We recently welcomed Amentis to Scantraxx Carbon, so we chatted with the duo about their music and journey in the Hardstyle genre. Amentis brings a unique sound that combines emotional and melodic elements with hard-hitting kicks influenced by Pop Punk, Rock, and Metal. Their debut release on Scantraxx Carbon, "Surrounding Me," showcases their signature sound and personal touch, with Robert playing the guitar and adding vocals to express his emotions further. In this interview, Amentis talks about their production process, their upcoming releases, and what makes their live performances special. Get ready for a journey filled with energy, emotions, and vibes!
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Scantraxx Carbon Welcomes Amentis: Get To Know Them
Tag: Interview
- First of all, welcome to Scantraxx! We’re glad to have you guys on board. Tell us about Amentis, the act and what you guys stand for.
Both: Thank you! We’re really hyped to start our journey at and with Scantraxx!
Vibes, energy and emotions is what we stand for. We like to tell stories in the music, but also have music you can just vibe to when being blackout drunk at a party. All tracks have a personal story, but we like to create them in a way that people can attach their own meaning to them.
- How would you guys describe your sound?
Both: Melodic yet hard with influences of many other genres like Pop Punk, Rock and Metal. We really like combining both extremes, so really emotional/happy melodies combined with super hard kicks, and we think we succeeded with that in “Surrounding Me”. Our sound is also very emotional and personal at times as Robert plays the guitar in all our tracks and sometimes even sings to express himself even more.
- Surrounding Me is the first-ever Amentis release on Scantraxx Carbon. Tell us about the track!
Both: “Surrounding Me” is about all the dark thoughts that we have at times. Specifically in situations where someone you loved turns out to be completely different than you thought. You can also hear the influences from Pop Punk and Metal in there and like already mentioned, Robert played all the guitars in the track.
Robert plays the guitar in all our tracks and sometimes even sings to express himself even more.
- Can you tell us more about your production processes? Where do you begin and how do you ensure that a track has the signature Amentis sound?
Both: We can draw inspiration from everything. Usually, Robert just jams around on his guitar to come up with a dope melody. Some upcoming tracks also started from a vocal sample, which we’ve never done before so that was fun!
We try to have some returning elements in each track, it can be sound design-wise with some hard kicks or topic-wise as most of the tracks are about dark thoughts or heartbreak. Combine this with Robert's guitar playing and singing influenced by Pop and Rock and you get our current sound!
Oh also we've got a love for Dubstep, Drum 'n' Bass, and weird glitchy sounds, so you'll hear those influences in drops come back a lot.
- Jared, you’re the face of the act. How do you prepare for gigs and what makes an Amentis performance special?
J: For me it’s super important that every Amentis show is unique. That means that I will never just come to a gig and start playing a fully prepared tracklist like a jukebox. For every single show I always select a huge amount of tracks consisting of our own tracks, classics and new tunes and then spontaneously decide what I play. You will never hear the same set twice.
Upcoming music and more
- Let’s get personal! How were your Hardstyle journeys? Did you guys always enjoy the genre or did you slip into it by accident?
J: Cool question! Do you know the Future Trance CDs from way back? As a child, well, I guess I was 9 years old or something, I always listened to them and danced around like a maniac. At some point they started to put more and more Hardstyle tracks on the CDs and that’s how I discovered the beautiful genre they call Hardstyle. I was instantly hooked and needed more. There is still no end in sight.
R: I started listening to Hardcore when I was around 10 and slowly got more into Hip Hop. A couple of years later I was really looking for a genre with lots of energy while also having emotions and one day a friend asked if I could make a Hardstyle dj mix for his YouTube channel. I didn't know what Hardstyle was as I made House and Hip Hop music so I began researching and instantly felt like YES this has everything I was looking for and now we’re here.
- How did you guys meet?
R: Actually through a mutual friend, hi Bert. We were both solo acts before and I didn't want to DJ anymore due to personal issues, so I was looking for someone to combine forces with and when we started chatting, it was instantly clear we had the same vision.
J: Yeah, like Robert already said through a mutual friend in 2015 I believe. I was just in the process of learning to produce on my own and then we met. We realized working together would allow us both to concentrate on our strengths.
- Lastly, tell us about your upcoming releases!
Both: We got a lot of exciting tracks coming up. Prepare yourself for lots of energy, emotions and vibes as well as some special collaborations, so be ready!
To tease a little, the second release is called “Enough”. Coming for you fairly soon.