Monolithic Pillars
Hello, how are things going with Frenchy MONOLITHE?
Things are going the way it should. We are about to finish the recording of the new album Monolithe III. Then it will be time to mix it. This album has been a pain to do, a really long and hard work. But finally it will soon see the light of the day. It’s really different from the previous releases but in my opinion it’s a very good and unique album.
Your last ep „Interlude Premier" is available on your website for free download what is uncommon enough. Why it was not released as CD?
It was supposed to be released on CD by Candlelight Records. But since these suckers postponed the release 2 times and finally decided to not release it 2 weeks before the official release date (because they were afraid to not sell enough CDs) and didn’t even pay a single cent of royalties to me, I decided to go the fuck away from these rip-offs and do things on my own. There are no problems with Appease Me… though, Monolithe is still related to them.
Why do every your album consists of one long track? Don't you want try to make an album with 10 min. tracks sometimes? It would be optimal also for radio stations, haha.
Well, one-song albums are part of the Monolithe concept. It wouldn’t really be Monolithe anymore without that singularity of the band. And I really like to do it; I think it opens a wide range of possibilities. We never thought in terms of commercial issues with that band you know, so I always composed music the way I wanted. About radio stations, who cares? This is not music that has potential to be broadcast to a wide audience anyway.
How will be your new stuff look like? Will it be something new, or you want to keep your typical practices? Want you separate all your albums names only with numbers as always?
The new album Monolithe III will be a totally different thing. Since it’s very original music, my attempts to describe the music always fail so I won’t try again. All I can say is that it’s a VERY hypnotic, gloomy and dark album. It’s not an album with typical doom riffs and so on. It’s like a trip, an experience. And yes, the remaining Monolithe albums to come will all get a number as title. This is also part of the Monolithe whole concept and imagery.
Are you influenced also by France itself at song writing? Or would you create the same music if you'd live in absolutely other country?
No, I’m not at all influenced by French music. I think traditional French music sucks and I don’t know it very well either. I used an accordion on the Monolithe II album but that was a one-shot thing. And it has not much to do with French music anyway. I’d probably do the same if I was, I don’t know, maybe English or German, but certainly not if I was Chinese or Tunisian :)
Do you think that French would be suitable for your music?
When I started the band, I had some French lyrics written. But I thought it would not sound really good with the music. English is more appropriate I think. We had some French lyrics in Anthemon, though.
Lyrics deal with origin of mankind. Do you think we could have rise only by random coincidence, or it was intent of someone, something?
This is an interesting question but I have to tell you that what I think and what I write in the lyrics are two different things. On a personal level, I think life is a totally random fact. But in the lyrics, human beings have been created by “something”. This “something” is not a god, though; because this concept is so obsolete that I don’t want Monolithe to be one of these billions of bands talking about religion and stuff. Let’s just say that Monolithe’s lyrics state that life can appear in many forms and take control or create other lifeforms.
What feelings you want to evoke by the music in listeners? What is important for you in own music?
I think the music can evoke anything, as long as it touches the mind of the listener. What music can evoke in a mind depends on the listener, not on the music. When I listen to my own work, I feel the vibe of the never ending, the mass of the gigantic, such as stars, planets… It evokes the existence of the lifeless or entities that are so huge that a single breathe of them takes a million years. It’s probably not very clear, but after all music, especially of Monolithe’s kind, is a personal experience, isn’t it?
What is important for me? Probably to be able to listen to my own albums with pleasure.
In the beginnings of metal, this genre was more creative. Are there some new bands today original to you?
Yes but not much. And I’m not that informed anymore since I’m not much interested in the metal scene anymore. I prefer to listen to my oldies, which are, just like you said, more creative. I think that bands like Meshuggah brought something new to the genre. I think they are great. Unfortunately the chuggah-chuggah riffing has become a trend and I don’t really like the clones.
One of my fave doom metal bands were DISEMBOWELMENT. Have you heard their "Transcendence Into The Peripheral" album? What's your view to it?
Yes I know the album. But I’m afraid I don’t like it as much as you do. That’s simply because I don’t like the death metal parts. By the way, I think that a band such as Morbid Angel is way “doomier” than 80% of the bands of the related genre, so things always depend on the perspective with which you look at them.
Sure you know Frenchy band REMEMBRANCE. Do you have also some other funeral doom metal bands?
I’ve seen that name here and here but never listened to them. In France you also have Despond and Evolvent (for which I played the guitar on the debut album). Apart from them, nothing really worth of interest comes to my mind.
What music do you listen besides metal?
I listen mostly prog rock, space/psycho rock and fusion from the 70’s. Some jazz too. I’ve been much into Archie Shepp lately.
I know you play also in ANTHEMON band. Tell us something about this band, how are you succeed with them?
The band is no more since September 2007. We released 5 records in total, including 3 full lengths albums which are, in my humble opinion, very interesting and varied. We were supposed to release a new album before the split but since we didn’t, I’ll release the songs of this ghost album with my new band Upon The Deep.
But the better remains to give links to further information!
