Mighty Music Artist HEROD Interview is up


Herod-band-photo-1-Mighty-Music

HEROD_they-were-none

http://www.herodnoise.com/


1.So were did this Metallic Progressive Post Hardcore explosive force come from as you mix elements Deadguy, Kiss it Goodbye with Neurosis and moments of bands like Celtic Frost and Gorguts is to something as massive as powerful..



(Pierre - Guitar) Back in 2006 when I was living in Malmö I was really influenced by bands like Meshuggah of course but Cult of Luna and Breach for the noise-atmosphere things. I was interested in all these polyrhythmic riffs as well as the down-tempo and minimalistic riffs. I wanted to bring closer these to genres and create something really dark and dissonant. At that moment I had no idea what would happen 8 years later. In 2011 we start to work with Fabien (drums) to set up and arrange the songs and then in 2012 with producer Julien Fehlmann (Unfold, The Ocean, Coilguns). In 2006 I was playing on a bariton 6 strings guitar tuned in open A but now I'm playing on an 8 strings tuned in G or F which is pretty low.
With the producer we tried to reduce the meshuggah style of rhythm and sound and push all aspects of the record on the sludge and noisy side.. it was out of question to sound like the digital and over edited modern metal bands playing on 8 strings. We recorded the guitar with vintage amps like Hiwatt, Sunn and Traynor from the 70's. 


(David - Vox) I think that is a question for Pierre as the music is coming from his guts, first ! I got to say that when I first put an ear on the songs, I knew this project will be all about intensity.





2. Is there a story line behind " They Were None" and what would it be ig so?



(P) They Were None is coming from the mystery novel by Agatha Christie. I liked the idea there is no escape for anyone on the island, like a greek tradedy. 





3. I feel you have the same spirit as bands like Faith No More, Polkadot Cadaver and Devin Townsend were your not afraid to show all sides of your musical loves. Its that important in 2014 to stand out?



(P) I think the difficulty of this project was to start from a solo project and then work with the others guys without spoiling the first touch I created. We are not revolutionazing the genre but just putting closer differents genres we like. 


(D) Thanks for the compliment ! I don't know Polkadot C but I got much much respect for the two others ! On my side, I've chosen to go on some path I barely did in the past. Singing on "We are the failure", or writing the lyrics in french on "No forgiveness for Vultures" : that is a risk for me. But this is how we are living I guess, if you never risk anything, you're not really alive. The point wasn't to stand out really, but more to go the way we felt it, no boundaries but the will !



4. There is a very odd Jazz element going on to the music as well its not in the forefront but you have those moments I swear you love bands live Ved Buen End, Virus and Arcturus would I have something of a truth going on here?





(P) Fabien, the drummer is not listening to many metal bands and it is really interesting because he is bringing a tribal thing to our music. For the jazz thing I would refer to "The Power to Believe" by King Crimson.



5. Your album has a very Converge like Look to it was this a nod to a band that defined a Post Hardcore scene?



(P) Converge is definitely a huge reference even if we are not sounding like them. the artwork is influenced by Bannon's work. By the way it is the drummer of another swiss band you may know (Sludge) who did the artwork. 


(D) Converge is a definitely one of my biggest influence in that scene. Converge is all about intensity and this is to me the true meaning of music, living your emotions to the fullest, and play each gig like if it was the last.
Even if it's not really something conscious, we can say that this artwork is a nod to them, definitely. Thank you guys !



6. Swiss extreme music as always been one of the more cutting edge with bands like  Celtic Frost, Coroner and Samael do you feel there is something unqiue about Switzerland that brings out the more avant in to extreme music?








(P) I don't know what defines the swiss hard touch. I grew up with swiss noisecore bands such as Unfold, Cortez, Forceed, Fragment, Knut, Shora who set the tone and gave us the envy to do the same.


(D) I don't think there's something unique about switzerland, every countries have incredible bands, even if we don't know them. My opinion is that there is really a paradox to live in switzerland for people like us, because a lot of people here is running after power and wealth. They stopped to care about each other and they hope their neighbors will not buy a bigger car than them. This country is beautiful, landscape is amazing (I'm probably not impartial) but there is sadness at every corner, because individualism is the new king here. This extreme scene might be the answer to that, an answer to this mental torture we experienced everyday. But don't get me wrong, I know the luck we do have too... I told you this is a huge paradox. 


