Tuesday, June 28, 2011

interview with Ron from ICE DRAGON

Fire and ice, light and darkness, glommy stoner/doom and peaceful psychedelism... Life is made of constrasts, dualities, twisted emotions and ICE DRAGON is a good example of what kind of richness that can lead to. This band released its first album about ten months ago, a solid effort which was yet presenting some of the best modern stoner doom à la E.W./SLEEP mixed with outstanding psychedelic influences, but the freshly released 2nd effort "the sorrowful sun" is more than a confirmation of the band's enormous potencial, going far further any expectations with a very particular approach in terms of sound recording, progressiveness and devilishly intoxicating structures... I.D. is a name that  really deserves your attention in this overcrowded scene, so I thought it was urgent to have an interview with the cool RON (vocals), a guy who is humanly as much interesting and attaching as  his musical talent is highly inspired, which believe me is a singular performance at such a point. Enjoy this one and SUPPORT I.D. !!!

* Hey Ron, it's certainly gonna change, but I.D. isn't really known yet, so could you please present the guys behind this, the general concept, characters of the band ?
Greetings Stephane!!! Thank you ever so kindly for inviting us to be a part of your magnificent blog. I am not drunk right now, so this should be a fairly sane and courteous interview I would think. Hoorah! Here goes…. Ice Dragon is definitely not well known in the slightest, I would have to agree with that. Frankly, I am not sure if we will ever be well known. We play a kind of music that is not unlike an odd tasting food with complex flavors. When you are young you hate that food and refuse to eat it, maybe even make fun of it, then when you are a bit older and are getting tired a lot you find that same food to be deliciously refreshing and tasty. So we are music for old tired people basically. It’s ok with me. I am Ron and I handle the vocals and lyrics mostly, although on this new album I had to pick up drumming duties as well. I also do the Theremin and Synth stuff, but there’s more of that on the Burl album. Carter is the axeman, all of the electric stuff. He’s got a lot of cool guitars, some of which he hot rods up. He does backing vocals on stuff too. Joe does the bass and a lot of acoustic stuff, him and Carter share a lot of that. As far as writing, everyone pitches in wherever they can. Someone may have a riff or an idea for a song but then once we all get involved it really starts to sound like Ice Dragon.

* The release of the new album "the sorrowful sun" was programmed simultaneously with the summer solstice, was it just a wink or was there something more significent behind this ?
More of a wink than anything incredibly significant to be honest. Although I will say that I am way into all the far out new age shit. I don’t take it too “seriously” though, like when “real” witches and warlocks talk on the radio or tv and are all like “witches are nice people and astrology is important to science”. I like the more older style new age far out shit when people just wanted to talk about weird stuff and do drugs and wear awesome clothes and dance around. Now everyone is all politically correct about it and making it boring as hell. I listen to this great radio show every Saturday morning called Lucid Sounds, with Victor Robert Venckus on 90.3, and towards the end of it they do a totally rad astrology report and then talk about all sorts of weird issues like knights templar, masons, ghosts, aliens, really tall castles, eating seaweed for protective abilities, how immunization is secretly killing us all, magic, rocks, crystals, astral projection. All that stuff. I was just reading the liner notes last night to the album “Callings” by Paul Winter, you should check his stuff out if you haven’t already. It’ll be like 5 minutes of whale noises and then all of a sudden this slow clarinet or saxophone will creep up on you and whisper sweet nothings into your ear. It makes you feel good in your underwear area.

* Was the first album just (officially) available on bandcamp ? how has been the response to it ?
Yeah, unfortunately it is only available as a download for now. Fingers crossed someone wants to do a gatefold vinyl edition with an Ice Dragon bandana and jar with a nice Burl in it. I would love that. Everyone seems to be digging on it a whole lot though, which is awesome. We’ve had a ton of downloads and many purchases as well. We emailed everyone who bought that album with a free code to download the new one before it came out. I wish we could have done more, but alas. Those people are killer dwarf warrior lords and deserve a high five forever!!!!!

