Today
on Sludgelord, I am interviewing a band who I am a huge fan of and
that I haven't featured on the blog yet. Shame on me. But now I am
going to change all that by doing this interview with them as I know
they have a huge amount of fans of the blog.
Ladies
and Gentlemen it's my pleasure to be speaking to French Stoner
Metallers -MARS RED SKY – who have made a name for themselves over
the last few years thanks to their mouth watering style of Stoner
Metal which includes Doom, Drone, Psych Rock and even Shoegaze. It
gives their music a truly hypnotic edge.
I
urge you all to check out their brilliant 2011 S/T debut album and
their recent 2013 EP – Be My Guide. Plus they released as superb
split release Sludge/Doom Metallers – Year of No Light.
So
I have been given the chance to speak to these hugely talented French
Stoner Rockers. Lets see what they have to say.
1
– Hi guys. Thanks for doing this. How are things with you today.
Thanks to talking to us at Sludgelord HQ.
Mat
: I'm good thank you, we're just back from Spain where we played 4
shows, we took the road back home right after the last show in Madrid
so today i'm chilling out, and answering your questions!
2
– Can you give our readers a brief history of how the band came
about and where it is today.
Julien:
The band started as a duo five years ago. Benoit Busser and I wanted
to play together, we had a vision of what we wanted to do but
eventually ended up doing something totally different when I brought
in a couple of heavy, fuzzy riffs that perfectly suited Ben's 70's
style of drumming. I had been singing in bands for years so I just
tried and sung very naturally on top of the music we were making and
it created this nice contrast between the low, heavy detuned guitar
riffs , Ben's heavy and loose drumming and the high-pitched, eerie
vocals. Jimmy joined in on bass right away after our third rehearsal,
and there we were: we had found our sound, it was as simple as this.
Two years ago Ben decided to quit, and Matt joined in. That was a
blessing, a fresh new start. We hit it off right away, and became a
very tight three-piece. He totally got the mood of the music and
brought in his specific style, wich is crucial now in this band.
3
– So. Lets start off with your sound. How would you describe your
sound. As you guys include a lot of different styles.
Mat
: I like to say it's a mix between Black Sabbath and Simon and
Garfunkel, you can call us Simon Sabbath, no problem ! Or we can say
we play Heavy Psychedelic Rock, you can go for Doom Pop if you like.
But you're right we all listen different kind of music, from 60's Pop
to Black Metal so in a way or an other it might influence our sound.
Julien:
When we started Ben had been playing in a math-rock band, I was in a
couple of pop/folk/rock bands and was starting my solo project, Jimmy
had played in pop/experimental bands... We've always been very
open-minded having played and listened to so many kinds of musics and
however we came up with our sound, there's never been any boundary or
a textbook, a recipe. At the very beginning we
were a two-piece so I had tuned my guitar very low, a weird
open-tuning. That's one of the major ingredient of our sound. We
were using good old big muffs on both guitar and bass when Jimmy
joined in, Whah and rev/delay on the guitar leads... Of course over
the following months we got more specific, especially Jimmy who tried
several amps and pedals but we came up with the core of our sound
very quickly and naturally.
4
– Which bands and artists influenced you all as musicians.
Mat
: We all agree on The Melvins, Sleep, Black Mountain, King Crimson,
Witch, Black Sabbath... Then the 3 of us have different influences,
I'm a big Springsteen's fan. I love Hank III, The Jesus Lizard, Van
Halen, Helmet, Allman Brother Band, 38 Special, Entombed, Deep
Purple, The Beatles, Tool, Behemoth...
Julien:
I'm really into folk, from Nick Drake to Neil Young, The Incredible
String Band, Judee Sill... all the British Invasion era (Beatles,
Kinks, Who...), Big Star, Beach boys, etc... Robert Whyatt, Syd
Barrett, Pink Floyd... Sleep, Electric Wizzard, Titan, Earthless and
most of the bands on Tee Pee Records, Bardo Pond...When I was a kid I
was a huge fan of Hair Metal bands such as Poison, Guns & Roses,
Def Leppard, then Metallica, Anthrax and Motorhead... When Nirvana
came in the picture everything changed for me, like for a lot of
people of my generation. I was 13... I then discovered Sonic Youth,
Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, My Bloody Valentine (wich is one of my biggest
influences still to this day, there's a lot of it in MRS).
