Angel Awake has a whole philosophy behind what they do. Through their musical story telling, they explore the duality of the universe, incorporating themes like heaven and hell and ying and yang, all performed by- guess who, yes- the Devil and an angel themselves. Between rehearsing for their upcoming semi-final gig at The Factory Theatre and recording their debut seven-song EP, they take the time to explain it all to Emergenza.

CAN YOU INTRODUCE US TO YOUR BAND ANGEL AWAKE? WHAT'S BEHIND THE NAME?
The short version is that our two lead singers met backstage at a show. Sean already called himself the Devil and Moggy has been referred to as an angel for a lot of her life. When they met it was inevitable that something was going to come out of their meeting. At that stage Moggy was a professional singer in cover shows and Sean was already an up and coming original artist. They immediately fell in love and, as Moggy would describe, it was destiny that the Devil awakened the Angel within her to walk her path alongside the Devil. An Angel Awake. Originally they both were going to have separate bands, but it ended up a no brainer to join forces and capitalise on the whole heaven and hell persona that works so well for Angel Awake. Plus the fact they can both work side by side in a project they both love so much and are so passionate about.

WHAT'S THE WORK DYNAMIC BETWEEN THE ANGEL AND THE DEVIL?
The Devil is the main songwriter although the Angel writes the stories and themes or lyrics for the majority of her songs. The Devil has his own presence on stage even though he is bound by vocals and guitar. This gives The Angel free range to roam the stage with her electric stage performance. The Angel has an extensive dance and performance background. Put these together and you’ve got a pretty good concept both visually and audibly for theatrics on stage. We try to use this as much as possible. Offstage Angel Awake has a formula with the song writing that works really well thus far. They will talk about ideas and themes for songs and then Sean hits the studio to write the foundations of the tracks. We then hit the rehearsal studios with the rest of the band to jam it out and either add, subtract or rearrange parts to make those foundations into the songs you hear today. Onstage the Devil and the Angel have an electric chemistry and portray this through their movement and stories.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT WHERE YOU DRAW YOUR MUSICAL INSPIRATION FROM.
Firstly although a little cliche, we get our musical inspiration from everywhere. We are definitely a rock band but the underlying grooves can be inspired from all genres. Of course we love our rock, metal and alternative influences so if we were to name some bands we would have to name Three Days Grace, Staind, Korn, Evanescence, Green Day, Grinspoon, Seether, Disturbed and Metallica. Other big inspirations especially for Moggy are Blondie, Joan Jett and Pat Benatar and the most common artist she is compared to is the late, great Chrissy Amphlette from The Divinyls.

WHAT THEMES DO YOU EXPLORE IN YOUR SONGS? WHAT'S YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS LIKE?
To keep it fresh these can all differ as well but every song is written with a visual idea and a complete story in mind. It would be rare for any of our songs to have a series of one-liners. They all tell a consecutive story from start to finish. The main theme we have is based on the duality of two opposite perspectives. Heaven and Hell, Male and Female, Dark and Light, Yin and Yang etc. The other main topic is the heartbreak of relationships. A “love is pain” kind of vibe that can be a beautiful thing in some songs, but this road can also have very harsh and volatile emotions on the other hand. T he duality also flows through the vocal due to the fact that both the Devil and the Angel share the lead, so we can convey stories through our lyrics from the male and female perspective. Once again we will come up with a theme and most of the time a hook or chorus and then fill in the verse gaps from there. Whatever we do, it’s gotta get stuck in our heads before we go with it. If it gets stuck in our heads it’s most likely going to get stuck in yours!

YOU'VE JUST RELEASED YOUR SINGLE "BAD, BAD GIRL". CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT IT?
It’s kind of ironic in a way but this song is the story of our Angel in her much younger days before meeting the devil himself. It fits with the duality of our band where even an Angel can have a dark side. But mostly this song is really fun and rocking. People love to be naughty and the girl in this song is not shy of roaming around being just that. She also has her weakness too, which are outlined in the song. Recording it was also a great experience as it was the very first studio outing for us as a whole band. We recorded it at Electric Sun studios in Blacktown and the producers there were amazing to work with. The song turned out better than we expected and we absolutely cannot wait to get back in there to finish the rest of our seven-song EP.

WHAT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE FIRST ROUND FOR YOU?
The crowd was AMAZING and we loved playing in such an iconic venue. We got such a great reception not only from our fans but other audience members as well. It was a great gig and all the other bands competing were cool to talk to and very supportive of one another. The other notable mention was the Emergenza staff running the event. They were really switched on with all the behind the scenes stuff and as a band we respect that to no end. Without everyone running a great event like that we have no show to play and no amazing Emergenza experience. Hats off to the staff!

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO BETWEEN GIGS AND WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO PREPARE FOR THE NEXT PHASE OF THE COMPETITION?
Between gigs we all have full time jobs and kids and families. That’s why this music business is a difficult road for us. This however does not stop us from chasing the dream. We’ve done a few great gigs since the first round, we’ve been in the studio recording and we’ve also had an interview and photo shoot with a music website and things for Angel Awake are on the up and up. We haven’t been able to have a lot of rehearsal preparation because our drummer is in the middle of getting married and will be away on his honeymoon right up until the day before our semi-final. But we’re all seasoned performers so we should be able to pick up where we left off in regards to performance and we’ll fit in a lengthy rehearsal. We are strict on getting our set tight. Every part of the music has to be perfect and if it’s not we keep rehearsing until it’s nailed. Our music is very important to us. It is the crux of everything we do so it needs to be at it’s best. We will also be adding something extra to our performance on the night with a couple of special guest dancers on stage for one particular song. In addition to that we have been talking about this show to every person we come into contact with ever since we secured the date for it and we should have a great turn out to support us on the night. At the same time our fans will show some love to the other bands as well.

SO HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE EMERGENZA FINALS?
It feels nothing short of amazing. To get to the semi-finals is a great honour for us and we feel especially grateful. It definitely boosts the confidence when you’re told you’re a good enough band to be making the semi-finals of worldwide band competition. On top of that, being closer to the grand final at The Metro and the grand prize of being considered for a spot in Germany is an exciting thought. It would be a dream come true for us and a massive accomplishment for Angel Awake to represent Australia in Germany competing with the best bands around the globe. The thought of that happening blows our mind. We would feel very blessed to say the least. We will have to be on top of our game when we get out on that stage and play because there is some fierce competition out there but hey, you’ve gotta be in it to win it!!! We would definitely be ecstatic to play the final.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST ABOUT PLAYING THE FACTORY THEATRE?
We’ve heard nothing but good things about playing at The Factory Theatre, plus some of us have seen some fantastic live shows there. The stage is massive and the sound is always great. We’re extremely grateful to be able to play on such an iconic stage this early on in our journey. The main stage at The Metro would be an amazing venue to perform at also if we advance to the finals. But we are definitely pumped to perform at The Factory Theatre.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO ENROLL IN THE EMERGENZA FESTIVAL?
For us, we’re a fairly new band in the grand scheme of things and we’re just starting to pick up speed and make a really good go of our careers as musicians and songwriters. Emergenza came at the exact right time. It gives us a great opportunity to showcase our music to a large audience not necessarily full of just our fans. We also get to play in front of a heap of bands to get a fellow musician’s perspective on how much they might like the songs and get an insight into how we’re stacking up when pitted against other bands in our area. That, plus the amazing opportunity that would come from winning a competition like this is enough to make you want to enter. And at the end of the day if we weren’t to win, just the exposure, added experience, promotion and fun of it all is a good enough reason. You never know your luck in the big city - and Sydney is a pretty big city to go up against. We cannot wait to play our next show!