interviews

2012-11 Hails & Horns

A double album is always a huge undertaking, regardless of the band involved. When you entered into the writing phase of what would become Occult Rock, did you already know you were going to have 2 albums’ worth of space in which to play?

Antoine Hadjioannou: No we didn't. Our methods are more intuitive. Actually, the material on Occult Rock was written for the stage, over the years and in parallel to the rest of our discography. Some pieces on the album are as old as the band, at least in terms of formulas. These tracks were jammed and played live a lot of times, and they took their final form progressively. So we can say that the writing phase took something like 7 years. At some point, we realized we had an album, a double album moreover.  But the revelation of the full meaning of the record, its necessity and coherence in the context of our discography, and the definitive order of the tracks didn't occur before the last note wascomposed.

Back to when the band began for a bit here. France has always had a decent extreme music scene, but in the past decade, black metal from the country has experienced a resurgence in both quality and quantity. Does this leave Aluk Todolo the “odd band” in your surroundings, or do you even worry about fitting into your local music community?

A.H.: We don’t really hang out with other French bands, so I have no idea. Also, I don't beleive, or want Aluk Todolo to be part of the black metal scene.

When the band started out, was it the result of three friends getting together, then suddenly realizing there was a band at work, or were there specific goals in mind?

A.H.: We gathered with some goals in mind, and the concept of the band was already clearly defined before the first rehearsal. We set some strict rules, that we still follow.  We started practising and things took shape progressively, sometimes in a surprising way, but always fitting in the original theorem.

Where many instrumental bands miss the point completely, simply removing the vocalist from the equation and writing songs meant to be sung over, Aluk Todolo is one of the few who seem to have never entertained the thought of where a vocalist would fit within your framework. In listening to Occult Rock, I can’t even find a place where a vocalist could be wedged into what’s happening.

A.H.:  Being an instrumental band was one of the very first precepts, because the main idea, beyond any stylistic considerations, was to play esoteric music with rock instruments. Since singing, in rock music, is exoteric, it would not fit in the concept, and adding vocals would make us break this rule we set. As the purpose and essence of the band is vibratory, the "voices" in Aluk Todolo are subliminal, they are the chant of the resonances, the product of the interaction of three instruments.

The album is being released by Norma Evangelium Diaboli in Europe and Ajna Offensive within the US. Why the use of two labels, or did you simply wish to work with both, and this was the easiest way to go about it?

A.H.: We were in touch with The Ajna Offensive  since our début, and when we talked about this new album, Tyler mentioned Noevdia for an European release, as both labels had already teamed up in the past. All our albums have been released by two labels, but working with Noevdia was really something important to us, regarding the major albums they put out, and the fact it is a French label.

Of course none of the songs are titled more than ‘Occult Rock ’ on the new album. Do you want each song to be seen as its own entity, or are the numbers simply ways of breaking up what should be heard as a single entity into movements?

A.H.: The tracks can be listened to as individual tracks, yet for assimilating their essence, one must listen to the whole opus.

It’s crystal clear that the production was a key component, possibly moreso than ever. What production set-up was used, and did you keep things as analog as possible? Straight to digital? When dealing with music attempting to transcend mental/spiritual planes, capturing every nuance is equally important.

A.H.:  Indeed, the production was important and it took us a long time before deciding where we would record. Unlike our other albums which were mainly studio experiments, we needed a natural live sound for Occult Rock. As I said the tracks were originaly written for the stage, and the whole point was to transcribe both the sound's intensity and its details, and maybe more importantly, its movement . We knew we wanted to record everything live, in the same room. We ended up in the Drudenhaus studio where  everything is as analog as it can be. Xort, the sound ingeneer, is a true sound artisan. He captured our tunes in a true natural and acoustic way.

Thus far, live events in the US have been kept to a minimum (aside from a 2009 East Coast tour). Is this more due to budgetary constraints, or the desire to make every appearance as meaningful as possible?

A.H.: The constraint is more time. I'd love touring all year long.

You recently returned from 3 US shows, one of which was the Stella Natura festival, an event I hope to attend. What was it like, playing in such a wide open space with so many like-minded bands and fans?

A.H.: It was aweseome. The Stella Natura festival, If we still can call this incredible event a festival, was one of the very best we’ve ever participated to.

Wordless though Occult Rock may be, there is a story being told here. As detailed or ambiguously as you’d care, share the theme of the album for those who maybe haven’t heard.

A.H.: In substance, this album deals with the alchemical transformation and manifestation of the primordial vibration into matter through all its elemental phases, each piece representing one aspect of one element. This will appear clearly to anyone listening attentively and looking at the John Dee sigils used in the cover art.

When you got back the final mixes of the album, what emotions did you experience on first listen, and what do you hope the listener is left with at the end of Occult Rock?

A.H.: Well, we were involved during the whole recording, mixing, and mastering process, it wasn’t like discovering the final result by surprise. Still, we’re happy with the result, Xort, again, did a fantastic job.

The first time I heard the album was through headphones after a few shots of whiskey and smoke, heavy incense in the air. To my ears, that was the prime listening experience. Do you feel that the days of people simply laying back with headphones and immersing themselves in an album such as Occult Rock are gone, or will there always be those of us who “tune in, turn on, drop out” with certain albums?

A.H.: I'm glad you did that. I hope some people sill do that, yes. That’s the way I listen to music, and I know it’s rare these days, alas.

What has the internet and ready access to information/music done to help or hinder Aluk Todolo, or does it even factor into your thoughts at all?

A.H.: I personnally don’t like the internet and the computer technology in general. Internet surely helps for promotion, but  there were rock bands before that, and most of them sounded better than nowadays.

Any live shows planned for the next year in the US?

A.H.: Nothing yet, but we’re working on it.

What was it like not only playing alongside bands like Sunn 0))), but opening for Faust? That’s not something any band just walks into without a sense of the enormity involved.

A.H.: Opening for Faust was indeed amazing. Without Faust, Aluk todolo would have probably never existed. Their album with Tony Conrad “ outiside the dream syndicate” almost gave birth to our band, and our second album, Finsternis, was a sort of tribute to it. I’m still amazed we did that and I'll be eternally grateful to mr Brian Turner from WFMU for inviting us that time. And we have been very honoured to be invited by Sunn o))) to The Roadburn Festival in 2011 and to share a few shows with them in 2012.