5
– Apologies for not including you on the blog before. But I am a
huge fan indeed. Has the reception from the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal
community impressed you. As you guys have received a great response
from them.
Julien:
No need for apologies! We're very grateful indeed, we were surprised
and very happy to get such a positive response, not only from our
friends and fellow bands around Bordeaux, but also from people all
over the world! Great reviews on blogs, invitations to play really
cool festivals, in countries such as Poland, Germany, England,
Brazil, Greece... All the people from this community we had the
chance to meet are so nice, passionate, it's really a pleasure and an
honor to be accepted and appreciated by people who know much more
about all this scene than we do. We therefore had the chance to play
with a lot of great bands such as Kadavar, Samsara Blues Experiment
thanks to Sound Of Liberation for instance.
6
– What made you decide to become a musician. Any particular band or
life changing event.
Mat
: After seeing The Jesus Lizard and Fugazi in the same week when i
was 14 years old, I knew I wanted to be a musician. Those 2 concerts
was worth for years of practices.
Julien:
My family and I moved to Detroit when I was eight. We lived there for
two years, and that's when I became obsessed with music. We had MTV
there, and I was stunned by the videos they aired back then; Guns
&Roses, Mötley Crüe etc... That's when I decided I wanted to be
in a band. I first started on bass on my own when I was 13, then
started a band with my brother and learned a couple of basic chords
on guitar. I'm self taught so I would listen to songs, or just little
parts of songs over and over to get what chord they were playing,
what vocal harmony was bringing the magic feeling on this chorus, why
the bass line on that bridge wasn't playing the root note...
7
– Where does the name MARS RED SKY come from. Any particular
meaning behind it.
Julien:
It just sounded good and pictured pretty well the kind of atmosphere
we were creating. It's also a part of the lyrics of a song I was
listening to one day, scrutinizing the sleeve like I always do, and
those three words stood out. I'll let you guess what band and song it
comes from...
8
– I am a huge fan of the French Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal scene.
Thanks to bands such as Drawers, Wheelfall, Los Disidentes Del Sucio
Motel, Crown and many more that I have forgotten. What is the Stoner
Rock scene like in France at the moment. Do you get many
opportunities to play gigs or do you have to travel abroad to perform
regularly.
Mat
: Yes we played with Los Disidentes... but i don't know the other
ones, shame on me I’m gonna cheek them out. I have to confess that
i never listen Stoner/Doom music at home. I need to hear really
different things or i would turn crazy !
Julien:
We played a bunch of shows with Glowsun, they're really awesome.
9
– What is the songwriting process in the band. Is it a group
process or is it down to one individual.
Mat
: For this record, it's more a collective process. We set up in the
practice room and jam on some simple ideas and then we keep what
sounds good to us and structure it. Some songs are born from a guitar
riff, or bass line or drum pattern.
Julien:
On the new album there's just a couple of songs I wrote and
structured on my couch with an acoustic guitar, but even those we
ended up working out all three of us. On the first album it was a
little different since I brought some material to work on, and since
I'm used to composing songs from start to end that's what I brought
in at first. Very soon we started composing together, Jimmy started
writing and now with Matt it's obviously a collective process. His
drumming is very melodic, carefully crafted, he even came up with a
basic riff and drum patterns we worked out into songs. Jimmy came up
with a song as well that we structured all together but it's mainly
his vision, wich is really exciting, to have different perspectives
in that band. We can surprise ourselves all the time. For some of the
new songs, the core came out of jamming during soundcheck while on
tour. I would come up with a riff out of the blue, the others would
join in, we'd talk about it and end up structuring it all in the
practice room. That's an exciting way to make up a song!
