You're right, small and discreet country but quite rich in quality music. I couldn't say we have a proper «swiss scene» though. Every part of the country (fragmented regions with different languages) has his lot of bands but strangely, there's almost no real communication/interest between these different parts. I'm always surprised to perform in front of 300 people in another country but 20 in a swiss city that is 100 km away from ours... Still, I think we're lucky to have passionate artists around here who try to make new propositions and bring music to a new level. Doing things slowly, patiently, with a special attention to details is a general swiss quality and the comfortable environment, socially and economically, that this country offers probably allows to create music in a freeminded way. To come back to "the scene", bands like Celtic Frost, Knut or the Young Gods, to name a few, opened people's eyes on what can happen in our modest country and their international recognition allowed then to bring some light on other local alternative acts. We owe them a lot.
-2. Your first album "Shaping the Random" was noise/hardcore. With the split EP with Merzbow "Switching Rhetorics" and then "Malval" your sound progressed to post and progressive. Quite a change…What happened there?
It's been a natural progression dued to several factors. First, we felt that we reached a dead-end in the writing process, probably because of a weariness in doing short, frantic, cathartic songs (that were often a total disaster in live performances...). Then, our bass player at that time wanted to play guitar and take a more important role in the compositions, which expanded our possibilities. Time passing (almost 4 years between the Merzbow split and Malval), we discovered the joy of taking time to develop ideas, create atmospheres and bring density in our music without really noticing that we were heading toward a total shift from what we were used to do. But it felt like a big bowl of fresh air. And as it was still the same dudes playing in the band, there was no reason of worrying if we needed to change our name then. We just had to accept what was happening, see it like a child who grew up, who left something behind to reach new areas.
-3. Do you think that post as a genre (weather is rock or metal) has become quite popular the last years? How do you see that "trend"?
The «post» term is just a word that shows that rock and metal are evolving while keeping their original roots. I don't see it as a style in itself; it is just the natural continuity of things. The first time I've heard about this word was in an article about Fugazi, more than 10 years ago. It seems quite mis-or-overused, nowadays. Anyway, yes, rock and metal are still alive and well, they keep changing and bringing new elements, new ideas that enrich the genre, which is a good thing. And luckily, people still have interest in it and understand it needs to progress to stay exciting. I'm pretty optimistic about the way rock is going to evolve, the actual context shows us that even if a lot of things have been made so far, there is still a possibility to bring some new genuine expression to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment