A talk with a human hybrid with souls bouncing inside of her, this is September Mourning. Imagine, if you will, a world where September Mourning is alive. This creative band has created a unique signature all their own. Enjoy this interview.
Who has been your influence to create September Mourning?
Emily: “I created it out of experiences and things that I love. I loved comic books; I loved performing I loved theatrical pieces I came from a ballet background, so I am very theater-based so the way I move on stage is quite different than anybody else so everything that I do I think is very signature for September Mourning. You view me on stage you watch me perform like you saw me tonight I don’t move like the OTEP moves on stage. I move totally differently, not that it is better or worse it’s just different, but I think that having your own style like very signature that nobody else is doing is very important. I understand the dynamics of energy and movement and taking up space on stage is a really big thing for me how do you take up space, how are you moving your arms, I’m very particular about how I move. It adds to the performance and it is also part of the character September Mourning because this character is this weird reaper human hybrid, she is not a normal human, so she is going to move a little differently but not awkwardly, it is just strange a little bit strange, like I’ll tilt my head sometime or do like these little motions just because she just has this character inside her and she has all these souls bouncing inside of her so its just a little nutty.”
The progression of your character September Mourning and the music has come so far since the beginning and as you as Emily Lazar have grown, have you always known in your mind that is the progression for September Mourning?
Emil: ” It’s a combination, that the character was going to grow. I knew the storyline was going to grow, I knew that the songs would progress in tandem with the storyline. Because of different things that happen within the world, like the pandemic, everything is like art imitating life imitating art sort of situation. A lot of external circumstances have happened a lot to the band since then and how it has matured, and I think that is reflected in the storyline and the character, and the music that was made. We are releasing a new song on Galla Music on this web3 platform in June and its sound has progressed so much since Angels to dust off that Volume 2 that you know and it is crazy.”
Angel in the Dust, that song is beautiful.
Emily: “It is a weird song, but the lyrics are so powerful.”
What is the recording of songs like for you? Any kind of preparation?
Emily: “Not really. I am kind of like to the point in my career where it is easy to turn it on. Once you put a mic in front of me the vocal becomes just that. Everything else is just peripheral. So, my extreme focus is on that microphone. So, the sound that goes through it and where my emotion comes from is my gut so my gut comes through the mic and makes the sound that resonates through it and the music that we are making. I am very hyper-focused on that when I record.”
Recording or touring, which do you prefer?
Emily: “I prefer performing live. I’m a live performer, I’ve been a live performer since I was like four years old, Me on stage, I feel like that is home, like me in real life that is not home, I feel awkward and it’s weird but it’s like polar opposites.”
When performing on stage, can you see out into the crowd? Does it depend on the venue you are playing, or the stage set up?
Emily: “Tonight, I saw everyone. Well, tonight yes. It depends on the theater like if it is a larger theater, larger stage, the stage setting, usually, it is very dark out there and I don’t see. But 9 times out of 10 when I am on stage it’s a weird feeling. I feel like I don’t remember what I do, I just kind of do, it is like breathing, you aren’t thinking, it is Like if you focus on blinking your eyes it’s weird, if you ever focus on blinking, it is the weirdest thing in the world. It’s like you go through and it’s like five minutes later it is like oh I was blinking that whole time and I wasn’t focused on blinking. It is like that for me performing. Performing just naturally kind of happens. So sometimes I don’t remember what I do on stage, so I come off stage and I’ll have a bruise on me and I am like how did that happen? Or I remember once I chipped my tooth on a microphone and like tonight, I hit my head e too hard, just things happen. So as far as seeing the audience sometimes you do like in a crowd like tonight where you are performing on a weird stage where its like very bright but then there are other times like when we were out with Rob Zombie and we are in a big amphitheater and it was just pitch darkness and you don’t see anybody, which I quite like because it is like you’re in your own world and bubble. It’s like you hear them and you feel their energy, but you don’t see them and that is quite fun for me.”
Do you prefer an amphitheater or smaller intimate settings like tonight?
Emily: “It depends. I used to like smaller settings more but now I like bigger theaters. I like theaters now; I really like playing to large audiences. It gives me a challenge to get them all herded into what they’re doing. Whereas small, confined spaces are a lot easier to do, but in bigger theaters you really need to reign them in.”
What is your favorite song to perform?
Emily: “I like Unholy, it’s just fun to perform. It’s just an interesting song and a lot of fun.”
Do the reapers influence your movement on stage?
Emily: “Rich and Aaron (Shadow and Riven) and Kyle kind of does his own thing, he is kind of his own character in the background, and then Rich and Aaron kind of like have this weird symbiotic sort of like movement style so they are like constantly switching places and Rich jumps consistently all the time like that is kind of his thing he is the jumping one like which sort of goes with his character you know like in the comic book and stuff and so you know everyone sort of has their little character traits. But they don’t affect me. I just kind of do my own thing and they’ll come up and play with me and do certain things to do something every once in a while but we each have our own, I think they work together more than I work with them. I kind of do my own thing and then they work together in tandem and then Kyle/Stitch kind of does his own thing now its often that I will go back to the drum kit, and I will like to beat on the drums or symbol and stuff like that like I did during Mausoleum tonight.”
How many changes to the costume of September Mourning have been made so far as the character progresses? What is next for a costume change?
Emily: “It’s been developed since 2014. I think this is the 6th costume I am on, the next one is going to be quite different we are changing the color. So we are going to be doing something a little bit different. But it is going to have the same sort of shape because I like the shape that compliments my body and stuff like that so that’s particular. I think we got in good shape on this one and I like the way it fits.”
Is there a place that you have never performed that you want to perform?
Emily: “Wembley Stadium or Madison Square Gardens.”
Is there an artist, living or dead, that you have or would have wanted to collaborate with professionals in music?
Emily: “Probably, but I could never collaborate with him just because he passed away Kurt Cobain. I grew up in Nirvana. I grew up on Dillinger Escape Plan and I grew up on GlassJaw and bands like that but Nirvana was like one of the first bands that I kind of got into that and Marilynn Manson a little bit of GWAR and stuff like that, theatrical bands, but Nirvana I was just so obsessed with the way he could write songs with like three chords and they were so catchy and the lyrics were just so dope and were just so different. The way Kurt Cobain would put words together was so different and I was always kind of obsessed with that, like oh I would never write that, that made me feel like again where do you go for that you have to go to Kurt Cobain. Kurt Cobain was a big influence.”
What would you like to say to fans?
Emily: “Thank you for supporting us so far and I can’t wait to show you what we have up our sleeve coming up because there is a lot of new stuff that will be coming out. The new music is going to be cool; we are really starting to find a sound that I am quite excited about, so I am very excited about that. I am looking into what we are doing with NFTs and Web3s and stuff like that cause that is important for us. Every time you buy an NFT it gives you a free VIP meet and greet you just have to own the NFT and keep it in your digital wallet, it is like a digital collectible, so you get the digital collectible, keep it your digital wallet show it to our merchandise girl and you get free VIP access, every tour you get one free VIP in perpetuity and get 20% off our merchandise. So it’s consistently good stuff.”
This is truly a unique band and their live performance is amazing. Thank you September Mourning for taking the time to talk to Vanguard.
https://septembermourning.com/videos-2/