Explorations Into the Auditory Artistry of SENNA

Explorations Into the Auditory Artistry of SENNA

German newcomers SENNA have just released Stranger To Love, their stunning debut full length recording via SharpTone Records.  Combining spiraling melodic reveries with the stunning intensity of progressive rock and metalcore, SENNA is ready to set the imagination in flight with their absolutely thrilling compositions.  They’ve opened for the likes of The Devil Wears Prada and Silverstein in Europe, and with the unveiling of Stranger To Love, SENNA is destined to enrapture music fans all over the world.  Highwire Daze caught up with guitarist Marcel Dürr to further explore the auditory artistry of the amazing SENNA. Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in SENNA, and how long the band has been together
My name is Marcel Dürr. I play guitar in SENNA and live, I do some backing vocals. SENNA’s been around—it’s kind of hard to tell when we started, I think around 2020, but I think our first single released in 2021. And then 2022 was our first proper release also through SharpTone, which was our EP, A Moment of Quiet.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music and metal scene like there?
We always say we’re based in Mannheim, which is actually quite a big music scene in general in Germany, but actually, I think only one of us lives there. But all the other people live around it, in close proximity. So, we always just say Mannheim. I would say it’s not the biggest metal scene in Germany. I feel like that’s probably a bit more up north. But yeah, I would say just in general, the music scene in South Germany, which is where Mannheim is, it’s really active. There’s a lot of also government programs where they provide funding for rehearsal spaces. They organize concerts. I think it’s really cool because it’s really not just limited to your standard rock or pop music, but actually, they’re very open for metal and hardcore, which is really cool. And I don’t think you have that everywhere.

Let’s talk about the upcoming album, Stranger to Love. Is there any overall story or concept behind that title?
I wouldn’t say there’s an overall concept. Honestly, we just wrote a bunch of songs, and then after the fact we already had a bunch of songs, we figured that they all share a theme. So, they’re all about love in a broader sense. So not only in the romantic sense you would maybe most often use the word, but also it deals with self-love and also all kinds of different variations. We have one song which is called Rain, where it’s celebrating the love between two people and it’s a really upbeat, happy song. But then you also have other songs like NS:LC, which explores a scenario, that maybe this is something that is missing from your life. I think also the tracks that are more focused on ourselves, they also deal more with the fact that you’re missing love. You’re not feeling it. You’re not getting it from places where you should be getting them. And that’s where the name Stranger to Love is coming from.

The album kicks off with Hurricane and Rain. Is it on purpose that we’re talking about the weather in the beginning?
I never noticed, honestly. That’s hilarious. No, it’s not on purpose. And before you told me, I never even thought about it that way. It’s kind of embarrassing. No. Jesus, no, no, not intentional at all.

One intentional thing was you had Our Mirage on your song Polarised. Tell me about how that collaboration came about, and have you had a chance to perform it live yet?
We haven’t performed it live, which I think we’re saving that for maybe not a headliner, but maybe definitely a longer and bigger set, because I feel like that’s this big closing track. And if you’re just performing for maybe 25 minutes, it would feel a little bit off, because it’s just this big, almost cinematic ending. I’m a big fan of that song. And I think it’s really cool that we got Timo to do actual vocals on it. So, the way this happened is that we actually worked together with Timo on this album, because he was helping us writing vocal lines for the record. The connection was through our producer, Manuel Renner. He proposed, “Hey, let’s ask Timo to maybe help with some ideas, just some brainstorming.” And I think that was really a good idea to collaborate like this because he really brought in a new perspective and a lot of fresh ideas.

And then for the last song, we just asked him, “Hey, we really like your part. Do you just want to be a feature on the album?” So he actually wrote quite a few things on the rest of the album as well. But he’s not featured there. And Simon, our singer, tracked them, but it felt right to have this track with him. And yeah, we absolutely love the song. We would hope to get the opportunity to perform it with him on stage at some point. And I’m sure it will happen.

We’ll cross our fingers on that. Something else I want to cross my fingers on, at least. Is there any chance of SENNA coming out here to the States in support of this new album?
Oh, yeah, we’ve been asked about that. We would love to. I think it’s definitely one of the last things to be checked off, so we can feel like we’ve made it in a way. So, coming overseas to the States, and also at some point maybe Australia. Yeah, that would be really cool. There’s nothing concrete yet, but it’s definitely something we are talking about and thinking about. The US is also one of our biggest fan bases. So, it’s also something I’m sure will happen at some point. But again, we unfortunately don’t have anything concrete yet. But I think it’s safe to say it will happen at some point, for sure.

We’ve had Caskets and Holding Absence over here. So, time for you guys.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Two amazing bands as well. So yeah, I hope we can follow their suit.

What could one expect from a live SENNA show?
I think it’s a big focus for us to also be a great live band. And maybe we feel a lot of pressure ourselves because the way we started the band was as a studio project. So, it was a big step for us to even rethink all the songs in a live setting. I think what we figured is that it’s really fun for us. It’s a really big challenge, but it’s also really rewarding. We’re actually putting in a lot of additional effort to just make a great live show. And I think what goes along with it is that not everything can be translated one to one from the record to a live show.

I think what’s really cool is if you go to a live show, there will be quite a few things that are maybe different from the record, but in the best way possible. I think it adds a lot of value if you go to a show, and I think it’s just different from the album. It’s also something that we’re doing very deliberately. I would hope you can go there and be surprised and maybe have new perspectives on the songs that you already know and love.