* You recorded the album with just a 4 track home recorder, that gives in my opinion a particular live sound that perfectly allows to share the music, the instants with you... How do you consider the recording conditions and the sound of I.D. ?
Right. I have an old 4-track tape cassette recorder thing and I love using that. We play together all at once in the same room, like live, and use that to do all the basic tracks. It makes it sound more like a band and less like some studio magic overdubbing bullshit. Don’t get me wrong, we do overdubs for vocals and guitars to give it a better sound, but having that original “live” take on there as the foundation just makes it sound cooler to me. Plus tape hiss is the best, my favorite thing. And writing on a tape with marker is great too. We recorded this album in my basement mostly. Doing shit in your own basement is the way to go because you can drink and smoke and yell and smash things if you want. It makes you more creative. Doing things in a studio is horribly lame, there are guys being like “dude don’t put your beer on the mixing console” or “you can’t smoke in here”. What a horrible time. Last time the Pilgrim guys were over my house we smashed an old vhs tape in my vice.

* You made the complete release of the product (tape) by yourselves, this definitely reminds a trademark of the 80's underground which (just as split eps) has a bit of revival but if I'm not wrong more in the death metal scene than on the doom one, what's your position about the release conditions of the album?
I totally agree with you. The 80’s underground must have been so much better than now ya know? There were guys huffing glue everywhere and wearing ridiculous clothes and all of them had a killer demo tape to hand you at any given moment. This one time I got one that was wrapped in a dead bird with polyurethane all over it and the claws were holding the tape. The name of the band was “Titan Troll” It was super slow and heavy with lyrics about old cars and hanging out at strip malls. I actually just made that up, but I’m sure it happened to someone once. All those death metal and black metal guys are awesome, I love that they just do whatever the hell they want and keep everything DIY. I am not sure why all the doom guys are into everything being fancy and shiny and expensive with their releases, I’d like to see some more punk kind of stuff happening. Doing it yourself.

* While the first album had the nice psychedelic ballad "winged prophet", the new album has several quiet moments with nice songs like "near sun on earth" and "dusk", more subtle, intimate, how do you include these songs in your repertory ?
Mostly it is Carter and Joes fault. I am so much tougher than them, but I give in every now and then and we end up with stuff like that. Hahaha. Really it’s a dynamics thing I guess. I hate when you are listening to a metal album and it sounds like you’ve heard the same song 8 times in a row with different lyrics. I need something a little more dynamic. I need a “Fade to Black” in there is what I’m getting at. “Strong men also cry… strong men also cry”

* There's also a split 10'' with Pilgrim which will be soon released, was the song from the same recording session ? how did you choose it ?
Yeah we are INCREDIBLY excited about that one. Jon Rossi from Pilgrim was up at my place practicing with us because he was playing drums for us at a show. We were out on the porch just chatting a bit and he mentioned that this guy Josh McAlear wanted him to do a split. Of course Ice Dragon was the obvious choice for the other band to do the split with and we got to talking about Lord Astaroth. Splits tend to be weird because each band sort of ignores the other bands song and tries to make theirs cooler. That sucks. So we wanted to make ours be essentially a song about the exact same thing, just the two bands different takes on it. So they are both called “Astaroth”. Yersinia Pestis is Josh’s Label/Distro, he’s a cool dude and a great artist. http://www.y-pestis.com/ is his website.

* Can you imagine ICE DRAGON having suddenly a (deserved) huge success with "the sorrowful sun" and then maybe have to change some of your ideas with new obligations ?
I can imagine it, in a far off hazy kind of way, like a distant dream in a land of fog. How nice. How very nice it would be. I don’t know if much would change though. I mean we are more than open to change and certainly do not want to stagnate with our music, but I honestly don’t think any record label or special deal or whatever would make us willing to do a bunch of stupid shit. We all have jobs. So they would have to pay me a hell of a lot of money and give me benefits and a retirement package if they wanted me to care at all about what they wanted.

