Brutal death hardcore act Deep In Hate began in 2004 then wrote and recorded their first EP and album which lead to a few years passing until their second album but are about ready to release all new material! Guitarist Florian talks of the new music, band's past, present, and future activity.
1. What type of band are you?
Florian: Hi Natalie ! Deep In Hate is a French metal band from the Parisian area. We started as a pure Brutal Death band, but with time we began to include some hardcore grooves to our music, that lead us to be called a death-core band. Yet, no clean vocals in here, and probably more technical and fast stuff than in a majority of Deathcore bands, so maybe Brutal Deathcore ?
2. Tell us the brief history of your band.
Florian: The foundations of Deep In Hate were laid in 2004 by Vince (guitars) and Bastos (drums). They quickly recorded a first EP, then the first album Only the Strong Survive was released in 2008, but until 2010 and the recording of the band’s second album, the band faced many changes of line-up. Hence the long time between the releases. But we are now almost ready to record the next and third record !
3. Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
Florian: Musically, we are influenced by modern metal bands such as Despised Icon (it’s a damn pity they stopped !), Beneath the Massacre, Whitechapel, The Faceless and Gojira. But we can’t forget our classics like Decapitated, Dying Fœtus, Suffocation. I’m not saying we are directly following their paths, it’s just the bands (and I've obviously quoted just too few !) that make us want to do Brutal stuff. Non-musically, we have different inspirations : Matt (vocals) is really into cinema (sci-fi and fantastic stuff), I’m more into books and philosophy for example. Video gaming is something we share too.
4. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Florian: In The Origins of Inequality, the main themes are the need to think for ourselves and not let others put words into our mouths : right-thinking , politically correct are ideas put into people’s minds without them even realizing (because even the thought of DEBATING is sometimes seems as inappropriate).
The lack of self-thinking, but also of empathy (towards others, towards nature) are at the origins of inequality.
5. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Florian: Yes. Matt (vocals) writes the main ideas and the first sentences of the lyrics, as they come to him after we decided on a thematic, or after we had one of our philosophical talks. Then we both work on those sketches. Sometimes the strongest ideas come naturally to him in French, so we work on a way to deliver them in English. Finally, the difficult but inspiring part is that we adapt the written lyrics to the vocal parts we want to hear – we then have to cut or develop sentences. We will not force the words into the song.
6. Your Facebook page says "writing mode engaged" can you elaborate that?
Florian: Indeed, after the release of our last album, we had to take some time before writing new stuff. First, the preparation of the tours to promote the album took all our musical time – we are not making a living from our music and have naturally to work besides the rehearsals and shows. But we also needed time because the writing of the second album was difficult : we've had 4 different singers during this period. Each time you have to work again on the live material, and each singer puts new vocal parts on the songs… So the writing was particularly long and exhausting. So, in order to make new exciting stuff we took some time, listened to new bands and now, here we are, since October/November we are writing the next album. 7. What's new in the recording of your music?
Florian: Regarding the music, what has changed is the will to be less intellectual and more emotional.
Regarding the recording process, we have invested in the last couple of years in material so we are able to record by ourselves. It will be more comfortable and less stressful since we are not all professional musicians and have our normal life going on besides the recording. We will do this record by ourselves and as a family, because our sound engineer will be the one that follows us on the road. And in the end, we may use the experience of another sound engineer to materialize the tracks.
8. How do you promote your band and shows?
Florian: Like many bands, we try to adapt to the evolution of the internet. Today, it is Facebook and YouTube that seem the best way to promote both, band and shows. It is a good way to share your activity and to communicate with people that are the reason you exist as a band.
9. Can you describe your show, visual and musically for us?
Florian: Well, I never have had a chance to be in the audience and see my band play live… But what we’re trying to do is sharing the most we can. Sharing our passion, our energy, our pleasure to be there. It is a time when only the music matters. So when the tension of the technical parts is released and that we play more hardcore riffs we try to move so that the audience is left with no choice…. Our show is about nuances, between fast and mind-blowing riffs to more headbanging parts. The two universes make more sense together.
10. What's the best and worst thing about playing shows?
Florian: Sometimes, it is only pleasure. Sometimes, you are there but you are the little band which has barely a reason to be, according to some tour managers or promoters for example. So, there is a bigger stress because you have a limited time to install, to get out of the stage, and maybe there is not enough place to store your gear and…Aaaaah, I hate when you cannot concentrate on your show and have to deal with so many practical things! For the best parts, it is the contact with the people from the audience after a show that I love the most, and some of the parties we made after our shows will remain in our eyes legendary!
11. Tell us about your next shows and why we should be there.
Florian: I like our show as they are now, visually and musically, but I’d rather tell you about what’s coming next. With the new album we plan on working on more details. With new backdrops, new lights -we will work in a more professional way with a light engineer, we want to visually drag the audience in our musical universe. Besides, our new songs will be even better played on-stage. We have written the songs having the stage in mind.
12. What advice would you give to fellow bands?
Florian: I’d be glad to give advice, but I’m not sure I am in a good place to talk : we are just beginning to be in the real and professional music world. Yet, let me say something common but always true : do, do and do again, don’t be afraid to fall, because each mistake makes you closer to success. As long as you are able to evolve and not be too stubborn, you are each day stronger than the day before. I am now sure that each band has known its moments where its members could have give up. This is what makes the good times so precious.
13. What are the biggest obstacles for bands?
Florian: Money ? (smile) It is always hard to concise one’s personal and professional life with one’s musical activities, and that is true for money, time and spirit. Besides, being in a band is not only about playing shows, writing music and practicing and that can be hard to realize. You have to promote your band and music, meet some people, book your shows, spend time and time again calling on the phone the places where you may/could/have a little chance of playing. It is only when you have proved that you could survive that you can find help from the outside. In the end, you sometimes ask yourselves why you are doing all of this, why all those efforts… When all you wanted was to play some fucking metal! But the answer is : because the times we lived as a band are priceless. Being on stage, talking to the people that enjoyed your band, the road trips, the nights at the hotels… And then releasing an album, which is literally a part of you…I will always remember everything, and how much I learned as a person.
14. How does music affect you and the world around you?
Florian: As I said before, being in a band and working to make it bigger is more than just playing music. You learn a lot because it’s about human relationships, passion, but also business… A comparison with an enterprise would not be too untrue, I think. Except that the reasons you are doing it are really different and much more personal.
I would probably need 20 hours and a lot of paper to really develop how it may have affected me… For one thing, having a passion and spending so much time and effort into it gives a true meaning to the weeks that are passing by, and it gives purpose… Besides, I have more empathy to the people with other passions and hobbies, and I am really curious about everything that can be considered artistic.
15. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
Florian: We plan on releasing our new album in early 2014, and to practice our new show up until then. We will have shows to do during that time anyway. Then, we really want to tour through Europe, and we are currently in contact with an established booking agent that we could work with in the near future. Finally, we have the chance to do the French Sonisphere this month, but a good purpose would be to be a part of the 2014 edition of the French Festival Hellfest, which is really a great place to play at ! Then, we will see the results of the tours and the release and try to do bigger and bigger !16. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Florian: You can listen to our music through Youtube, Deezer, Reverbnation, Spotify… And you can buy our album by directly contacting the band (via Facebook for instance) or on Amazon or iTunes Store if you are not in France.
17. Anything else you'd like to say?
Florian: I am grateful to you, Natalie, for giving me a chance to talk about my band Deep In Hate and for your patience… I hope that you will find the reading of this interview of interest, and that it will introduce our music to new people, but I especially hope that I will be able to introduce you to our new album and that you will be curious to discover it when it is released.
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