Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
IA: We are long time musician that love extreme metal as dark as possible. We like to share our music with people who have the same taste in music.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e., where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
IA: We came from a northern region of Quebec, Canada called Abitibi-Temiscamingue. From a very young age we started doing music with friends with a strong passion for metal music. Even at a young age our goal was to deliver extreme music. We were fans of Black metal since very early in our life and this influence a lot of music project in our life.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
IA: Well, we have been doing music for over 20 years in different project and I would say that as of today, doing music became practically as a need. This is the only thing we know to express ourselves as we want. Our inspiration comes from our daily life and you know the state of our world/ society and I can say that the way the world is going right know, there is a lot to be inspired. I think what we like about writing our own song is to show the world our creation, we are proud of what create and we like to show people what we can do.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
IA: Being able to do show outside our country like in the USA and in Europe, and continue to do new albums.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
IA: I would say opening for Belphegor in our hometown for our fist live gig was certainly a strong moment in our career.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging
from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
IA: Well, it’s a challenge. In a way that we are all late 30s in the band and you know it’s hard to always do content on social media and be present. It is not as natural as it is for younger people. I think things are going better, we are putting more effort and work with some PR companies to help us spread our music.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
IA: For now, we are all booking and promoting by ourselves. We are lucky to have people that believe in us and help the promotion as well. For now, our next live is in Montreal 16 September at the Piranha bar for the 20 years of Hellstormz production. We are booking for 2024 but nothing official to announce yet.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
IA: I think it is as bad as necessary. For small band like us, it’s an awesome way to be listened all over the world, but the royalties paid by big streaming services like Spotify are clearly not enough for the bands. Music production is very costly and at the end of the day we day paid practically nothing for our songs, so this is where it hurts.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
IA: Nothing coming in mind right now. We just do what we like.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
IA: The business side of it and the fact that without proper contact it’s hard to get taken seriously. It’s hard to comment when you don’t know everything but for sure what I think should change it the matter that the more like you have on social media give you the more chance to get sign on a label. Likes on 
social media doesn’t mean that much. For me, it’s all about how you deliver your music live and the quality of your music.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
IA: We are working on a new song, that we plan to record this fall, that we hope to release by the end of the year of beginning of 2024. On top of that we start to work on the next album as well.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
IA: By following our social media. We are pretty much everywhere, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok. Our music is on pretty much all the streaming site as well. For merch and physical copy of our music, the best way is to contact us via Facebook at the moment. But we are about to setup an e-shop so it will be easier to buy our stuff!!
I, Apokalypse links:
Band/Artist location – Québec
Facebook – You Tube – Bandcamp –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Deezer – LinkTree – Last Fm –
Check our page for I, Apokalypse
