Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Bang bang, Bang.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: Bang.
[00:00:04] Speaker C: Bang.
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Bang. Bang. Bang.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Bang.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Bang.
[00:00:09] Speaker C: Bang.
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Bang. Bang,
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Bang, Bang. Porcet Edition Speciale El fez du invenci se on avec O hello.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Hello.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: How are you?
[00:00:22] Speaker A: I'm fantastic. How are you guys?
[00:00:25] Speaker C: Hot.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: It is a bit hot, but you know what?
Heavy metal's hot and sweaty.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: So it all feels the same.
[00:00:33] Speaker C: Oh yeah.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Is that a good thing?
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Yeah, actually, I mean. I mean, I'm in a great mood today. Hellfest is. It's a freaking. It's a staple of the heavy metal like every year.
Hell Fest is huge and to be a part of it is amazing. And whatever. We beat the heat and we play rock and roll.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: That's a good thing. You had a new album. So through Zero, that's it. Can you just tell us a little bit about this?
[00:01:02] Speaker A: So I think that Through Zero has been kind of our most successful attempt. Not attempt, but the way that our songwriting has progressed throughout the years and especially our new sound, which is more progressive compared to our older albums, which are much more stoner doom heavy that we have met a pretty good harmony of the two. So we're getting. We're getting sequencers and synthesizers, but with heavy riffs peppered without effectively not kind of not so smashed together. It actually works out in a flow more than we ever have before. And it's our favorite. Obviously every new album is their favorite album to date, but this one really, because when we released the EP Liminality, the. That was kind of the new sound that we were going for. And then I feel like with Drew Zero, we hit the nail on the head with that.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: So in festival, this kind of new music for you, is that a good challenge?
[00:02:04] Speaker A: Yes, yes, absolutely. The songs are definitely harder to play, but if anything, that's testament to us as musicians and being in the band for so long that we are able to perform these songs and do it live. Now that comes with that. Now we have a keyboardist live with us. Because without the keyboardists, the songs don't have the same. It's just. They don't sound the same.
They're almost. It's like something's missing. Almost. So now we need a keyboardist with us. And now we're doing three part vocal harmonies too, which is actually kind of cool. But other than that, same old elder rock and roll. We rehearse and we play.
[00:02:43] Speaker C: So sorry.
These days a lot of bands add things on the record, but when it's time to play live, they just put tracks.
You choose to bring someone else with you on the road.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:02:57] Speaker C: Was it ever a question or.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: I think we've done. We've done it with tracks before, so. You know, our last album, In A Passage, had a lot of synthesizer stuff on it. And we would have our drummer, Georg. He has a, you know, you know, a trigger pad and everything's on. We were. To a click and all that stuff. But when you have the live keyboardist, it makes the live music way better. It breathes a little bit more as a live performance.
And it's just cool to not have to think about that other thing.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: Along while you're playing your stuff too. So it is necessary, I would say, to have him. Fabien Demenu, actually a Frenchman himself, he's with us and he is such a pleasure having him with us playing live. He fits the mold perfectly.
[00:03:42] Speaker C: Yeah, it makes sense for your kind of music, I think, also because it's really. I mean, that's what you want to see live.
The energy between all the guys together. Absolutely. And being able to follow the.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Yeah. And when there's a ripping synth solo, all you want to see is the keyboard is.
[00:04:04] Speaker C: Yeah, that's very cool.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: It's more life.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: You can do whatever you want.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. So it's been a real pleasure so far. We're only four. This is our fourth show, so.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Yeah, we'll see.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: No, it's going well. It's going well.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:04:19] Speaker C: Of course.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: And do you remember we. We used to ask this. Do you remember the first festival you see, as a. A fan of music?
So do you remember this?
[00:04:30] Speaker A: So me being American, we don't really have many festivals in the States like you do in Europe here.
