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| Abrahma 2012 So here at The Sludgelord we are fortunate enough to review some amazing music, what is even more amazing is to discover bands which are previously unknown to us and share them with you, the readers. I have been a fan of many bands on the Small Stone Recordings roster, therefore I am always excited to hear of new acts, given their exemplary record of supporting such fantastic bands. Abrahma are another band to add to that list, seemingly a band they have plucked from nowhere, their debut album is fantastic. I had the pleasure of reviewing Through The Dusty Paths Of Our Lives and was so amazed by it I thought it would be cool to speak with the band to talk about their album, influences and plans for world domination. Fortunately, the band agreed to talk to me and here is what they had to say. I spoke with their singer, guitarist and generally all round nice guy, Seb Bismuth and here is what he had to say.
1). Hey Seb, you're one of the best discoveries of 2012 and I was grateful to be able to
review your new record, Through The Dusty Paths Of Our Lives. I have listened to your record a
lot, however for those people who are unfamiliar with your band, tell me a
little bit about the history of the band? Where you're from, band members, when
you formed?
Hi Aaron and thanks
for the kind words. It's always a pleasure to read that some people dig our
tunes :) So, the ABRAHMA story goes back
to 2005 in Paris, France. At this period we were named ALCOHSONIC and the music
style was more near Classic Rock. We
have released under this moniker 1 demo, one album, a 7 inch and an EP album. We have also done a lot of gigs across Europe
and gig after gig, we were finding a little more where we wanted to go.
I mean, yes I love
70's rock, but I also love some heavier and dirtier things as NEUROSIS, MONSTER
MAGNET, SOUNDGARDEN, CLUTCH, FIVE HORSE JOHNSON,KYUSS, ALICE IN CHAINS.
So in 2011 we have
decided to do something more personal. After the departure of our ex-guitar
player, we have recorded a 2-track EP with what will become later «
HONKIN'WATER ROOF » & « VODUN Pt.1 ».
Then when we finally
have found our new guitar player (Nicolas) we've decided to record a full album
in the vein of what we really wanted to do.
Something Heavier, Dirtier and more Psychedelic.... The ancient moniker
wasn't really fitting to our new style, so we changed it.....And here we are :)
2). Is the band a full time project?
Yes, it is. And we
really hope it will be a long one.
3). How would you
describe your sound?
Hmmm, something
between Heavy Rock, 90's Grunge and Stoner Rock. With influences from the 70's
rock n' roll and southern rock scene :)
4). Is there a rock/metal scene in France?
Yes! And many of those
bands are really huge! You really have
to checkout bands as RESCUE RANGERS, BLAAK HEAT SHUJAA, GLOWSUN, THE REAL MCCOY,
ÖFÖ AM, LOS DISIENTES DEL SUCIO MOTEL…. Those bands are really great.
5). What's it like being
a rock/ metal band there? Is it a struggle?
France isn’t really a
rock n' roll country. So yes, making
something heavy and dirty is a struggle there.
But, « it's a long way to the top »... And seems like there is more and
more people each day, curious to discover something more « straight » than all those
poppy and to clean shits.
6). What are your
influences musically and artistically?
Many! :) But Monster Magnet, Clutch, Black Sabbath, Neurosis,
Soundgarden, Five Horse Johnson, Pink Floyd and Alice in chains, seems to be
the biggest. We're also big fans of The Atomic Bitchwax,
Weedeater, Alice Cooper, first Aerosmith Albums, Led Zeppelin, Church Of
Misery.
7). You were in a band
before Abrahma, who were they and what were they like and how has your style
changed since then?
Ahaha, yes before
ABRAHMA and ALCOHSONIC, I had a more « metal »band with Ben (drums) and Guillaume (bass) :) For Ben, he has a lot of other bands where he
plays drums. Guillaume also had other
bands before ABRAHMA, and also currently play in another project called
CRAVAN....You have to check it out!
8). Your record is your 1st record under the
moniker of Abrahma, do you feel it is your best work and why?
Ahh, hard to answer. I only know that we are really proud of this
album. Is it our best work? Only time will tell. But I think that this first release is a good
testimony of what we wanted to do during the making of the album.... And it was
the best of us!
9). Why should people buy
your record?
