2. CONGRATULATIONS FOR “DUALITY”!
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SUGGEST? IS IT PERHAPS THAT YOU PLAY MELODIC DEATH
METAL? THIS GENRE CONSISTS OF 2 CONTROVERSIAL ELEMENTS, MELODY AND BRUTALITY.
IS THIS WHY YOU NAMED THE ALBUM THIS WAY?
Well, in a certain way, yes. There’s
a flagrant contrast in mixing the raw power of death metal and the evolving
mood of melodic riffs. But I think that what we really wanted to suggest
(mostly in our lyrics) is the duality between all kinds of things; like
the duality between the world of dreams and the “real” world that we live
in. The songs on the album are very diversified and explore a lot of dimensions
of our existence.
3. TELL US A FEW GENERAL THINGS
ABOUT THIS RELEASE. WHERE WAS IT RECORDED? WHO WAS THE PRODUCER? HOW LONG
DID IT TAKE YOU? WHY DID THE RECORDING SESSIONS TAKE PLACE IN 2 DIFFERENT
STUDIOS? WHAT DID YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE WITH IT?
Duality was recorded in two separate
places : the guitars and keyboards were recorded at my home studio and
the rest was done at Radicart Studio. The album was produced by Françis
Perron (Decayed Remains). We decided to record part of the album at my
place because we wanted to have more freedom for the midi programming and
for the actual recording of guitars. It was also more convenient and a
bit cheaper that way. The whole mixing was done at Radicart and we did
the mastering at Victor Studio.
4. QUITE MANY LINES UP CHANGES OCCURRED
WITHIN THE BAND THAT AT SOME POINT LED YOU TO SPLIT UP. IS IT AFTER ALL
SO HARD TO FIND PEOPLE THAT YOU CAN COOPERATE AND GET ALONG WITH? WHAT
MADE YOU TRY AGAIN WITH SOULFORGE?
Good question! Well, when you want
to be serious with what you do, you have to do things right and get along
with your partners. Some lack of motivation and some personal problems
were the causes of the few changes that occurred in the band. With Soulforge,
I think that we just knew what we wanted and we were all on the same vibe
to make great music. Since then, everything’s great!
5. WHERE ARE YOUR LYRICS REFERRING
TO? TELL US SOME GENERAL THINGS ABOUT THEM. WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE
LYRICS?
Like I said before, our lyrics
are inspired either by the unreal and the surnatural or by real-life facts
(even sometimes a mix of the two). We do like to share our philosophical
point of view about things that we have experienced or about some problems
of our modern society. The lyrics are much diversified and I think that’s
a good thing. DUALITY makes you travel from very obscure and mystical themes
(Bloodline, Behind the Gates) to fantastic dreamscapes (Vinland, Dreamstorm).
6. WHAT KIND OF PROCEDURE DO YOU
FOLLOW WHILST COMPOSING SONGS? DO YOU TRY TO FOCUS ON AN EVENT, A SITUATION
OR A FEELING IN ORDER TO KEEP A SPECIFIC FEELING? AFTER ALL DON'T WE SAY
THAT AN ARTIST CAN BETTER EXPRESS HIMSELF THROUGH BITTER AND HARD TIMES?
DID IT WORK WITH SOULFORGE?
Most of the song writing on this
album was done by Michel and myself. I think that we are a lot inspired
by what’s happening in the world and in our general surrounding. As for
being inspired by bitter and hard times, I think that the song “Ethereal”
is a very good example. I wrote this song on a “dark episode” of my life
and the lyrics and music speak by themselves all the emotions I went trough
at that time. “Telepathic bug” has also very significative lyrics that
were inspired by things we lived as a band.
7. NOW TELL ME ABOUT YOUR COVER
ARTWORK, WHICH I LIKED A LOT. HOWEVER, I CAN’T FIND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN
THE ALBUM’S TITLE AND THE COVER. COULD YOU TELL US? WHY HAVE YOU DECIDED
TO USE A DRAWING AND NOT SOMETHING ELSE, MORE BRUTAL PERHAPS?
