An Interview with Kyle Wilson and Kieran Thornton of Auger

Rockflesh catches up with Auger after their set at Ruby Lounge, Manchester.

Hi Auger! It’s great to meet you guys. Could you give me a description of your sound for those who haven’t heard you before?

Kyle “So, we are Auger and we are signed to a German label where most of our fans are based. We are sort of a blend of metal and dance and electronic music, with a big goth influence running all the way through. We’re influenced by stuff from the Sisters of Mercy, the 80s, all the way up to more modern stuff like Starset, so there is a huge broad range. And of course the Blutengels of the world, and the Project Pitchforks as well, we’re huge fans of”

 You’ve just come back from Germany, how was your tour?

Kieran - “It was great, really brilliant. It was our first proper tour experience. This is like our second sort of tour experience”

Kyle - “Yeah, it was really fun and great to see lots of cities, and we were very fortunate to be on a tour bus as well – we actually got to see the city that we played in whereas a lot of the time, you show up, you get in the venue and then you are trapped. So it was nice to be able to see a little bit of Germany whilst we were there”

 What was the highlight for you?

Kyle - “I’d say in terms of the gigs, it was probably the first one in Bochum. It was such a good reaction, a really good gig. I really enjoyed a place called Flensburger, that’s really really northern, almost on the boarder of Denmark. Mainly because we got to do a bit of an outdoor experience, then we got to go around the town as well. We’re really good sight seers”

Kyle Wilson of Auger at The Ruby Lounge.

 What do you hope 2019 will bring for you guys?

Kyle - “There will be a new album coming out at the start of the year. I’m not really sure on the date yet. We’re also playing in Germany a couple of times, and in Malta with Lord of the Lost.”

Kieran - “To be honest, we’ve got quite a lot lined up for next year”

You perform as a duo at the moment, how do you find that? Is it not more challenging to only have the two of you?

Kyle - “No actually, it is great. We’ve chosen to be a duo. We’ve been in bands before with lots of members and it was a bit of faff, you know with getting into venues and getting things booked”

Kieran - “And lots of gear too..”

Kyle - “And then you get a lot of musical differences, whereas me and Kieran are basically the same person. When we come to write music, we bounce off each other well and we write the stuff that we want to write. Also when we come to venues, we are basically a band in a box as well. It all fits in the boot of my car and then we’re good to go. It’s great for doing the European shows, we don’t have to lug everything around in huge flight cases”

Do you have any other shows coming up apart from the ones you’ve just mentioned? Maybe some festivals…?

Kyle - “Yeah there are a few festivals… I don’t know if I am allowed to say where they are? There’s one in  the Netherlands. We’re playing there, Germany, maybe Sweden and Malta. We’re hoping to get on some German festivals next year”

Kieran - “The gigs we’ve got planned are all very European based”

You guys are from Blackpool. Do you still have that little rock bar there… the tache?

Kyle - “We are the only goths in the village”

Kieran - “Yes we’ve still got the Tache”

I went there once and they were playing Type O Negative album tracks and everything was covered in neon paint and Halloween decorations.

Kyle - “Yep, that sounds like the Tache. Halloween all year round”

Are you not tempted to do a homecoming show?

Kyle - “We’ve been offered that a few times actually, but it’s a bit iffy at the moment. We really would love to, but then there’s things like getting the right venue, getting the right bands with us”

Kieran - “And just getting enough people to go to it at the end of the day”

Kyle - “We want to put on a good show after all”

I think what was incredibly striking about your performance tonight was your youthfulness and your passion for the music that you’re playing, it really comes across in your live show. I really hope as you go forward as a band, you gain a larger following and experience more success. Thank you for your time tonight.

Interview by Sarah Cummings