Breakpoint
Breakpoint have set the
base with their previous album “None To Sell” and their incredible latest
effort “Strange Fruit” to become one of the protagonists of the French
metal scene. I think they deserve it and people get to realize it little
by little as time passes by. I strongly believe that Breakpoint, given
the chance, will occupy our interest with their music in the future. Below
follows the most recent interview we did with the band's guitarist, Seb.
See for yourselves...
1.FIRST OF ALL, WHAT HAPPENED TO BREAKPOINT
FROM THE RELEASE OF “NONE TO SELL” TILL THE RELEASE OF “STRANGE FRUIT”?
As you can imagine, we wanted to play as many
concerts as possible so as to promote the record. In fact, we didn’t play
that much. So we rapidly woeked on our second release and began to write
new stuff. In about 1 year time, “Strange Fruit“ was fully written, recorded,
mixed and released.
2.ON YOUR NEW ALBUM I HAVE NOTICED THAT YOU REDUCED
THE METALLICA INFLUENCES AND YOUR SOUND BECAME DARKER AND MORE RAW. I’VE
NOTICED INFLUENCES FROM BANDS LIKE BLACK SABBATH, PANTERA, NEVERMORE AND
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY. DO YOU AGREE? HOW HAS THIS CHANGE OCCURRED?
All the bands you’ve mentioned have always
been great influences to us, from the beginning. Still, as time passes,
we discover and appreciate new bands. Unconsciously, our way of playing
and writing songs is altered by that. Then, the change you noticed was
not a deliberate choice, but rather a natural evolution of our music.
3.CAN YOU TELL ME IN WHICH WAYS ARE “STRANGE FRUIT”
AND “NONE TO SELL” SIMILAR AND IN WHICH FIELDS THEY DIFFER.
We chose to concentrate on the vocals when
we were writing songs for the new album. We wanted a more melodic approach,
catchy choruses, and rather simple and direct songs. We also intended to
create atmospheres so that each song could be immediately recognizable.
4.YOUR DEBUT ALBUM WAS RELEASED FROM PERENNIAL
QUEST AND YOUR NEW FROM ANVIL CORP. WHY DID YOU CHANGE LABEL? WHAT MORE,
DO YOU THINK, ANVIL CORP. CAN OFFER TO BREAKPOINT?
Perennial Quest Records is a very tiny structure;
Anvil Corp. is a little bigger and provided us with a better distribution.
Contrary to “None To Sell”, this time we were searching for a deal before
the album was finished. Consequently, Anvil Corp. has also been able to
help us to pay to have it made.
5.YOU NAMED THE ALBUM “STRANGE FRUIT”. WHAT DO
YOU WANT TO SUGGEST WITH THIS TITLE? WHERE DOES THIS ALBUM DWELL LYRICALLY?
The Strange Fruit were the black people who
were beaten to death and hanged on trees in America in the 1920s.
This topic is dealt with one of our songs : Strange Root. As in ”None To
Sell”, most of the lyrics are personal matters, but we tried to deal with
more general and “social” facts this time, such as war in Iraq, the power
of media...
6.HOW DID THE FANS AND THE PRESS RECEIVE YOUR
ALBUM
TILL NOW? DO YOU KNOW HOW WELL WAS RECEIVED YOUR DEBUT ALBUM ABROAD?
The French magazines have been enthusiastic
about “Strange Fruit“, as have been all the webzines, in France and abroad.
Let it continue ! As for “None To Sell“, most of the webzines appreciated
it; unfortunately, we didn’t sell many albums abroad because we ‘ve never
toured in any foreign country yet.
7.THE FRENCH PEOPLE ARE VERY PROUD OF THEIR LANGUAGE
AND CULTURE. SOMETHING VERY OBVIOUS IN YOUR HEAVY METAL SCENE SINCE MANY
BANDS SING IN YOUR MOTHER TONGUE. SO, HOW EASY IS IT FOR THE FRENCH METAL
FANS TO ACCEPT A BAND THAT SINGS IN ENGLISH?
It has always seemed natural for us to sing
in English because all the heavy metal bands we like do so. The English
language fits with this kind of music. Still, some verses of ours have
been written in our mother tongue. Just search for them!
8. EVERY MUSICIAN THAT PLAYS HEAVY METAL KNOWS
THAT MOST PROBABLY HE WILL NEVER BECOME RICH OR FAMOUS FROM THIS MUSIC,
AS IT’S THE DEAL WITH OTHER KINDS OF MUSIC. SO, WHAT MAKES YOU PLAY HEAVY
METAL AND NOT SOMETHING ELSE THAT WILL BRING YOU MORE WEALTH? HAVE YOU
EVER BEEN AFRAID OF THE IDEA THAT THIS LOVE FOR HEAVY METAL MIGHT TURN
INTO HATE OR DISAPPOINTMENT IF YOU DON’T ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS?
I don’t think that our love for heavy metal
could ever turn into hate. This music will remain part of our lives, whatever
we do in the future. Our music changes as time passes and maybe one day
we will be playing something else because we feel the need to do so. But
we began appreciating music through heavy metal and we never thought of
making a living out of it, because we’ve always known that this would be
impossible. There can’t be dissapointment or bitterness about our music.
9. YOUR PREDICTIONS ABOUT EURO 2004. WHO DO YOU
THINK WILL BE THE EUROPEAN CHAMPION? DO YOU LIKE ANY OTHER TEAM EXCEPT
FOR FRANCE? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT YOUR LOSS FROM GREECE?
I think that Greece has the best team to win!!!
10. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO BE AN IMPORTANT PERSONALITY
FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE AND WHICH PERIOD OF HIS LIFE WOULD
YOU LIKE TO HAVE A TASTE OF?
There are many people we’d like to incarnate
for a day and I think that everyone in Breakpoint would give you a different
answer! The most important thing is not who we would like to be, but how
we can live our lives as best as possible.
11. WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK DESCRIBE BREAKPOINT
AND YOUR MUSIC THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY?
Our music has always deeply been influenced
by Heavy-Metal, so let’s say that we play Heavy-Metal! We like powerful
and groovy songs as well as slow, melodious ones. These are the words that
fit to our music.
12. WHICH IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHICH
THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? WHICH DO YOU THINK IS YOUR TRADEMARK?
We play the music we love and we enjoy it;
this is the best part in Breakpoint, undoubtedly. As for the worst part,
it’s up to you to answer! Our music is not revolutionary but we try to
combine miscellaneous elements to create our own trademark, that is powerful
songs with much melody.
13. WHICH PHRASE FROM A REVIEW THAT YOU READ DESCRIBES
YOUR MUSIC THE BEST WAY AND WHICH THE WORST?
Many reviews and webzines describe our music
as a mixture of old-school thrash metal with HxC vocals and melodic guitars.
This sums up the atmospheres of our songs pretty well, even if the vocals
are more melodious and less raw on “Strange Fruit“. On the other hand,
one review declared once we were a neo-metal band. It can’t be further
from truth!
14. THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING
AND YOU’D LIKE TO MENTION?
Thank you for what you do for bands like ours.
It’s rather difficult for a band to be known but this is made via Internet
and people like you, who spend time discovering and listening to new stuff
from abroad.
Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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