Progressive, symphonic metalheads' OIKOUMEN have had a series of releases; including an EP, single's and an album. A follow-up album is in the works, with plans for upcoming shows, more shows following that, with even more music and so much else! The band talks of their time together, creating music, shows and more below.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
The band was formed in 2017 by Élie Veux (composer and guitar player) and I (Laura Mazard - Lyricist
and singer) in 2017. Then Yael joined in 2019 (bass player and synth programmer) and Julien Prost in
2023 (orchestral programmer and sound engineer).
We first had the idea to make symphonic metal (first EP) but then we went to a more prog music (first
album Dystopia) and now we are going to a more balanced music between symphonic and prog metal
(our last single Impulse is from this vibe and the next album will be too !). And the lyrics were first about historical themes but then we’ve decided to talk about more contemporary issues.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
Oïkoumen comes from a Greek word that refers to the known and the habitable world. It is also a
notion related to mankind and its relationship with its environment. It hints at what we’re all part of
but also points all that we still have to discover. It a good name to talk about lots of things!
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there are there any local bands
you could recommend
We are from around Paris in France. It's clearly not a metal country but there are people who like this
music anyway and support local bands like us ! But you have to carry a lot by yourself, invest a lot so
one mistake can be really hard to handle. So it’s not so easy to book shows but when people are
there it’s great nights together ! And of course there is a lot of bands to recommend next to Paris !
Here is my top 3 : Gargantura, Once Upon the End and Attractive Chaos for example but there is
more!
4. How would you describe your style?
We are between symphonic metal and prog metal. So majestic orchestras (especially in the album
coming) and dramatic melodies are part of our music, so as tensed riffs and complex structures. We
are making music with our raw emotions, good or bad, and we are sincere in our interpretation..
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
We released 1 album, 3 singles and 1 EP and we are still composing the next album and few singles.
So as I wrote previously our first album is more prog and the last single Impulse is more symphonic
and gives you an idea about what's coming for album II!
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
Yes, an album ! And of course few singles and covers too (only on YouTube for the covers). Our last
single release was September 6th of this year so we’ll take a bit of time before the next release.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
We are trying to play as much shows as we can. We usually have on show per month most of the Time in Paris (next on October 12th, then November 8th then December 20th in Orléans) and for next
year we are trying to schedule some tours in the North and Est of France. But we’ll have shows in
Paris too.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
We would love to be able to leave of our music of course which is very very hard we know but
anyway we can dream ! So we hope to have more time to write music so we can release all the songs
which are already in our minds. We will try to schedule tours out of France too and we hope we’ll be
able to meet other incredible people in our journey so our team can grow and we can do more
things with music ! And of course we would love to do bigger stage to be able to share a real show.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can listen to us on any streaming plateforms (like Spotify, Deezer…), buy our digital music on
bandcamp and our merch on Big cartel. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook and of course you can watch our music videos on YouTube. Here are our links : https://linktr.ee/oikoumen.
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
The emotions and ideas we want to share. ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment