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Interview Ad Inferna 05.02.2010 (engl.)
Our german partner magazin "Ruhrschall" has an interview with the French band Ad Inferna. Ad Inferna is one of the hottest bands in the European electronic scene. with their latest Album "Trance:N
ance" they are in the top 10 of the GEWC. And in January they held the 3. place for the "Ruhrschall Web Charts". And now we Present you the English version of our interview.
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Your band name is Ad Inferna. What significance does this name?
VOA: 10 years ago, when we played on the dark / black metal scene, Ad Inferna was a kind of very dark meaning for us, as it’s the latin translation of something like from the Hell. Right now, a lot of years later, Ad Inferna means the same, but not only for the translated meaning anymore, but especially because we really thought we have lived some frightening periods and moments and we are back!
VVA: like if whatever you do, whatever you say, a part of your destiny is fixed… but we struggle to prevent the inexorable decline.
How do you construct your music?
VOA: depending of the mood and the day. We usually compose several tracks together, not just one song. That’s why our albums are always conceptual. We usually begin to speak about the direction we want for an album, the sense we will give to the music and the lyrics. Then, ideas rise and a kind of symbol is immediately hold to the concept. I compose following this way, and track after track, VVA writes and put his vocals. Afterward, we used to talk a lot about the final result to make the song growing. There is a real work of band, and a real cooperation between me & VVA, that’s why Ad Inferna sounds so special I think!
VVA: I am exaggerating a bit but not so much: basically, we’re waking up and wondering what we want to do as music today … free as birds. Playing what we feel, what we like and what we want.
How is the actual line up? Respectively, how the tasks are distributed?
VOA: I play and compose music, VVA performs and compose lyrics. VNA will perform drums and some programming for the show only. The line-up of Ad Inferna is not more than the cited members. We have the chance to have session members for the albums recordings as well as for the future shows.
How would you describe your musical style?
VVA: Ok, at the beginning with l’Empire des Sens, people & media said we were playing Symphonic Dark Metal with some Gothic touches. With TND, some reviews defined our music as a combination of different styles like electro, industrial and gothic. The qualifiers for our next productions will change one more time. I can’t put our music in a box, in an accurate style. I think Ad Inferna is and will stay a musical UFO created to give pleasure to our listeners and … to ourselves!
Music is divided into classified styles, such as Harsh Electro, Hellektro, Synthpop, EBM, and so on. In which of it would you put yourself?
VVA: Ad Inferna is a strange mix between Synthpop & EBM with dark elements from Hell but what I prefer personally is … the Synthpop!!!
Is there a special inspiration for you?
VOA: I’ve never known to answer to that, it’s a very complex question…. The only thing I can say is that you will never ever hear something fun from Ad Inferna. And make my words: NEVER VVA: Yes, my own depths. When I can get there, the inspiration is immediatly coming and I can sometimes write all the lyrics of an album in a week ;-) It’s hard to live but the result is quite ok.
Do you work in a studio configuration to compose your songs? What is composing first? The music or the texts?
VOA: idea, music, text, music, text, idea, music, text.
VVA: On TND, we’ve begun by some of my words. But, on our new tracks, VOA gave first life to music and then I wrote the lyrics. Personally, I prefer in that order.
Are there any musical role models for you? Are there any musicians affecting your work?
VOA: of course, you could always find some relations between your music and the bands you did liked in the past, it’s always a kind of deepest inspiration and fortunately, music is still creating some musicians by the way! But yes, let’s tell for my part, bands like A-HA, Depeche Mode, Pink Floyd for the oldest ones, and some crazy talented musicians like Sopor Aeternus. Today, I really enjoy the work of bands like Frozen Plasma, Mind in a Box, VAC… But again, I don’t really know if it affects my work or not, I hope so, because it would mean that we are creating some very great songs.
Which band would you like to work again?
VOA: Reaper (oops, we are working with it already), Soman, Beborn Beton, Micky Noise, and almost all the bands we worked with! We are always opened for great collaborations.
VVA: Yeah, that’s right. Overall with all those we met since we have done TND. It’s incredible cause I do not think we met musicians as nice and professional in this environment! Vasi Vallis (Frozen Plasma, Reaper) & Kolja (Soman) are really great persons: this gives you enough reasons to work with them again!
Your latest CD, "Trance: N: Dance" is a 12 songs album, the first song is a cover of "Fade To Gray". Why did you re-interpreted this song?
VVA: we decided to do that cause we love this track and want to pay a tribute to the 80’s that marked me so! We both wanted to remain faithful to the original while bringing a little touch of Ad Inferna. In addition, we decided to put it on first position on this album to mark a progression: “Fade to Grey” is a kind of gently intro
The songs 9 to 14 are remixes by Beborn Beton, Combichrist, Soman and Reaper. How did you collaborated with these bands?