* There's a very remarkable development of your vocal abilities on the new album, not just plaintive, groovier, more sensitive with nice Ozzy like overtones, did you impose yourself particular objectives for that or it all came naturally with the music ?
Thank you. I did impose a few objectives, yes. I was listening a lot to the old album and thinking of how I could break free, if even just a little, from that monotone trap that a lot of heavy music singers fall into. Flowers was particularly difficult with the vocals. That one took me forever. It is a lot higher than I would normally sing. Also I would say that lyrically this album is much more personal and that helps a lot when singing. If you are singing about skeletons and wizards and magic make-believe than it is a lot harder to get into your vocals. I love Ozzy, he is the greatest.

* The 70's psychedelic/space rock and even folk elements are something very present in your music, I suppose you're naturally very curious towards this extremely rich period of the music history, its discovery could last more than a life, but which bands are unanimously hailed by you guys ?
I’m having a “power C-machine” fruit drink right now. Yeah, we are all way into that stuff for sure. Joe has a huge crush on prog-rock stuff especially. I am really into Grand Funk Railroad, The James Gang, The Groundhogs, Uriah Heep, Iron Claw, Pagan Altar, Deep Purple, Steppenwolf, etc. I like a lot of 70’s folk and country stuff too, Jackson C. Frank is my all time favorite singer/songwriter and Townes Van Zandt comes in at a close second. Carter isn’t really huge on the 70’s stuff as much I think, he listens to a lot of Primus, Stevie Ray Vaughn, GNR, Leon Redbone and Kool Keith. Joe likes Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator, stuff like that. The way far out shit. And of course we all love Sabbath. Actually you know who is totally awesome that never gets enough credit is the band “Family”, from Britain back in the late 60’s early 70’s. Those guys knew how to rock and you never really hear enough people saying so.

* What about live performance ? is there any special place you'd like to play in ?
It’s kind of funny but we are all not really into playing live at all. We will if we have to, or it’s been a long while and we feel like we probably should, but otherwise we don’t really care to. Joe goes to a lot of shows and he even buys the shirts and the records at the show and everything. I never go to shows and neither does Carter. I like to be at home. I hate going out. You have to spend 8 dollars on your beers and take cabs and get in fights with the bouncers. I would rather drink in my backyard and grill up some cheeseburgers while listening to the record. It would be ridiculously cool to do something like the “live in pompei” thing. That would be the most fun.

* You've got another band called The Mangled Dead, here's your chance to present it ! You're also rather active on the web with forums, FB, discovering new stuff... any time left for old normal leasures ?!!!
Haha. Yeah, that is my “getting it out of your system” band basically. It’s loud obnoxious hardcore/punk kind of stuff. I play all the instruments and me and my lady sing on it. We try to make sure that every song has the word “fuck” in it. Basically we want it to be the kind of music that a teenager would play really loud in their room after they got yelled at by their parents. I LOVE music man. Not just heavy music but all music. Not all bands, but certainly all genres so I am constantly cranking around looking for new stuff. I like to watch movies more than anything else when I am home. I have a massive VHS collection. I just got “Girls are for Loving” starring secret agent Ginger the other day, that’s a good one. I like to save all my paper bags from the liquor store too. Just in case. I guess Carter does the same thing, so that’s kind of odd. They come in handy though. Joe has “people in town” a lot, so I guess he likes to entertain, gin and tonics, darts, a game of cards, those sorts of things.

* The song "white tusks" reveals another aspect of your personality, something weird, hypnotic, experimental... how did you compose something so mystic ?
I wrote those lyrics at like 4am when I couldn’t get to sleep because I had taken too many mushrooms. I wrote Hexagon Riders the same night actually. Then me and Carter got together and smoked a whole bunch of weed, which is actually fairly uncommon for us since we like to drink more. He had this guitar that he had ripped the frets out of and played it through a bass cab. We just pulled it out of the air. I love the vocal sound on that song, I wish I could do it every time.

