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Foto do escritorComendador Felipe Frazão

Fifty-Third Interview With The French Stoner Metal Band Mudweiser




Mudweiser Line Up:

Renaud Wangermez : Vocal

Said Merki : Guitar

Xavier Cimono :Drums

Jerome Pinelli :Bass

Well, friends of the Aristocracy!

We did and will listen because we have their songs. The Fifty-second Interview Of The Aristocracy and that will show us in a little while. In all its emotions, in addition to the songs, its fourth album titled The Call. The Scuessor of So Said The Snake.

A1:It is convenient that the band has changed some things. But can we believe that this fourth album is the beginning of a stage with more weight in your sound?

Mudweiser:It is true that our sound has evolved overtime, which is normal for almost any band out there! but it's important to note that my approach is different from Ole's, he had a pretty clean and accurate guitar sound that translates in the way he mixes as a sound engineering! i'm more into the dirty fuzzy agressive guitar tones, I've always loved the challenge of taiming a wild amp pushed with pedals, to me it feels more organic, more harmonic, more raw! you can distinctly hear the difference between "So said the snake" and "the call". the songs on the last album needed more beefiness and more punchiness to bring out their full potential. The next album will probably push that boundary even farther!

A2:It is said that the context of the album is very altered. Is there a reason for this?

Mudweiser: We started writing the songs for "the call" before the covid era, but we recorded it right in the middle of it, not knowing when it'll be released or if we'll ever be able to showcase it on tour... the context played a huge role in the way we engaged the songs and the way we shaped and recorded them (Fall of 2020). These were weird times man... it explains that darkness lingering all over the record.

A3:Even if there are slow passages. Stoner as a style seems like the answer to critics who said that doom was too dragged. At Mudweiser, how is this drag and Stoner vibe balanced? We all love doom and super heavy bands, saying Doom is all about slow passages doesn't do justice to this rich music genre! Take for example bands like Cathedral, Conan, Electric Wizard, there's so much variety in their tempos and song structures! Doom in my opinion is more about the atmosphere you create, the riffs and the weight of the sound. In Mudweiser it's the riffs that dictate the tempo, some require a drag and some ask for more speed. It's a matter of feel, not a matter of saying "let's put a doomy riff here" or "let's write a slow heavy song", if it serves the song and keeps it coherent and solid, then why not...

A4:At some point, even without realizing it. Is the romantic context of evil with modernity present in Mudweiser? To be fair, we don't approach our music from an intellectual or sociological perspective. Reuno, our singer, only writes the lyrics once he received the first version of a song, as if he was building a movie scene by listening to a soundtrack. Most of the time it leads him to the twisted side of the human spirit, revenge, frustration, addictions, also fascinating women , road trips and freedom... Except for "Sad man" where the lyrics speak of a retired guy, worn out by decades of work, who wonders about his past life. This text echoed the social movements around the world before the pandemic. I don't know if there's a romantic relationship between evil and modernity, but i'd tend to say that evil probably finds it easier to seduce humanity through modernity and technology, now more than ever!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IyNm4faUw8

A5:In the fifth song, can we say that the daughters in question could be the daughters of any man in the species sense?

Mudweiser:From a species perspective yes, every human being has a primal side related to our survival instinct which must cohabit in us with an attraction for the invisible, the great mystery and the vital need to dream. This leaves little room for rationality. These "daughters of the night" are dancing in a parallel universe where our fears meet and go up in smoke. It's up to everyone to find the doorway...

A6:What kind of calling do you want on The Call? Well, the album was supposed to be titled "Call of nature", but since in slang language it means to take a sh** we prefered to name it "the call". It's basically an invitation to respond to the call of nature, this inner voice that suggests to us to be free, alive! A primitive call that we all loudly heard the entire time we were confined! This album is how we answered that call.