VVA: we just contact them and ask them if they want to take part of our TND album … and they all said yes! We’re fully satisfied of these 4 different visions of our songs. We’ve kept contact with all these bands… excepted Combichrist. After these collaborations, we decided to choose Vasi (Reaper) as producer for our next album. And hot news: the mastering of this opus will be done today ;-)
Other remixes are expected from other bands?
VVA: Yep, Colony 5, Supreme Court, C-Lekktor, Micky Noise.
How and where can we get your current CD "Trance: N: Dance"?
VVA: TND is released by Soulfood in Germany since the 29th of January 2010. It is already available at Poponaut, Indietective, Amazon and Infrarot. It should probably be sold in your local music store near you too! We’re also talking about a possible American license too
When will your next CD is to be expected?
VOA: Second half of 2010, we hope so!
Are you satisfied with the responses you got from your CD "Trance: N: Dance"?
VVA: Really impressed …and almost by the response of the German media (magazines, webzines and radios) and all the DJs who have broadcasted our tracks, they are really fantastic! I remember now, when we just came out of the studio for this album, some guys told us it was too electronic for the metal scene & too metal for the electronic world. But that’s bullshit and the proof is here now! All over the world, Open-minded people gave us really good feedbacks and we’re so happy about that. Honestly, I‘ll never thought TND could reach such passions and such support from people. Thanks to all of you!!!
How was finally your collaboration with your label Aural/Dreamcell11?
VOA: Aural has been very reactive concerning TND and it was a pleasure to sign with them after so much years of silence. Now I think our horizons are maybe too different, and our expectations might be not their ones, so we will always keep a very great respect for them.
VVA: we did sign with Aural Music a license for TND only. Right now, we’re free to choose the best options for us. Several ways are now presented to us: we’ll take the right decisons!
How important are for you compilations / contributions?
VVA: that’s a fantastic way to make people discover our music. For example, the fact that we feature on the 9th volume of Extreme Sündenfall or to be present on your own compilation, are opportunities to be heard more of what we are able to do. Another one, our track “Redemption (Reaper BUM RMX)” will be soon added on Darktraxx for all this Dj community. I can’t say more about that but we’ve remixed great bands and our work will appear on their next productions…
What is most important for you? The digital release or a real CD ?
VVA: I understand that the mp3 or wav format is really easy to use on PC, Ipod or other solution to listen to music. But when you have a good Hifi system and you’ve a real CD … nothing can be compared to that!
VOA: no doubt, the CD, I hate MP3 even if sometimes you are forced to use its. MP3 are too easy to download, and music becomes rapidly too soft. Remember the period where you were a child and you were playing a lot for a CD. Now you can get everything you want.
When can we see you playing in Germany?
VOA: Soon? ;-)
VVA: Absolutely but after the release of our next album! We love German people and want to come playing HOT gigs there
What can we expect of an Ad Inferna’s show?
VVA : We’ll do our best to give an unforgettable show to those who’ll come see us. If we have the financial resources and time, I really want to work on a movie to be broadcast in the background. And on stage, there will be 2 female vocalists & a drummer. We’ll do all we can to transcribe the universe of our album on live.
Which band would you be happy to play with ?
VVA : Frozen Plasma or Colony 5 by example.
Your 3 personal favorite albums are?
VOA:
1) VAC / Twisted though Generators
2) EverEve / Seasons
3) Sopor Aeternus / Ich Töte blablabla
How important is the Myspace for you?
VVA: MS is very important cause that a good mean to stay in contact with our fans.
Do you consider to get a value in the Charts (DAC / Media Control, etc.)?
VVA : we expect to be on the DAC but I think we need to get a DAC promotion… hope someone will read this message and make it become real ;-) eh eh
What sin would you like to celebrate?
VVA: to be in harmony with our album, I would say Luxury!
What is the best thing about being a musician?
VOA: express yourself, find force in something you can’t reach if you are not honest with yourself, meet some great persons and friends and spread to every listener your mind spirit without to have the needle to tell a word on an interview (lol)
You come from France. what is the best things for you in this country? And what is typical french for you ? What would you recommend to your guests?
VVA: Red wines from Bordeaux, Champagne, some beautiful parts of our landscapes as le Bassin d’Arcachon, la Dordogne. I can tell you many things or names except Sarkozy ;-) A typical French guy is someone who has no good character, never happy about anything but always thinking to be the best & giving lesson to everyone! AH AH. Isn’t it? If you come to France, I can almost recommend you to have a party with the Ad Inferna team.
Would you want to send a final word to our listeners / readers?
VOA: thanx a lot, thanx to all of you in Ruhrschall, you have supported us since our come back and thanx for that! Thanx as well to all the Ad Inferna’s fans and listeners.
Website:
http://www.adinferna.com MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/adinferna
