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They’re French and they’ve got something to show the world. Sideblast have just released their debut, ‘Flight Of A Moth’, on Cyclone Empire.
Thomas wants to know everything about this refreshing new player on the extreme metal scene from vocalist Fredd.
Salut Fredd and congrats on the release of your concrete solid debut! I take it you’re all excited about the album?
Fredd: Hi Tom, thank you very much for the congratulations. For sure we are really excited about the release of “Flight Of A Moth”. This album is the first one of the band and the first one for us, musicians of the band. We all play in metal bands since years, but this is the first time we record an album and it represents a lot for us. (Sebb, Nacim and I played in a band called Blackout before Sideblast. The Ep of this band has been released in Europe by Perennial Quest Records in 2002, but the band split up before we recorded the album). To see people enjoying our sound and all the good reviews means a lot... We’ve put all our energy in this album…
Since you’re probably new to most of our readers, perhaps a short description of your music would be in place?
Fredd: Haha! The description of our music… Such a hard question… So I can say our music is a mix of metal styles and more. The Sideblast sound is a mix of thrash, death and black metal with some keyboards and samples… Brutal, intense, funny and powerful. People like to say that in our sound there is a little bit of Strapping Young Lad, Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir, Morbid Angel, Gojira… If we have to put a face on our style I think we can say we play "Extreme Metal" (which means a lot and nothing). Our label, Cyclone Empire, describes our style as: “State Of The Art Extreme Metal”… That's cool ;)
Who does what in the band? Who writes music/lyrics?
Fredd: The music is written by Sebb, Noam and Nacim and arranged by all the band. Sebb and Noam like to do jam session rehearsals and a lot of songs are composed that way. They have got a good feeling playing together and they have got a lot of good ideas. Nacim writes music too but most of the time he does it alone. All the keyboards and samples are done by Noam.
All the lyrics are written by my self. If one member of the band wants to speak about something in a song he tells it to me and I write the lyrics.
Where do you mainly find your inspiration when you write songs? The cover of Sepultura’s Arise on ‘Flight Of A Moth’ did not go unnoticed, by the way – very, very cool version!
Fredd: Thank you very much… We've had a lot of good time recording the Arise Cover, it was fun…
I can't tell you exactly what influenced us ‘cause we all have a lot of different influences. The only certain thing is that our influences are not only into "metal music". We listen to music, not only metal music. Noam listens to a lot of soundtrack movies and classical music. Nacim and Noam are big fans of manga movies and books. Sebb listens to a lot of different styles of music and I read a lot of books. And putting all those things together you have the "Sideblast world" ;)
Could you please explain the title of the album? What’s so special about the flight of a moth?
Fredd: In reality when we were recording the album we sought a good title for it. As we didn’t find one we just put as title of the album, the title of the song ”Flight Of A Moth” because it sounds good and it is a kind poetic ;). Nothing really special about the "Flight Of A Moth"... This song is about suicidal tendencies (nothing to do with the band ;)). When I wrote the lyrics of this song I thought about a moth which is attracted by the light of the flame and even if it already knows it’s gonna die, it still flies into the flame.
How come you decided on Tommy Hansen (Helloween/HateSphere/Illdisposed) for the mastering of the album?
Fredd: We have recorded and mixed the album in France at the Harkam Studio with Will Lievin (Anthropia, Fairyland, Hamka) and he has done a very good job. But to do the mastering of "Flight Of A Moth" we wanted to work with a great producer. We already knew the work of Tommy and as we liked it, it was as an evidence for us to work with him.
Who did the artwork for ‘Flight Of A Moth´? It looks interesting and very dark.
Fredd: The artwork of the album has been done by Cedric Ricci (ww.riccicedricdesign.com). He is a great designer and he has done an amazing job with the artwork of the album.
For the first time Cedric has worked on the cover knowing the title of the album, listening to the music and reading to the lyrics. For the artwork of the album we wanted to do something with the "Chaos Theory" and "The Butterfly Effect", and as the title of the album is "Flight Of A Moth"… it came out well.
What is the metal scene like in France? Full of life or shabby? Any new French bands you can recommend right now?
Fredd: In France there are a lot of very good bands, but the metal music is not very popular in France. A French metal band has to export its music in Europe if it wants to get a chance to do something good with its music. I can't especially recommend you French metal bands cause in this moment I'm not really aware about the worldwide metal scene… You all know Gojira, Hacride… Check out Xtrunk's album (www.myspace.com/xtrunk), my side project. The debut of the band "Not In Vain" will be released on May 2nd ;)
Will you be touring in connection with the release of ‘Flight Of A Moth’?
Fredd: For sure we will tour as much as we can. We really want to do great things with Sideblast. We really love to play on stage and as the audience likes our sound… That's cool. We really have very good time on tour and on stage, so why not tour as much as we can... We are searching for a booking agency to help us to find gigs all over Europe.
What would the billing on your dream tour look like?
Fredd: I don't know… It doesn't matter. We appreciate a lot of different bands… We just want to tour worldwide and have fun ;)
Which five albums would in best case be on your iPod if you crash-landed on a deserted island tomorrow?
Fredd: Hey man don't joke with it, I hope it will never happen… ;) This is really hard ‘cause I appreciate a lot of bands, but if this crash would happen I think I would like these five albums would be in my iPod:
"Pantera – Far Beyond Driven"… This album is amazing. As I am a singer I like the good voices and Phil Anselmo is a great singer. He is the mate who makes me want to sing in a band.
"Opeth – Damnation"… Beautiful album. Mikael Akerfeld is an amazing singer and musician. I love the song "roads" on the RoadRunner Anniversary album.
"Killswitch Engage – The End Of Heartache"… Very good album. Howard Jones is a very good singer. I really like the mix of voices and his clean vocals are very good.
"The Black Dahlia Murder – Unhallowed"… I really appreciate this band and this album.
"Sideblast – Flight Of A Moth"… I love this album ;)
Thank you very much for answering my questions, Fredd. Do you have any last rants for our readers?
Fredd: Thank you very much for the interview Tom… Guys, I hope with this interview you know a little bit more the Sideblast world. I hope we will have soon the opportunity to meet you guys on tour. Check out our album, take care and have fun… Blast up your life!
Cheers!
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