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Hello Aran, I can still remember buying the Lunar Aurora debut “Weltengänger” shortly after it was released at Saturn record store in Cologne. That was almost 30 years ago. And strangely enough, I also remembered that I ordered the farewell album “Hoagascht” online during a visit to Augsburg in 2012. I've long forgotten how I got hold of the other albums... How quickly time flies - is that something you often realize with some regret?
In many situations in life, I actually tend to look ahead. When it comes to Lunar Aurora, many memories become blurred. Some remain, but many things also become vague. In general, I can answer that by saying that I only regret the fast or slow passage of time in a few situations.
But now to the actual reason for the interview: You play the “Hoagascht” album live with other musicians, for the first time in June 2025 in Obertraubling, Bavaria, on the occasion of the release of the new Gràb album. What exactly was the reason?
Personally, I had been finished with Lunar Aurora for many years and had already moved on internally. But one day Matthias Jell (Gràb) asked me if I could imagine bringing the “Hoagascht” album to the stage. He would help me with it. At first I thought about it a bit, but then I liked the idea. It took some technical and personnel preparations at first, but once that was sorted out, we were able to start planning. I simply embarked on the adventure and, above all, I'm looking forward to giving the fans the opportunity to experience this album live. This album stands out from all Lunar Aurora releases and deserves to be recognized once again.
Did it have anything to do with the end of Bald Anders (a folk / psychedelic / krautrock band existing since 2014-2024, in which Sindar from Lunar Aurora also played, among others, and which released three albums)?
Bald Anders has nothing to do with it. That was a time of its own, when we wanted to experience music in a more “childlike” way. Just do it, without a plan, without a goal... just play, so to speak.
The album was strong enough in itself to survive the end of Lunar Aurora. It paved its way and today stands as a pioneering album for dialect black metal, especially in the Alpine region. Although I don't take this claim too seriously, as dialect would have found its way into black metal anyway. I am convinced of that. With “Hoagascht” we were just lucky enough to have been ahead of the curve.
Can you tell us who your fellows in “A Hoagascht” are?
That will be announced in the next few days. I don't want to anticipate that here. It might already be out by the time this interview is published anyway.
Is this performance a one-off or will there be further live performances of that album?
Since all the preparations are a lot of work, it's quite possible that we won't just do it for one concert. For now, we have the debut concert in mind and then we'll see. We're already getting enough requests, but we're still keeping a low profile because we don't want to and can't play every opportunity. But I'm currently assuming that we'll play more concerts. Not many, but here and there. We'll see...
Were you actually at the Weltengänger gig in Freiburg in 2017, an event that took place in Freiburg's Cräsh in 2017 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the legendary 1997 concert in Bad Wörishofen, including Mightiest (interview here) and Nordlys( interview here) and Weltengänger as a “replacement” for Lunar Aurora, which had already ceased to exist in 2017? And if so, what did you think of it?
I wasn't there in person, so I can't say anything about it. What's happening now with the “Hoagascht” album was probably also the intention back then: to revive a piece of the old days and offer fans the opportunity to see something live. Back then it was called “Weltengänger” for the occasion, in our case we now call it “Aran plays Lunar Aurora” to clearly emphasize that we are not a reunion and that Lunar Aurora as a band has nothing to do with it.
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"When the scene grew more and more, we still remained in our “bubble”. That wasn't a conscious decision, but a development based on the personalities in the band, so we didn't want our reserved nature to have the side effect that we were different or perhaps offside."
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When you think back on Lunar Aurora and the band's work, how do you feel? I always had the impression that the recognition from the scene was also due to the fact that, in addition to the first-class compositions, which were often rough and harsh and yet left plenty of room for melody and melancholy, the external presentation also appealed to many: on the one hand, Lunar Aurora were clearly a black metal band, but rarely or never used the usual clichés, especially when it came to the lyrics and interview statements. On the other hand, just a few decades ago there were some often pseudo-intellectual bands whose only ambition was apparently to generate as many foreign words and convoluted lyrics as possible that were supposed to appear profound.
In the early years of Lunar Aurora, there was no internet and only a very small “scene”. Especially in our region of Upper Bavaria, there were hardly any places to go. So we were more or less on our own. There were a few contacts, but in the end we were mostly in our own world. That was enough for us and we enjoyed what we had. When the scene grew more and more, we still remained in our “bubble”. That wasn't a conscious decision, but a development based on the personalities in the band, so we didn't want our reserved nature to have the side effect that we were different or perhaps offside. The albums also developed a life of their own during production. One became very harsh, the other somewhat sterile and so on. Looking back, I think we were mostly very solitary. Our music was rarely colored by other bands, we liked to try things out, we were open to new ideas, we didn't follow any ideologies, we immersed ourselves in our own world.
Let's come back to the Bavarian aspect. The lyrics on “Hoagascht” are written in the Upper Bavarian dialect and also interviews at the time emphasized the attachment to the (Upper) Bavarian homeland. As the son of Lower Bavarian parents (from the Passau area), I know that this bond never ends, even in “exile”. At this point, I'm interested to know whether younger people in particular still celebrate this bond or traditions and how important they are. In Cologne, for example, only the senior citizens still speak Kölsch, otherwise High German prevails here. In Bavaria, however, it's quite a bit different, especially in more rural areas, isn't it?
In recent years, I've noticed that the Bavarian way of life (however that can be described now) and traditional costumes in particular are being picked up again by young people. Clubs and traditions don't give the impression that they are lacking members. I think young people are once again attaching more importance to a sense of home and tradition. That's my observation from the rural area where I live.
The last words are yours!
Thank you for the interview and we are looking forward to the “Hoagascht” concert on 07.06.2025 in Obertraubling. Maybe we'll see each other there.
