interviews

2013-07-05 intervalobanger ( by Vakka)

I am very curious to know what does Aluk Todolo mean and where the name was taken from? I always thought it was from a movie or something.

Antoine Hadjioannou: It is not from a movie, Aluk Todolo is the name of an ancient animist religion from South Sulawesi in Indonesia. It was brought back by Matthieu, bassist, from a journey. At the time we were not even looking for a band name, since the band was not formed yet. But we had this idea, imprecise and undefined... already in quest for entheogenic music... and what else than the name of a religion could fit such a project? So it's the name which gave birth to the band, for the very meaning of the words Aluk Todolo, which could be translated as "the Way of the Ancestors", and for many other reasons, that we still discover every day.

How was playing at Roadburn? Actually I wanted to know a little more about the backstage at Roadburn. I know that they give a restricted access. What can you tell us about this whole Roadburn experience?

AH: Roadburn was great! We were very lucky to get invited to play in 2011 by Stephen O' Malley on Sunn O)))'s curated day. Since we opened in the green room that day, we got a luxurious two hours soundcheck, which is exceedingly rare. The room was packed, sound on stage perfect... as a musician it was great. I don't remember the backstage very well, I'm sure it was cool, but we didn't spend much time in there. After the show we just hanged out and saw some concerts. Roadburn is certainly enjoyable considering the amount of great bands playing every year, but I must say that it’s a very crowded festival which makes it difficult to walk around.

The music of Aluk Todolo is very unique. I'd like to know a bit of your creative process? How long takes for you to reach a consensus and define the sound ready?

AH: We do not really have a precise writing method. Well, we kinda have one but it's not easy to rationalize. Our approach is mediumnic, it is all about emptying our minds to allow the forces coming. Then if something happens, we try to isolate a "formula": it can be a specific noise, or a tune or a rhythm, or just a vibe or a tempo, or even something else... what matters is a feeling of "absolute necessity" and then, things take their shape progressively. It can be fast or slow, we never know. Sometimes we are still working on a piece several years after the formula was found. But somehow, we always know when it is finished.  

Still about the other question, how much of that (the final result) can you have in the studio while recording, i mean ... Since finding the perfect tune, composition of layers. How much comes ready from the rehearsal and the rest is by "test and error" and experimentations...

AH: We are servants of the music, therefore we used different methods on each release, as the music itself was requiring it. But the mixing process has always been envisioned as a revelation phase, during which we emphasise some hidden things. These secret melodies and sounds are dwelling in the prima materia that is the original interpretation. It can take a long time to reveal them, and we can go through many different phases, but once the perfect tune is found, "test and error" are no longer "test and error" because the path is the goal and fortuity doesn't exist in the context of our music.

The whole Aluk Todolo visual identity Aluk Todolo is absurdly fantastic. Since the gray tones you apply, your own typography and logo (for those who read your logo for the first time, it has the feeling of being upside down or reversed letters in some way). Well, the whole aesthetic is really awe some Who takes care of that part in the band? It is something that comes from you or you have a kind of art director for that?

AH : Thank you. Just like the music, the artwork is done by the three of us as a band. The artwork is very important to us as we want the final product to be an artefact, i.e. a magical object, we ought to do something more than just illustrative or aesthetic; the artwork has to contain certain keys, allowing someone who studies it attentively to enter deeper into our musical universe and comprehend its rules...Quite often an image imposes itself, and we understand its meaning after.

To complete the question above, almost every flyer, you use palmistry, or hands with symbols that reminds us to occultism/witchery or something like that. Why this fascination for all that side and if you see this as part of the identity of the band.

AH : I'm afraid that explaining too much our aesthetic and symbology would kill the mystery, so I'll just say that, maybe, associating hand symbolism to our music, or sense of touch to sound, is a way to indicate that we envision sound as something material... And the theme of chiromancy, which implies foretelling, could refer to the fact that we consider our music as pre-existent to its manifestation...

Your music you gives us the old horror movies aura somehow. I wonder this aspect, which movies you assimilate the music Aluk Todolo. Or which ones do you think may refer to influences in your music.

AH : I guess that the cinematic quality is inherent to any instrumental hypnotic/ meditative music. As for the  horror movie aura, it surely comes from the fact that fear is a very useful tool of destruction of the ego, which is a crucial step to alter one's consciousness. It's always difficult to speak about influences or references because we are not thinking about that at all... But we feel close to Kenneth Anger, for his movies are truly magickal. And we love Jose Mojica Marins!

