Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Résistance Interview

Moikka! Are you maniacs ready for another great
UNDERGROUND metal band interview?.. It was taken some
time ago when i discovered this great heavy metal band from
France - RéSISTANCE.
Very oldschool sounding band, with sharp 80's guitars, epic
sound and obscure rough vocals which make this band sounds
even more interesting. They formed in '98 but somehow most
of the metalheads got into them nowadays (me too!).
I was always more or less interested in french
speed/thrash metal, now it seems that France strikes
with metal again! Nathaniel (the singer) kindly gave me
interesting and full answers on all the questions i've sent.
This is a pretty interesting interview. With some details
on french metal scene, a lot of old and new names in metal
and some views and opinions.
And o'course, very irrefragable info on the band. Read it!

p.s. don't forget to check their myspace page and listen to couple
of great songs and a cover on MANILLA ROAD'S "Necropolis".
www.myspace.com/resistance667





G- Hi there RESISTANCE! What's up on French land lately?
Great to talk to you.

N- Hey Dan! Nathaniel here, singer in RESISTANCE.
Well, nothing groundbreaking over here. Hopefully we’ve
got good bands and friends to bang our heads with.
I’m just listening to INSANITY’s “Chronicles of the Cursed” cd,
and it fuels me with the right energy to give you the best answers
I can, while banging my head on the fucking keyboard
of my computer!
Ha!

G- You formed a band in 1998 according to your myspace page,
was metal totally forgotten in France those days like it was almost
everywhere in a world? You know, "nu metal" wave and
all that crap.

N- Naaah, I wouldn’t say that metal was totally forgotten at
that time, some die hard fans were still there, even if they
were and still are scarce to find. Indeed metal became this
huge commercial gimmick that is absolutely cliché and soulless,
but this is even worse in France, as this is definitely not a
metal/rock country at all. I mean you still manage to find
die hard metal maniacs, but the majority of the so called
“metal fans” are just ignorant losers without identity.
Oh well I guess it’s the same situation everywhere on the globe.

G- Have members of the band played in other bands before
Resistance or maybe had some other projects
during Resistance's life?

N- Well, the guitarist and the bass player founded the band and
haven’t been active in any other acts as seriously as they are in
RESISTANCE. Our new drummer Ilmar Marti Uibo is also
performing in the very good death metal band BLOODY SIGN http://www.myspace.com/bloodysign , a band in which I played
some years ago as a bass player and as a singer.

G- You guys recorded the first demo just in 2006, so were you
just been rehearsing all that time or you been playing gigs too?

N- Indeed 2006 is the year when a lot of things happened for the
band. I arrived in the band in 2005, but before I came there
were mainly rehearsals. You know the music and the musicians
had to evolve, and the result is what you can hear on the first
eponymous demo. It’s very amateurish, untight as fuck, and badly
played and sung, but that’s how good we could be at the time.
2006 is also the year when we played our very first gig with
RESISTANCE, and it was with the great death metal band
ESTUARY from Cincinnati, Ohio. A very good memory for all of us,
and we got a very good support from the audience which had not
heard a single song of us until then.

G- You have recorded the first album, so can you tell on what label
it is gonna be released/or already released?

N- It’s called “Bang Your Fucking Skull” and the title sums it up
pretty well! Haha! Our very good friends of
EMANES METAL RECORDS released it:
http://www.myspace.com/emanesmetalrecords
First as a cd version in January 2008, and then on vinyl in
June of the same year.
Since then we recorded a track called “Long Live Metal”
on the same label for a compilation LP featuring bands like
HIRAX, LONEWOLF, THE BOTTLE DOOM LAZY BAND,
RISING DUST, SERPENT SAINTS, etc.
And while you read these lines, there is a split ep with
HIRAX out, a co production between Emanes Metal records,
Under Siege records and Metal Forces Festival (Lörrach).
So far we don’t complain! Haha!
Of course, all these records are available directly from us for
a very fair price. Feel free to contact us at:
resistance667@hotmail.com

G- How would you describe your sound/style?
I would say heavy metal with elements of thrash but
maybe i'm wrong i've heard only three tracks (-by the time
i was making this interview -ed.)

