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Interview with Arnaud Menard - Alkemyst
I had the chance to do an email interview with Arnaud Menard of Alkemyst. A new, very technical and progressive power metal outfit from France. He had lots to say in answer to my questions and carries himself with a passion for metal and music in general. I am certainly more educated about music after having read his answers. I hope you find yourselves as enlightened by his speaking as I was! You are in for a real treat! Enjoy!
David: You must be very familiar with this album of yours after it taking so long to make and then finally getting a record deal. About 3 years to get it out right?
Arnaud: Yes, it was long and difficult, since we recorded the album two times. The first one, the hard drive of the studio crashed, and the album "went away" (laugh). The second time we were luckier and everything went well. But, as you say, we are very familiar to this album, because we took our time to record it and to write it, too. Some songs are 6 or 7 years old now ("Up to Heaven's Gate" for example). So, we are satisfied and also relieved. Now at last, we are ready to write another part of our story.
David: Are you as happy with it now as you were when first recording it, and are you ready to make the next one? I know I am eager myself to hear the band's progressions on the next one!
Arnaud: We are quite happy of our first album, because it sounds just the way we wanted to hear it sound. We wanted to fix on a CD some songs we wrote from 1996 and 2001, and we are still glad to hear that the tracks still sound modern and ear-catching. We are writing the second album, and the music will be different, maybe more "extreme". Not in the sense of "black metal" or stuff like that, but the slow parts will be slower, the fast faster, the harmony progressions seem to be darker, some riffs are really prog, and some riffs are very heavy and aggressive. We will also work with samples and some electronic FX, with oriental and ethnic instruments. If we manage to do what we precisely want, you can expect a good and original album of modern heavy metal.
David: After reading reviews and getting feedback from people on the album will their be things you will/won't do next time or do outside comments have any impact on the band's decisions musically?
Arnaud: Definitely not. We are not in school and we don't play music to get good notes.
David: I read in an interview that you guys don't really consider yourselves Pro musicians. That has been awhile since that was said. Do you feel different now about that statement? I think there are some incredible moments of astounding musicianship on Meeting In the Myst!
Arnaud: Thanx for your congratulations, but I think we still are not professional musicians, because we don't earn any money by playing music. We don't live off it (but we might die of it one day (laugh) ! We just try to do our best with our instruments, and even if we obviously know how to play them, we are not as good technically as some other heavy metal bands that are just incredible to hear. In fact, half of the band members work, and the other half carry on studying. So, we can't consider ourselves as pro musicians.
David: Is it harder for a French metal band to be successful these days? I am a big fan of Lyzanxia from France. If they and you are any indication of what metal can do from France then I am very impressed and look forward to more French Metal.
Arnaud: We got very good bands in France but the French people and magazines often don't support them. It's a shame but it is the main point in our rotten country. In France, you don't have the right to win, and that makes me go mad.
If you want to listen to good French metal, you should try "Drudenhaus" and "New Obscurantis Order" by ANOREXIA NERVOSA, "Luminiferous" by SCARVE, "Shadows of the Past" by NEHEMA and the albums by NO RETURN. Very good bands, some of them will reach success I'm sure ... if they work with foreign countries.
David: The Scandinavians and Swedes are kicking everybody's ass in metal these days, and Finland too. I wish that some of the melody in these countries would appear in American Metal these days. We have a few bands like Dream Theater, Fates Warning, Jag Panzer, and Symphony X who are excelling but we need more. Do you think America has the same draw it once did for metal music? I think, personally, that America has finally lost it's magnetism as the place to finally "make it" for bands. That we are not the final stamp of approval a band needs to feel it is successful. I am glad of that...because we have the nasty habit of taking anything remotely cool and exploiting it into the grave! It is the ugly side of Capitalism and I hate what it has done to art in it's many forms here in the U.S. Please comment on my statements and tell me what you think about them?