* If I had to choose a song which represent the best ID that would be "Poseidon's grasp", doomy, gloomy with hypnotic psychedelic touches, which would be yours ?
We all really like that song, it has been kicking around for a while and we just never got the chance to record it. Finally we did for this album. Hm. Picking one is hard, I don’t know if I can do that. I’ll just agree with you since you seem to know what you are doing.

* Thanx a lot Ron, add something if you wish ...
Eat a lot of Fiber, you’ll be better off for it in the end. Get a good collection of hats and don’t be afraid to wear them. And no that is not to be read into. I mean that literally. When people are over your house, have them put on the hats while drinking and making merriment, it will be great. Also, be meaner to rich people, those fucks are always shitting all over people like you and me. Stop looking up to them for their material possessions. If you live in the boston area and want to make some music with us, hit me up, we are always ready to have a lot of fun. Also, if you are cool but don’t have much money and want one of our tapes, then let me know. I will probably work out a system of questions and or tasks that you will have to complete to prove you are cool, but after that I will send you one. I love you all.


Monday, June 27, 2011

FIRE FAITHFUL


A few lines to present this awesome band from Virginia, formerly known as Southern Vein, which released a cool split album ("refuge for the recluse") with LORD last year.I don't know why they changed their name but the previous name perfectly fited their sound, well now this new one sounds cool too ! FIRE FAITHFUL plays some excellent Stoner Metal enriched by quite many southern touches; something extremely heavy and catchy, explosive with very incisive guitars which could remind the dynamic of Alabama Thunderpussy or Solace, while Down, High on Fire, Sabbath or even Goatsnake are certainly other great influences. Vocals by Brandon Malone are clearly metal, but very cohesive with the music, hot, angry, groovy at the same time, a guy that has huge abilities... The band is actually refining its repertory (about 12 songs) before entering the studio for a full lenght album in August, this same month they will take part at the Stoner Hands of Doom XI with TGoS, Earthride, Blood Farmers, Pale Divine, etc... This is not doom like these bands mentioned but F.F. won't break in terms of quality on such an excellent bill and the album will certainly confirm this easily...


http://www.myspace.com/firefaithful
http://www.reverbnation.com/firefaithful

Monday, June 20, 2011

HELLFEST 2011 report

back from this new edition of the now worldly famous HELLFEST !!! 3 days of extreme metal all day long (from 10:00 am to 2:00 am), tired but happy :)
this was the last year with this configuration, next year the site will be just a few hundred meters from the actual one, let's hope it'll be larger cause with a bit more than 25 000 everyday, it was definitely too much this year and the fact that the weather was not good at all (on friday especially, there's just sunday which was let's say correct, cloudy but without rain and wind) didn't help... but well, the essential has been once again guaranted : lots of great bands, good timing, from correct to excellent sound conditions...

my highlights :

GOATSNAKE : excellent, they started in the best way possible with "flower of disease" and during 40 shorty minutes it's been a deluge of ultra heaviness with a dantesque vocals performance... awesome !
























CHURCH OF MISERY : logically the rock n' roll psychedelic edge is very developed on stage with a totally epileptic singer, crazyness combined with heaviness, delightful.



EYE HATE GOD : no surprise, they are still among the best sludge kings ! very concerned, compact, dirty, brutal; they played a cool new song



HAIL OF BULLETS + BOLT THROWER : yeeeeaaahh some topless death metal with these two bands, ultra heavy with excellent vocalists, among the most influential and experienced from the european scene ! DM the way it used to be, that's more than ok for me :)





CLUTCH : they just played two songs from the last album, I would have enjoyed a few more, but that's a period of re-editions, so... everything was cool anyway, Fallon was very impressive as always, the best vocalist I've seen this week-end (with Goatsnake's)


TRIPTYKON : excellent performance, not a lot of people coz Coroner was playing at the same time... with Tom G. Warrior motivated for a very special dark ceremony, some cult songs of C.F. of course but great songs from this particular band who mixes all the darkest forms of metal with talent.


