Rhythm of Love: In conversation with Distance to Earth

Distance to Earth is a three-member metal band from Kohima. The band started off in early 2011 as ‘69th Avenue’ but took a hiatus to concentrate on their studies. The band got back together in 2018 with fresh music, and a new name. That’s Distance to Earth for you.

Despite having been away from the music scene for eight years, Distance to Earth has recorded a single ‘The Last Letter’ that was written in 2011.

In today’s Rhythm Of Love the band takes us through their journey from 69th Avenue to Distance to Earth after a hiatus of eight years.

EASTERN MIRROR: For the record, could you guys introduce us and the role you play in “Distance to Earth”

Distance to Earth: At present, there are three of us in the band- Kavi Arklight as the front man, Moyuchen K Yanthan on the Guitar and Anguka Achumi on the Bass Guitar.

EASTERN MIRROR: What does the band name, “Distance to Earth”, mean and what is the band’s back story?

Distance to Earth: Back story you say? (haha)… well, we grew up listening to metal music and we were all influenced by the different genres that metal had to offer.

That pretty much describes how we started the band. As for the meaning behind the band name, there is no meaning to it. But to sum it up, each of us has a long way/distance to cover in order to reach our dreams and goals; this in turn can relate to the band name ‘Distance to Earth’.

EASTERN MIRROR: The band was formed way back in 2011 as “69th Avenue” and took a break rechristening the name to “Distance to Earth”.  Why was the change in band’s name and how has the transition been since you guys took break?

Distance to Earth: We just sat down and talked about changing the band name (not that it had any purpose) as we decided to start afresh as we were on a break for a long time and secondly with a broader knowledge on music after all these years and a hike on our music perspective, we came up with something new- new riff, new chord, etc.  Taking all that into account, we wanted to start from the scratch.

EASTERN MIRROR: Tell us about the band’s first single, ‘The Last Letter’ and why it was recorded with fresh new music after eight years.

Distance to Earth: The first single ‘The Last Letter’ is about losing someone dear to us. It talks about how they left an empty space in our lives and how we long to see or hear from them. Throughout these years, we experimented with different genres and played at some few gigs as an independent performer and not as a band. But our love for metal genre made us want to record a new single and to bring back the dying genre; as we are all aware that the metal scene is no longer prominent. ‘The Last letter’ along with some few unreleased songs were all written way back in 2011 but as we were all in college back then, we could not make the most of our time so  we decided to leave it aside.

EASTERN MIRROR: With “Distance to Earth” band breaking new ground in its musical path, how has the song writing process changed?

Distance to Earth: Uummm….a lot of things changed when we were on our break. During the time each of us learned and experienced many new stuffs, ideas and worked towards it. It was quiet a laugh when we look back at some of the songs we wrote back then…. We, as a band has certainly come a long way and there are still more room for improvement.  

EASTERN MIRROR: How do you see the Nagaland music scene today since the time you started in 2011?

Distance to Earth: In our vision, we see Naga people adopting a certain new genre of music for the sake of its popularity/ trend …… and that’s why most of the genres become too mainstream and some die out ………. that’s what we think…  With that, the music scene in Nagaland has improved a lot comparing to the old days thanks to various platforms through the internet like Indihut, Reverbnation, Soundcloud, Instagram, YouTube channel to name a few…. Back then, the only platform we had was ‘Summer-Jam’ (Run by Aries studio yearly for promotion of local talent).

EASTERN MIRROR: What are the plans you have for the future as “Distance to Earth”?

Distance to Earth: As of now, we have no plans…. Our only plan for now is to continue making music for the love of it. We try to incorporate modern riffs with the age old traditional metal core riffs. Some people who respect metal genre love it; some hate it saying the genre is dead…. But we as individuals grew up listening to metal and our love for it makes us want to write more and experiment with new record. We are also currently working on some songs which we wrote way back eight years ago.