10
– In 5 words or less what is the live MARS REDS SKY experience
like.
Mat
: HEAVY / LOW / MELODIC / HYPNOTIC
Julien:
EROTIC
11
– We are massive Vinyl Heads here at Sludgelord. Are you Vinyl Fans
yourselves. As you have released your records on Vinyl in the past.
Mat
: Yes I love vinyls but i have more CD's than LP's in my collection.
For one reason, l listen a lot of music in my van so as i don't have
a turntable set up in my van i prefer CD's.
Julien:
I like vinyls better too, mainly because to me, an album is not just
a bunch of songs but a whole package, the artwork being totally part
of the process. I love holding a new vinyl, scrutinizing the sleeve,
liner notes, credits and lyrics, every detail of the artwork. It just
feels more real on a vinyl. Regarding the sound it's hard to tell, it
depends on the equipment you have, but I do feel vinyls sound better
(I have a really nice turntable!)
12
- Have you toured with any famous bands or artists? If so who have
been your favorite?
Mat
: We played twice with Dinosaur JR. We'll play Hellfest where we'll
play with great bands we love.
Julien:
Roadburn in 2011 was a blast too, we played in the green room just
before Sleep who were headlining on the main stage. That was a
highlight.
13
- Are you guys full time musicians or do you all have regular jobs to
pay the bills.
Mat
: Yes Julien and me are musicians as a regular job and Jimmy is a
booking agent. Julien has a folk solo project under his name Julien
Pras and i play the drums with James Leg an American fender Rhodes
player, and with Epiq a 3 pieces with bass, balanfon and drums, kind
of “world psychedelic” thing.
14
– What are you guys currently upto at the moment. I have heard a
new album maybe getting released in the not so distant future. Can
you give us anymore details on this or is this still top secret.
Mat
: Yes we're right now finishing the last but not least detail, the
mastering. We recorded this album “by accident” in Rio de Janeiro
a few days after our tour. We were supposed to go to the USA after
this tour but we had problem with the US immigration, so we were
stuck in Brazil. And thanks to the wonderful people we met there
we've been able to go at Superfuzz Studio and meet this incredible
man, Gabriel Zander who opened the door of his studio, and did the
takes. He finally mixed the album and did an awesome job. He exactly
understood how we sound and made this new album sounding really great
to us.
15
- What are your favorite bands around at the moment? Do you listen to
modern day rock/metal or do you just listen to the classic era of
Stoner/Doom Metal/Hard Rock.
Mat
: As i said i don't listen a lot of Stoner stuff. I can't wait for
the new Behemoth record and the new Bruce Sprinsgteen as well ! I
guess 2 great records in 2 different styles. Of course i love the
classic Rock area like Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Scorpions, Cheap
Trick, Thin Lizzy. In the bands of today, i like Radio Moscow,
Glowsun, Behemoth, i think that's all.
Julien:
Mulatu Aftaké, Robert Whyatt... High on Fire, Electric Wizzard, The
Beatles... anything that turns me on!
16
– If you could give any advice to someone wanting to start a band.
What helpful advice would you give them.
Mat
: Find a good name, try to avoid “Black”, “Hill”, “Mountain”,
“Desert” in your band name, and tour as much as you can and try
to not turn crazy and to keep it true.
Julien:
Purchase a Big Muff before even getting a tuner. And have fun, that's
the most important thing.
17
– Finally, Thanks for talking to us here at Sludgelord HQ. Do you
have anything to say to your fans.
Mat
: Thanks for those questions, sorry sometimes it'd be easier to
develop some questions around a table with an old school cassette
recorder. Hope to see you guys on the road !
Julien:
Thank you very much!
Well
guys thanks for doing this. All the best. Can't wait to hear new
material from MARS RED SKY. Rock on!!!
Thanks to Claire at Purple Sage PR and for Mars Red Sky talking to us here at Sludgelord HQ.
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Written by Steve Howe