SUP : first appearance here for this old french band, pretty rare on stage; they have always been apart since more than 20 years of existence but very respected, playing an experimental death metal with very cold climates and a futuristic general concept always renewed from album to album... a great and special moment


ELECTRIC WIZARD : no real surprise, still an excellent occult ceremonial hour with catchy videos, he he !


GRAND MAGUS : I was having a rest at that time, just listened not seen, but was enough closed to the terrorizer tent to enjoy their excellent traditionnal heavy metal with epic and doomy parts

THIN LIZZY : the best old hard rock band from the week-end that I've seen (UFO were crap, very bad singer... SCORPIONS were tired...)... JUDAS PRIEST seemed pretty good too with their new guitarist (looks a bit like KK 30 years ago !!) but I just saw 20 minutes and then went to E.W.

HEADCHARGER : nice rock n' roll /stoner band from France... 30 short but good minutes of hot energy

C.O.C. and IN SOLITUDE, two bands I saw  and enjoyed yet two months ago, same sets but same pleasure :)

average or a bit disappointing :

POSSESSED : JB rules but he has had to change his musicians and the new guys have been a bit too much under his level despite an obvious motivation, the sound was also weak which is a real shame for such a band... still enjoyable and a special moment to see this legend



 HAWKWIND : despite very good animations, I think they played too loud (two basses especially !), I expected something far more spacey... not bad at all, but  I left before the end to breathe some fresh air !

GHOST : I didn't really like the album but wanted to see them after having missed them at Roadurn... but all is confirmed on stage, there's very good heavy 80's metal parts too badly completely annihilated by boring pop 80's parts... brrr


A big deception was BLACK LABEL SOCIETY : one of the most popular band in general, but I'm not sure anyone has 100%enjoyed this show, what an awful performance from Zakk W. , especially with his soooo loooonnnnggg solo... so fuckin long and empty at the same time !!!
I expected nothing from OZZY O., so no surprise to see and listen a guy that should have stoped a long time ago

Other bands I've seen too briefly but that I'd certainly like to see later have been KYLESA, MORNE and MONSTER MAGNET (just saw two songs, seemed really very good)

a great edition again, honestly this fest is now a reference and it is well deserved ...


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

SAINT VITUS "blessed night" demo session 2011

 
 
 
 
"SV recording a demo of the new song "Blessed Night" @ Temple Sound. Port Orchard Wa. 4/1/2011. Vitus set up, we got sounds, did 2 live takes, mixed and tore down in two hours."

a nice mouthing while waiting for the long awaited new album which will be recorded next month :)

Monday, June 13, 2011

STONE MAGNUM

Actually consisting in Dean Tavernier (guit/voc), Jim Brucks (guit), Marty Buchaus (bass) and Brad Toth (drums), this band comes from Indiana and presents in my opinion what all fans of doom and metal from the 80's could expect from a new act emerging in 2011 : an obvious talent and originality while respecting the basic rules of traditionnal heavy/doom METAL.
Some hauting melodic pieces, agressive and epic, with lots of harmonies and an high level of musicianship, that's what Dean (also in Skullview, a damn good reference I think) and his dudes tightly deliver... Something closed to  Sorcerer, Candlemass or even Place Of Skulls (for the groovy climates and sense of riffing), doomy, epic and melodic, meeting some 80's heavy/power metal bands full of fresh  and powerful energy... I'm not much into the revival of the 80's heavy metal sound, can't tell exactly who are the best newcomers on that side but one thing I know is that it's been a very long time since I heard such a brilliant vocalist along with a very impressive true metal duo guitars (listen to the fantastic "rolling storm")!!! STONE MAGNUM has already played quite a number of cool gigs with Raven, The Gates of Slumber, Earthen Grave, etc... and next one, scheduled for 18th june, is a participation at the "Warriors of metal" festival in Ohio. No doubt that I'll write again about S.M. when the album is released on RIP records (a label that knows what quality old school metal means)...while waiting for this awaited 1st effort, you can listen to the following long doomy song on youtube :

and you'll get the chance to listen 3 more (advance) songs of the album here : stonemagnumdoom.podomatic.com

