M.S: Hi, thank you for answering our questions. How are you?
Bertrand (drums) : Hello, we’re fine, thanks a lot! We’re busy promoting Cabale, our third album, and preparing for Metal Female Voices Fest 8.
M.S: As you haven’t played in Spain yet, could you introduce yourselves to our readers? Tell us something about when and how the band was formed, your present situation and work…
Bertrand : Well, our band was created in 1999, in the north of France. Kathy and Igor played together ; soon myself and Jeremiah joined the band – we both were playing in a band at university. Dylath-Leen also had a keyboardist at that time. We wrote our own songs, our goal was releasing an album, which we did in 2002 with our Insecure CD. After a line-up change (2003-2008) we got back to the original team, except for the keyboards which now are launched from a sampler on stage.
Aside from the music, we all have day jobs, everybody needs to make a living hehe!
We know we have numerous fans in Spain, thanks to the Internet media! We would be more than happy to play there, one day maybe!
M.S: If someone wants to gather info about you, where could they listen to you or buy your albums?
Bertrand : To hear our music you can go to last.fm or myspace.com ; or why not on youtube, where our songs are ripped. For the albums, best thing is to go to our official website www.dylath-leen.net because we’re setting up our own store, you will find the CDs, t-shirts and other merch at a good price, directly from us. Of course if we’re playing near your city, we can meet our fans and they can buy merchandising there.
Buying stuff from the bands at the shows and on their official stores is part of the ‘new way of consuming music’ I was talking about, it’s the fastest way to help the bands directly because you avoir the intermediates : big stores and brand names notably, who earn more money than the bands themselves when they sell a CD in their shops…
M.S: How did the MFVF organization get in touch with you? Did you send them first your material? Or did they call you? I’m sure you’ll be more than proud participating in this festival which is held every year, right?
Igor : Few years ago we met someone in Belgium to make first gigs out of France and this guy knew Philty who planned to organize a first MFVF. Phil wasn’t interested in what we played for the MFVF because he just wanted clean voices and never imagined some growling singers there. But he was curious and made us play just before Vader in Brussells, then we met and decided to work together. Philty helped us first in order to find gigs in Belgium and Netherlands and then worked for the band as a manager… yes, now we’re now proud of playing on that kind of stage. It’s a way to meet a big audience and to enjoy !
M.S: Nowadays, would you say that having women in a metal band leaves you in a second place concerning the rest of the bands in the metal scene? I mean, in the rest of the metal festivals you can find only 2 or 3 women fronted bands. Do you consider MFVF as a good way for bands like yours to have the chance to play in big venues?
Igor : From the beginning, we didn’t care if having women in the band could help us or not. I was surprised to see so many men who couldn’t stand to see a women play or sing metal … anyone thinking that it’s easier for us is deeply wrong : while we try to play in a fest, to sign with a label we are told that what we play is "too particular". Some people just focus on a kind of difference whereas we just try to make our way on the international metal scene.
No matter, we play wherever / whenever we can, making a kind of surprising death metal. 11 years after the beginning of the band, we’re always a weird band for the audience. Is it an advantage or a disadvantage ? We still don’t know !
M.S: MFVF is characterized mainly in hiring bands from so many different countries to come and play in Belgium, how’s the metal scene in your country? Would you recommend any bands for our readers?
Igor : yes it’s something amazing to meet so many different people and share our experience of stage, culture and music. In France the metal scene is growing under few leaders such as Gojira, Loudblast, Dagoba, … but there are a lot of good bands playing very different kinds of metal : S.U.P (death), Ataraxie (doom/death), Klone (melodic metal), No return (Thrash), In memory off (emo hardcore),… have an ear on them!
M.S: You’ll be at the eight edition of MFVF, which bands would you like to see?
Bertrand : We’ve been touring with ARCH ENEMY this year so it will be cool to see them again. Also, I personally would like to see RAM-ZET ; anyway, as a metal fan, I will try to see most of the bands : EPICA (saw them at MFVF7), REVAMP (played with them at Dokkem Open Air), etc!! It will depend on our time schedule mostly.
M.S: Concerning your show, what can the audience find on stage?
Bertrand : I think we are quite extreme compared to most of the bands, so people at MFVF have to expect fury and rage on stage 🙂 They will love the atmospheric side of our music, well, I guess!
Metalheads that never saw us, will be surprised by Kathy’s vocals I think. Generally when it happens, people record one video song and share it on Youtube as their latest discovery hehe!
M.S: I guess you are playing tracks from your last album “Cabale”, what could you tell us about it? Did you already find a label to release it?
Bertrand : On our 2010 tour, we are playing Never Rising Sun, as an unreleased track, even if you can find in on Youtube – on that one you can see Kathy singing without her guitar. It is a fast-paced song, with atmospheric verses, and a very very heavy ending. So far we’re still looking for a label. Times are hard for music professionnals as you know, and signing a band has become a bigger challenge. Bands and labels are going through an era of change, the Internet is changing everybody’s way of buying and ‘consuming’ (I hate that word) music. let’s wait and see what is preparing for the future…
M.S: What would you say people to attend the festival?
Bertrand : This is a pro festival, with a very good feeling, great bands you like, great bands you will discover, just come!
M.S: After the festival, which are your more immediate projects?
Bertrand : releasing and supporting our 3rd album ‘Cabale’, make a new video, play more and more shows! But first of all, we will have to celebrate Halloween haha!!
M.S: Thank you for your time! See you this October in the MFVF and good luck in your career!
Bertrand : Thanks a lot for your support and see you at MFVF, rock on!
David Aresté