Dude, curiously i read about the band today while thinking about the questions and I realized the relationship with the Diamatregon. I had the "Blasphemy for Satan" at the time or shortly after it came out and I remember being a fucking great album, including the artwork printed on a special paper and hand numbered. I was looking for my copy here i didn't find, unfortunately. Well, i found the band is still active and last year released an EP. Is it hard to keep both bands? Diamatregon is only breathing or it is a  monster alive yet?

AH: Diamatregon is now a studio only project. It's sleeping these days, but could wake up at any moment.

One thing I notice in Occult Rock, for example, is the gap that exists between the album title and the music you deliver, I mean... If you listen to Venom's Black Metal, it is black metal, Dismember's Death Metal is also a Death Metal album, but Occult Rock is not as easy to assimilate, as most would refer to some band playing sound more Black Sabbath, Coven and vintage things, and you have reached a maturity in the sound that is far from it, obviously this may have been my impression, so I was wondering how you perceive the sound you make today.

AH: When the band was formed, we named our music “Occult Rock,” for the very meaning of the words "occult rock" and without any reference to Coven, Black Sabbath etc... By “occult,” we mean that our music deals, through all its aspects, with the knowledge of the hidden mysterious powers of cosmos and mind. As I said, our goal was, and still is, to create some entheogenic music. By “rock” we mean rock instruments: drums, bass and guitar.  As for Occult Rock as the title of the album, it has a double meaning: naming it “Occult Rock” is a statement, since this record is a manifesto. The second significance is obvious if you look at the front cover, and a deeper interpretation will appear clearly to anyone who will listen attentively and will look at the John Dee sigils we used in the artwork.

The French scene today is certainly one of the black metal pole, and certainly the most directly related to this exposure would be Deathspell Omega, Blut aus Nord, Antaeus, now Aosoth ... all have a specific sound and sound so unique and clearly they have that "french" mark with dissonant riffs, strange tempos.. What do you think of this scene? You think it's actually something relevant for black metal nowadays to have this highlights in France?

AH: I'm not into black metal, and I don't know the bands you mentioned.The others could tell more... But  maybe that's why french bands sound unique, they don't hang out together and don't listen to other french bands music, haha!

Guys, since we are a Brazilian blog, I wonder if you know/like any band from this forgotten country hahaha (except Sepultura hehe)

AH: Well, I know that you guys have a lot of killer music in Brazil, I'm afraid I don't know much ... But I love Hermeto Pascoal, especially his albums Slaves Mass and Zabumbe-Bum-A. I also know Tom Ze, his music is amazing and so weird... And the early albums of the psych band Os Mutantes... And Gilberto Mendes, very weird and crazy, beba coca-cola! ... And you have some powerful traditional ritual music, with an amazing rhythmic approach. I have this cd :  Candomblé de Angola, Afro-Brazilian ritual music, it's amazing. There is also this movie Macunaïma from Joaquim Pedro de Andrade that we love !

For us to let you you go, i would like you to do a brief commentary on the 5 latest albums you've been listening lately.

AH: So, Lately I've been listening to :

Magma - Ëmmehntëhtt-Ré : my favorite Magma album, with Köhntarkösz. Christian Vander is a genius and I just have no words to tell how much I love his music. It's so pure, and so inspiring... Real magical music! I listen to Magma at least ten times a day.

Grachan Moncur III - Evolution : A very dark and mesmerising jazz album featuring Tony Williams, with one of the best drums sound I've ever heard, and a rare and awe some combination of trombone and vibraphone. Beautiful. The track "evolution" is very grim.

Stevie Wonder - Innervisions : I’ve been listening to this album since I was a child, and never got tired of it. For years I was wondering who was the drummer on this album... It's Stevie himself. What can I say? Such a genius. I listen to Stevie Wonder every morning and I plan to do so for the rest of my life.

Quincy Jones - In Cold blood : One of  my favorite soundtracks, which somehow manages to be even more powerful without the movie. Eerie and unsettling...

Lubomyr Melnyk -  KMH - piano music in the continuous mode : Very weird music which sounds like nothing else. It's very hard to describe, very challenging, and very hypnotic.

How was to work in that collaboration with Der Blutharsch? Did you like the process of working with different people and if is there any other band you would like to work together?

AH: You know, for us, the process of working on an album is not a pleasant thing. It is always a sort of traumatic experience, with an apocalyptic feeling... it's exhausting. So, for sure, collaborating with Der Blutharsch was very inspiring... But at the same time I remember these weeks spent working on this album like a fucking nightmare. The most difficult and problematic thing is that we were not in the same studio... But this condition gave birth to some surprising and uncanny sounds and structures, and was actually a good way to provoke synchronicity, so I guess it was the only way to do it... And yes, we might collaborate with some other bands in the future, but it's too early to talk about it. .:.

Thanks a lot for your time, man! The message is yours.

AH: Aum Tat Sat.