CARMINA interview 2009

Almost 4 years without any news about CARMINA, a band some of you may be familiar with if they have the Obscure Infinity split release. And last year the release of the self-titled EP announced their comeback with more crushing intents. Here's a putrid encounter to know more about this french death metallers who have a clear vision of metal of death! Read on!

Hi Michaël! It's been some time we haven't heard about CARMINA since 2004 and the releases of the split with AMETHYSTE, DARKLORD and ATROPHY, and the split EP with MORGUE. How has been the feedback concerning both releases? I guess the intense promotion by UnderGab helps you a lot to get some cool contacts. What happened during these 4 years of « silence »?
Michaël : Hi Jim! Reviews have been good in general. We have had a lot of feedback about the split tape Gab did (AMETHYSTE, DARKLORD and ATROPHY) because he used to send us every review. He did an amazing job and we still are grateful to him. Thanks Gab! The Split EP with MORGUE was a limited vinyl press and we didn’t have that much feedback. I have to say our demo was released at the same time. Same thing, we have had quite a good feedback. We did some shows and kept on writing new songs.

And today CARMINA comes back with a new release at the end of 2008, a self titled MCD. When did you start the songwriting about those tracks?
Michaël : We began to write new songs after the demo and splits… and started to record in August 2006. We had bought some machines at the time of the demo; we wanted to have it homemade. It took 2 years to record the 7 songs: as we had the equipment to record, we wanted to keep on this way. But as I was a novice, we lost a lot of time trying to record, arrange… I recorded the drums August 2006 and then the guitars first semester of 2007. Bass has been recorded summer 2007. Then I tried several mixes… lyrics has been completed at the beginning of 2008. And then the mix has been done in June/July 2008, thanks to Titi (DISASTER) and his wonderful equipment! The mastering has been done by Titaye at the Alien Studio in July/August 2008. It has been a real adventure but it has been released! We will go faster next time.

The result is some pretty intense brutal death metal with dark atmospheres, keeping the style of your demo 2004 but this time everything sounds more intense, the drumming is faster and there's a good balance between aggressiveness and obscure moods. Some names such as IMMOLATION, HATE ETERNAL, BRODEQUIN or MORBID ANGEL come to my mind. What do you think of my interpretation? Are there less easy recognizable influences you would point out?
Michaël : Yes, we listen a lot to IMMOLATION, HATE ETERNAL and MORBID ANGEL, these bands are a huge influence to us. But we don’t write songs thinking “I want to do a song like this band does”. Everything we listen to influence spontaneously the way we write or play songs. We like fast stuffs, brutal, obscure and tortured stuffs… our music is basically a projection of a part of our personality.
Drums wise, I worked a lot and hopefully I get results! The grind/death/blast beat (whatever you call it) is a particular technique that can be very exhausting if you don’t master it. And I still need to progress!

The self titled MCD is the second release of young label Rewolucja Records (who release the first album of DISASTER). What can you say about this label? How did it happen you work with them? It seems to be more of a friendship relation than some business matters. Were there any other labels interested by CARMINA?
Michaël : Rewolujca Records is Bif’s label; he’s the DISASTER guitar player and CARMINA bass player, which is more or less the reason! We changed our bass player in 2007. Our music is based on friendship. Bif became a friend, I can’t play music with people I don’t know or I’m not interested in. Or I would have become a professional. We didn’t “prospect” to release the MCD, Bif was really enthusiastic to do it. We only did 500 copies and then we’ll see if people are interested.
The promotion remains very confidential, is it a will to remain underground or in fact the promotion hasn't really start? Do you know what the label has planned (buying some adverts in magazine or privileging trades with other labels, by word of mouth, …)? Where people can get your MCD?
Michaël : Bif does all the work! It’s still underground; he does a lot of trades in order to develop his distro. We just begin to have some feedback. MCD is available here: http://www.rewolucjarecords.com and during the concerts.

