a metal drummer for years, and she’s played in very, very heavy metal bands. She is all deep into the metal scene. We are able to write to more metal drums now, more metalcore, with the double kick as well, going really fast. These are things that we’ve been able to add into our latest music that we didn’t have before.
Obviously this has helped to make Ankor sound how it sounds now. And I have to say as well, Eleni is just fantastic, not just as a musician, but she’s an amazing person. She is a character. She really is. She’s one of the funniest people I know. And we love her. So, her addition to the band has been one of the best things that have happened to us, for sure. We’re here with five so personality is one of the most important things.
You can be as good as musicians can be, but if there’s no connection on a personal level, then how can you be a band?
Totally, totally. And we’re a band that consists of friends. For us, it is important.
Yeah, I think we are always going to get, and bands are always going to get, certain comments. Most comments we get are fantastic. A negative comment we get a lot nowadays, – I even think this year it is the star comment when it comes to negativity – is that a lot of people say we are a woke band, like the all-inclusive movement.
Why? It brings the thought to mind that you perhaps can say that the metal scene, priding itself on being very open-minded, might hold quite some people who are more narrow-minded than they want to believe themselves?
(Laughing) In general, I agree with you. I can’t speak for everybody, but yeah, I agree with you. We probably get the comment just because there’s two women in the band. So that’s a comment we get a lot. But as you suggested, these comments mainly come from narrow-minded people. So, we don’t pay too much attention to them. We usually just ignore these comments, because I don’t think it’s even worth replying to them most of the time. No matter what you say to these people, you’re not going to change their minds. A lot of times it’s basically, in my opinion, ignorance. So, I would rather focus my attention and my energy on the good things, you know, by giving and replying to comments that are well natured. It’s not worth wasting our time with things like these. It only attracts negative energy. And why would you put your time and effort into that? That would be at least a waste.
So true. I would like to address one specific comment though, which I come across a lot is: “this band must use autotune. And when you use autotune, you are not creating music.” How do you feel about that?
I think most people do not even realize that absolutely all the bands use autotune when recording in a studio. It’s a different thing to put this effect on the voice to create this electronic vibe. That’s what a lot of people think autotune is. But if you use autotune correctly, you don’t even know there is autotune there. And I would say 98% of the bands use autotune. And the 2% that do not use it are probably punk bands or obscure black metal bands. They do not want to use it. Using autotune doesn’t mean that a person cannot sing. Sometimes when you sing, you have this note that is maybe a tiny bit out of tune. It’s not even much. It’s just a little bit out of tune, and that corrects it and makes it absolutely perfect. I know some people prefer maybe not to have it. In our case, we want to have a product that is as good as it can be. So we use it. But, and I repeat, if you think normal bands don’t use it, you are wrong. People use autotune, and it’s fine. You can use it.
It is also another thing to use it when you play live. I know some artists use autotune when singing live. We don’t do that. We do not use autotune when we play live shows. That’s a different story. So, what you see at the shows is what we play: natural. And that is something that I wouldn’t change, because I do like the natural sound of a show. And sometimes if a note is out of tune because I’m jumping or I’m moving around, then that’s okay. I think everybody will understand, and it brings, especially in a live show, a more natural energy towards the crowd and a natural feeling. If you start using it live, it comes across as artificial. And that is what you want to avoid.
Thanks for the clear answer, Jessie. It is refreshing to speak to someone who does not go into instant denial but addresses the subject with an open vision. Enough about the negativity. Let’s put the focus on the EP again. One statement from your press release stood out: Get ready to rediscover metal music like you’ve never done before. Was that written by the band or by someone else?
My ego would be quite big if I wrote that. No. Someone else wrote it, but obviously we approved it before it was released. It’s very difficult nowadays to create something new, I think. There are other bands who’ve done this before, also with the dance parts, even in all sorts of different metal styles. Everything has been invented. We live in a time where everything’s been done. So, what we’re left with is basically mix things and try to fuse different styles, different genres into making something new by trying out different formulas to not do the same thing that most bands do, right? And add different ingredients. But I think it’s very difficult nowadays to create something new.
You use quite some electronics in your music, but you don’t have a synthesizer player in the band. How does that work, live too?
