The Los Angeles based alternative hard rock band September Mourning may be known best for their on stage theatrics and comic book costumes but they can also belt out killer songs. The band’s debut EP, Volume I, is now available – but that’s not all! The first comic book, September Mourning: Children of Fate, has also debuted. I had a chance to corral September (vocals) and Riven (guitar) long enough to ask them a few questions.
Side Stage Magazine: For the readers who may not be too familiar with the band, explain how music, art and theater come together to form the essence of September Mourning.
September: It was always the intention to combine these elements. September Mourning is a musical storyline played out on a stage. The character of September Mourning is a human-reaper hybrid, who feels the need to give some human souls a second chance, and thus toys with Fate. We embody the characters – the reapers – of the comic book by the same name. We are theatrical with a purpose, a fresh approach for music. Let us take you to our world…
The month of September ended with a 15 day Midwestern tour and October has been a busy month for September Mourning. Talk about your experiences while out on your Midwestern tour and then playing a dozen shows with the legendary Mushroomhead, the Aftershock festival and most recently, three shows with Marilyn Manson – who you’ve toured with previously.
September: The shows were amazing…each one better than the last! Every show is truly a gift because we get to meet so many of our Children of Fate. Being personal with our fans is very important to us. Connecting is so important, and these shows gave us such a great opportunity to do just that on a bigger scale. We feel very fortunate and thank all of the bands that had us join them to collect souls on this run.
Your long-awaited debut EP, Volume I, is now available. Where can your fans buy it and how have the sales been in this first month? How has exposure via well-known media outlets such as Sirius XM Octane and Loudwire aided in sales?
September: They can get it on our official site at www.septembermourning.com. Sales have been very good for us! We would like to thank all of the different media outlets for exposing us to new listeners. That definitely helps a lot in getting the brand out there. We pride ourselves on being a multimedia art project, so the selling of music is only a piece of our revenue. I believe the future of art overall is in having the ability to translate your vision into an immersive world, which therefore translates into different streams of revenue.
Dovetailing the release of the EP is the release of the first comic – September Mourning – Children of Fate. I know that you are very excited about this very important chapter in the story of September Mourning. Talk about the creative vision behind the comic and how it came about. When should we expect issue #2?
September: The creation of the comic book literally came from our fans. The fans were so supportive in wanting to fund the first book that we were able to fund the second as well (via Kickstarter). My partner in this creative process is Marc Silvestri of Top Cow/ Image Comics. He’s one of the greatest comic book artists of all time. It has been a dream working with him on this project. We enlisted some other creative types to join us on this mission: Sumeyye Kesgin and Mariah McCourt. Both ladies offered their own visionary skill set to our process…together we came up with this pretty epic storyline that has started to unfold in the pages of the first book and in a few months will continue in the pages of the second.
Speaking of comics, September and the rest of the reapers have made several appearances at various Comic Con International shows. What kind of reaction do you get from people in attendance when you tell them September Mourning is actually a rock band? Do you gain many new musical fans from Comic Con?
September: The way we present it at comic cons and generally is in saying, we are NOT a band. Rather, we are an art project with a musical manifestation. People understand we are trying to tell a story here, and create a world. Comic book fans are some of the most loyal fans on the planet…we feel grateful to be accepted by them.
The band has gone through a transformation over the past year or so. You’ve added new members including a seasoned guitarist in Riven. Given his success with his former band, how has he been able to bring fresh musical ideas to September Mourning? Did it take long for Riven to mesh with the rest of the reapers? Riven, are there any notable differences in the way that September Mourning completed Volume 1 as opposed to what you experienced in your previous band?
Riven: For this chapter of the band’s history, I was the first reaper to join the project (other than September). Together, September and I collectively put our energies together to find the other reapers. After a few different configurations, I believe we have the right personnel. Recording Volume 1 was a lot more freeing than my previous band experience. Last time I had many people with varying and opposing opinions all weighing in on what was going on. It felt very counterproductive and seemed to kill the magic that you hope to feel when creating art. This time around everyone involved was on the same general page and had the same goals in mind. This situation felt like a true “all for one and one for all”.
Where can we expect to see future soul collections?
September: Everywhere (smiles).
Do you have anything else you want to say to your fans?
September: Thank you for being there for us on this journey! We are more than excited to bring the second chapter of September and her story to you very soon…. and we will see you all at future soul collections in 2016!
For more information on September Mourning, visit their Facebook page or their website.