Saturday, June 11, 2011

STANGALA - Breizhek Stoner -

It's pretty rare to read a biography that allows to dive immediately in the concept/identity of a band; STANGALA's bio is clear, subtle and very attractive :
"The story began in the year of 2007, when 3 modern celtic druids gathered somewhere in the mystical woods of Kemper, France. In order to explore other paths of the space-time continuum and finally reach the land of the korrigans, they used their magical knowledge and begun the preparation of potions with psychedelic powers. Lead under the influence of the great green smoke, rites were inspired by the legacy of the great ancients, such as the mighty Black Sabbath, Iron Butterfly, or the young Queens Of The Stone Age, but also by more local and traditionnal knowledge, of which Brittany, as a Celtic land, is full. Today, the druids are gathering secretely once again, consuming even more drugs in their cauldrons in order to, eventually, introduce the world to a path towards a whole new dimension..."
Well, the picture is clearly planted and I'm sure the song of the clip below can NOT disappoint anyone who reckon himself in this kind of musical trip. The ep "Lutin Salvia Delirium" is a bit old now, but there's just a few weeks more to wait for the album recorded this winter and called "Boued tousek ha traoù mat all"; to be yet noticed is the addition of cool guests from Huata, Coffin on Tyres and The Bottle Doom Lazy Band, which is for sure going to  (if necessary) enrich this release that will certainly mark deeply the whole french underground musical landscape.


http://www.myspace.com/stangala

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

FROST HAMMER


Formed about one year ago in San Jose (CA) this trio consists in James Sotelo (guit/voc), Danny Reis (drums) and Scott Mc Clung (bass) and has recently recorded an interesting debut demo. "lords of kaos" presents mature musicians who display a very metallic Doom  taking influence in almost all decades that rock n'roll has greatly provided (from Hendrix to High On Fire, not forgetting Black Sabbath, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Trouble or even Danzig for some vocal overtones). The music is globally rich and diversified, it can mix catchy Sabbathian riffs with more sharp headbanging stuff (almost thrashy) within the same song, always keeping power and heaviness as basic ingredients. 3 songs is quite short but I feel very confident for a promising debut album that the guys prepare actively through hard work and many gigs regularly given around the Bay Area...

IN MY VEINS - my zine from the early days !!!


Back between 1989 and 1992, I was running a zine called IN MY VEINS, mainly dealing with death metal... I'm sure that a great part of you have known or is at least interested by this golden period, so if anyone is motivated in trading a copy of a cool zine (old or more recent) with IMV, I can make and send you a copy of issue 4 and 5 without any problem, then let me know.
IMV n°4, 1991 -56 pages- interviews with  REVENANT, GOREFEST, ATROCITY, BEYOND DAWN, HELLWITCH, ADRAMELECH, DEMIGOD, BULLDOZER, KROMA DEATH, MEDIA IN MORTE, NO SECURITY, FRAYEURS, BURIAL VAULT, PURULENCE, etc...  + articles, reports & reviews.

IMV n°5, 1992, 80 pages - interviews with CARBONIZED, OBLIVEON, IMPALED NAZARENE,   DISHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, TORCHURE, DEMILICH, SPECTRAL BIRTH, VITAL REMAINS, MY DYING BRIDE, NIGHTFALL, IMMORTAL, THE GATHERING, TRIBULATION (Swe),  NOMICON, HHH, DISEMBOWELMENT, etc... articles on HUMAN REMAINS, CARRION LORD, FORSAKEN (malta), SIN EATER, ABSU, SARCOMA (us), etc... reports and dozens of reviews.



Wednesday, June 1, 2011

THE BOTTLE DOOM LAZY BAND


Slow, heavy, majestic, daunting, foggy, crushing, heretic... The doom practised by T.B.D.L.B is so rich and original, that each of its listener could add many adjectives/superlatives for sure. This is definitely not your usual copy of Candlemass, Electric Wizard or Cathedral, but the natural leader of the french rising doom metal scene, who in tune with this music (slowly but with caracter) is just waiting to reveal its talent to all the world doomters . Just like musically, the guys also have a strong personnality, no consensual... Yesterday I interviewed ToS (guit) to get some fresh news, but shit I'm sorry to confirm that we'll have to wait about one year more for the 3rd album... Fortunaltely "blood for the bloodking" doesn't suffer from time passing, so we'll still survive until 2012 with this unholy masterpiece of true fuckin' DOOOOMMM !!!

