adj. 

Genre	Industrial
Members	Matt Lekki – Vocals Bob Delaney – Guitars/Bass Tom Reed – Synth/Arrangement Doyal Gilman – Synth/Arrangment
Hometown	Utica

Matt  picked up his first guitar around the age of eleven. From then on he just loves talking and writing about music. He is the lead vocalist of   Aphotic- a Utica- based Industrial rock band with a brew of strong , dark, aggressive and  melodic  music.

At this time we have four members, Myself – Vocals, Bob – Guitar, Tom & Doyal – Synths/drums/arrangements. There has been talk of adding a few able musicians for reproducing our sound live but we’re the core group that do the writing and recording. 

2. What’s your function as a band member?

I write the lyrics and do all the vocals you hear. I haven’t had much influence over the musical side. Bob, Tom, and Doyal have that all under control. I might play guitar along with Bob for live performances though. 

3. How did you guys meet?

I have a metal project called Contra Mundum I’ve been working on. I sent one of the songs to my friend Laura to check out, who showed it to Bob. Bob and Tom have been friends for quite some time and have been in other bands together. Doyal is in another local project called Doctors in the Basement and I guess Bob or Tom asked him to help out with synths. 

4. Describe your band’s type of music.

Dark, aggressive, industrial/metal 

5. How do you guys create music? What’s the process?

Bob, Tom or Doyal usually create an arrangement with the synths and drums, then Bob writes and records guitars to it, then he sends it to me to write lyrics and record vocals. All the writing is pretty much done through email and file sharing. 

6. What are the bands that influenced the musical direction of your band?

I think musically we’re all pretty diverse, though our sound is pretty unique. I listen to a lot of extreme European Black/Death metal but my influences for this project are Gary Numan, Nine Inch Nails, & Velvet Acid Christ to name a few.

7. What are your studio gadgets?

Oh man, where to start! I record with ProTools LE using the Digi002 board, I also have a cool vocal processor that does some vocoder type effects that you’ll hear in some future songs. Bob plays a Gibson guitar with Line 6 effects and board, Tom & Doyal rock various computers, synths, & samplers. Their setups are pretty awesome, I took a picture the other day at practice and posted it on our Facebook fan page. 

9. “I Have Seen” is a cool ballad. What’s the story behind this?

This is actually my favorite right now, even though we have this one down pretty well I like to do it a few times at practice even though we should be working on other things. “I Have Seen” is about my anti-theistic beliefs, a family member who died of brain cancer, and the fact that our last dying breath will feel like the most precious thing we’ve ever experienced. 

10. Among the songs I have heard “Devil in Details” has the most catchy and recognizable intro. It’s a total head turner. It also reminds me of the song performed by Lestat de Lioncourt(played by Irishman Stuart Townsend) in the movie Queen of the Damned.What’s the story behind this?

Can you add more story to this song? This was the first song I heard after Laura sent my song to Bob and Tom. I was very excited that they wanted me to do vocals for them, I was really into this song when I first heard it. The first night they sent it to me I wrote and recorded everything. I think this really sums up what Aphotic is and what our sound is like; an aggressive, electronic experience. The songs meaning is a bit dark as the name Aphotic implies, the lyrics are published on our Facebook music player, I’ll let you interpret it as you like.