Line-up :
Paquet Audrey – cello
Barat Arnaud – acoustic guitar\pianist
Karol Diers – drum
Matthieu Miegeville – lead vocal
Guest:
Catherine Févai – alto
Recording: Bud Studio
Mix: Matthieu Pascal at Bud Studio
Master: Globe Audio Mastering
Photos: Eric Imbault
Well, friends of the Aristocracy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y04XbFwYtUs
We start, from now on and in all its emotions, the fifty-fifth interview with the French from Cancel The Apocalypse. A band that makes a wonderful Post Metal with avant-garde passages.But their styles are linked to the Baroque. In addition to, what they, learned in conservatories. But differences can, be pointed out and explained by them. The reasons, for the explanation are not just an introduction.But, mainly, because we are talking to a band that shows us their second full work. In 2016, Our Own Democracy was the opening act. Now, the goal is to talk about Terminus Stairway and is titled: I Should Never Have A Stop. The Explanation is theirs. I just ask and get answered!
Hi, I’m Arnaud, guitarist and pianist in Cancel The Apocalypse, thanks for your questions! We have try to answer.My english, if you think there are some mistakes.Thanks for your questions!
A1:Why the band have this cool name?
Arnaud:I think Matthieu found it at the begining of our meeting and we all had a crush on that name because the word «apocalypse» sounds like a normal metal band name but, the fact, to Cancel it corresponds to our humanist values. We are all in the band afraid of how the world is evolving but we don’t want to be moralists. So, there is also something ironic in this name.
A2:Talking about the composition work in Terminus Stairway?
Arnaud:Arnaud begins to make the global composition work on guitar or piano.Most of the time, the overall structure does not change much apart lengthening or shortening some parts. After that, he work on cello parts with Audrey. So the classic part is pre-existing. Matthieu (voices) and Karol (drums) have the ability to come and graft themselves onto it. And after, a few repetitions, we begin to have something clear. We think it's very important for Matthieu to have the support of the drums to choose the words and the intensity.Concerning the viola, Arnaud wrote it afterwards, thinking of it as chamber music and Catherine came to record it.
A3:The Forest and water are really necessary to escape the chaos. But even if we stay in these environments for a long time, the chaos somehow doesn't occur again?
Arnaud:Personally, I (Arnaud) live in a very small village lost in the mountains and I really think that this type of choice makes it possible to spare oneself certain pains linked to the rhythm of life, to extract oneself more easily from the problems of the world and to establish healthy and easier intercourse. But you are thrue, it doesn’t prevent being overtaken by our own chaos or by that of the world.If we remain, aware of what surrounds us. So, it's just maybe a quieter path.
A4:In addition to the tower that speaks a lot about your country. Can other historical sites be interpreted in your sound and music?
Arnaud:We talked about Athens in our first album and the foundations of democracy related to the couple life, we also talked about river Nile or irish grasslands as symbolic place for lovers. in fact I believe that Matthieu often associates historical places with love. In Terminus Stairway, Napoli becomes the symbol of a couple who have a choice to make, to continue or to stop. Conversely, Antarctica is the symbol of the extreme loneliness of a man who wakes up in the snow and knows he is going to die.
A5:Despite its admirable surrealism. I have to ask: What are the animals that the band's surrealist mind wanted to bring to this work?
For Audrey: the cat, the phoenix and the elephant .For Arnaud: maybe, all those in the ark.
A6:Some literature or film or videogame inspire the band?
Arnaud:For this album especially, we talk about Virgin Suicides regarding the aesthetic of our next video « where is Soledad? ». Audrey was interested in spiritual readings, Matthieu was writing a police story and poems simultaneously, Arnaud was writting a childish Novel.
For videogames: Zelda, Breath of the Wild et Rime that are super soothing and somewhat post apocalyptic as well. In fact, we are nourished by quite varied art forms and we try to share as many of them as possible.
