AMR Exclusive Interview With HYPNO5E’s Gredin Le Fourbe
Posted by vBoogieMan in All Metal Resouorce, tags: Amr, Art Tour, Artistry, Bassist, Clue, Conceptualization, Countrymen, Creative Process, French Word, Gojira, Hypnosis, Intricacies, Manuscrit, Meaning Behind The Name, Motivations, Promos, Shocker, True Desires, Unique Show, Visual Arts
HYPNO5E, the French progressive metallers who are set, in this author’s mind, to take the Americas by storm in 2010. With the popularity of their countrymen Gojira, and that off style of metal that has caught on so enthusiastically, HYPNO5E are a shoe-in with an even more developed sense of artistry and untapped imagination that many bands in the scene today. HYPNO5E are set to hit the road on the MUSIC AS ART tour, along with a more extensive follow up tour. I had the opportunity to ask bassist Gredin Le Fourbe some questions about the band and the style of art that sets them apart from so many.
AMR: Tell us about HYPNO5E. What is the meaning behind the name? What are your motivations as a band?
Gredin: “Hypnose” is the French word for “hypnosis”. Hypnosis takes you to a world that is inside of you but that you don’t know. You can find deep into your unconscious a dark side of yourself which gives you no clue of its existence. One of Hypno5e’s goal, among others, is to get you closer to that dark side, then you’ll recognize your true desires and assume them. An other aim of hypno5e is to ally visual arts and music, that’s why we play in front of a movie we did by ourselves and play with lights on stage, this is in order to create a total and unique show.
AMR: Your album, Des Deux L’une Est L’Autre, was kind of a shocker for me. I receive many promos and this one blew me away because over the incredible quality of it, and the intricacies found within. How long has it taken you from conceptualization to actual CD pressing to make this album a reality without the financial support of a label?
GLF: The idea was born ten years ago. The materialisation of the idea as a band happened in 2003. We recorded the album 3 times before being satisfied, the drafts we did before (the demo and Manuscrit côté MS 408) are transcriptions of the creative process we’ve been through. We’ve toured A LOT in France to gain enough money to record it in decent conditions.
AMR: Your music is very hard to classify for me, and as a critic, I found that to be incredibly frustrating. What I do notice though, is that you follow a disjointed path similar to Gojira, and maybe even Sikth. Do you find your music to be wholly your own artistic expression, or is there direct inspiration from those who have made recent impacts on the world of metal?
GLF: We’re not very kind of metal. Concerning metal personally I mainly listen to old grind and death bands, we use metal because it’s the most effective way of expressing our emotions, our music includes high and low parts because it is supposed to be a mirror of life’s highs and lows, life and emotions are not straight lines, they are more like sine waves. So we play “sine metal” as to say… I think you can hear in our harmonisations that our main influence is classical music (and I can tell you that it is nothing compared to what the second album will be).
AMR: France has traditionally been a beacon of artistic expression, and metal and hard rock is no different. However, in the last several years since the re-emergence of metal into the mainstream, we haven’t seen as many French bands come to the forefront. Recently however, with Gojira and a few others, it seems like France is beginning to make a statement in the metal community. Do you see a strong spirit in your country, and do you foresee even more bands coming to fruition?
GLF: I guess French musicians focused on Mike Patton a lot during the late 90’s and at the beginning of the 21st Century. Not only in metal but in indie music: we have an incredibly creative scene in Amiens (in the North of France) influenced by the will of going further in the approach of music and aesthetics, and I think this was thanks to Mr Bungle mostly and to each of Mike Patton’s band. Many metal French bands don’t want to be Pantera-like rock stars, they try to give music a more metaphysical meaning, to be more effective and “gut-felt”. Bands like Neurosis or Tool have shown us the way…
AMR: A big part of this album is the sound bytes you use, in fact, I believe these samples really bring to life much of the atmosphere throughout the album. Can you tell us how you acquired so many wonderful sound bytes, and what was your motivation for using them?
GLF: We listen and watch many documents about art in general. I’m a bookworm, Manu spends his life in front of the cultural channels… We like to quote artists we appreciate, genius has a part of insanity so most of the time it creates a really weird atmosphere, we enjoy that.
AMR: The music video for “Daybreak at Slaughter-House” is a very complex video, even by high budget standards, but it fits the song so well. How long did it take you to make this, and is there an overall theme we can gain from watching it?
GLF: Manu did the video in one month I think. Personally I don’t like to guide the approach of an artistic piece, I think art must be a reflection of one’s self: anyone can see something different from a piece of art, you subjectivity gives you a meaning, I believe art makes you see inside of you. There is an overall meaning of the video but I don’t think saying it would be useful, I prefer listening to what the others think of it, I don’t want to lead you, no one should be led.
AMR: You have already managed to pull off a tour of North America, do you have any plans of returning to this side of the pond?
GLF: Sure! We announced our “Metal as Art Tour” on our MySpace, It will be from January the 6th to February the 6th featuring Revocation (from Relapse Records) and The Binary Code. We assume that one month is not enough to tour in such a huge country so we’ll be playing a whole additional month to play in Florida, Georgia, Vermont, etc…
AMR: If you could play with 5 bands, active or inactive, who would they be?
GLF:
- Pantera (for the booze)
- Gwar (for party)
- The Dillinger Escape Plan (for the madness)
- An Albatross (travelling with them must be excellent)
- Juliana Hatfield (for the beauty)
This is my personal list.
AMR: Is there anything else you’d like to add for our readers?
GLF: First thank YOU for this interview and your interest, for your kindness and your support. We have a quiet music project you should listen to if you like Hypno5e: A Backward Glance On A Travel Road (free downloads are available on the net). And… Music is not just picking an instrument, it is about getting involved in the creative process, Do It Yourself.
Interview by CODY
http://www.myspace.com/hypno5e
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