Your lyrics are 100% written in french. Why do you use your native tongue? Do you think it gives a particular touch to CARMINA? Have you ever tried with english lyrics? To be honest it's not easy to understand whether you sing in french or english. What do you think of IMPUREZA who sings in Spanish?
Michaël : We’re French, so we speak French, it’s obviously more natural for us to sing in French. Why singing in English? I’ve heard so many French bands singing in English with such an awful translation!! (And I’m not good at speaking English) So what’s the point? I’d like to have a translation of the lyrics (English, Spanish, Japanese and Polish) in order to have most of people to understand. To me, the growling singing is an instrument in itself; it produces sounds that go with the music. IMPUREZA guy sings in Spanish, it brings another kind of sound to the lyrics.

CARMINA is based near Paris but we can't really say that you belong to the parisian metal scene. It is funny but some foreign people are convinced that french metal bands essentially come from Paris which is naturally wrong. What's your connection with the scene from Paris? I think CARMINA is closer to some hardcore bands than any black metal spiked bastards. With which bands did CARMINA share the stages with?
Michaël : We don’t have much connection with the Parisian Scene. Most of us come from the hardcore/punk scene, this is probably the reason why. I don’t really like the “fraternity” spirit like “you play metal, I’m a metal head so we’re brothers!” We do share musical preferences but that’s it. To put a label on our musical style would make us narrow-minded. We play CARMINA, it’s obviously metal but that’s just us… I don’t care about playing concerts with hardcore, punk or metal bands if it’s good and people are ok! Sure, we don’t want to play with fascist or racist bands or whatever in this idea.. I have to say that on this subject, things have evolved the good way.
Alexis: As you said, we are based “near Paris” and not in Paris. We are suburban rats living between 15 and 45 kilometers from Paris and somehow we have no real connection with a Parisian metal scene. We did play a couple shows at the Gambetta bar though, thanks to our friend Mamass from 13 Zealots and that girl I forgot the name (sorry!). We shared the stage with bands like FROM ASHES RISE, UNEARTHLY TRANCE, ENREGISTRÉ PAR STEVE ALBINI, REMORSE, SUPERSTATIC REVOLUTION, BURST... We didn’t play a lot of shows but so far I think we’ve been quite lucky with the experiences we got. About the connection with HC that you mentioned, may be it’s because we grew up with that scene around and we probably still reflect that in the way we are with CARMINA. For sure we play metal, call it death metal, death grind or whatever you want but CARMINA will also always be the product of four different sensibilities towards music in general. As a matter of fact, the four of us listen to both metal and HC (and of course other genres). And we all agree on one thing : we want to play intense and sincere music and that’s where our interests meet in CARMINA. It won’t be interesting for me if one day we try to be brutal for the sake of being brutal, same with being dark or technical... I have to be moved by what we play, lyrically and musically, the feeling and emotion of the music have to remain our focus. But to tell you more accurately how I see metal and CARMINA...I come from punk/HC and the bands that pushed me to join CARMINA and play metal were ASSÜCK and ENTOMBED, two bastard children of the punk and metal scenes.

I look at some pictures of your live gigs and we can't say that the dudes of CARMINA have the typical metalhead appearance (long hair, black clothes and shit like that). Did you ever have some complains or remarks about this fact? I can't understand that the imagery if often more important than the music; what do you think of that kind of attitude where bands only put forward their imagery and when you listen to their music it's often lame and hollow! So we must admit than metal today become an awful mainstream musical trend accepted by all (or almost all). Am I a pessimist motherfucker? (Ahah!)
Michaël : It’s always about the same thing: the label. You got this or that label, you have to dress like that, think like that and so on. It sucks. All you talk about happens in all the music, art or whatever tendencies… there are people that are honest (With the others and with themselves) and the others that are a kind of “marketing products”.
Alexis: Haha, you haven’t seen Stu lately then! OK, I really don’t care about how you are supposed to look to play metal. The music is a vehicle, it is the way to share our anger and passion and I’d rather play for the people who are willing to be moved by what we play than the ones who think we don’t fit in the “family” because we don’t look “bad” enough. I don’t go to church because I don’t like when people tell me what I’m supposed to do or not do... Otherwise I’m pretty sure this way to see music originally comes from our HC background, something we can’t leave behind just because we play metal these days. But no I’ve never got that kind of complains or remarks or may be I’ve just not heard them loud enough... It wouldn’t matter much if I did though. And I don’t think you’re being pessimistic about the mainstream, it does waters down or transforms everything coming its way to make it acceptable.