How did your recent tour with The Devil Wears Prada go? And what were some of the highlights?
Yeah, the tour was really great. This was by far our biggest tour, biggest rooms, biggest crowds.  It was really amazing. I think a highlight for us was definitely, there were two shows in Germany that stood out just by the sheer size of them, but also one of them being somewhat a hometown show for us, which was the two shows in Leipzig and Frankfurt.  Frankfurt is really close to Mannheim. A lot of our friends and family were there. So, this is, I feel like, as close to a hometown show as we get, and with over a thousand people and same in Leipzig, actually. These were just really, really huge shows.

We got to just meet a lot of fans that have already been to shows. It was just a really great experience for us. But also, the other shows were also absolutely great. Also, we love touring with the other bands. All the other bands were incredibly nice to us. They’ve been doing it for far longer than we have, so I feel like we had a lot to learn from them, which I think is always really cool. It was a really great experience, and it was like a big step up from our previous tours, which I think is also reassuring that we’re on the right track. So yeah, it was really cool.

I see you also did a few dates with Silverstein. How did those go? And did you get to hang out with Silverstein at all?
I think these were actually the first bigger shows we did. So that was really cool for us and also intimidating. The shows went great. And I think since they were the first bigger shows we did, that was kind of dipping your toes in the water first to see how it feels. And it felt great. It felt great performing in front of those people, so many people. It’s great, and it just really reassured us, “Okay, this works on a bigger stage.“

We didn’t really hang out with them much. I think they were probably pretty jet lagged. And also, these shows, they were scheduled around festival shows of Silverstein. So, I think they just wanted to chill out a bit and rest a bit. And for us, it’s always really cool to meet these big bands. Many of them are also bands that we listened to ourselves, maybe in our teenage years as well, and big inspirations for us. But we always try to be really respectful of their time and privacy. And if they want to rest a bit and chill out, then we just try not to bother them. We introduce ourselves, but then I can only imagine how it must be to be doing this for such a long time and headlining a show must be stressful as hell. So we try to keep it respectful.

If you could tour with any band, either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
Oh, that’s a great question with too many answers.

You’re going to do a festival here.
Oh, a festival, that would be sick. Rest in peace Warped Tour. But no, I think one obvious answer would be something like Bring Me The Horizon, but they’re just huge, and they’re obviously a big inspiration as well. So I feel like that’s cheating. But two other great UK bands that are also big inspirations for us are Boston Manor and Don Broco. I think that would definitely be cool, because I think both of them, they’re not super heavy. They’re just a very cool rock bands, which our past tours have been with maybe more classical metalcore bands, which is really cool, because it’s great to see that people are open for maybe less heavy music in those settings. But yeah, touring with Don Broco or Boston Manor, I feel like they’re not super heavy to begin with. So it would be really cool to see how that feels like in that context.

Educate us on two German bands that we should listen to.
I’m going to start with Unprocessed, which are some friends of mine. I’m sure a lot of people will already know about them. They’re a big band. They’ve been doing it for a very long time and they’re seeing so much success recently. It’s really cool to see because they’re a very technical band, especially their guitarist, I think is very known. His name is Manuel Gardner Fernandes, of course. Anyone who plays guitar will probably know of him. I’m just really proud of them because they’ve been really putting in the work and it’s finally paying off. If you’re into guitar music or just more prog music in general, I think you would really, really enjoy them. But they’re also just writing great songs that you can enjoy, even if you’re not a music nerd. So, I think that’s really cool.

The second band I would recommend is Avralize. I just love their music. I think it’s a really, really fresh and new take on the metalcore genre. I think a lot of bands don’t innovate as much on the genre, in my opinion. And it can be somewhat stale in places, but I feel like they’re bringing a lot of new and cool ideas to the table. They’re pretty young, too, so you should probably get to know them early. And then once they make it big, like real big, you can tell everyone you already knew them before they were huge.

We know them personally, and they’re just lovely people. But I think what’s really cool and really inspiring, they’re just putting in the work, man. They’re really, really driven and trying really, really hard to just write, create music. And yeah, as I said, I feel like you can sometimes fall into the trap because there is a formula for metalcore that works all the time. And I think it takes a lot of work and courage to not go there and try to be your own band. And I think they’re doing a wonderful job. So, shout out to them.

Are you currently involved with any other bands or projects at the moment
No, not at all. So SENNA is my—how do I say it? SENNA is an only child, so it gets all my attention and love.

You guys have a new album coming out soon. What’s up next for SENNA?
Just really playing live. A lot of these songs were written such a long time ago, so I think we’re just really happy to finally be able to show the songs to everyone and also to play them live. And just a big focus of ours is maybe do a couple more tours this year. We’re also playing our first few festivals this year as well. And seeing how people react to that. Also, just getting more experience. We are a relatively new band. We just did our third proper big tour through Europe. And I think that’s a lot that we’ve already accomplished, but touring with bands like The Devil Wears Prada, who have been doing it for such a long time, puts it into perspective how much there still is to learn, especially playing live shows. So, I think a big focus of ours is just to put the hours in, just be on the road, play tons of shows, get that experience, get better at playing live, seeing our fans, connecting with them. And yeah, just hoping to do more of that, really.

And then last question. Do you have any messages for your fans here in the States who are reading this now?
I would ask them to probably be patient. We’d love to go over there. We’re trying really hard to go over there, but it might take some more time. But we really appreciate all the support. We would really love for you to just check out the album. If you like it, shoot us a DM over Instagram or write it in YouTube comments or whatever. We’re not as big that we cannot read all of them. We’re definitely reading all of those messages. And it really means a lot to us. So, yeah, just thanks for all your support and thanks for the patience. We have not put out a lot of music lately. So, we’re back on track. And yeah, we’d love to go overseas and meet you in person.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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