* "The triumvirate of doom" (for the 2nd time a tour organised by three bands with dates in France and border countries) will be on the road again next week for 4 new dates, you must be pretty excited and impatient I suppose? Is this an opportunity to test new songs live? How did this collaboration was born ? Can you imagine it lasts much longer?
Hello Stephane, yes we're  downright impatient to hit the road with our great friends from Children of Doom and Calliophis. This tour is really a story of friendship between us all, and it is really fun to tour together. It happened in quick exchanges of emails and beers to put this in place, and we all hope there will be other editions. We already have talks about a short week also in 2012 in Germany and other neighboring countries, we'll see in due course. For the moment we're gonna enjoy the coming week. Talking about playing new songs, we'll have at least one included in the set. After, maybe we'll test 2  or 3 more new things, depending on the inspiration of the moment...

* Question  that you'll answer for the 343rd time but I ask it to you anyway, why so much delay between "blood for..." and the future new album, it's not the whole fault of the arrival of  babies in "The   Bottle family" ?!
No, indeed it's an explanation but not the only one. We have also changed our bassist after the release of "Blood ... ", our drummer went several times on tour with Pulmonary Fibrosis, a group of grind, our other guitarist has a schedule that changes often and it eats a lot of evenings, so that blew some rehearsal times. Then we've also had periods without much inspiration, or we stayed to drink beer rather than plugging in the instruments. Then with Bottle if you start going in circles on a component, it is not worth it, surely it will end in a bad or just average song; so it's better to have good time with friends, instead of killing our nerves while trying to find the riff after,  that we can not find ... where maybe we'll find it the most naturally possible the following week.

* "Night of the Living Dead" , your song on the split ep, shows a certain change in continuity, the contrasts in your music seem more pronounced, can we expect this tendency for the next album? Can you tell us about some titles please? When is the recording planed and an approximative release date ? 
"Night ..." may be a good introduction to what will be the next album. At that time (3 years ago) we wanted a "Blood ..." to really sound like a massive block. I think we've done our job pretty well, so for the next, we wanted something with more varied tempos, the slow parts even more overwhelming and more groovy parts as you can hear on the split EP. Well I say that ... but we compose naturally, and that the overall spirit of the whole. We should record by the end of this year again at Echoes Studios with a release planned for April.

* For how many more albums with Emanes does your contract last? Does your collaboration has evolved over time and if there was something you could improve in it, what would it be?
It's always been only a moral contract, there is nothing signed, no specific commitment, so we could not expect anything better. We record, emanate put out the stuff, we file a certain percentage of revenue, and that's it. I do not want to sign something where you see numbers in all lines, with royalties, cost per sale, the whole industry pisses me off to the highest point. There's just a mutual trust between Emanes and us, and it works fine. We're also in contact with an american label for a re-release of "Blood ... " and the next album; but it is still too early for me to tell anything more.

* Your participation at the DDF in Holland was certainly quite memorable ?  The name of T.B.D.L.B. is known and respected in the doom scene, but the feedback in terms of concerts and festivals abroad are not really tangible, I suppose you can count on the next album to turn things on that side?
Yeah it was pretty cool. We had  good fun as usual, our set was quite good and there was super performances from Hooded Priest, Place of Skulls and Eternal Elysium. According to what is our reputation, I know nothing at all, and all this does not really interest me, even if having to read that we've got our place in the French scene, or that we can influence this or such a group, is fun. Everything remains as it was originally, a band of five friends who have fun with the music they play, with no intention other than to spend good time together. Thereafter if there are opportunities to us, we'll see how it happens, but we do not run after anything in particular.

