Leipzig Post-Punks Onyon Walks Us Through The Synth-Soaked Underworld of 'Last Days On Earth'

Onyon made a big impression when they dropped their self-titled debut cassette EP, which caught the attention of Trouble in Mind Records (Melenas, The Serfs, En Attendant Ana, Dummy) who later reissued it in the United States. Tomorrow, the Leipzig post-punk quartet will release their first proper full-length album titled Last Days On Earth through the Chicago label, capturing the minimal synth-damaged post-punk fury that's in the vein of Kleenex/LiLiPUT, Xmal Deutschland, Krisma/Chrisma, and labelmates Lithics. While the debut album is a mangled blast of menacing post-punk and menacing synth-punk, there's a primitive garage charm to each of the twelve tracks especially on the disorienting "Dogman" and the swarming "Talking Worms." Before you try to dig further, here's some information from each member that make up the mechanical precision of Onyon.

Ilka Kellner (guitar, vocals)

"I got a thing for playing single notes, most of the times that's how most of the songs start as well. For the heavier parts there will be power chords, based on the single notes. My guitar playing is definitely inspired by the stuff I listen to at the moment, its bands like Vivienne Styg, Smirk, Zoomers. But I also like to listen to country and psychedelic stuff which can be found in my music, but I can't say exactly how."

Maria Untheim (keyboard, vocals, tambourine)

"The keyboard sets squiggly accents or is meant to draw a solid background. Simplicity features the keyboard playing, there are no solos or complicated themes. Not all songs are accompanied by the keyboard to give more space to the guitar and bass with our "country" influences. Then the jingle wreath comes into play, expanding the rhythm section."

Florian Schmidt (bass, harmonica, vocals)

"I Like to play in two basic ways - simple accompaniments that hold the song together and give it its foundation and expanding the guitar melodies without getting too hectic. Thereby the bass principles are occasionally thrown overboard to make room for own melodies and the other elements."

Mario Pongratz (drums, vocals)

"Generally, I try to keep it simple and I'm definitely inspired by punk music which was my first music love and made me fall in love with music in general. When we first do I song I really stick to the vocals, and this is my point of orientation and inspires the arrangement. Of course, the bands I listen to kind of effect my playin from the back of my head, they shaped my aesthetic sense of sound...like The Velvet Underground, Iggy and the Stooges as all time favorite...and R.M.F.C., and Snooper."

To help us get to know the new record a little better, we caught up with the band to dig into the stories behind each snappy number track by track.

"Alien Alien"

"Earth is not habitable anymore, that's why AA heads toward space, seeing what he can make out of his life. While someone on earth is missing this person and wonders if he ever looks back and cares about things on earth."

"Talking Worms"

"Basically it's about a feeling we all know, you are walking and your mind is wandering around, you are in a dreamy state of mind, your just relaxed and there's nothing special and also everything your thinking about. So this dreamy state of mind is developed further to this unreal point, where worms are speaking, for the sake of all those little creatures we don't recognize although they keep it all together. At the final point the guitar theme is mimicking speaking worms. We're also expanding our songwriting and trying to get some more flavors into them within the reach of our skills."

"Egg Machine"

"It's about a machine you can often find in rural areas of Germany. This particular machine provides fresh eggs all around the clock. It's like a chewing gum automat, you throw in coins and get your desired stuff. You let your eyes wander over the beautiful landscape, there's nothing you desire, everything is fine."

"Goldie"

"Goldie is a loved one we all know, hitting the road and being out for something they don't have, and you can't give. They leave for better, and you're left behind mourning the loss."

"Two Faces"

"It's based on a personal experience, we don't want to describe further, but for sure everyone already had the disgrace to come along someone like that: First real nice as this person wants something from you, promises a lot. But as soon as you're confronting this person as

everything turns out as just words, your fired. So, we put quite some energy in this song, as it's about the felling of rage, about disappointment and the fact its repeating all over and over again. Focus is on the words, drums and key are accenting, bass and guitar keep it

rolling."

"Dogman"

"It's about a beauty salon, and the obsession with beauty. Some people totally loose it to the point everything's out of control. And that's just what we made with our instruments, each one raises in its own matter, and it gets faster and faster till we can't get along no more...also this is our last song playing live...a good thing ending a gig like this."

"Blue Lagoon"

"Blue lagoon depicts the hope or save place, like an oasis, a very common metaphor. This is kind of about times in life you need help of someone else, like when hope is low, just get it, don't be shy, ask someone, everyone needs someone sometimes along the way. So the instruments trying to create these "on a ride" feeling, as some parts are more repetitive than other songs."

"Yahtzee"

"The inspiration to this song came when we were on holidays together playing dice and this is the name of the dice game, and we all liked the sound of this word. And so we just made up a story about someone called "jeansy" who's really lucky and rolls the dice like no one else. The music just followed, boosting, and underlining the lyrics."

"Invisible Spook"

"It's about feeling bad while you're in kind of a paradise. Imaging being some kind of another creature to escape this invisible spook. As for part of the drums they are always inspired by The Velvet Underground music, and our drummer just heard a Moe Tucker interview before, so he had this in mind."

"I Would Like to Eat The Newspaper"

"Well, this is about bad news that just keep coming in a high frequency. Especially last year while we wrote this songs like 2022, there were some really bad news, like unthinkable events like war against Ukraine or information regarding climate change, all time present sword of Damocles hovering above our heads. Its these kind of news that make you feel powerless in the first moment and makes you just wanna eat the newspaper in an ironic act of despair. Which is exactly the reason for the kind of dramatic instruments."

"O.U.T."

"This is our bold primitive hate song. We just name things that we think are stupid."

"Mower"

It's kind of like our newspaper song. About moment of madness and there definitely is no easy solution for the problem and you come along with your own easy solution. Next time someone pisses you off think of the mower. As you can hear in the arrangement of the song, at the end the mower is really into it."

Last Days On Earth is out October 13th on Trouble In Mind Records.