Interview

Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you here !

1) Your new album, out the 25th march, is called “Barton’s Odyssey” so who’s Barton ?

Antoine : So, Otis Barton is simply an explorator of 20th century, an ingenior, a writer, so it's a character related of our previous album you know. For the first album we've already wrote about another explorator, who's William BEEB and they worked together to elaborate a submersible who's called the "Bathysphère" which enabled them to explore underwater depths. First for over 900 meters. So we wrote a tribute about William Beeb in the first ablum and for the second we wrote the following and takes this other protagonist, developing a story around this character and he created another submersibl and go back to adventures !

Why this passion about the sea ?

Sydney : All the symbolic linked to the ocean, the origin of life. Who's at the same time a creative force and a destructive force because, you know, water is an element that you can't control and which is all over the planet, maybe more than other things !

Antoine : Omnipresent in us as well !

Sydney : Yes that's it. So it's something important well ! It's there and this if we want to or not, if we ignore or not it's there. So it's the big thing. And then it's all the symbolic about sea and underwater depths. We know alot of things about space which is at billions kilometers while we know very less things about underwater depths. Because of the difficulties of observation, presure, luminosity, and temperature all this. That make that we only know few things about it. And this gave birth in many civilisation to myths and legends who feed a little bit the stories and so the bands too, why not ! All that to create an universe which is ours!
So, to stay in mystery..

Sydney : Yeah, mystery and in the same times facts from scientifics and phantasmagorical things !

Antoine : Yes, that's it, this spark curiosity because it's something which coexists with us but we know few things about this. There's alot of things in sciences that lack us like he said, and this generate alot of fantasy about this..

Sydney : Like Atlantide !

Antoine : Yes, and like I say often, it's this idea to return in the center of the earth, something of introspection, a look at itself. And that's this too we're talking about on our songs, it's not just stories from A to B with a disputive element those kind of things. After, this open the place to talk about questions which seems a little bit more fundamental, with the connection of humain nature, modern civilisation, feelings and alot of things like that. So yes, just opening abyss doors can make alot of things for us. Anyway we need this to write songs.

Sydney : In all descriptive things and symbolism ensuing.

Antoine : And what ! It's our choice ! We can do what we want right ! BECAUSE. It's like this, that's all OK ! (laugh)

3 years after your first album “Ten Miles Underwater” what have you done during this times?

Sydney : We've made concerts, writing too and that's all. Done, next question. (laugh) No but yeah we've been touring for the first album, almost 80 concerts I think. In France, Europe, Japan, for 2 years. At the same time we've finish to write the second album. After this the production of this one. It's true it's a longer part because it's not like 30 years ago. You go in studio, you register the album in one month and it's done. It's not like that anymore. There's no more money. An album like that in one month is very expensive, you have to be invested, the record market in good mood, with labels. But we don't have this chance. And I think there's not many bands now, french and metal bands, extrem bands, who can do this. So yeah it takes alot of times and we had to decline concerts to focus on the album during 6 months to make the album.

Antoine : Yes, during those times we've been touring and playing alot, we've been composing music at the same times so as alot for us, we needed to take a break to focus on the second album so.

First extract of the album, “Within the Massive Stream” and “Back to Hadatopia” why have you choose to release those songs first ?

Sydney : The first that we've published is Back to Hadatopia, beause just in the tittle there's "back" like a return to the stage, the album, the coming back and this was cool. But, other thing is a song which synthesizes alot what we wanted to do in the second album, about the harmonies, the contrast about the sweet melody and the violence of the voice. It's a song which connect all of this. It's a song on which we have tried to made new things about the voice, an identifiable structure. Like the song Upwelling which will be the videoclip coming soon. So yeah, a song with the synthesizes between melody, violence, harmony, theme..
Antoine : Yes, it's like the 2.0 version of the band. We really feel an evolution in this album, so we were looking for a song which can resume this new milling and we were all ok for this one. And the second Massive Stream it's kind of same thing. But with more things about melody, something more epic but really aggressive too.

Sydney : I think Massive Stream is totally a respresentation of the cover of our album, with the colors, feelings, something fairy, beautiful, big and despair !

You didn’t have songs in French, why?

Antoine : I've already sing in french in others projects but it's true that when I switched to AC I had the desire to sing in english. The french can be cool but there's nothing to do, for me, in the way that I sing in screaming. I made covers for me to pratice, but the way that the song sound that's not the same.. I prefer and the band too. And for writing songs too I think there's more things easier to say in english. We you directly go to the essential in french it's less handsome in formulation as in english. In english you can make it and it's all good. I scream in the songs, so, you have to put some strong feelings. No, I think that's even better and the band to so it works like this.

