With:	Siatris, L.C. Chertan
Conducted by:	Auntie Sahar (in person)
Published:	02.05.2016
Band profile:	Nibiru

It was a very spur-of-the-moment type of occasion. Not even five days before leaving for this year's Roadburn Festival, I received an email from a representative of NeeCee Agency in Italy saying that the ritualistic dronemasters in Nibiru were looking for interviews. As I was already planning on interviewing Oranssi Pazuzu at the festival, I thought I'd go two for two. There was room for one more, and I was happy to help the band out with some publicity. Why not?

It took us a while to actually find each other on that cold, rainy Saturday at Roadburn, and there was one instance when we were actually looking directly at each other but simply didn't realize who we were!
When we finally figured it out however, we all got together and made our way into the Dudok restaurant on the festival grounds, and I conducted a lovely interview with some musicians from a relatively new, but highly potent band.

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Che: So, Nibiru... greetings, you guys. Have you all been enjoying this year's Roadburn?

Siatris: Yes, very much so. It's the best culture.

Che: What bands have you all been seeing and enjoying?

L.C. Chertan: Oh, for me, the highlight of my Roadburn so far has definitely been Repulsion. Full Of Hell were also excellent, and, of course, Converge playing Jane Doe was amazing.

Che: Repulsion clashed with Alkerdeel for me, and I love black metal, so I had to go with Alkerdeel.

L.C. Chertan: I love black metal as well, but I'm also a huge fan of hardcore and grindcore. My musical background, I love a lot of the older, New York hardcore, so I still feel a deep connection to that type of music.

Che: Very interesting! I certainly wouldn't have really expected that from the type of music you play in Nibiru. So as for your set yesterday, how are you all really feeling about it? It seemed to go over quite well and be pretty well received.

Siatris: There was great energy there, we could really feel it. There was very close contact with the crowd. For me, but I think also for the other guys, it felt so much closer. We have honestly never felt that kind of energy playing live before. It was a completely new experience.

Che: Have you all played outside of Italy much?

Siatris: No. This was the first time.

Che: Really, this is your first time outside of Italy? Well let me be the first to say congratulations! Now, as to the question of Italy, and your background... you all are a relatively younger band, so I'm curious, what are your origins exactly, how did you all really start out?



Siatris: We've all played in other bands before, and have a history of working together. Always with friends though, nothing ever really that important. We played in Tron Sabbat, which was some black metal that had industrial and folk influences to it for a while, then we were in a stoner rock band for a bit, and then afterwards we formed Nibiru and went onwards with that.

L.C. Chertan: I joined Nibiru only in August of last year. Before Nibiru, I played in a band of my own, Origod. But I've known the other guys in Nibiru for a while, we've been friends for about seven years, I believe. And I really love the approach, the musical composition of Nibiru. In the position I'm in now in the band, I'm able to express the darker side of my musical personality, which is definitely good for me.

Che: Yes, so to the actual music of Nibiru... ya know, I really like it a lot, especially because listening myself, it always seems as though your albums boil down to one very long ritual, just one massive track, essentially. Do you all really record the music like that, or does it just come out bit by bit by bit?

Siatris: No, the songs are always born from improvisation. So our music never really comes out broken into individual pieces, we basically start with one idea and things simply go from there. We start to play, and things just go into a state of flux.

Che: I love it! Now, as far as the themes of the band, what you all really take inspiration from... I believe I read somewhere that your first three albums are actually something of a trilogy. Would you care to elaborate upon the concept? Do they somehow tell a story?



Siatris: Yes, the concept is linked to the Indian Occultation. Mostly about the beliefs and practices of the Aghori sadhus, they are a sect of Shaivites, or Shiva worshipers. They are also known to worship Kali, and will often go to crematoriums or burial grounds to meditate around the dead bodies, to sort of honor the dead through Kali. They have a lot of strange rituals relating to the dead, such as smearing cremation ashes on their bodies, using human skulls as cups, things like that.

Che: Fascinating. I've been deeply into Hinduism for a while, which is probably why I'm so attracted to the music and themes of Nibiru. So, with this trilogy now finished, do you all have any ideas of what's really next for the band, anything specifically that might be planned for the future?

L.C. Chertan: Well we re-released the first album, Caosgon, and then there's the new EP that we just released back in March, Teleoch, which might be a little preview of the next step. And I think that for whatever the next release is, we will continue the path of the old albums. But we always try to evolve, to evolve our sound, wherever it may choose to go to.

Che: Well you all have been having a very steady output, at least, so it seems as though the creative juices are always flowing! Going to some musical techniques for a second, I've noticed that Nibiru seem to be a largely instrumental band. On the first two albums, some vocals were there, but they seemed more like audio samples than actual vocals from you all. That changed with the last album, Padmalotus however, and some actual vocals from you yourselves were there. Do you all really have a preference, vocals vs. no vocals?

Siatris: Not necessarily, but when vocals do appear, I believe they're sort of a blend of all of our various influences. You know, I come from the black metal scene, some of the other band members come from the darkwave scene, so you'll notice this on Padmalotus, sometimes the vocals take on a harsh, almost shrieked sort of approach, but sometimes they're just more of a chant as well. The approach taken is very much a fusion of our backgrounds.

Che: That's very cool, and quite special as well I think, you don't always see bands where the composition is such a nice synthesis of the parties involved like that, so power to you all! Now, with you all coming to Roadburn this year, which you say is your first show outside of Italy... do you all think this will lead to you touring outside of Italy more in the future?

Siatris: We certainly hope so! We were going to do a tour with Dark Buddha Rising a little while ago, but we had some problems unfortunately and it fell through. We would love to possibly pick something like that back up with them down the line though.

Che: I can only imagine, they're a wonderful band. And speaking of work with other bands, do you all have anything like that planned on a musical level, you know, any bands that you'd like to collaborate with or possibly form side projects with some of their members?



Siatris: Side projects? At the moment, no. But we do have a special concert coming up where we're going to be playing a set in a church that will be more dark ambient-focused. It might be more than one show actually, and we'll use more of a folk based sound, you know, acoustic guitars, didgeridoo, and some mantras, of course.

Che: That sounds amazing, I really wish I could be there to see that. So do you all ever think that Nibiru might do a full album like that, that is just pure dark ambient music, or is that not really the style of the band?

L.C. Chertan: It's not really the style of the band, but we all do greatly enjoy that type of music, so we certainly won't rule out any possibilities!

Che: Well, if you all ever do do something like that, you know I'll be one of the first people checking it out! But alright, guys, that's about all I have for you all today, unless you happen to have any last words yourselves?

Siatris: For sure! We thank all the organizers at Roadburn this year for this great opportunity, and we thank all the people who came to see us perform. I thank myself for the great work with the other guys, and I thank the guys for their great work with me as well. And of course, I thank you for the interview, and all of the fans that we may happen to have over at your Metal Storm.

Che: It's my pleasure, guys, thank you all for the interview. It was great to see and talk to you all, and I am greatly looking forward to what comes next!

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Thanks must be extended once again to these Nibiru guys, all of whom were quite friendly, generous, and a pleasure to be around, even if briefly. Also, thank you all for the Padmalotus LP and the shirt! Both were lovely gifts

Having done some browsing around online in the wake of conducting this interview, I haven't seen any other Nibiru interviews elsewhere, which leads me to suspect that this one they did with me very well could have been their first ever, or at the very least that they haven't had many. Whatever the case, let me just say that I am honored to have sat down and given Nibiru an official interview, and I greatly hope that it serves to give them a little more exposure. They most definitely deserve it.