[00:04:36] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:04:36] Speaker A: So the first festival I probably ever played was probably Freak Valley in Germany. I think that was the first kind of bigger festival that we played. That was kind of the first festival that I had ever been to. Okay, then we also did.
Oh, wait, no, hold on.
Take that back. First festival that we ever played was Roadburn Festival. Oh, yeah, that was in. When was that? That was 2011 or something like that. And that was when we were three piece. And that was the first experience of a festival where we cut our teeth for the first time, as they say.
And ever since then it's gotten progressively bigger. I remember the first time we played Hellfest. That was like a whoa experience. And I'll never forget Judas Priest headline that day. And was sitting side stage watching. I don't know how I got sidestage, but I was there and it was like, oh, this rock and roll thing's pretty fricking cool. And that was quite a while. That was years ago now. So we're a little bit more experienced now. Not as naive and festivals are.
I mean, they're needed in the raw community. And you can see how many people are here at Hellfest.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: So there's a different energy over there. Maybe Hellfest is quite different from the other ones still today.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Absolutely. Like we were just at Download Festival and it's. It's so different already.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: Just the organization of it, the setup of it. It's a little bit more organized here on the continent, I'd say. But it's a good thing.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: So. And you, you. You can see friends over there. You can have friends over there, see other bands that you know.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: And have a great party.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: If we can have a great party. We do. Yeah, yeah, we're responsible.
For instance, today we have to leave pretty soon after we play because we're going to grass pop tomorrow. So that's a bit of a drive. So we're gonna do some hours in the night.
But for instance, our backstage room, we're next to Cadaver. Who are our good friends from Berlin?
[00:06:37] Speaker C: Yeah, of course.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Oh, shoot. We're right next to each other. So we've already got to hang out with those guys and see them. I don't think there'll be a big party tonight, but perhaps. What are the next ones?
[00:06:46] Speaker B: You don't know?
[00:06:47] Speaker C: You can plan the next one.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: And I have a question. Like you. Some songs you did are really long, you know, like 10 minutes.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Most of them I'd say is average length. Yeah.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: How can you choose which ones you will play on stage? Because we are going 30 minutes.
[00:07:05] Speaker C: So it's always sad when you start the show with it's going to be our last two songs.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
Let's just say we almost have like an algorithm and like an Excel sheet with our song lengths set lengths, what will fit. Sometimes if it's an awkward time, we have to be like, oh, maybe we extend a jam.
Like, oh, why don't you do that solo for eight more bars so we can have another minute into the song. Or no, we have to shorten that solo up. Yeah, I mean it happens with the 10 minute songs. If you want it to seem complete, you have to. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices or add things.
[00:07:45] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a tough choice.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I know it's a tough choice, but I don't know, we've gotten used to it, so.
But like you said, most of the songs are around 10 minutes.
You know, say you have 45 minutes and then you have. You have a five minute window. It's like, oh, shit, what the hell are we gonna do?
[00:08:04] Speaker C: Do we cut one in half or do we extend everything?
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Do you start a minute early without them? Without them saying just like, oh, no, just go, just go.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: And I have that question because the kind of music you do, I always think about really warm place, you know, like dessert, like something like this. But you're not from there.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: No, we're from. Or at least Nick and I are from a very seasonal place in the states. In Massachusetts, we get all four seasons. It's bitter cold and snowy in the winter and absolutely gorgeous in the summer. So we see it all.
I don't know, I feel like you're right. Our songs, you can match them with seasons. There are a lot of songs that are perfect for like, autumn bike ride or something, or maybe a spring walk through the new flowers that are growing.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: So romantic.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: But that's perfect, right?
So thank you for everything. Thank you for coming. Thank you for doing this interview. We know that you're just like, in a rush.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: Hey, you know what? We run around, but then when we have to get to work, we get to work.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: That's the perfect. That's rock and roll.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And thank you guys for having us here. And we look very much forward to playing today on the Valley stage.
[00:09:22] Speaker C: Can't wait to see you.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
Awesome. Yeah. Thank you, guys.
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