Interview with the Band Sanity

June 21, 2024

Interview with the Band Sanity

By Mick Michaels

COSMICK VIEW: Hello! Welcome to The Cosmick View/MBM Ten Pounder. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it's greatly appreciated.

CV: Every artist experiences highs and lows. Many struggle just to move from one level to the next, and some, unfortunately, never do. What would you consider to be a pivotal point in an artist's career which would take them from one level to the next that a struggling artist should be aware of? Is it an individual mindset or does it equate more to opportunity? Or is it something all together different in your opinion?
Sanity: I certainly think that there is no formula to it. If there was, everyone would do it. One thing that has to be there for progression is passion. You can’t be lazy… you have to put work into your craft. On top of that you’ll need to be at the right place at the right time, have some luck. Then again there are passionate musicians, who do everything to be at the right places at the right times... and never make it big, or progress. So yea, you can’t force it.

CV: What do you feel an artist can do right now to stay relevant, especially in an environment, such as the present, where performing in front of a live audience is not an option?
Sanity: Now that performing is an option again, you should very much embrace it. Somehow play to people who never heard your music, gain fans. On top of that some sort of social media presence is needed in this day and age. I don’t think it has to be as formulaic as most bands today do, but you can’t go without. And you have to release music. That in my opinion is the most important part to staying relevant. Once you are, you can rehash your old albums and only play your popular songs, like the big artists do.

CV: What have you found to be the balancing point between relevance and over saturation when it comes to being an artist? Is there a fine line between the two or can it be looked at to some degree as the two essentially being one in the same?
Sanity: As said before you have to release new content in one way or another. Mostly this will be music. Only then is your relevance filled with actual substance or to put it another way: A band can’t really be relevant without any sort of content. One could think that too much of the same thing will become overly saturated but there are enough prominent examples of bands that release the same thing over and over.. and their fans love it. For us in Sanity the struggle is more to get t.hings finished and releasing anything at all. I think overall we are to perfectionistic about our music.

CV: Is there any level of consideration, or even concern, to deliver on expectations, whether it being your own or that of the fans, when working on new material?
Sanity: Haha, that ties right in! It’s our own expectations that are way high. I think it shows in our music, it is well written; well produced and sounds great. The drawback is that we have a hard time finishing a project. As far as outside opinion goes I don’t think we care a lot about it. Our premise is that we have to like the music ourselves.

CV: For you, what’s first when it comes to songwriting…is it a matter of lyrics melody, chords, beat, attitude? Or is it more organic than that where the moment dictates the process and outcome?
Sanity: When writing songs I usually start with the music. Most of the times I'll have a riff, or an intro that I enjoy and I would write the rest of the song around it. As for lyrics, we usually write them onto the musical piece, after the piece is composed.

Our recent releases deal with the themes of the apocalypse of John. So when writing the songs we take the passages from scripture and turn them into lyrics. Sometimes we can take the literal text but most of the time, we will abridge the passages and write lyrics, that encompass the theme of a passage in a song. All in all our writing is very close to the literal text of scripture though.

CV: What do you believe makes songwriting more honest and impactful...that something that both the artist and listener can share?
Sanity: As an artist you have to find a way to pour your own person into your music. Easiest way is writing about your personal experience. That is not happening for us because our songs deal with the literal text of biblical scripture. For me it’s writing the music in a way that I myself really enjoy it. I don’t write it for anyone else in the first place. That way, I can be authentic and I believe, that is something, the listener can relate to.

CV: What do you feel has been the greatest contribution to your success as an artist?
Sanity: I think that has to be prayer. That and going out and doing what God lays before us... playing the music we’ve written and recorded. I’ll be honest; we haven’t seen a great deal of success yet. But if it will ever happen, I am sure it will be because God gifts it to us.

CV: What's next for you? What can fans expect to see coming up?
Sanity: We have just recorded a music video for the song “Babylon” we had released earlier this year. The recording was very exciting… it was our first time to record a live action music video. I think it will be awesome, you will see it later this year.

The past two EPs we’ve released are all part of a bigger cycle of albums, the ‘Revelation’ cycle. The third and final EP will release next year and you can be excited for that. Out of the three EPs it has my favorite songs on it and I already know that it will be a personal favorite of mine.

CV: Thank you again for spending some time talking and sharing with
our readers. I wish you all the best and continued success.
Sanity: Thank you!

Check out Sanity at:

Music videos
“Throne”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x4RdpaD9Ho
“Seals”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9adVATPq-yA
“Babylon”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ls8i44xs3I

Web: https://www.sanity.berlin
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sanity.berlin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sanity.berlin
Bandcamp: https://sanityberlin.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sanity.berlin
X: https://twitter.com/SanityBerlin

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/0bhXlkSU7XN56kBuUuvXXa?si=ki9IcUitQNyodBXyrq_B5Q
Amazon Music: https://amazon.de/music/player/artists/B0CHHW97WL/sanity?marketplaceId=A1PA6795UKMFR9&musicTerritory=DE&ref=dm_sh_PidIrR7CbqZCj4mwIPm5zpymv
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sanity/1546091708
YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCsYZJ2WYArtoGXgBOc-jVNw?si=OmjURhgpG_wSbCHN

The Cosmick View

Where the stars always shine bright
www.thecosmickview.com
www.facebook.com/TheCosmickView

www.thecosmickvoice.com
www.anchor.fm/the-cosmick-voice

My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, show host, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.