Well, when we have to write it, obviously we do it all on the computer. And then live, we just have the tracks that play through the speakers. I think being five in a band is more than enough. We used to be six before. Years ago, we were with six. We had a keyboard player as well. And six is a good number, but we really like being five. So, I don’t think we would add another person.
And it’s something that is easily done if you can just play it from the computer and we just play our instruments and sing. There are other bands who are also doing it. I think it’s another tool we have. I think a lot of people don’t understand and they think it’s like cheating, but it’s just an extra tool. Why would it be cheating? It’s like the auto-tune thing we just talked about, right? I think using electronics is just an addition to what we have, to the whole show. It’s like having cool lights in a show. So, for me, it’s just something extra to make the show better. And a computer has so many possibilities. Times changes. So yeah, that’s fine.
You started the run of Shoganai by releasing the chapters separately and started with chapter two: Prisoner. That video and song gained a lot of attention and created quite a stir. So many people were talking about it. After that you released chapter three (Oblivion), after which chapter one (Darkbeat) came. Why did you choose to release the videos in this order?
I think one of the main reasons is we wanted to start the story, but without the background. So, we wanted people to make their own assumptions of what was going on, have their own opinions. Like in the video for Prisoner, for example, we have this character who is afraid to go out, who is covered in blood, who is a prisoner in her own mind. And you don’t really know why. So, anyone could relate to that song.
Then we have Oblivion, which is a sadder song as well. And you see the story of the same character in this place that is beautiful, like there’s these different sceneries. But she’s not sure what she’s doing there. She feels like she doesn’t belong. And then we see that this person has tried to commit suicide. And you still don’t know why. You still don’t know the background of the whole story. And that’s when we released chapter one so that people would see what had happened and then continue with the story. We decided to make it a bit different. I think it sounds cooler as well if you don’t start with chapter one from the beginning.
And people were wondering, but where’s chapter one? And I could see all these reactions on YouTube from people watching chapter two and chapter three asking that question. It was then that we released chapter one. And from that moment on, it became chronological. But yeah, it was fun. The chapters have been almost a two-year journey. So, it’s been an entire process, and we’ve loved every minute of it. And every chapter has been like a fantastic rollercoaster of emotions, to be honest.
Talking about emotions. I have read quite some comments from people who were influenced by a line from the lyrics or the happenings in the videos. Especially Oblivion seems to attract quite some response.
Honestly, Oblivion has been a song that has helped us connect with a lot of people. We’ve connected with a lot of people through a lot of songs, but Oblivion for me holds a special place in my heart because of this. I have an anecdote on that. I think it was in a venue in Germany. We were playing Oblivion and then all of a sudden – the audience obviously had spoken about it and then had all agreed to do it – in the part of the song where ‘I will be okay’ comes by, everyone took out a paper that said we’ll be okay together. So, we were all singing that line: I’ll be okay. And people were holding these papers and … well, we all cried. It was very, very emotional. I think it’s amazing to hear that a short phrase or a short bit of a song has been able to help. Even in a tiny little way, it just fills my heart.
The videos are not just videos. They are tiny, very detailed movies. The way you are sitting on the table in Oblivion with everybody around you and then the camera zooming into you and your reaching out, I think it was to a bowl with some nuts, and then seeing that everybody is gone. The way it’s being directed is of a high level. Are those ideas things you come up with yourself as a band? Is there a team behind it?
Yeah, the videos are us. It’s basically our guitar player David. He records them. He edits them. He is the director, and he puts all of it together and I have to say that what he does is magic. All these ideas that we have when we listen to the songs, he makes them come true in the videos. And this exact bit that you mentioned was actually fun to film because we were all sitting at the table together and it’s just one moment of recording. There’s no editing there. So, it’s David recording and he’s getting closer to me and while he’s getting closer to me, everyone started standing up, putting the chairs back, blowing out the candles and then when he pulls back again, no one is there. We had to film it three or four times, of course, because people kept laughing or falling to the floor or a chair wasn’t right. But yeah, it was a great way of filming to give the idea that we wanted to give. I think it’s a great scene. For me, I would say the most powerful one from the whole video.
Actually, we are working on something because we would like to have a special edition. The ideal situation would be for them to have them as a Blu-ray, for example, so people can watch them highest quality possible and watch them in their homes and not just YouTube. Because if something happens, you know, when something could crash down, at least people can have it in a physical edition. So, that will probably happen. Something for the future. When? Let me stick to soon.