N- Well that’s pretty much correct. We try to mix some elements
of heavy/epic metal in our own blend of thrash metal.
In a way we try to find our own path. Here and there you can
hear some failures, of course, but I think we get stronger and
stronger these days, and it’s really ok for us to evolve and not
to stagnate with just one formula. We listen to a lot of music
from blues to death metal, and of course many mind provoking
bands like MANILLA ROAD, SLOUGH FEG,
HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE, Rory Gallagher, CORONER, etc.
So in a way it helps being creative, at least I guess. From what
people tell to us so far it appears that we don’t sound like this
or that band, we have our own identity, and it’s already quite a lot!!!

G- The cover on Manilla Roads' Necropolis you've made is awesome,
how was Mark's (Shelton) response on it? Why did you decide
to cover exactly this song from all Manilla Road's brilliant songs?

N- Yeah, we even got to sing it onstage with Mark Shelton himself;
he’s a really humble and passionate character! It was amazing
to get such an enthusiastic feed back from him about our music
and of course about this cover!!! Priceless!
We just happened to love “Crystal Logic” as an album, and out
of the blue, the guitarist and I tried to cover it while we were
drinking some booze at his apartment, and the rest is
what you get on the cd!

G- What bands inspired you the most when you've been
composing your own stuff?

N- Well I think I mentioned some earlier already. We are very
interested in the arrangements of bands like MERCYFUL FATE,
also in the feeling pouring out of Rory Gallagher’s music
and many 70’s act. I don’ know, it’s like the riffs are coming
out of the blue, and we try to make a whole song from
this and that idea. We like to have several parts,
a lot of contrast in the songs, and we are definitely
more and more following that path recently.
In the end it’s only the satisfaction of playing the music
that we love totally that motivates us to keep that riff
and throw out this other one.

G- Is french scene really important to you?
Some years ago it was small but great movement in France
with many great bands, what is happening nowadays?

N- Well, the 80’s saw many heavy metal bands in France,
most of them released some very good first albums,
but once some managers or major labels started to tell them
what to do for their second and third album they started to play
more radio friendly music, and eventually lost their first fans
and disappeared for most of them. But today you see
a lot of these old bands coming back like ADX, BLASPHEME, etc.
Still the only French band from the 80’s which never gave up
is KILLERS from Southern France, and they keep on releasing
very strong records! All the power should go to them.
Lately there are quite many interesting newer bands to follow
like the deathsters of BLOODY SIGN, NECROS, RITUALIZATION,
NECROWRETCH, the heavy metal squadrons of LONEWOLF,
HÜRLEMENT, HEMORAGY, and the thrashers of
ZÖLDIER NOISE, the doomers of RISING DUST,
THE BOTTLE DOOM LAZY BAND, ATARAXIE,
and some black metal acts like LORD, ARPHAXAT…
We have also some very good underground labels here,
namely EMANES METAL RECORDS, and
LEGION OF DEATH RECORDS, INFERNO RECORDS…

G- What's your opinion on "black legions" and other french
black metal like Peste Noire or Deathspell Omega?
It seems to be cult for modern black metal kids..

N- It’s gonna be an easy answer. I don’t give a shit about
these kinds of bands whose dogmas, be it some religious
or political crap, absolutely don’t appeal to me. I think that
this is an easy music to get hooked to when you have a weak
personality. They are just poisoning what metal music stands for:
being free, against the grain, and being a channel for
all the negative sides of man, not to be a way of praising mental
degeneration and debilitating ideology of so called supremacy.
If these people need to express their religious or political views,
then why not leaving metal aside and join some church or nazi
organisation? This is where they belong according to me.
They got that entire metal thing wrong. (- TRUE!!!! -ed.)

G- Please name your favourite modern-days bands!

N- Well some are old, but keep on releasing very good albums
these last years and some are newer to the scene, but bring
me the essence of what I like in metal, like BROCAS HELM,
MANILLA ROAD, PENTACLE, SLOUGH FEG, NIFELHEIM,
HELLISH CROSSFIRE, ASPHYX, KAAMOS, NECROS CHRISTOS,
DROWNED, THE LAMP OF THOTH, PAGAN ALTAR, HIRAX,
THE GATES OF SLUMBER, METALUCIFER,
METAL INQUISITOR, THE CHASM, HEADHUNTER DC,
ANAL VOMIT, KING DIAMOND, THE DEVIL’S BLOOD,
PORTRAIT, ENFORCER, IN SOLITUDE, KATHARSIS,
EXCORIATE (Ger. RIP), EARTH FLIGHT, SEAMOUNT, etc.
The scene is much healthier now compared to what it was
in the mid 90’s.