A7:Who would this hunter be in the seventh song? A kind of movie character. A mixture of the big bad wolf, Robert Mitchum in « The night of the hunter » or « Cape fear », Billy Bob Thornton in Fargo season 1 and any mean and vengeful guy who feels invested with crime as a mission. .....

A8:How band arrive to Head Records?

Mudweiser:Abel, the boss at Head Records was actually the 1st bass player in Mudweiser! we know each other for a very long time, from the start he said he would support us whatever we decided to do, our relationship is based on trust and friendship, so far it worked and everyone's happy, if it ain't broken, don't fix it...

A9:Every band does a pre-production either on the first album or the 20th album. But, was there anything already prepared before pre-production of The Call or was pre-production where The Call was born? Indeed we did a pre-production before recording "the call", it's important to have an idea of how the songs would sound like before the mix. It's also a good opportunity to change or improve things where needed, and be fully ready for the real thing. We only had 8 days to record the album with no possibility to have an extension! it was tight but we did it.

A10:Some literature or film inspire the band?

Mudweiser:Reuno is a big fan of 50’s and 60’s American literature …stories of flamboyant losers like in the books of Chester Himes, Donald Westlake, Jim Thompson inspire him a lot. His cult movies witch feed his writing in Mudweiser are « Midnight cowboy », « There will be blood », « Joker », « The lords of Salem », « Freaks », « Vanishing point »…and a lot of B movies, horror stuff and also weird Belgians movies.

A11:Of course, working with skilled sound engineers is important. But are some of the bands that your engineer works or has worked with is part of the band's personal taste?

Mudweiser:Actually, Jay our bassist is also the guitarist in a doom band called "Verdun", they recorded their last album with Cyril and we all loved how it sounded, it was the main reason we decided to work with Cyril. He also worked with Monarch and Year of no light which are bands we highly respect!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBxi5Bm2Vks

A12:What´s the idea behind artwork´s album?

Mudweiser:Reuno is the one in charge of the band's visuals, album covers, tshirt design... He likes to leave an open door for imagination and mystery. The woman on the cover could be one of the daughters of night during a ritual, who knows! Or perhaps a symbol of "letting go", essential to hear the carnal and universal call ... Up to you...

A13:Who is the beauty woman in artwork?

Mudweiser:Some woman from the poster of an obscure exploitation movie

A14:Is man as a species a failed experiment?

Mudweiser:Do you think it was an experiment in the first place? starting from what and by whome? and if it succeeded what would've been the expected outcome? Each one in the band has his own opinion or feeling about it, but i don't think we've ever thought about it this way, it looks much like a scenario from the Twilight Zone!

A15:France for a time was short of big names. The help of record companies as a competitor of yours that was part of my childhood. Has it increased the feeling that even though it's Underground, Metal is more solid in France?

Mudweiser:As far as metal in France, the scene has currently a ton of brilliant bands in terms of quality and professionalism! unfortunately it doesn't have the support it deserves from record companies, beside Gojira and few other bands. It remains in between underground and offtheground! with a little more exposure things might change.

A16:The band feel differences between So Said The Snake and now in The Call?

Mudweiser:"So Said the snake" was OLE on guitar, "The call" was me. Like i previously said, we have a different approach, which explains the difference between the 2 records, the context and the gear are other factors! I left the band in 2010 after recording "Drug queens" Ole took over until 2018 when I came back from the US. We keep it in the family

A17:Is it better to think of the human being as agony than an animal for health?

Mudweiser:Not judging people is a hard thing to do, but when you realize it's not worth it because it won't change them and only turn your own life bitter, you quit and you start having some peace of mind. In a tormented time,drowned in a torrent of information, it is difficult to keep the link with who we really are, to find our own way, everyone's sucked in this material world! Still, some thanks to the quaranteen were able to take a step back and reassess, to realize they were not living on their own terms! what's worse than being so lost that you're actually walking on the side of your own existence, but not experiencing it! Thank you Felipe!!


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