Interview with AUGER (2/2)

Auger was founded in 2017 by Kyle Blaqk in Blackpool, UK. Kyle now lives in Germany, in Fürstenwalde to be precise. In our two-part interview, we talk to the likeable Brit not only about the reason for choosing his new home, but of course about his new album “The Old Arcade” and learn that sometimes the best things happen by chance. Missed the first part? No problem, you can read it here .

Orkus: Let’s talk about the new album! The title track was released in advance as a single. You wrote that it is perhaps your most personal song to date. Would you say that applies to the whole album?
Kyle Blaqk: Oh, definitely. This album is definitely an album where you “wear your heart on your sleeve”. With a lot of emotions and personal experiences woven into it. It came about after I wrote the song “The Old Arcade”. I had really gone deep inside myself and tried to avoid poetic masks or facades and instead be direct and vulnerable. When we played that song live, I felt like the audience really listened to what I had to say. I was very grateful for that, of course, but it also showed me that people appreciated that vulnerability, that openness. So that became the direction of the album: to really focus on the lyrics.

O: And how did it come about? Did you find it difficult or easy to express your feelings in this way?
KB: It was actually a bit of both! The more open I was, the easier it was to just say how I felt instead of trying to find a complex metaphor to disguise it… the more honest I wanted to be though, the more I wanted and needed to say. So it became quite tricky to condense the feelings into just one verse.

O: How did you come up with the album and song title “The Old Arcade”?
KB: There’s a place I go when everything gets a bit too much for me. I would ride my bike there in the middle of the night to find some space, fresh air and room to just be for a moment. My eldest brother had a photo he had taken of one of the buildings in this place as a background image on his laptop for as long as I can remember and it always fascinated me; it featured an old (weathered) clock on the awning of a building. Below it were a couple of slot machines that we used to play as kids. The full lyrics were a play on the phrase “even broken clocks tell the right time twice a day”, in my case singing “cowards” instead; and to complete the picture of the comparison, I described this clock as “even cowards are right two times a day, like weathered clocks above the old arcade.” As this was the place I went to when I felt devastated, it was also the place I went to when I wrote this song.

O: In the song it comes across as if you don’t believe in happy endings. Is that true?
KB: Yes, of course I do, and I’m quite proud that I’ve finally managed to use the word “after all”. No, my lyrics may be dark and emotional, but honestly I’m an incredibly positive and happy person… and have been described as “the most unserious man in the world”. But I think I owe it to my songs that I can be like that. Because our wonderful fans listen when I have something to say and don’t judge me when I’m outspoken in my lyrics, I can use music to express my feelings. And that makes me feel happy and understood.

O: The first track, “Goodbye”, is also very moving. What is the story behind it?
KB: I was lucky enough to meet someone who is probably the most positive person I know. Always empathetic, always optimistic and always full of joie de vivre. When he told me his story – how he grew up and lost both parents so young, amidst so many other adversities – I could hardly believe how full of zest for life and positivity he is despite it all. And so I felt inspired to write a song about his story, from my point of view. A song that describes so many hurdles, including “saying goodbye twice” – once to each parent – but assures him, if he’s listening somewhere up there, “I’ll finish what I started, it’s in my blood.” He will stay positive, keep fighting and keep growing.

O: “Pretty When You Cry” is completely different and incredibly danceable. How did this track come about?
KB: Well, this is a cover. A cover by one of the best songwriters, from one of the greatest albums, that so many people have never heard of. Of course a lot of people know it, but not nearly enough in my opinion. I could have chosen any song from VAST’s “Visual Audio Sensory Theater”, but this one had an energy that I thought would be the perfect introduction to convince new people of this masterful album.

O: What would be your answer to “Where Do We Go?”?
KB: I should know, but honestly I don’t know. I just wish it was the same place as it is for everyone we’ve loved and lost. But if you mean “now”, you should definitely see Auger live on their great tour.

O: The album ends beautifully with “No One Plans (To Make Mistakes)”. Is that something you had to learn yourself?
KB: I firmly believe that it is a healthy attitude to know that. We tend to hastily dismiss something that could well be a mistake as malice. And these mistakes are part of growing up, part of learning and part of being human. I’ve certainly made many, and I’m okay with that – even if the lyrics throughout the album suggest otherwise.

Claudia Zinn-Zinnenburg

Watch the video for “The Old Arcade”: