Friday, January 25, 2013

... a rest with wandering souls : Interview with MARBLE CHARIOT

Yesterday I posted a review of Tombtone's 1st album, now I'm coming back to you with another French Doom metal band which I already presented a few weeks ago: MARBLE CHARIOT out from Bordeaux...
-In no particular order- Les girondins, Alain Juppé, Lalande Pommerol, le centre de recherche sur les mammifères marins, le chantier du cinéma du Pian Medoc où ma boîte vient de travailler pendant de longs mois and certainly more other hidden treasures... hahaha ! all this is tasty and breathes good vibes of more or less normal life, but will some slumberish Trad' Doom ever be the most ultimate experience to come out from this pretty important french town, often mocked for its coldness, despite a pretty agreable climate and environment nearby the south-west atlantic coast !!!??? 
That's a possible point of view with Marble Chariot's 1st EP "The Burden is so Heavy", a masterful debut with 3 songs of  Trad' Doom Metal, exclusive and relentless with crushing and ploding influences from the likes of St Vitus, Trouble, Reverend Bizarre...  This band is young and logically perfectible in several aspects (own identity, recording process/conditions...) but it's amazing how real they come across !  so, once again but even more than usual, I encourage you to discover their sound and support this HEAVY outfit !
Here's a nice little interview with Nicolas :

Hi guys, Marble Chariot is a name which sounds pretty original, I would even say kinda "Heavy METAL", very different from all those new bands in Wizard or Bong something... how did you came up with that heavy name ?


Indeed, your point is well taken. We wanted to clear away from the lexical field proposed by bands playing a bastard form of Stoner / Doom. The massive use of words like Witch, Bong, Grave, Mountain and so on is some kind of ridiculous and childish,although this was the case in the 80's with bands like Angel Witch, Axe Witch, Stormwitch, Witch Cross but this is another story, we are part of a long-term and not in an effort to reproduce more or less successful musical recipe that made the recognition of popular bands like Electric Wizard or Sleep. Regarding the Heavy Metal connotation the name of our group, you are once again right because, our roots come from this scene, the sum of adjective and a noun evocative allow the listeners to understand directly the universe of the band. The examples are numerous: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Heavy Load, Diamond Head, Manilla Road, Pagan Altar, Saint Vitus, Count Raven, Witchfinder General, Angel Witch ... the list could be endless. awesome names for legendary names.





Am I wrong or the recording of the demo was all done live (except the vocals most certainly) ? Was it a question of time and money or your wish ?

We recorded all live instruments including voice. Aside from the guitars solos and some minor voice, we recorded in the same room for a short day. We wanted to capture the primal power of our music. The group with less than one year at the time of recording, it was out of the question to hide the flaws of our musical abilities due to our inexperience. The aim was to photograph a young band who was eager to unleash his crushing darkness.





A great part of the Stoner/Doom and even Sludge bands which appear everyday take influences in Doom through references of the 70's , while MARBLE CHARIOT would tend more towards the 80's and other Trad' Doom bands as Hour of 13, Reverend Bizarre, TGOS... is that due to your background which is basically METAL or ... ?

The bands that you quote prove today that can we refer to a glorious past without sacrificing his personality. Regarding the influences from the 80s, I believe that the doom metal we play and we want to play is deeply rooted in bands of this decade and although we love greatly bands of the 70s, their influence is less fudamental in the development of Marble Chariot. It was very clear that when we have formed the band, Godfathers hymns such as Saint Vitus, Pagan Altar, Reverend Bizarre, Orodruin ... would be very present in our way to write some songs.It was a thoughtful willingness on our part to follow in the footsteps of these bands we admire forever. As I said previously we will be eternally grateful for these spiritual fathers while continuing to progress and work our own style.An insignificant band like ours can strengthen the foundations of a church that will never fall.




There's a very special mood in "the burden is so heavy" , not just musically but there's a deep atmosphere of crushing sorrow that reminds "the wretch" sound, were you guys in a normal state when recording this or did booze and/or weed seriously surround the recording conditions to a music that is already a way to express sadness, melancholy and dark feelings (I'm also refering to lyrics of "the wandering soul" and "for long lost friends"...) ???

In fact, I'm glad you perceived the very special atmosphere of the recording. some of us had to deal with serious problems of depression and addiction. You should know that the recording took place during an afternoon and a morning and evening that separated these two sessions turned into an alcolholocaust. No sleep for three days due to some taking amphetamines added to a huge consumption of alcohol for the entire band. Although I doubt that a new recording session does not take place in this way, if only for the survival of the group, this session has the merit of showing a band on the brink playing with the guts despite the many mistakes of the recording.