7. How did Herod come to work with Mighty Music a label on the rise again after a few yrs of being more low profile?



(P) Sludge released their last record with them and advise us to contact Mighty. Being signed on a danish label which is based about 30 km from the town I started the project 8 years before is kind of an achievement for me. All this project is looking at scandinavia even the artwork (blue and yellow).


(D) Pierre contacted them and they really like the stuff they heard. Our friends from Sludge released their last album on Mighty Music and told us a lot of good things about them ! This project was born a few kilometers away from Copenhagen, so I guess that was really a sense to sign with a nordic label. We do like those kind of attention.





8. If you Could Make a professional video for one song which would it be and why?



(P) I would say Northern Lights or the Fall. Northern because it's one of my favorite and the fall because it can be fun to make a 10 minutes video clip.  By the way we are working on video projection for the upcoming gigs and we are going to use them for a video clip later this year.


(D) I would definitely go for "The fall". I'm happy that we were able to take this piece where it is now. I guess we could even make a short film with... an "essai" (if you understand it). The theme of this song is about realizing that you might have to abandon all your principles and your pride one day, because that could bring you balance and peace, after the storm calm down. I would like to translate those ideas into something "visible" !



9. What are the members of Herod currently listening to . ( it's tell a lot about a band and were there sounds are heading?



(P) Of course Breach, Coilguns (swiss band, produced buy Fehlmann as well), Mars Volta, Amen Ra, Mouth of the Architect. I'm also into female intense music such as Sophie Hunger,  Rose Kemp or Pauline Croze.  


(D) Well I'm currently listening to Chelsea Wolfe, Clutch, The Old Wind, Barkmarket and Nasum ! And I can't really spend a week without Nine Inch Nails !!



10. Does Herod feel aligned to a Metal scene as well as the Hardcore Scene or does the metal crowd just gravitate to the sounds that are Herod?



(P) We are not really sure about the scene we belong.. I could answer to this after the release and the first gigs but we want to touch fans of noisy things as well as fans of experimental and progressive music.


(D) I don't know what to expect. Herod is new to the scene. We did only 2 gigs so far. I really look forward to see who is gonna be interested ! I don't think we really belong to a single scene, I guess people that care for intensity and honesty will like us.



11. Where do you see the underground extreme music scene in 2014 is it thriving again as the digital age has given the world again to be open and expressive or as it watered it down with all the so called Basement musicians?



(D) This is a paradox again. Digital age has given the opportunity to anyone to reach out to people in a really quick way and nowadays any one can make it happen. Sad part is that this digital age also killed the market as it was before... this is a big dilemma at some point. I'm not really into capitalism, but a band need to sale records and t shirts to keep on and now touring became the only way to do it. Bands are touring more, Venues have to choose between to much bands and most of the time they take the safest option, means smaller bands are suffocating. You can see that I'm also confused about it. 





12. Do the members of Herod play or create music outside of Herod if so in what projects?



(P) We are all involved in differents bands from metal core to post rock as well as folk music.


(D) Yes everyone does, and it's really positive to herod. 
Fabien and Pierre are playing in a metalcore band called "Scars Divide"
Fabien is playing in a folk/electro/triphop band named after the singer : "Aurélie Emery"
Bertrand is playing in "La Chapelle" some kind of ETID
David is doing a heavy rock band called "Beluga"





13. Does Social media Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud etc help a new band of are you just lost in a sea without proper promotion and a label to get the name out there?



(P) Sure. Switzerland is a small country and metal is a niche market so it is really important to us to be in contact with the rights persons all over the world. Facebook is a great tool for upcoming bands. Mighty is helping us to release the record on the platform like itunes, spotify and so on.


(D) We don't have Twitter and we're trying no to pollute friend's walls on FB with to much useless information.








14. If you were asked to explain the sound of Herod as a band how would you to someone that has never heard you before?






(P) Massive, sludgy and dissonant.


(D) Herod is warped, unsafe. Even if you're not really open the music we do, you might be touched by the depth and darkness we're going in.


15. Thank you for the time and chance to speak any closing thoughts here..



Clint thanks to you, for giving us the opportunity to be heard overseas. We are really lucky to be able to show what we do to the world. And watch out for our first tour in the US, because it might be something !!


Pierre & David





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