You’ve been touring in Japan last year, was a good experience?

Antoine : Yes, was great, next questions. (laugh). The food was greaaaat ! (laugh)

Sydney : It was an extraordinary experience, different, it's really another culture, another country, another world, with habits and behavior different from us but they're cool and positive. We saw mens who was coming at the concerts with suit !

Antoine : After work, he came like that et he's totaly having fun !

Sydney : He took a beer, and go to the pit with his briefcase ! Surrealist !

Antoine : Yes, we could see this very protocol part in the way of communicate with people like tourists and see this way underground. And was funny to compare this society totaly different from ours and just unleash there protocol during the concert because it's totaly extreme here. Everything in entertainment is extreme. There's this concert in Hiroshima, they add 5 bands in the set, playing 10 minutes of grind core songs. And we were playing with VOMITORY and BEYOND CREATION who are masters of Death metal, canadians which we like very much, and VOMITORY a legend of Death metal it was very cool for this too !

Sydney : BEYOND CREATION is a very good meeting, they're from Montréal so that's french people and yeah we spent a good week together, very cool. We have a very good memorie of this and keep contact with them we would like to play again with them if we can, in France or Canada.

The cover of your new album is made by PAR OLOFSSON, lie the previous, you like to work with him ?

Sydney : On the first album this was really simple, we called him and explain the project, the concept of the album and he was really happy! The colaboration was easy, we establish the framework with him and he put some elements, ajustements, and boum it was over and amazing! So as the universe of the second album is close from the first, the narration is the second part of the first. There's parts of the first cover on the second, we didn't want to made this with another person who will copy the work of PAR OLOFSSON, was clear that we will need him again to continue the work. And so that's done and we are really happy ! We had few doubts firts about geometrics but the guy really know his work and what to put on top to make an interesting cover. We were quickly convinced so that's why we are really positive about it.

Have you write all the lyrics by ourselves ? How do you proceed to write songs ?

Sydney : So, it's Jean-Jacques Goldman (laugh) but for this one he was busy.

Antoine : So we asks to Vianay but he refuse too so we were obligate to write the songs ourselves ! (laugh)

Sydney : So that's what it is ! We would like to work with him but not!

Antoine : JJG is hiding on every major songs of french Death metal, everybody knows this !(laugh)

Sydney : No, seriously yes we write every songs. Alex, the guitarist, composed the major part of the songs, the riff. After this I put my parts, so this makes the sounds of the song. The solo parts, the leeds, comes then, and that's our songs! Same things for the voice we put this then.

Antoine : Alexandre make the foundations and we all put ideas on, move things, the discussion is important on the band about this.

Sydney : We don't have particular process to write songs, not like a tuesday night in jam..! It's like we play something we like it,we write it and we share this to the others members. But we don't do buff, I think that's something to tell, no improvisation at all, only writing. No place to improvisation.

The song 50°S 100°W represent geographic coordinates, what’s the meaning of them ?

Antoine : This coordinates are actually something about the first album, it's the aproximate coordinates of the "gloup" it's a kind of sound heard on kilometers in the south of pacific ocean capted by naval measuring tool of the army and other persons, but they never knows what was this sounds. And the thing that plot them is that the sound seems completly organic but they knows that no one creature can do this in a big scope ! So this makes fantasy about a big creature something like that... (Alex, the guitar player come with us) That's the men who made foundations (laugh) So there's this thing that science never explain but in fact, it proves that the sound comes from the place where another creature called "Chtulhu" lived. He's a characters of Lovecraft's books. The both are mixing so and the scientists community and fans of those universe are intriged. So, I wanted to integrate this in fiction because that's the kind of details I like and there's something in real life which provide alot of fantasy and integrate this in fiction make things phantasmagoical.. Alot of fantasy ! (laugh) Anyway, it's something I like !

Sydney : We have alot of fantasy ! (laugh)

Antoine : It's a signal that heard the character in the first album and came back in the second, the character want to go there and find what's this. So yeah it's a way to link fiction to reality, like the fact to take real explorator in a fiction in our band's songs.

Sydney : Yes, it's true that in our realisation we are really inspired by culture, like cinema, litterature, video games, everything.. gave birth to this concept of our albums.

This is the end, so if you have something to tell to fans and readers of SDM..

Sydney : In actual conjoncure I think that people have to realize the fact that, that's them who make lives music and bands. If we can made a second album that's because of the work we made for the first one. There's an investment from us but after that the group have to self-powered to carry on. It's true that if people don't come to concerts, there's no more musique. No music, no band; no band, no palace ; no palace.. no palace ! (laugh)

Thanks guys ! Take care and see you soon !