* For the next album should we still expect an artwork with mammary subjects ?!
I've got absolutely no idea about that at the moment, we'll see, keeping continuity in visual themes could be fun, but the fact to radically change could be cool too. We'll see ...

* You said in an interview for Doommantia that you prefered to do  concerts and parties with cool people instead of people who are exclusively doom ... Does this mean that they are or at least a portion of them uninteresting, little open-minded, desperate or even despairing ?
Yeah ... our attitude is certainly too punk for much of the doom scene in general. You often see groups who take themselves seriously, who are well on their own with stage performances that stick in this picture, it bores me personally. I'm not saying these people are assholes of course, it's just we don't have fun in the same way.

* You're a pretty opened and fun-loving group, what do you think of some bands attitude on stage who banish any exchange with the public, do not any "encore" ...?
Bah this is what I said above. We played recently with Electric Wizard, which were housed separately, only the drummer spoke a bit to us, I found it rather disappointing. Then about their attitude on stage, not a look or a sign at the public, no word, no encore ... for people who have paid € 15/20 to see them, I find it very limited. But after this is not a matter of style. For example you take the doom / death metal, a style extremely cold, which I tend to get bored with, but when you see Ataraxie live by example, you understand that you do not need to draw the face to be super good live.

* You also wrote that you hate MDB, sad bands with sad lyrics ... Isn"t the word hate a little exaggerated, do not care would have been maybe more fair ? Instead, would you imagine Aaron S. write texts such as "sea, sex and sun"?
Again, I was talking about the live attitude. I travel to a concert for a good time, not to see the guys pull the mug. If they are not happy being on stage, then they can their place to people who really want and show envy to play and swing energy to the public. You see St. Vitus and  MDB live ... this is not comparable. Yet the themes of Vitus songs are not necessarily happy, either.

* You're a big football fan, from OM (Olympique de Marseille)  in particular, not too disappointed with the loss of the title? Should Lucho stay or should he be  dropped like other not enough productive big salaries like Gignac, or Heinze?
Big fan, this is exaggerated. I was a big fan when I was a teenager, at that time OM was at the summit of Europe and they gave pleasure to the people. Now, I watch some games when it's interesting,but if nothing happens, OM or not OM on the field, I zap. Obviously, with nostalgia, it makes me happy to know that OM wins, but I'm happy for Lille, they deserved to win the title. Regarding players' salaries, it's so exaggerated ... I prefer not to ask myself the question ... while I galley by the end of the month after spending 50 hours a week on my PC to make 2  or 3 craps ... short !

* You're also a big fan of Tarantino, I love everything he did, but for me his masterpiece is the ultimate risk and to stay forever "Jackie Brown", what is your favorite?
Wow, hard question with having to choose one film in all his work. The narration of "Reservoir Dogs" is magical, the action of "Pulp Fiction", the approach to the theme of the 2nd World War in "Inglorious Basterds"and the awesome character of Hans Landa... I hope that his ultimate masterpiece will be his next film! hehe

* Hangman's Chair will soon play at the Hellfest, with the future new album hopefully it will be your turn next year, right? will you be there in 15 days?
Frankly, I do not know if that's such a great opportunity to play under a tent at 10:30 am ... After, it's sure that for the reputation of a band, being on the bill of Hellfest  must be a plus. And  I won't do it this year, I've been there the last 5 years, so if I have to make a fest this year, I would rather make one in a new environment, a new atmosphere.

* Who is the doom band that impressed you the most on stage? and all categories confunded ?
Without any doubt Saint Vitus for doom. After that I will just mention legends, with frontman knowing and doing what they want when they want with their audience:  Motorhead, Metallica, Megadeth, Dark Tranquillity, Morbid Angel (well I'm waiting to hear the last album, because when I see the reactions ...) Kreator, Kiss, Alice Cooper ...

* Thanx a lot to you, you can end as you wish (merchandising, etc ...)
Thank you for the interest; for merchandising, it matters little you know, but you should just rather drink a beer with us when we pass on to you ! DOOM !