Going back to your split with AMETHYSTE and ATROPHY, those bands are still active and CARMINA as well. Are you surprised by this? Have you ever felt tired by the band with the will to stop it? How do you manage to keep such burning passion and will to kill?
Michaël : It’s obvious that at times, you get less energy and enthusiasm. But I realized something; technically, when you’re lazy and you force yourself to work on your instrument, the better results you get. Sometimes I don’t feel like rehearsing but in the end it makes me feel good and fill me with energy.
It’s really something inside of me, it makes me live and now I feel like I can’t live without it.
The will to kill, I try to have it every time I do something, this is the real thing!

CARMINA has release its music through different format: Tape, vinyl and CD. What is your favorite format? Do you think these formats still have a future or will be replaced by legal (and illegal) downloading on a long term?
Michaël : I like vinyl records but CD is more convenient. I have doubts about the commercial future of the CD but in the underground environment, there are still a lot of tapes so I don’t worry. The problem with numerical support is the music is kind of dematerialized, no more box or cover in your hands, you get less conscious of the work behind the music, and it’s really representative of the consumption society where we live. It is for sure really convenient but it is too virtual (like our world unfortunately). I noticed it with the kids I have in my class, only a few of them have CDs home.

You will say I am always complaining but I can't understand that in France we have good killer bands like GOROD, BLOODY SIGN, ASMODEE or CARMINA to name a few but no one cares and rather listen to shitty bands like DAGOBA or ONE WAY MIRROR. What's wrong with France according to you?
Michaël : What’s wrong with France? Music culture does not have an easy access. It’s getting better, we have new media-libraries… So little educational and musical awakening at school, it’s a shame… then some music have more or less easy access… and the power of marketing! Someone that does not look for something else will buy what is easy to reach and what sells the best. French people are good little sheeps… it’s all about education.
Let's go back to CARMINA, and I would talk about your artwork that I found very sober: a white artwork with blood stains. You're far from the usual clichés with zombies or dismembered people. The same can be said to your lyrics, mostly based on images and comparisons, they have nevertheless some connections with social issues, am I right? Would you find absurd if someone would tell you than you're close to IMMOLATION musically but close to BRUTAL TRUTH or NAPLAM DEATH lyrically?
Michaël : We don’t like clichés. For the cover, we just thought « let’s do something white, something not metal ! » It must be our old punk side! Then Stu did that thing and we liked it. We try to have lyrics that have meaning… they represent what we are, what we live, what we feel inside, our vision on things that happen all around us, our fears, our desires… it’s a part of our expression, completed by the music. I think it’s a shame that metal bands lost this disapproval side in their lyrics. I like NAPALM DEATH a lot, they never changed in their attitude and it’s the best example of a metal band that has something to say.

What's the next step for CARMINA now? Will the band release a full album? Or maybe you planned some upcoming gigs in France? What are usually your conditions for playing somewhere?
Michaël : Yes, we want to do concerts, we do love it! Our conditions are simple: money for gas and highway, something to eat and a place to sleep. We prefer to sleep at someone’s place, we play music to share things and it’s always better to discuss with people than sleep in a hotel. And then we’ll try to work on an album and record it faster than the last time… should be easy!

To know more about your musical tastes, give me the releases that really kick you ass lately, anything to recommend? What are your musical expectations for 2009?
Michaël : Here’s my little playlist, no particular order! Lastly, I discovered BLOODBATH and HOUR OF PENANCE, great! Then the last TESTAMENT, good thrash metal, VIEUX FARKA TOURE (traditional music from Mali), MOUSS et HAKIM (Origine controlée) for dancing, RADIOHEAD is always running through my head, as well as GORGUTS, NILE and HATE ETERNAL !
For 2009… plenty of good records, not on majors, that will make us chill!

Michaël, thanks to you and your mates, good luck with CARMINA, keep recording some killer metal of death!! End this interview with your own words.
Michaël : Thank you for this pleasant and smart interview, I hope to meet you in real life!
Don’t hesitate to contact us for concerts, interviews, questions or just to talk! We’re good boys!
Have fun and keep music evil!
http://www.myspace.com/carminagrind