Arnaud: Well, I think USA are producing good works of art, but different from the ones we are able to produce in Europe. Concerning music, you have to know that Scandinavia and more generally Germanic countries (and Russia) have always been full of genius. The more the music is "written", the more those countries are incredible. Heavy Metal is a very codified music style, who makes a synthesis between the popular music tradition of the XXè century (jazz, blues, rock) and the classical and romantic music. Those countries have a very strong musical tradition, and the are maybe more able to produce masterpieces. But you know, even in Europe, melodic speed metal bands have been over signed, and the music style seems to be exploited to death... Well, in the end I agree with you that melodic metal is stronger in Europe, but I think the main difference is that the US rock scene got a more "black music" culture, based on rhythms and improvisation. Even listening to SYMPHONY X for example, you notice that their riffs are more based on the building of rhythms. In Europe, maybe we got a more classical culture.
About the second part of your question, I think capitalism is not the problem. The problem is people's attitude towards capitalism. Weak people turn into beasts : they just buy, consume, eat, shit, even what should never been considered as a degradable object : work of art, music, paintings, novels, poetry. I don't hate capitalism and economic liberalism, just because some people manage to keep their freedom, and remain strong. But I truly hate the people's weakness just wanting to turn themselves into stomachs and intestines.
David: What's Next for Alkemyst?
Arnaud: Well, I think we will try to record our next album from July to September 2004, and to play live when we have the occasion.
David: Tell me some of your influences please....not only bands but anything that inspires your music?
Arnaud: In the beginning we were influences by everything we were listening to : AC/DC, IRON MAIDEN, METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH, JUDAS PRIEST. Then, we discovered melodic speed metal with HELLOWEEN, BLIND GUARDIAN, SCANNER, GAMMA RAY, ACCEPT, VICIOUS RUMORS, and we decided to play that kind of music. Right now, our influences are really larger than now. We are listening to a lot of different stuff, from pop to jazz, funk, classical music and obviously metal. I'm maybe the more "metalized" of the band since I'm a great fan of extreme metal. Right now, my favorite band may be EMPEROR - they are genius, and I still can't figurate how they can write such an inspired and inspiring music, and, while I'm answering to your question, I listen to "City" by STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, which is a true masterpiece. I still listen to the music I liked when I was 12 (laugh), but the more I get old, the more violent, fast and deep is the music I like. Well, this will inject power in ALKEMYST's music : we won't calm (laugh). I'm not interested anymore by superficial heavy metal bands, only using a recipe to write poor stuff. The other members of the band feel a bit the same. When we are together, for example, we don't listen to HELLOWEEN, but to bands like ARK, PAIN OF SALVATION or artists like Tori Amos or Jeff Buckley.
More generally, I can be inspired by books (I read a lot), and often I find ideas when I'm walking in the countryside near my home. I live in the French Alps and the landscapes are just wonderful. The other members of ALKEMYST may be inspired differently, I should ask them how they find their ideas - anyway they don't have (laugh). Seriously, I think that all the members of Alkemyst are just inspired by what is surrounding them - and that's quite normal, don't you think ?
David: I really appreciate your time and your comments Arnaud. I would like to leave you some space to say anything that may be on your heart about music these days, or to say hello to anyone out there you'd like, or to shamelessly plug your band with important info for us.
Arnaud: Well, thanks a lot for having given us the time and the attention to speak a bit of our music. I just hope that your readers will have the curiosity to listen to our stuff. It was created with passion and honesty, as it should always be as far as art is concerned. It seems to me important to say that there are still people dedicating their life to artistic goals : they are often hidden and we all have to make an effort to discover them. I still don't know if our band deserves to be searched for (laugh) but I just know some of them work hard and have to be discovered.
David: look forward to talking with you again in the future and I wish only the best for you and your band's success! Cheers to Alkemyst!
Arnaud: Thanx again for this interview. Cheers!
You can read a review of Alkemyst's Meeting In The Mist here
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Written by David - 9/17/2003 |
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