2015-10 Rumba Magazine
You’ve said: “By occult, we mean that our music deals, sonically, musically, thematically and aesthetically, with the knowledge of the hidden mysterious powers of cosmos and mind.” Can you open a bit these themes and aesthetics you mention, and tell me more about these hidden mysterious powers?
Antoine Hadjioanou: These words you quoted were part of a answer to a question. I was stating the difference between our occult rock and the occult rock music genre (bands like Coven, etc...) I enumerated all these different aspects only to show that they are all intricately linked, like different floors of the same house. They are different aspects of the same thing, different point of views, levels of perception. These aspects are not separated, but connected. The "hidden mysterious powers" are what we capture and transmit, as musicians. Our goal has always been to create some entheogenic music, the ultimate goal being the mastery of consciousness. I'd say that we remove more than we add, as we have to get rid of everything that comes from the self. It's a quest, that leads us to something primordial : we're not ramifying but going back to the essence. We work on a vibratory level, to create magical artefacts, or esoteric tools.
Are your studies of the occult done by reading or does the music do the teaching? And are these part of your everyday life (if so, how?) or only when you pick up an instrument?
AH: Of course music comes first, but last also. Music is the evocation and the manifestation. And being a musician is a full time activity. As a drummer I like to envision everything rhythmically : breathing, walking, or putting a glass on a table... The forces of the universe don't stop vibrating when the amps are turned off. We are servants of the music, which means that our music exists through us but also without us, before and after us. Our role as musicians is to incarnate something spiritual into matter, without unpure transformation. I guess the shape of our bodies has an impact, but that's how much "personal" it can get.
Is there a message in your music, or are you challenging listeners to think for themselves and study the mystic, the occult and the philosophical questions, or just bang their heads to trance?
AH: As I said, we work on a vibratory level, therefore, besides sensation, any subsequent emotion or whatever the brain creates, is left to the listeners discretion. This is the difference between entertainment and enlightenment. Again, our music is a tool, that we build for our own use in the first place. There is no message at all, but if you look for one you will surely find it. Our music works like a mirror, so it depends of who is listening, and how. And even though it might be difficult to bang your head to trance and read a book at the same time, I hope that one can find time in his life to do the both. We're not trying to educate people or to force them into one direction, more the contrary, we force them into all directions at the same time! Like LSD instead MDMA, if I may say so.
You’ve also said: “Occult Rock deals with the alchemical transformation of the primordial vibration into matter, through all its elemental phases.” Does this transformation happen to listeners as well? And what happens when one has gone through this?
AH: Just to put things in their context, when I said that I was talking about our album named "occult rock". And yes it does happen to the listener, but what we propose is a meditation not a teaching... so what happens is not planned, nor our responsibility. A hammer can be used to build or to destroy, or anything else one can figure out.
Where does your new album VOIX take you spiritually and aesthetically?
AH: The name itself can give you a clue. VOIX means voices in French, and we're an instrumental band, so it takes us somewhere between the notes and beats, where and when these voices can be heard.
Do you believe there’s otherworldly involvement or spiritual guidance in your creative process, or is it just jamming riffs that pop-up in mind?
AH: Why and how does some "riff" pop up in mind at some instant? Our work as musicians is to empty our minds to let the forces come in, in a "mediumnic" way. Before channelling, one has to make stop any inner dialogue. Our creative process is not easy to rationalise precisely because it's based on channelling. We have some technics, but in the end it's the music itself that brings the method. We could say that it is synchronicity applied to creation.
Have you ever witnessed a spiritual experience when playing a gig or being a member of the audience? If so, please tell me about it.
AH: Oh yes, many times. As a member of the audience, the band Magma really changed my life. I saw them for the first time in 2005 and since then I try not to miss a show. It was a true revelation to me. I SAW the impact of their music on reality. They manipulate the forces of the universe, so they change the world, I mean they change it's substance. It's true magic, and my goal is to do the same thing. They are the bests magicians I know. It takes them two seconds to hypnotise me. I often dream about Christian Vander (drummer, singer and composer of Magma), he teaches me some precious stuff there. And as a musician I've had a lot of intense experiences on stage. Playing drums is very trance inducing, and if you play the appropriate patterns, it's quite easy to get some kundalini experience. Hemiolas work the best, I've noticed.
If you have anything to add on the subject that I didn't figure out to ask, please, the word is free.
AH: Thank you for your interesting questions. I'm afraid I was not able to answer them in a direct way, because most of them implied an opposition between some things that I consider to be different aspects of a whole, so I apologise. I hope that my answers satisfy you nonetheless.
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