Let me cut right to the chase: a whole decade without TRAIL OF TEARS. What happened?
RONNY: I think the problems that led up to the initial break-up are well documented and I don’t have any need to revisit that period other than to say that the working climate within the band made it impossible to continue at the time. For a band on our level, we are not talking about a job, it is something we do out of desire for music first, and the process should be fun and rewarding. Once it stops being just that, then it’s game over.Can we simply say that it went wrong during the recordings of “Oscillation”, TRAIL OF TEARS’ last album from 2013?
RONNY: Well, the recording process was when it became inevitable that we had to stop, but there had already been huge difficulties for a while.

And a decade later it started to itch again. What was the trigger that made you want to reunite TRAIL OF TEARS?
RONNY: I guess just the desire to create. Of course, I have been active all along in other bands, but there is something special about your first band that is difficult to explain. TRAIL OF TEARS will always have a special place in my heart, it is a huge part of who I am, and has been with me for 2/3 of my life.

Ailyn, were you surprised that Ronnie asked you to join TRAIL OF TEARS, as you were already in two other bands, Her Chariot Awaits and Lunarian?
AILYN: Not really. Sometime after my depart from Sirenia I was out shopping when I met with Jonathan by chance, and he told me they were talking about bringing TRAIL OF TEARS back together and if I would be interested in joining them. At that moment it was just an idea and he said he would have to talk with the guys about it. I told him I would love to, but time passed and I heard nothing from them until some years after he called me and told that the comeback was finally happening and everyone was happy on welcoming me in the band.

We know you best from your years with Sirenia, with whom you recorded four albums among which “The 13th Floor”. How do you look back at your time with Sirenia?
AILYN: I have a lot of great memories and it allowed me to visit many places and meet great people.

Time to go to the EP “Winds Of Disdain”. Looking at the title, the cover art, the song titles. Not really a Hosanna mood, is it?AILYN: There’s more in life than meets the eye, there’s a full spectrum of emotions. When I write a song, I don’t have in mind what I want to write about, I just listen to the music and I let my feelings flow, and that is when the lyrics come to mind. When we made the songs, we thought “Winds Of Disdain” would be perfect as a single and besides, the title sounded very cool. Then Ronny contacted Gogo Melone, because she has made great artworks and he talked to her about the project and what we needed, and she came with this great cover art that fits perfectly with what we had in mind.

Title track “Winds Of Disdain” and “Blood Red Halo”, together they fill half the EP, have been released as a single. What can you tell us about the other 50%, “Take These Tears” and “No Colours Left”?
AILYN: I would say both songs are similar but somehow different. They continue on no less powerfully. The sound on this EP probably has a more modern sound than before, but it keeps the essence of what TRAIL OF TEARS was before.“Winds Of Disdain” has moved with the times without forgetting the past. It has a modern sound with mature female vocals. Is that a fair description for a review?
AILYN: Yes, on “Winds Of Disdain” we have tried our best to match the past and present, a modern sound with the old style. It has been many years since the band released new music, plus there are two new members (besides Ailyn also guitarist Nicolay Johnsen) that weren’t there before, so it was important to keep the band’s essence but also bringing something new.