Interview with Nino Sable by Tzina Dovve (DJ Lady Davinia)

Nino Sable…A very charismatic artist to emerge from the contemporary German dark/goth scene over a decade ago with his bandmates Aeon Sable…Nino Sable…Attempting a new music journey during the pandemic Nino talks about his solo project, collaborations, live shows and what the future holds…Nino Sable…By Tzina Dovve (DJ Lady Davinia)

Tzina: Welcome to Absolution NYC once again Nino and Happy New Year. Before we start do you have any new years resolutions for 2022 to share with your fans both as an artist and as Nino?

Nino: Hello Tzina, hello Absolution NYC!
Well, I decided to do less this year. 

Tzina: The year 2021 has been a very productive year for you with a number of singles being released one after the other with your latest titled ‘The Train’. What feedback have these singles received over the past year and how content are you with the outcome of this work?

Nino: The year 2021 was a very hard and stressful one. It was an experience I wanted to live but I decided that I don’t need this kind of rush in my life anymore. As I did a lot of promotion, my music was played everywhere and I gained a lot of fans and a lot of people bought my music, but in the long run, it is too expensive to live this way. So… next time I will rather pay a promotion agency to do the work I did 🙂

Tzina: Do you have plans to continue this solo music journey Nino? Are you currently working on more new material? How rewarding is it working on your own? Can we expect any new music by your band Aeon Sable in 2022?

Nino: Yes, yes and yes! During 2022 we will release a brand new Aeon Sable album (and a lot of other good news is to come!) and I have a lot of brand new tracks in order to release another Nino Sable album … but… as I said before… no stress!

Tzina: You also released a number of music videos to accompany your singles on YouTube during 2021. How important is the visual side to you as a musician? Do you believe it’s as fundamental as one’s music? Can you elaborate…

Nino: Well… in my very personal opinion, good music doesn’t need videos or any other additions at all! If the music is well done, it works! If it has spirit, it works and delivers. Videos and all the other ‘surroundings’ (like packaging, etc…) were just developed in order to make people want the product… and… well… as an artist you should decide for yourself whether you are selling a product or if you are offering dreams.
Nino Sable has some videos because I have a lot of friends who love to make videos and I sometimes also like to play a little with video editing software.

Tzina: As I understand you have collaborated with a number of artists on your solo work including the coldwave artist Suzi Sabotage, Diane Wang (La Scaltra) and were featured on Outsized’s ‘Black Leather Girl’. How did these collaborations come about for you? Are there any more collaborations in the pipeline?

Nino: With Nino Sable I work with friends and I am always open for any kind of collaboration. Most of the collaborations happen with the help of the internet. Whenever I hear good new music, I talk to the creators. I love to learn from other artists and the act of collaborating is the best way to check out  the doors of perception and update it with the zeitgeist. Yes, I have some collaborations in the pipeline, but… I shouldn’t talk about it 😉

Tzina: Despite the difficult days of an endless cycle of lockdowns and re-openings last year you managed to perform your debut live as Nino Sable in November at ‘Dark Skies Over Witten V1/2..’ alongside a number of other dark bands. How did it feel to be back on stage again? What did you miss most about performing live during lockdown?

Nino: Performing live during a time in which almost all doors were closed, was a very uncommon feeling. I also played live with Aeon Sable in front of a huge crowd… and yes – playing live during the  pandemic was strange. On one hand it was awesome and we were very well accepted by the crowd but on the other hand it felt wrong, dangerous and like ‘verboten’.

Tzina: As I understand Nino you also have been doing your own internet radio show during 2021.. ‘The Nino Sable Show’.. How was this idea brought to life and what feedback has it had so far? Can you elaborate on this?

Nino: Haha. That was almost a month ago. ‘The Nino Sable Show’ was very nice but also a very hard episode… I never wanted to be a DJ or someone on the radio or on TV. I always understood myself as a musician and then… the pandemic came and took my stage away, so I felt like I had to fill a hole with something new and that ‘something’ became my monthly show. People loved the show and a lot of people were sad about its discontinuation – but I planned it as a series of 12.

Tzina: The pandemic seems to be never ending with variants appearing and restrictions/rules constantantly changing etc etc.. Do you think the music industry will eventually get back to pre-pandemic days or the virtual world is something permanent for musicians around the globe.. What are your views on livestreams that have become dominant on social media during lockdown days?

Nino: I will try to give a quick answer because this is one of my big topics.
In the past (and nowadays) music was (and is) a way to transport feelings from human to human. At least for me, music was always the right medium. The most complex possible medium in an ‘analogue’ world.
With the appearance of the internet and all these uber-devices, which encode and decode our communication, another medium appeared. A medium that needs to be encoded and decoded by machines.
For me every communication which needs a decoder and an encoder is nothing natively human. But we have gotten used to it. By the market, by the money-makers. The new world (and communication) wasn’t invented by the dreamers. I believe that music and concerts and so on will be something that the old generation and a few outsiders will keep on understanding, but… the new generation will maybe never get used to a wet and smoky party.
Most probably music will become nothing more than a small component included in the new world’s meta bubble. During the pandemic we all sold our souls to google/apple/amazon and established the connection.
I believe in a short boom of concerts in the near future (whenever it is possible) but the metaverse will be the place to be constantly. Sad, but true. This is the point where I question my abilities to make people dream and where I will, most probably, be out of the game. Watching and dreaming, in the old ‘analogue’ way.

Tzina: Thankyou for your time Nino. Anything else you would like to share with your fans? What can they expect from Nino Sable in the near future?

Nino: Thank you Tzina and thank you, dear supporter and listener of my music. The fact that a lot of you supported me during 2021 will lead to new releases in the future. I wrote a lot and a lot is yet to come. I wish you a wonderful year, full of time for good old ‘analogue’ pleasures, such as reading and listening to music.

Nino Sable on Facebook

Nino Sable’s official website

Nino Sable on Instagram

Nino Sable on Bandcamp