And the official Monolithe website is
1 - Meshuggah - catch 33
2 - Archie Shepp - blasé
3 - Skid Row - subhuman race
4 - Archie Shepp -live at the pan african festival
5 - Anthrax - spreading the disease
Storm
Things are going the way it should. We are about to finish the recording of the new album Monolithe III. Then it will be time to mix it. This album has been a pain to do, a really long and hard work. But finally it will soon see the light of the day. It’s really different from the previous releases but in my opinion it’s a very good and unique album.
Your last ep „Interlude Premier" is available on your website for free download what is uncommon enough. Why it was not released as CD?
It was supposed to be released on CD by Candlelight Records. But since these suckers postponed the release 2 times and finally decided to not release it 2 weeks before the official release date (because they were afraid to not sell enough CDs) and didn’t even pay a single cent of royalties to me, I decided to go the fuck away from these rip-offs and do things on my own. There are no problems with Appease Me… though, Monolithe is still related to them.
Why do every your album consists of one long track? Don't you want try to make an album with 10 min. tracks sometimes? It would be optimal also for radio stations, haha.
Well, one-song albums are part of the Monolithe concept. It wouldn’t really be Monolithe anymore without that singularity of the band. And I really like to do it; I think it opens a wide range of possibilities. We never thought in terms of commercial issues with that band you know, so I always composed music the way I wanted. About radio stations, who cares? This is not music that has potential to be broadcast to a wide audience anyway.
How will be your new stuff look like? Will it be something new, or you want to keep your typical practices? Want you separate all your albums names only with numbers as always?
The new album Monolithe III will be a totally different thing. Since it’s very original music, my attempts to describe the music always fail so I won’t try again. All I can say is that it’s a VERY hypnotic, gloomy and dark album. It’s not an album with typical doom riffs and so on. It’s like a trip, an experience. And yes, the remaining Monolithe albums to come will all get a number as title. This is also part of the Monolithe whole concept and imagery.
Are you influenced also by France itself at song writing? Or would you create the same music if you'd live in absolutely other country?
No, I’m not at all influenced by French music. I think traditional French music sucks and I don’t know it very well either. I used an accordion on the Monolithe II album but that was a one-shot thing. And it has not much to do with French music anyway. I’d probably do the same if I was, I don’t know, maybe English or German, but certainly not if I was Chinese or Tunisian :)
Do you think that French would be suitable for your music?
When I started the band, I had some French lyrics written. But I thought it would not sound really good with the music. English is more appropriate I think. We had some French lyrics in Anthemon, though.
Lyrics deal with origin of mankind. Do you think we could have rise only by random coincidence, or it was intent of someone, something?
This is an interesting question but I have to tell you that what I think and what I write in the lyrics are two different things. On a personal level, I think life is a totally random fact. But in the lyrics, human beings have been created by “something”. This “something” is not a god, though; because this concept is so obsolete that I don’t want Monolithe to be one of these billions of bands talking about religion and stuff. Let’s just say that Monolithe’s lyrics state that life can appear in many forms and take control or create other lifeforms.
What feelings you want to evoke by the music in listeners? What is important for you in own music?
I think the music can evoke anything, as long as it touches the mind of the listener. What music can evoke in a mind depends on the listener, not on the music. When I listen to my own work, I feel the vibe of the never ending, the mass of the gigantic, such as stars, planets… It evokes the existence of the lifeless or entities that are so huge that a single breathe of them takes a million years. It’s probably not very clear, but after all music, especially of Monolithe’s kind, is a personal experience, isn’t it?
What is important for me? Probably to be able to listen to my own albums with pleasure.
In the beginnings of metal, this genre was more creative. Are there some new bands today original to you?
Yes but not much. And I’m not that informed anymore since I’m not much interested in the metal scene anymore. I prefer to listen to my oldies, which are, just like you said, more creative. I think that bands like Meshuggah brought something new to the genre. I think they are great. Unfortunately the chuggah-chuggah riffing has become a trend and I don’t really like the clones.
One of my fave doom metal bands were DISEMBOWELMENT. Have you heard their "Transcendence Into The Peripheral" album? What's your view to it?
Yes I know the album. But I’m afraid I don’t like it as much as you do. That’s simply because I don’t like the death metal parts. By the way, I think that a band such as Morbid Angel is way “doomier” than 80% of the bands of the related genre, so things always depend on the perspective with which you look at them.
Sure you know Frenchy band REMEMBRANCE. Do you have also some other funeral doom metal bands?
I’ve seen that name here and here but never listened to them. In France you also have Despond and Evolvent (for which I played the guitar on the debut album). Apart from them, nothing really worth of interest comes to my mind.
What music do you listen besides metal?
I listen mostly prog rock, space/psycho rock and fusion from the 70’s. Some jazz too. I’ve been much into Archie Shepp lately.
I know you play also in ANTHEMON band. Tell us something about this band, how are you succeed with them?
The band is no more since September 2007. We released 5 records in total, including 3 full lengths albums which are, in my humble opinion, very interesting and varied. We were supposed to release a new album before the split but since we didn’t, I’ll release the songs of this ghost album with my new band Upon The Deep.
But the better remains to give links to further information!
And the official Monolithe website is
1 - Meshuggah - catch 33
2 - Archie Shepp - blasé
3 - Skid Row - subhuman race
4 - Archie Shepp -live at the pan african festival
5 - Anthrax - spreading the disease
Storm