The cover was done by one of my
colleagues and friends Guy England. He’s a very talented and reputed fantasy
artist in Canada. The cover actually represent a man fighting his own shadows;
thus, the duality within himself. We decided to use a drawing because our
album is like a book with lots of stories to be told; and the drawing that
Guy made is a lot like a fantasy novel cover. We did not use something
brutal or morbid as our cover simply because we don’t really talk about
extreme or brutal stuff. Philosophical and imaginative themes are what
we are all about in this album.
8. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE
APPEARANCES OR TOURING?
We just played with In Flames and
Soilwork last month, so we’ll be taking a little break from big gigs in
the next few months. But we’ll do some little shows around town late this
summer. Next autumn we’ll try to book a small tour, but I think we’ll be
putting most of our time and energy into the making of our next album.
9. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO SOMEONE
THAT IS NOT FAMILIAR WITH YOUR MUSIC TO ATTRACT HIS ATTENTION? WHICH IS
THE MOST RECOGNIZABLE ELEMENT IN YOUR MUSIC?
Humm… I think that our music has
a local “Made in Quebec” flavor. We have that kind of groove and feel that
you don’t really hear in ordinary “Swedish” metal bands. That mix of power
and technique with the catchy chorus in our songs is perhaps one of our
distinctive traits.
10. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION,
WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
Well, if I was an emotion, it would
be “Independence”… like a feeling of freedom. For me, to feel free is a
very important state of mind. If I was a painting… I think it would show
something mysterious that would picture harmony between light and darkness.
11. IF YOU COULD PICK OUT ONE SONG
ONLY FROM YOUR RELEASE, WHICH WOULD THAT BE AND IF YOU HAD THE MONEY TO
MAKE AN EXPENSIVE VIDEO CLIP, HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
I think I would choose Bloodline
because of the message hidden in it. At first people thing that it’s a
song about werewolves or vampires, telling us about their fate and the
curse that they carry. But when you think about it, you can extrapolate
some parts of the story and find that the story can also be more of our
own era and talk about people who contracted AIDS, the human immunodeficiency
virus. I would do a video mixing the two visions in a very photographically
chaotic process; maybe done in a “David Lynch” kind of way.
12. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET
THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHICH WOULD YOU TELL HIM WAS HIS
MOST SERIOUS MISTAKE?
Why make a universe so big with
so many planets and living things? The best would have been not to create
the “universe” but to create a place beyond space and time where all living
things could be, and forever wander around, free of physical limitation
to explore and evolve.
13. IF WE LIVED IN A WORLD WITHOUT
ANY MUSIC, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? HOW WOULD YOU PIPE ALL YOUR FEELINGS AND
NEGATIVE ENERGY?
I would probably “invent” music!
Music is a very important thing in my life and I could probably not live
very well without it. But if I was deaf or in a world without sound, I
would probably paint or sculpt to pipe all my feelings and negative vibes.
14. YOU ARE GRANTED ONE WISH. WHAT
WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?
Hard question… I would ask for
a thousand more wishes? Omnipotency anyone? Doesn’t work hu? Hehehe… Well
I think as my one and only ultimate wish I would choose to be able to travel
back and forth in time at will. That way, I would get almost everything
I would ever want or need.
15. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET
AN IMPORTANT PERSONALITY OR MUSICIAN (DEAD OR ALIVE) WHO WOULD THAT BE
AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK HIM?
I would like to meet Chuck Schuldiner.
I saw him on stage once, but never had the chance to have a chat with him.
Chuck was a really big influence for me and I would simply like to thank
him for everything he taught me through his music.
16. WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS
INTERVIEW TO HAVE?
By reading my answers, if you have
a good idea for a title, use it! :) But if you can find anything
maybe something like this would be good : Soulforge : Harmony in Chaos
17. THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN
TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU’D LIKE TO MENTION?
No, I think you covered every possible
things to ask! Hehehe
Great questions!