G- Do you have any songs on french language?

N- No, strangely enough, I feel more comfortable with
English lyrics, don’t ask me why.

G- What are your lyrics basically about?
And who writes lyrics in a band?

N- I am behind the lyrics. The topics are quite usual
on the first album. Some songs are metal hymns, some others
talk about the fact of being true to yourself and stand for
what you are no matter how people might judge you,
some are like small stories inspired by the
comic/movie “Sin City” by Frank Miller.
Dark, twisted and violent!
On our new album, we’re basically doing a concept on a novel
written by the English man called Lewis, its title is “the monk”
and it is about the fall of a pure man of God into the worst
perdition ever. Murder, betrayal, blasphemies, incest and ghosts
are on the menu. It has a very KING DIAMOND edge to it!
So as you can see we try not to do twice the same thing.
For a third album, we’ll take a different approach as well I think.
We like to evolve all the time. But it doesn’t mean that “evolution”
is “betrayal” like so many bands figured out.
I think of METALLICA or PESTILENCE here.
We’d rather change our name if we’d do something which
can’t be defined as RESISTANCE any longer.

G- Are you into being on small underground label
or you would sign a contract with big label if you
get a chance to do it?

N- No way, we’d not sign on a bigger label than
EMANES records, because we would not get treated
as good as we are right now. I mean with our label boss
it’s more a friendship and the same dedication to the metal music
than business. We just intend to reach the people who might have
the same tastes and values when it comes to metal,
and these people you find at festivals like KEEP IT TRUE or
HELL’s PLEASURE in Germany. We don’t need to “grow”
bigger and bigger. I heard many times of bands signed on
bigger labels which are often in troubles, because they don’t get
royalties, or because the money that was supposed to be used
for their recording in the studio never arrived, etc…
We keep it at a human level, and the more control we have personally
on our music, the best it is for us, and this is something that
EMANES METAL understands perfectly.

G- Let my readers know in a couple of words is it hard to exist
in France these days? Do you all have regular jobs just to pay
for your bills?

N- Well we are still lucky to live in a country where life is still
rather good compared to many countries in the world.
Of course there are a couple of things which don’t work,
but I can’t really complain.
I work as a guide in a medieval castle. Joel the guitar player sells
instruments in a music shop, and Florian the bass player is
building guitars. Marti, our drummer is a professional musician.

G- What other musical styles do you like apart from metal?

N- Yeah, I love blues, and old rock from the 60’s/70’s.
I am very curious, yet very picky. For example I am now listening
to Janis Joplin, and when I started the interview, I was banging
my head on some INSANITY. I am very interested in the History
of the blues, rock and metal movement, for they are connected.

G- If i would travel to France, what would you recommend
to see in your country?

N- Wow, France has a very rich patrimony, so it all depends
where you go. There are plenty of really interesting museums
in Paris, and in Alsace, where I am living, we also have many
interesting to see dealing with History, architecture, etc.
You should simply come over here and discover for yourself,
it’s too huge. And of course the food matters a lot,
together with good alcohols!!! Héhéhé!

G- (this question is just for fun!) Are people in France drinking
alco much? And what also do you prefer (maybe vodka? :)

N- Yes we are ! Indeed as big wine producers, we have the
habit of drinking a lot in France. Especially metalheads
like to drink big time. Still in our area, close to Germany
we’re more into white wine and beer. My girlfriend’s father
is making his own schnapps!!! This is a very good way to lose
your mind and to be damn happy at the same time! haha!!!
In the band we are quite big drinkers I must confess,
but the thing is that alcohol and metal fit really well together,
and we like them both, so…

G- Add anything you like and thanx for doin that interview!

N- Thank you, Dan for giving us the opportunity to appear in
GRIND THE WORLD. It’s really cool to see people from all over
the world into our music. You also have a bunch of good bands
from RUSSIA, like classic ARIA stuff!!!
If you are still awake after this long read, you can contact us there:
http://www.myspace.com/resistance667 or here:
resistance667@hotmail.com
Lp’s, cd’s and shirts for sale at very reasonable prices.
So support the skull bangers that we are, and remember
that beer is certain, life is not! Hehehe!

Nathaniel.