DISTANT: Spiraling Into Despair — An Interview with Alan Grnja

DISTANT: Spiraling Into Despair — An Interview with Alan Grnja

For more than ten years, Distant have carved out their own brutal corner of the extreme music world — blending deathcore, lore‑driven storytelling, and a relentless touring schedule that’s taken them across Europe, the U.S., and beyond. Now signed to Century Media and preparing to release their most personal album yet, Into Despair, vocalist Alan Grnja sat down with Highwire Daze to talk heat‑wave festivals, touring with In Flames, friendships forged on the road, betrayal turned into art, and the band’s shift from fictional world‑building to raw emotional honesty.

What follows is the full conversation capturing Alan’s humor, intensity, and openness as Distant enters a new era.

We are here with the band Distant. Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in the band.
I’m Alan. I do vocals for Distant, and I also take care of most of our graphic design duties.

Give me a little background on the band — how long you’ve been together, and where you’re based out of.
The band is now over ten years old — I think eleven. I’ve been with Distant for ten of those years. The band originally comes from the Netherlands, and I’m the only one who isn’t Dutch. I’m from Slovakia and currently living in the Czech Republic.

How did your recent European tour go, and what were some of the highlights?
It was great — mostly festivals, with some headline shows. The energy was awesome at every single show. The heat, though… we got hit with the biggest heat wave Europe has ever had. Playing festivals with no AC, no shade — it was like being grilled. But aside from that, perfect.

Opening Graspop was a huge highlight — over eight thousand people watching us. And the last day at Resurrection Fest in Spain was immaculate. People were going crazy. We even watched P.O.D. during our soundcheck.

You toured with In Flames here in the U.S. — how did that go?
Going in, I was curious how it would turn out. It was such a mixed lineup — In Flames being a legacy band, not really our typical crowd. But it ended up being awesome. Everyone treated us perfectly. The shows were crazy, even though many people were seeing us for the first time.

My favorite show was Buffalo. The Buffalo Sabres were playing, so while I was doing merch, I was watching the game. That was a highlight.

Have you played California?
Yeah — the In Flames tour was our fifth or sixth time in the U.S. We only did the East Coast on that run, but usually every tour has at least one California date.

Any chance of Distant returning to the States soon?
Yes. We’ll be back pretty soon and playing all over the States again.

You’ve got a new song out — “All Will Be (N)one,” featuring Ricky Myers of Suffocation. Tell me about it.
We’ve toured with Suffocation twice and became great friends. With all our features, we invite friends — that’s how we do things. Ricky felt like the natural choice.

I experimented with more Suffocation‑style lyrics and vocal patterns — more death metal than deathcore. The song is about how death is inevitable and should be embraced. Ricky wrote his part too, and he nailed it. Honestly, it’s probably my favorite feature we’ve ever had. What he did is just ruthless.

Any chance of performing it live with Ricky?
Hopefully. We’ll definitely play it on upcoming tours, and if we can get Ricky onstage, I think he’ll be down.

You also collaborated with Will from Lorna Shore on “Heritage.” How did that come about?
Same story — we’ve toured with Lorna Shore three times, and we’re good friends. When I was in the U.S. on vacation, we recorded the song in their drummer’s basement. All our features come from touring together and clicking. It’s just friends having fun.

The new album is Into Despair. Is there a concept behind it?
The unofficial full name is Spiraling Into Despair, but that felt too long. You can interpret it however you want — the world, human nature, yourself.

This is the first album that isn’t part of our lore or the books we wrote. It’s personal — real stories, traumas, experiences from the band and our lives. The goal was to talk about unpleasant stuff: depression, anger, betrayal. We wanted people to connect with us as humans, not just storytellers.

Dawn of Corruption came out in October 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic. What was that like?
Honestly, it worked in our favor. Touring stopped, so we said, “Okay, let’s write.” That’s when the idea sparked to create our own lore and write a book behind the album.

We wanted to give people stuck at home something to follow — and give ourselves something to do. Originally, it was just an EP, but it expanded into a three‑part series that concluded with Aeons of Oblivion. It came out right before the pandemic ended, and then we finally did our first U.S. tour.

Your debut EP Slither hit its ten‑year anniversary last year. What do you think of it now?
I wasn’t in the band for Slither. We don’t play anything from it live. But we rebuilt the songs “Slither” and “Blackened Eyes” into one track — “Hollow Eyes” — on our debut album Tyrannotophia. That was our homage.

You covered “One Step Closer” by Linkin Park. Has Linkin Park influenced you?
I wasn’t in the band at the time, but that song begs for a breakdown. And in general, Linkin Park, Korn — that whole era influenced our entire generation.

Are you involved in any other bands?
I have a local hardcore band called Tatrofka — named after a diesel drug.

What’s next for Distant?
Alan: We have a new song coming — “Flesh and Nails.” We played it on the In Flames tour and the summer run. It features our friend Kyle Medina from Bodysnatcher.

Tell me about the inspiration behind it.
It’s a venting song — pure anger. It’s about betrayal, being stabbed in the back by someone close. I wrote it first for the album, and I was very pissed at a friend who had been lying to me for years. That revelation fueled the song.

Any messages for Distant fans here in the States?
We’ll be back soon. Thank you for supporting us, coming to our shows, and pre‑ordering the new album. The reception has been awesome. We love you guys.

In Conclusion

With Into Despair, Distant step out of the fictional universe they built and into something far more vulnerable — their own lived experiences. Betrayal, depression, anger, resilience, and connection all fuel the new era, and Alan’s openness makes it clear: this is the most human Distant has ever been.

Whether you caught them sweating through Europe’s record‑breaking heat wave, saw them win over In Flames crowds, or discovered them through their brutal collaborations, one thing is certain — Distant’s next chapter is going to hit hard, emotionally and sonically.

And as Alan promised… they’ll be back in the States soon.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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