Are you opened to other forms of Doomed sounds (Stoner, sludge, funeral, drone) or are you rather conservative towards the way DOOM shall be played and its essence ? Have you heard about "la ste ligue du doom" ?



We are first and foremost passionate about music and as such, we do not listen exclusively traditionnal doom metal and if we can be influenced by other styles or sub genre of doom, this contribution must be integrated intelligently to our music without deform or transform our first aim: to play doom metal, in the historical sense of the term. Personally, I listen to a lot of Black / Death / Doom Metal with bands like Goatlord, Demoncy Beherit's Drawing Down The Moon, Hellvetron, Void Meditation Cult, Profanatica, Ptahil, Faustcoven, Cultes des Ghoules ... The atmosphere truly black and putrid that offer these bands added to a primitive incredible power inspires me greatly and allows me to apprehend a different way my songwriting.

I know la sainte ligue du doom and I appreciate the fact that the blog incenses albums that in my humble opinion passed almost unnoticed, I think especially of Hounds Hasselvander's the ninth hour, Northwind's Winters and War Injun's Tribal Eulogy (pure Maryland Doom) which are two of the best albums emerged in recent years under the banner of Doom Metal.Well studied and traditionalist analysis more of these comparative studies make this blog one of the most interesting on the web. However, I regret that the site is no longer active.



The scene in Bordeaux seems to be moving a bit with Oyabun, Sun Preachers (some of you play in this one, right ?), Marble Chariot... (not forgetting Gasmask Terror and their veteran of the french underground Luc A., hail dude !) is there any other bands you would recommend to deaf ears ?

There are two members of Marble Chariot who play in Sun Preachers (your servant and Quentin) and two other members of the Sun Preachers playing in Oyabun (Joel and Boris). As such, we had the honor to listen to the songs from the new album, the hiss, I can tell you that the album will be great, for the fans of pure fury hard rock. Regarding the scene Bordeaux, I must admit that I'm not aware of what is happening right now and I think you already know the groups that are more or less the same style as us: Aguirre, Year of No Light, Mars Red Sky ... Oh I forgot there is the group High Power but they splited up there over 20 years, the self-titled album is a pure masterpiece (laughs). You were talking about Luc and we played with Gasmask Terror, a very good memory, luc is a humble guy and very quiet but with an infinite devotion and impressive musical culture.





Bordeaux is sadly for you a town that rarely attracts doom and stoner bands that are touring, even if you played in 2012 with Red Fang and Horisont too, but I presume you'll be soon looking for gigs outside your area, is there any contact for that ? Are you guys going to Paris for gigs or at Hellfest/roadburn/... ?



I don't teach you anything when we know the success of the Stoner scene today and derivatives. So, the situation tends to evolve lately, but it's gonna be perpetuated, that is the question. we have to thank some fans that drive the local scene, you were talking about luc, we must add the Heretic Club and especially François and Negative Beliefs (including our drummer Boubi) who make great efforts to set Fuckin' good heavy music.




The french Doom scene is a bit more active these days ... do you pay attention to its evolution (new bands, new releases...) ? Will you be present at that festival (not far from your bases, near Niort) next May with The Bottle Doom Lazy Band, Northwinds, Stangala and Children of Doom ? (if yes, hope to meet you there !) Are you guys going to Paris for gigs or at Hellfest/roadburn/... ?

Yes, I try to have  interest to new groups and new recordings although I am less inclined to search right now. If my schedule allows me (forced labor), I would go to that date. For concerts, I'll make the trip to see Saint Vitus on March 9. we went to doom shall rise twice where we met the guys from children of doom ( remember Turkish Born Too Late song, it should recall their memories).





What are the plans for 2013 ? Do you already have some new songs to talk about that will be included in your next recording ?



We are currently working on new songs and are really pleased with the turn taken by the group. The style is refined, becomes more personal, the group is more consistent musically. The songs are darker, more epic, more heavy. We will take the time to perfect the future recording and release. I think we will be ready to record to the last quarter of the year.





I've seen on your page another great review from the mighty Sludgelord but apparently it's rather quiet outside this, did you contact other blogs/webzines/distributors ... ?

When I say we are finalizing the last details for the demo out physically and will contact Blogs/Webzines/Fanzines/Labels... . Until now we have little concern about this aspect but that will change.


Thanx guys for answering this, add something important we might have not spoken about yet...



Thank you for your support, your revelant questions and long life to your blog which is a great quality.

"Après tout, pourquoi n'y a t-il pas autant d'art possible dans la laideur que dans la beauté? C'est un genre à cultiver voilà tout" -Louis Ferdinand Céline-






No comments:

Post a Comment