Because we're Hot and
Sexy :-) Nah, but I think that if some
people out there love Psychedelic Heavy Rock or some of the band I’ve mentioned
before, they would appreciate our first album.... And discovering a new band
that you dig is always a good reason.
10). Your record appears
be getting a lot of differing feedback? What are your thoughts? Are you pleased
with it? Do People get what you're trying to do?
For the moment, we're
really surprised as we had only cool reviews and feedbacks. And the most impressive, is that they
generally totally understand our influences and where we wanted to go when we
have done the album. Hope that the next
reviews will be as good as those first ones :-)
11). Do you and your band
members contribute songs and arrangement ideas?
Yes, totally! Each
song is created by jamming ideas. We generally have a main riff, or melody
brought by one of us, and then we all work around it.
12). You put monster magnet
as one if your influences? I see Ed Mundell played on your record? How did that
happen? Did you meet him?
This is another cool
story :) Ed Mundell is one of my favourite guitar players and great influence of
our sound. I really wanted to have him on our album. So, I decided to contact him. At the
beginning I do not received any answer.... And one good day, I received an
answer..... The eve before my departure for L.A. It was Ed, telling me that he was ok to do
it...... I was so happy. So he recorded his guitar solo and sent it to us. The result
is amazing. Check out his new project
THE ULTRA ELECTRIC MEGA GALACTIC, it's awesome: https://www.facebook.com/TheUEMG
13). Is there any meaning
to your artwork? What does it represent?
Ahh, our bull prophet
:) This is an original idea by ALEXANDER VON WIEDING. We gave him free hand. He's just have listen
to the music, read the lyrics, and the ABRAHMA BULL has born :) But this
artwork perfectly fits to our album. AMAZING JOB :)
14). How did you hook up with Small Stones label?
Another surprise...We
just have sent an e-mail with the info and a link to download our album. The day after, I’ve received an e-mail from ALEXANDER
VON WIEDING (www.zeichentier.de), who
has made the artwork, telling me that he had good news for me. It was
Scott (Smallstone's Chairman), who has sent him an e-mail to tell him that he
was digging our tunes. Then we've been in contact and I’ve got to
confess that we were excited as young boys with a new toy :)
15). What are your ambitions for the band?
First, trying to
promote as more as possible this album by touring everywhere we can. We have
already made some shows in France and Germany this year and will do a bigger
tour after the album release in October and November across Germany, Belgium,
Holland, Sweden, Switzerland and Maybe Spain, Portugal… We'd like to go also in
the U.K. Then in 2013 we'll tour again and
again. We'll may be even trying to go to the U.S... But this is only a project
for the moment... And finally, I think that we'll begin to work on the next
album :)
16). You got any
interesting stories from your tours?
Ah we've got too
many... You know touring is like entering the Twilight Zone. There are a lot of
mystical and comical things happening....But, I prefer to keep it private ahaha
:) Every bands need to have a« shadow zone » :)
17). Any plans for new material?
Ah, we already some
ideas yes, but let see what will happen first in the next months with this
first release :-) We all have to be patient and not going to fast
18). What do you think
about people downloading music for free? Would you consider releasing your album
for free to get more people listening to your music?
Another hard question
:) Downloading for free, could be sometimes a cool thing as many people then
discover a band they like and then buy the album, go to the gigs. On another hand, if people only download
music for free, without any intent to buy anything later or going to a gig, it
could be a bad thing.
The bigger problem is
for the label, as it will not earn any money on the concerts. The only way it
has to make some money is to sell album... And it is really sad to see so many
cool indie labels dying due to those free downloads.
19). Last question, you
got anything you like to say to your fans?
Yes, a big Thanks to
all of you who support us. You are the fuel to our music.
20). Any plans for shows in
the UK?
Ahhh, we crave for
coming to the UK, but we do not have any contact yet. Maybe we'll have a chance
to have some after the album release :)
Please check out the links below for more information about the band. The album is available from 24th July 2012 and you can pre order it now. Big thanks again to Seb from Abrahma, who is a true gentlemen. Another amazing interview. You can listen to Neptune Of Sorrow below. If you liked what you hear, head over to The Obelisk page here, they are streaming the album in full. You won't be disappointed. Bandcamp Offical Page Soundcloud Small Stone Records SS FB SS Bandcamp
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