A7:How is CTA different from your previous bands and other projects?
Arnaud:Audrey was playing guitar in an argentine tango trio and now she plays in a classical guitar quartet. Karol plays drums in Gorod, a great technical death metal band. Matthieu sings with My Own Private Alaska wich is Piano Core music. Arnaud also worked for him, composing for Miegeville, his self project, wich is electro pop french song. Maybe CTA is a synthesis of all those influences.
A8:How come emerged the invite to Catherine Févai ?
Arnaud:In fact, Catherine was an orchestral violist in France,Nantes and she came to Arnaud’s village at the end of his career. She had already heard and appreciated our music and when we considered to strengthen the orchestration, she agreed to help us by first checking what Arnaud had written for the viola and then agreeing to record it :) She was great!{Note From Aristocrate:I Think so,because i like viola sound!}
A9:What´s the idea behind artwork´s album?
Arnaud:It's the surreal idea of a train that could leave 2D to reach the 3rd dimension. Something no train does. The staircase is also a symbol for the unconscious, it is a means of passing into a state of trance or modified consciousness among shamans. This is repeated very often in hypnosis sessions.
A10:How band arrive to Inverse Records?
Arnaud:A friend in France tell us : « you should go to the north, Scandinavia, Finland. So I check the only review that we had in Suomi for the first album, I found the guy who had writen it and I contact him to ask which label he might recommend for us. After that, i contact Jaakko from Inverse and I meet him during holidays in Suomi. Later, I sent him new tracks but with Covid it took longer than expected to finalize our album and we finalized with Inverse Records more than 2 years after our meeting with Jaakko. In summary, it happened quietly :)
A11:What´s bands influence CTA?
Matthieu: Maybe bands, that are « not in a classical » line-up / without a classical sound, like LA DISPUTE, MONO, STUPEFLIP, LA MANO NEGRA. As well, of course, SCHUBERT, Debussy, Bach and a lot of classical inspirations for Arnaud & Audrey.We are not really united in terms of musical influences with the CTA-musicians. We’re linked on a human side on an emotional / sociological way.Otherwise, we have common references like Nirvana, Sepultura, SOAD, The Beatles, RATM, Eminem with which we all grew up.
A12:This album is conceptual?yes or no and why?
Matthieu:We couldn’t say yes. Of course, there is a coherence between all the songs. But the album was not composed like that. Because of the Covid crisis, the writing / producing of this album was very long, with also lots of different feelings during these periods. The idea of this train, of the travel, was really strong, in a concrete or metaphorical way, because Arnaud travelled through Europe for this record. But I didn’t want to be stucked in a mental direction within a conceptual album.
A13:Why barroque sctrutures inspire the band?
Matthieu:Because Audrey and Arnaud were friends and guitar students in conservatory and the baroque repertoire marked them. Even if there are others influences, the baroque style is also a musical tool which makes it possible to make our music identifiable and to force the classical trait in opposition to the hardcore trait. But it’s clearly not a révolution, we do not forget that Cliff Burton mainly worked on Bach suites and that it greatly influenced Metallica.
A14:Why the band use Telerama?
Matthieu:In fact, in France, Télérama is not a media that talk about television, it is rather considered as a somewhat intellectual medium, dealing with art in various forms.Literature, cinema and the fact, that they took the clip exclusivity on their website and then reviewed the album. In their magazine, greatly helped us to find gigs when our adventure began. It gave us a form of credibility, in France with concerts programers.
A15:The band feel differences between Our Own Democracy and now in Terminus Stairway?
Matthieu:Yes. the sound is less raw and more worked but it was done naturally, by maturation more than by calculation. the classic side is more present with the viola’s add. But maybe the compositions are less crazy too or in a different way. there is less recourse to the baroque aesthetic and perhaps more romanticism and impressionism. likewise it is perhaps less metal and hardcore and more post rock and maybe it makes it more accessible.
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