With only a month to go before one of the biggest music competitions hits our screens, AWS from Hungary are raring to go to lay waste on the masses at this years Eurovision Song Contest which will be held in Lisbon following Portugal's win last year. It's not often a metal band gets put forward to represent their country, indeed the genre has only managed to secure one win - Lordi from Finland. But following Lordi, a slew of metal bands emerged: Terasbetoni (Finland; following Lordi's win), Eldrine (Georgia), maNga (Turkey) and Adrian Lulgjuraj & Bledar Sejko (Albana), now it's Hungary's turn to put the volume up past thirteen and let the lads in AWS fly the flag for the metal music scene worldwide. GMA spoke to the lads who form this Post-Hardcore/Metalcore outfit about their trip through the national selection in 'A Dal', their home town, future plans and the meaning behind their chosen song. See how AWS won 'A Dal' and began their journey to the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon below. "We do hope there will be more metal at Eurovision from now on... it’s not as easy to consume as pop music for example."" For those who do not know of AWS, can you give us a brief history of the band? "Sure, we’re a five-piece band playing Modern Metal. We founded AWS back when we were in the same high school. We started with English lyrics (Fata Morgana album), but then switched to Hungarian (ÉGÉSFÖLD and Kint A Vízből albums). We’ve released three albums so far and we are working on the fourth one. We have toured Hungary many times and also played shows in Europe, for example we recently played a gig in London." You chose the song 'Viszlát Nyár' to participate in the Hungarian preselection show 'A Dal' and subsequently won it, what does the song mean and were you surprised to win? What were emotions like on the night of the grand final? "Of course we were surprised! We are a metal band that’s going to Eurovision (laughing). We were shocked at first but then we went to our favourite spot in town to celebrate with our friends. We were happy for our victory. Our song is about dealing with death. We think that in our culture we make things harder for ourselves by avoiding the topic of death carefully and sometimes forget about the fact that our time here is not infinite. Sometimes we forget to pay attention to the loved ones in our lives and we only realize these things when we lose them. If we could give more thought to the fact that we won’t be here forever, we could live a happier, fuller life and spend more time with the people and things that are important to us." Will you be looking to do a tour before or after your Eurovision performance? Will 'Viszlát Nyár' be featured on a new album? "Yes, for sure. Originally we wrote the song as a first single for our new album coming later this year. We will play a lot of festival gigs in the summer." You play a mix of Post-Hardcore, Metalcore and Melodic Metal, do you feel metal music isn't well represented in Eurovision as much as it could be? "We do hope there will be more metal at Eurovision from now on. Since this genre is quite heavy, full of strong emotions, it’s not as easy to consume as pop music for example." Surely representing Hungary at the Eurovision Song Contest will be your biggest achievement; what made you enter 'A Dal' in the beginning? "We didn’t think about the ESC in the beginning. We just wanted to show our music to a broader audience in Hungary. And we are going to Lisbon with the same goals: we are glad to have this opportunity and we would like to give our best shot to show people our music." What did the judges say to your style of music during 'A Dal'? Has your song 'Viszlát Nyár' had any radio slots across Europe? "Not yet, but there is an English version in the making, you might hear that soon! Not all the members of the jury were familiar with our style of music, but we received amazingly high from them in every round." For those metalheads visiting your town of Budakeszi, what sights / attractions could you recommend seeing? "You should check out our giant pines and our wildlife park with boars, bears and deer." What are your plans for the rest of the year? "We are sticking to our original pre-Eurovision plan: we are touring in Hungary and recording our fourth album. We are going to release it at the end of this year." Finally what can Eurovision viewers and attendees expect from your performance? "We can’t tell you too much about it in advance, but they can be sure to see a true AWS show full of power and pyro" https://www.facebook.com/awszenekar/
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