There’s something with Ankor and Japan, not only in the album title, but … well, look behind you (Jessie is sitting in front of some shelves full of anime figures). What is that connection? Where does it come from?
The thing is, here in Spain, or at least in Catalonia, even more where we’re from, anime, Japanese cartoons, are very big. We had a TV channel that used to play anime all day. So, we grew up watching these cartoons. And obviously this has a big influence. When you’re growing up and watching these things every day all day and listening to their songs (because anime openings, most of them are fantastic).
So, we always had a love for Japan and Japanese culture. Then obviously we love Japanese food, Japanese music. We love J-rock as well. And we decided to try out and go to Japan, see if it works. If you love Japan, maybe Japan loves you as well. We went there in 2017 for the first time and fell in love with it even more. We absolutely loved every minute of it. It was fantastic. We played, I think, seven shows. We loved it so much that we went back two years later in 2019 again. And we played in Taiwan and Japan.
And well, we wanted to go back two years after that, but obviously … then there was something as a quarantine. So, we haven’t been able to go back yet, but it’s something that we are looking into, and we can’t wait to play there again. We absolutely love Japan. That’s something we all have in common. We have many friends who live in Japan as well. So, it makes us love it even more. The shows we played there were just insane. People go to shows and they love music so much. One thing I loved about the shows in Japan was that they’re very open-minded and they mix so many styles in only one show. So, in one show, in one venue, you could have a jazz band, which was the case one day that we played and then there was Ankor as well. And people just groove to anything. They enjoy the whole show. Everybody was enjoying themselves, which is fantastic. They just love music. And they’re very open-minded when it comes to music.
What do you do to keep being in music fresh? Because, at a certain point, it could also turn out to feel like a job. Which isn’t a bad thing, necessarily, but…
Well, for me, it has never felt like that. Obviously, it does feel like a job in the sense that you need to take care of things. Like, I need to take care and to give the best version of myself. But I enjoy it so much, so, so much that even when I’m exhausted on tour, it just… I just love it. I’ve never had a bad day in a show or thinking, I don’t want to play, I don’t want to be here. It’s just so much fun. And I’m very lucky to be able to share this with people who I love. Obviously, that makes it a lot easier. It’s not just a job that I show up at a venue and play, you know. I’m traveling the world with my family and my friends. So, we always have a great time.
The only thing that I really do to take care of myself is to really take care of my voice. It’s very important. Something that I have a very hard time with is not speaking. Because, obviously, if it’s a long tour and you have a lot of shows in a row, you really need to be quiet. And that’s something that I find very difficult. Because, obviously, as I said, I’m traveling with my friends and my family. So, it’s very difficult for me to not be part of conversations. And the guys are Spanish. Spanish people are loud. So, it’s impossible to have a low-volume conversation, you know. It brings a few other restrictions such as not going out in a venue where they are smoking and when there’s loud music so you have to shout to have a conversation. But, yeah, I just take care of my voice as much as I can. And then just have fun.
The upcoming European tour will also bring you to the Netherlands and Belgium. What do you expect from the upcoming European tour? Is it your first headlining tour?
It’s… actually, in the Netherlands… I have no clue, to be honest. We played the Netherlands before, but as a headliner? Same for Belgium. I am not sure, but I think it is the first time that we actually play a headline show in the Netherlands and in Belgium. I might be wrong, but I think it is the first time. And we can’t wait to be back, as a headline act. It’s a very long tour that we’re playing this time. It’s like five, six weeks. It’s thirty shows around most of Europe. And we’re very lucky to have Conquer Divide playing with us. They’re coming all the way from the US. So, we are very excited because we love the band. And we can’t wait for this tour, really. It’s our longest and biggest tour ever.
Time is running out on us, Jessie, so let’s wrap it up. Thanks, you for being open and for bringing so much enthusiasm about the band. Anything you would like to add? The famous last words…
Thanks for the lovely chat; it was a pleasure talking to you. Try to be there in Utrecht, so we can catch up. And that goes for all you people who love Ankor, we would love to see you in Utrecht or at the final show of the European run in Kortrijk. Till then!
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