The fact that the rock band ÆRANOID still exists today, more than 20 years after its founding, is nothing short of a miracle. That it was not until 2022, also in the midst of a pandemic, that work finally began on their debut album, has an almost tragicomic aspect to it. And a healing one. But one thing at a time...

The story of ÆRANOID began back in 2002 when guitarist Giu Sciandrone founded his first band Sub Zero in Mannheim. After an initial phase of self-discovery with changing band members, the formation Sunburst emerged in 2003. All other current band members, Giu's younger brother Luca (bass), Jens Nobiling (drums) and Giu's best friend since early childhood, frontman Nino Re, were part of the band from this point on, which is now called ÆRANOID.

Motivated by a friend, the Mannheim based filmmaker and author Daniel Morawek, the initially eight-member (!) cover band Sunburst, whose members had all very little to no stage experience, wrote their first song "Not in vain" in 2004 for the soundtrack of Daniel's film "Caffé della vita". This moment fundamentally changed the course of things. From then on, Sunburst was no longer a cover band, but wrote only their own songs... with a clear goal in mind: The production and release of their own album.

Swiftly, and before they could even build a proper fan base (which consisted of more than just family and friends ;-)), a record company noticed Sunburst when the band unexpectedly prevailed against more than 600 opponents and winning in the finals at the MessageMusicContest, a nationwide singer-songwriter competition, in 2005. Ex-Sony/BMG Europe boss Thomas Stein had seen Sunburst at this event and wanted to sign the band immediately for his newly founded label Popwert. The well-known music manager soon showed his friend Gary Baker, an award-winning songwriter and producer from the USA (including a Grammy for the global hit "I Swear"), demo material of the Mannheim based formation. He was equally impressed and just a few weeks later the band was on a plane to Florence/Alabama (USA), to record the first songs for their debut album in Gary's studio. But fate had other plans...

After a very intense, almost two-year long phase with studio recordings in the USA and Germany, tour preparations, press presentations, strategy plannings, photo shoots, and music video recordings, a major setback occurred in early 2007: Just before the release of the first Sunburst single and a planned tour, it became known that the record company had apparently overextended itself financially and could no longer pay its bills. This led to bankruptcy, so that the full song material and the already pressed EP were never released. Sunburst was left without a contract from spring 2007.

Initially still trying to find other record companies, the band decided at the end of 2007, after rather unsatisfactory negotiation talks, to try it on their own. However, it quickly became apparent that it was not easy for the young musicians to keep the machine running without an experienced label behind them. The first dissatisfaction set in, and private obligations took up more and more space. And in the following time, the first band members left. Sunburst went into a kind of hibernation. However, this hibernation would last for a whole year.

At the end of 2008, they decided to make a fresh start. Everything back to zero. Sunburst became ÆRANOID and new songs were created. YouTube had only been around for a few years but had become increasingly popular. Some musicians had shown how to use this and similar platforms to make their own music known. And so ÆRANOID also planned to produce and upload their own material. But again, life crossed these plans.

Meanwhile, some band members had started families, had children. Everyday life was increasingly dominated by other things, and personal tragedies did not spare the band either, so that the ÆRANOID project slowly but surely receded more and more into the background. Further members left the band. Nino and Jens increasingly tried out other musical fields. And the Sciandrone brothers had made a name for themselves in the regional music scene and beyond with different music projects and toured with various international artists around the world. Although the band never completely stopped meeting, jamming, and working on new material, it became very difficult in the following years to keep the old fire burning. ÆRANOID had become a hobby that was only pursued very irregularly. However, this heart project was never buried, even if some outsiders might have felt that way, given the lack of signs of life.

Fast forward to 2021. Corona is in full swing. Not only the live music industry but the arts in general are on the brink of collapse and are being battered by regulations and restrictions. Many artists are giving up on their dreams, and forcibly switching to alternatives, just to survive. It looks bleak. In the midst of this dark time, the band ÆRANOID decides, against all odds, to wake up from hibernation and start working on old and new songs after a long break and almost 20 years after their inception. Within a few months, the first three songs are produced at the end of 2021, and an elaborately staged video is shot. At the moment, the now four-member formation is working diligently on further material. The old fire has been rekindled, burning hotter than ever...and this time nothing will stop the guys from ÆRANOID!