INTERVIEW: Sagan Amery (Hail Sagan)

Hail Sagan are preparing to release new music very soon! We spoke with Sagan Amery, the frontwoman of the Los Angeles-based band, about her band’s musical plans for the near and distant future. We also enjoyed learning more about this wonderful musician and her perspectives on various issues.

Hello, Sagan. I’m happy to be able to chat with you. How are you and the rest of your band doing?

Hello!! I’m happy to chat with you too. We’re doing well, and we hope you are too. We’re very excited for our new song “Alongside Their Own” release on January 27th!! It’s gonna be a busy year for Hail Sagan.

That’s great! You are about to release your new EP “Disclosure”. What can you tell your fans to expect to hear on your upcoming release?

“Disclosure” is the first half of a two part concept album. The first half will be released as the EP “Disclosure,” and the second half will be released as an EP that we haven’t revealed the name of yet. Each will feature six songs along with six interactive lyric videos. It’s a mix of hard rock and very heavy metal.

Sounds exciting! What inspired you to create this EP and what themes or messages do you hope to convey through the music?

I’ve been practicing silent meditation every day for the past two years, so it’s really allowed me to open my mindset up to being more creative and tapping into some universal truths that I wanted to share in a story format. I could have written about it, but being a musician I felt music was the best medium to convey the message. And Nick and I felt it was past due that Hail Sagan released some new music.

In order to get to know you better and from a different point of view, how about playing an imagination game? I will set a scenario in an alternate universe with new rules and see how you’d react to the different situations. Ready?

Oh, this is so fun!! I’d love to play along.

In a universe where you are the queen of a country, what would be the first law you’d make?

Wow, I think I’d definitely make it a law that all human children must be raised with a daily meditation practice. All humans would be taught how to quiet their minds and handle thoughts appropriately. I think this would solve the majority of the problems humans face as they grow up.

In a universe where humans can choose either to be able to teleport from one place to another or travel back and forth in time, which superpower would you pick?

I think for me it would definitely be teleportation. Because it would be so convenient and much easier than our current options. I don’t think humans should have access to the timeline and I think we already have the mistake of humans living too much in the past and future which creates a lot of emotional suffering. The present moment is all that we need. It’s the only reality there is. So teleportation would be more beneficial.

Brilliant. In a universe where you’re the statue of liberty, what object would you be holding instead of a torch?

I’d definitely be holding a guitar. Ha.

In a universe where money does not exist, but instead, people pay for things by making other people laugh, how rich would you be considered?

These are such good questions!! I’d be very wealthy. Even though I sometimes have trouble understanding other people’s humor, I’m very good at making people laugh with my own.

haha! Nice. In a universe where the senses of taste and hearing are mixed up together, what food would you imagine Hail Sagan’s music would taste like?

Our music would be like a giant vegan charcuterie board filled with a mix of both soft and hard artesian nondairy cheeses, spicy and sweet peppers, sugary fruit slices and few savory nuts.

Tasty! In a universe where a theme song plays whenever you wake up announcing the start of your day, what would your song be?

Brain Damage by Pink Floyd.

Great one! Thank you for playing, Sagan! I hope you enjoyed this!

I did!! You’re very creative.

Thank you! We live in an era where social media became essential for musicians to reach fans and promote their music. In your opinion, what are the cons and pros of social media having all that power in the music industry?

I think the pros are we can reach way more fans than we would have been able to in the past. Before social media, a musician had to somehow discover a key to unlock the gatekeeper’s steel grid that allowed the music to be heard. Now anyone can do it. However, that’s an issue. The cons are that anyone can do it, and it’s not always good. And it muddies up the waters for truly talented musicians. Because fans have so much content to wade through it all gets stuck together and becomes overwhelming. Maybe curated music was a better way. But I’m still grateful for the opportunity to use social media to reach eyes and ears, and connect with fans.

That was wise! Hail Sagan haven’t released a large number of records, however, the quality of your music is without a doubt significant.. Do you believe that the pressure to conform to pop culture’s demands for constant content and marketing is leading to a devaluation of the quality of music in the Metal and Rock genres?”

Thank you!! We try our best to release top-quality music. We couldn’t guarantee perfection when we didn’t have complete control over the final product. But we’re very proud of what everyone is about to hear now since Nick and I solely produced this new music on our own. Absolutely. I think there should be a focus on quality not quantity and we refuse to take part in a culture that wants to pump and dump any old thing into the music world. Metal and rock genres have a serious issue with that. But an even bigger problem in these genres is a lack of mentors coming from the higher-up bands who already had their day. They’d prefer to keep going to the death than step down to manage or assist up-and-coming bands. That kind of ego-driven behavior can kill an entire genre with them.

Have you ever faced any kind of sexism in your professional or personal life? How would you deal with sexist behaviour and what advice would you give young people around the world who face any discrimination?

Yes, very frequently. Especially in the music industry. Most of it has come from peers who may try to claim I’m only where I am at because I was born a female. It’s actually harder to get to where I’m at because I was born a female. Look at any top metal and rock online zine and all they focus on are bands with male musicians. Especially older men from like the 80s and 90s era of music. Or a music festival that has only one or two bands featuring a female lead.

The best way for me to deal with it, and the advice I would give, is to just ignore those outlets and anyone who discriminates for any reason. And I’m happy exactly where I’m at. I have faith that I’m precisely where I need to be with what I already have. I’m grateful for how far I’ve come and if this is as far as it goes then I am okay with that. If any of those outlets decide to stop discriminating due to gender and have an interest in covering my music, then great, and if not, I won’t lose sleep over it. So, I guess my advice is to not get caught up in the frustration. Spend your time in a more useful way.

Thank you for sharing your experience and advice and thank you for giving us this interview, Sagan. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I just want to thank you for this opportunity and I appreciate the interesting questions you’ve asked me. I also want to thank our fans for patiently waiting for new music. We start releasing on January 27th and will be releasing new music throughout the entire year.