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2012-05 Gonzo Your sound has elements of metal in it, but none of the structures of metal. How are your feelings towards the metal genre? I took a guitar because of Metal, but continue playing it for it's other possibilities. There are elements of krautrock in your sound, too, and you sometimes get compared to Can. Does that genre and that band mean something to you? Are you influenced by that genre or not? I don't like that band Can, but others in the band do. And Krautrock is not a genre. Are there any other genres or types of music that you’re influenced by other than metal or krautrock? Yes, but I like music not for the genre, but for the music. Can you name some bands that you feel related to, and can you tell me why? The Psychic Paramount for what they do as an instrumental trio, and for the power they create on stage. You often have collaborated with various bands and musicians, such as Der Blutharsch. What attracts you in working with other musicians? Once is not often. That's a one time experience. Can you tell me a little of the musical background of the three of you? Previous bands and projects? Before Aluk Todolo, we have been involved in :
Do you have other projects other than Aluk Todolo going on at the moment? Aluk Todolo is our main preoccupation, but some of us are doing Gunslingers (garage massacre rock), and some are working on solo works. Do you feel that you are part of a ‘scene’ of like-minded bands, maybe local bands in France or other bands around the world? Or do you feel like you are operating totally on your own? I don't know, we work our music, we have some friends, in music or not, most of them are artists on different levels. I think non artistic people we can't stand them. But people doing the same thing as us I don't think so. We organise shows sometime in Paris, a lot of industrial, noise stuff. But rarely rock bands with guitar bass drums... mostly electronic... acts with few people in it. I Don't really like big bands with many people in it, I'm more into the intimacy of these acts and events. You have a very distinct, very constant aesthetics, when it comes to your sound, but also when it comes to your artwork. Do you feel it’s important to stick to one principle? Yes, I wish all my musical work could stick to one principle. Draw by one hand movement. On the surface, your music appears to be very dark, using dark emotions. What attracts you to that? Life and mysteries. And are you not at all interested in ‘light’ emotions? I love light, when it makes no sound. I also want to make clear we don't use “emotions”. A word that’s often used when people try to describe your music is ‘scary’. Is being scary your purpose? Do you understand why people would find your music scary, and how do you feel about that? It's not a purpose, we are not into a fucking movie. Our music is not composed to be scary but to modify the state of consciousness, which can be scary, and scary things can also be used to achieve that. You seem to refer to a lot of religious and spiritual symbols. Like your name, which comes from a religions from South Sulawesi. What is it that attracts you in that? It's not attraction, any music have a religious and spiritual level, otherwise, it's not music, it's shit. Your music and especially your live shows sometimes feel like some sort of ritual, from a non-western religion. Is that on purpose? Yes. Reviews of your live shows sometimes describe that the listener is taken to some sort of other spiritual level. Is that something you strive for? Which emotion or state of mind would you like the listener to reach during your live concerts? A musical trance that would make them crush their eyes to see better. We are not working on an emotional level, but on perception. Modifying the state of consciousness by the use of sound and rhythm is what we do. Analysing what happens consecutively to these modifications is what critics should do, and it is not our job. Those old rituals aim to reach a spiritual goal, of course, but they also have a strong physical element, that is often lacking in western religions, where only the spirit seems to matter, and not the body. Is that something that interests you? There is no spirit without the body. That's why we don't have lyrics with a singer. Your music seems better suited for a live setting than a record played at home. Do you agree, or not? The live performances have their own time and space, that's also required for listening to the albums. You have stated that you only want to do interviews via e-mail, and that you like to take a lot of time for them. Can you tell me why that is? Is that because you wish to very carefully choose your words, or because you don’t really like interviews all that much? We are a band with 3 people. Interviews concern the 3 of us, and we speak as one voice. Sometimes it's quick, sometime it takes time and in anyway, we don't want to feel oppressed by interviews and delays. |