Interview:
Aaron Nordstrom
Frontman of
Gemini Syndrome

Recently, I chatted with Gemini Syndrome’s front man, Aaron Nordstrom. We discussed the details on the band’s impending sophomore album, lineup changes, and more. Gemini Syndrome released their single, “Eternity,” on August 14th and is currently on a headlining tour before heading back to the studio.

New England Music Blog: Is there an official title for the second album?
Aaron Nordstrom: It’s not official, I think we’re going to call it Memento Mori, which means “remember we die.”

Aaron Nordstrom of Gemini Syndrome

NEMB: Of the three new songs you’re playing live, which one is your favorite?
AN: I like playing them all but I guess I would have to say “Eternity,” because it’s the one the people know. It’s getting the best reaction from the people because they’re familiar with it but we’ve had a really good response to all the new stuff we’ve been playing, so it’s all been kind of fun. I have noticed, you know, people are also looking up videos or whatever but people are starting to learn words to the stuff that’s not released yet so it’s been pretty cool, seeing people sing along to that stuff.

NEMB: In order to graduate from the ducks, what would you suggest?
AN: Oh my god, I have no idea… I know there is a movement of people trying to figure out what to do next but I have no idea. I have so many ducks and they’re still coming in. It’s out of control! I just got a bondage duck… it’s like the same little rubber ducky with the spiked collar and a ball gag. It’s got a compartment for a battery, I don’t know what that’s for…just sayin’, I own it now, it’s mine.

NEMB: How is it with the new members?
AN: It’s good, it’s different… it’s to be expected, you know? But I mean, we regrouped and we’re moving forward. Still Gemini Syndrome and the core of it is still there and the purpose of it is still there so we go out there and do our job.

NEMB: Of the planned trilogy, do you have a favorite topic? Like Lux was about birth, the second is about life, etc.
AN: Yeah and in the title Memento Mori, it’s Latin for… basically meaning like remember that you have stuff, virtually like carpe diem, “seize the day,” and know that you’re here for a limited amount of time… know that you’re gonna check out eventually. It’s been on my head a lot in the past year or two and… just getting older and knowing that my mortality is imminent, I’m gonna die… someday. It’ll happen, I don’t know when and I really don’t see that as a morbid thought, I don’t think I have really feared death but the more I get older, it’s like just realizing it’s gonna happen and I don’t know how conscious I was of that in my youth even though I was aware like I knew I was gonna die, it’s a scientific fact but the actual reality… maybe I think about this more than I should but the reality that that moment is gonna come and I’ll be like “this is it… my time’s up.” It’s really been on my head a lot and we wrote a record about it, using your time wisely and just not taking it for granted because it could be over at any point… at least the third record will be about… whatever capacity I will be able to write about it… about death and whatever comes after that. Or maybe it’ll be more of a reflection on me, on the past experience, you know? As the clock ticks down… we’ll get there when we get there. That’s the general outline…

NEMB: Who was your main musical influence growing up?
AN: It’s all over the board, man… growing up playing classical and jazz piano, that was the earliest of my influences, learning that stuff as a kid. I listen to everything, I listen to everything from rock to death metal to folk to EDM to rap to hip/hop… it’s all over the board, I mean it just depends on the time of my life that you’re talking about.

NEMB: Synners want to know, will you be at ShipRocked 2016?
AN: No, we will be in the studio recording. Hopefully finishing the record. We’re scheduled to go in November and start… or should I say continue… working on it and that process will take a couple of months. A lot of people seem to want us back on the boat, we would’ve done it if schedules would’ve been ok for that but we got to get the record done, priorities so…

NEMB: A lot of us feel like we’re different, how did you manage to turn your difference to becoming the amazing person you are?
AN: At the end of the day, it kind of goes back to the Memento Mori principle, man, it’s like this is your life, this is what you got, it’s the only one you have and whether… I said this to a guy a couple of weeks ago…it’s like I don’t care if you believe in heaven and hell or if you believe in the afterlife, any kind of reincarnation, if you believe that if you die and that’s it… I don’t care what it is… the reality is the only thing you know for sure is that you’re alive in the skin that you’re in right now…and wrapping my head around it, again as I get a little older, as I gone through whatever crap and shit I’ve gone through in my life, like this is my shit-box, you know what I mean? Hey, it might be a shit-box but it’s mine and it’s the only one I know. So I guess at the end of the day with whatever differences I have and whatever obstacles I’ve had to overcome it’s like those are my obstacles and it’s not like I can change it. I can’t wish it away… I wish I could… I wish it was that easy to wish it away but it’s not… the fact is that’s what you got. Either try to make the best of it, try to keep your head above water or give up and don’t try… but that’s really the choice you have to make. It’s not an easy one, but it would be so easy to give up. Again, going back to the idea that this is the only life you’ve got, if you give up, what are you going to go to? It’s not like you can exchange it for another movie that’s better. It’s not Redbox. It’s not like, “oh I don’t like this film… I’ll just return it… ” Things don’t work that way… if you got The Godfather trilogy and that’s what you’re watching… if you got Happy Feet, that’s what you’re watching, you know what I mean? Like that’s your movie, you’ve got to deal with what you’ve got… I don’t know why I picked The Godfather and Happy Feet, that’s fucking weird… trying to find an opposite spectrum but you know, that’s the principle… it’s your life. It’s nobody else’s and you’re not gonna live in anybody else’s. Hopefully, when all is said and done, it matters.

NEMB: Where do you see yourself in 20 years?
AN: [laughs] I have no idea… 20 years… you know to be completely honest, I think it’s a miracle and I surprise myself on a daily basis that I’m still alive now. And I’m not saying I’m expecting to die anytime soon but to say that I’ll be here in 20 years, let alone, tell you where I’m going to be, is absolutely impossible. Maybe, a nice house somewhere in the Hamptons… [laughs]… I don’t know… somehow I doubt that but you know, it’s impossible, I couldn’t tell you. Ideally, I’d have a successfully music career, still be able to do this and live comfortably and happily. But the zombie apocalypse might come before that so maybe I’ll be running around and shooting zombies with an AK. Who knows? I’m going off blowing heads off… dreadlocks flying in the wind. I’ll probably dress like a ninja too because it’s the end of the world, who cares about fashion? I do what I want when I want!