Aaron Nordstrom Interview – from Gemini Syndrome – by Noah “Shark” Robertson

 

*How long has Gemini Syndrome been around and where are you from?

 

Three years. Actually, three years this month. We’re based out of Los Angeles. None of us are from there, but… Los Angeles. 

 

*How’s the tour with Mushroomhead going so far? How has the crowd response been for you guys?

 

It’s going great! We had the opportunity to come out and we did. It’s been insanely good! We got mosh pits every night, people dancing, crowd surfing, headbanging, shaking their fists, and just feelin’ it so… it’s been an incredible energy coming from most people. 

 

*What can you tell us about your latest recording?

 

We finished a record last year in August with Kevin Churko out of Vegas. He’s done Ozzy Osbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, In This Moment… Shania Twain (laughs). He’s done a ton of stuff. He’s an incredible producer. We finished that album last year. We’ve just been finalizing artwork and trying to get together a good strategy for release dates and all that. It should come out in the next couple months. It’s done, it’s ready. 

 

*Are you currently on a label?

 

We are on Warner Bros. Records. They’ve treated us great. They’ve treated us like family. It’s not so much the corporate b.s. like you think it would be like. There’s so many people that I’ve met there, that have become really close. They are really cool to us. 

 

*Do you have any tips for bands who haven’t toured yet, or are just starting to tour?

 

Work your ass off. We’ve been a band for about three years, we’ve been signed for about a year. In the two years before that, we’ve been on our own dime… honestly, just like… suffering. Just dealing with the troubles of the road. It’s not the glory that people think it is. It’s not cocaine and strippers (laughs). Not even that I want that, but… the idea that people have about what it’s like to be in a touring band. This is a job. We drive every night, wake up, we go to the venue, load in, we play a show, pack up, load out, we drive… rinse and repeat, you know? I remember something I read in a Guitar World Magazine when I was a kid. It was from Dave Mustaine. Somebody asked him the same question and his response was “Play, play, play, play, play… and then play some more!” Just work man! Get out there! That’s the whole point of music! It’s not about being rock stars. It’s not about trying to have chicks, drugs, and booze. If you really want to do this for a living… you’re doing this for the music… the songs that you create… the message that you’re trying to send to people. That comes with work. No body’s going to hand it to you. 

 

*How would you describe your music to somebody who’s never heard Gemini Syndrome before?

 

(Thinks for a moment) We’re hard rock… for sure. We’re definitely aggressive on some levels. I think there’s definitely a spiritual end to it. As far as the way I write lyrics, I write about things that I’ve experienced in my life… or things that I’ve seen. It’s heavy at times… it’s more heavy emotionally than musically. 

 

*Do a lot of people bring up your white hair and beard? Do you get asked about it a lot? 

 

Sometimes… I have albinism. I’m an albino, which is a genetic disorder. It means that I don’t have any pigment. My hair is white, my skin is white. All the things that let you get a tan… I don’t have. Sometimes people are like, “How old are you? Are you like 65 years old?” And I’m like, “No man! I’m thirty!” I’m a young guy still, but it just comes with the territory. It’s all genes. 

 

*What’s coming up next for Gemini Syndrome?

 

We’re gonna do this Mushroomhead tour. We got another four-ish weeks left with them. It’s been going great, they’re all a bunch of sweet hearts. They’re all great to us. We have another tour that we’re trying to lock down, but I can’t say what it is. “Shhhhhh!” Then we have some radio shows coming up… we’re playing with Stone Sour, Lamb of God, Smashing Pumpkins, Bush… we got to play with Bush on the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento last year. We got to play with them and Deftones… we’ve got some festivals coming up. We’re gonna be busy the whole rest of the year. The record’s gonna drop in the next couple months. The record will come out by summer, for sure. We’re gettin’ a sampler CD, a three song thing, that we’ll sell at shows… so people have something to take home. All in the next sixth months, it’s all gonna culminate to some sort of bigger thing. The support from everybody we’ve gotten… I don’t have the words for it. We’re number 5 on Octane XM Radio right now and climbing! I’m speechless…