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2013-03 avantgarde metal (with Andres Johannson) Channeling The Internal Divine
 Where is ALUK TODOLO today? You have been recording and performing for more than half a decade by now, and the recently released album Occult Rock - one of my highest ranking albums of last year - was recorded a few years ago. What is your current goal, where are you heading? Are there any new sounds in progress? Antoine Hadjioannou: Occult Rock was recorded in February 2012 and came out in September. Since then, we played a few shows in Europe and USA. We have a clear vision of what will be the next opus but right now we don’t have a rehearsal space. Finding a proper rehearsal space is very difficult in Paris, music is nearly illegal here... Your music is instrumental, fusing the minimalism of black metal and cosmic ("kraut") rock. Was that a conscious choice of sound/approach when you started the band, or did it come naturally? You mentioned when we met that the Faust/Tony Conrad album was a big influence recording your second album, how much have you used outside influences as a starting point for your works and processes? AH: This "black metal meets krautrock" thing is just a way to describe the music, I guess it comes from an old promo sheet. In any case, it is not a concept. When we started the band the main idea, which didn't change in theory but took different shapes over the years, was, to sum it up, to make some entheogenic music. The Tony Conrad with Faust album is indeed important to us because of its radicalism and efficiency. The drum and bass formula, as simple as it is, has some undeniable psychoactive properties, and for some specific reasons we used something similar on Finsternis. But it was a necessity more than a tribute. Outside influences do not drive the band at all, as we need a feeling of absolute necessity. If in the end one of our pieces reminds to the listener something else, it is only because we channeled some forces which have already manifested themselves in similar ways. Being aware of it or not has no importance.  What is the work process like in ALUK TODOLO? How much of the composition is improvised, how much rehearsed and directed, and how much comes by "accident" when you're in the studio, recording? In relation to the spiritual/esoteric aspect, how does that impact on the actual musical processes - what importance does meditation, rituals etc have for your work? Or is that something external, more aesthetic, which is added to the music afterwards? What about drugs? (thinking about your connection to the psychedelic rock tradition, as well as shamanistic/magic rituals.) I'm interested especially in if you work with the occult together, the three of you, as you work with the band, or if it's more of an influence on the personal level, and then projected into/unto the band. AH: I'm afraid our methods are not easy to rationalize. When we get in the studio to record, everything is pretty much written and even though improvisation is present during the process of the elaboration of our music, we don’t improvise, in the usual sense, during our shows or recording sessions: We don’t jam, all our material is composed. But in the peculiar context of our band, which is instrumental and has hypnotic and entrancing intentions, and entheogenicity as ultimate goal, interpretation IS improvisation, since we envision our music as archetypal, and we aim to perform it by putting attention and intention in every note, in the very fraction of the moment. In this case, improvisation is inevitable, as every instant of music is almost an accident because of its fractal nature. In this context discipline becomes freedom. This is also why its is difficult to tell what comes first and what comes after, as it is all closely linked : the music itself is the ritual, sound is the beginning and the end, the invocation And the manifestation. As for drugs, they are just tools, and of no importance. What matters is the result. And yes, we work together.  The name ALUK TODOLO comes from the native religious practice of the Toraja people in Indonesia, and literally means ”way of the ancestors”. Do you have any specific connection to that region, or ancestral magic in general? That kind of animism is one of the oldest forms of religion, which in itself points your choice of band name more towards the origin of spiritual belief systems and magical practices. What are your reflections on that? AH: The name Aluk Todolo was brought back from Indonesia by Matthieu, our bassist. We were not really looking for a band name since at the time the band wasn't formed yet. It is the name which gave birth to the band. Though, Aluk Todolo the band is not a musical Illustration of Aluk Todolo the religion. We use this name in a romantic sense: The way of the ancestors, "the origin of spiritual belief systems and magical practices" as you said, for our music, through all its aspects, deals with the hidden powers of cosmos and mind, which are timeless, obviously. I remember the review of Finsternis in the Wire, more or less accusing you of colonial exploitation by (ab)using the traditions of the Toraja people to have a cool band name. Any comments on that? AH: Ahah, I don't remember that one, but I agree, "abusing the tradition", that's exactly what we do. The three of you also have the black metal band DIAMATREGON, which predates ALUK TODOLO. Why did you feel the need to separate into two entities like that? How do you know where the line is drawn - what material belongs to which band? Have you ever written a riff for one band, and decided it would be more suitable for the other? What's the main difference, would you say (besides the obvious)? AH: The difference is that when Aluk Todolo was formed, the two bands didn't have the same line-up. Since we never practice with Diamatregon, and since we don't really use riffs in Aluk Todolo, it's quite easy for us not to confuse the two. But to answer more clearly, Diamatregon is black metal, yet twisted and weird, but still black metal. Because of its entheogenic essence, Aluk Todolo's music is beyond any stylistic considerations.  What is your relationship to the current Black Metal scene? You stand with at least one foot in the French scene (obviously); Occult Rock was released by the venerable Norma Evangelium Diaboli label (in Europe), ground zero for the past decades' chaos-gnostic BM scene/style/approach. How do you relate to that particular undercurrent of black metal, as compared to the forest poetry of the older Norse & Germanic scene? AH: I don't consider Aluk Todolo as a black metal band. The only black metal band I listen to is Ildjarn, so I’m afraid I can’t answer this question. At the same time, it seems your music goes down better in the more arty underground scene in the US; you've for example cooperated with Utech Records and done a lot of gigs together with numerous projects from Stephen O'Malley, both in Europe and overseas. Do you ever feel that you've been caught in between two chairs so to speak - too spaced out for the metal scene, too metal for the art scene? Or do you make it work? (when I saw you on last year's tour with Menace Ruine, you played at an artist's studio-turned-experimental venue with about 40 heads in the audience, some days after playing the Roadburn festival with several hundreds possibly attending). AH: We enjoy playing live, for any audience. We believe naively that anyone, not only spaced out kids or metal heads, can enjoy our shows. I consider our music, despite its hermetic and abstract aspects, as soul music. What one needs to get into it is an open mind and the courage to travel inside himself. Our music is challenging and demands an effort on behalf of the listener, precisely because it is beyond any genre restriction...So it's not our job to make it work, it works for who is not stuck in a stylistic approach. And speaking of which, how is your working relationship to O'Malley these days? Ever considered collaborating musically (like Tony Conrad with Faust)? AH: Stephen is a great musician and a good friend. Collaborating with him would be great indeed. We thank you Antoine for your time and effort.  |