Information
Author: Mourning
Translation: Dope Fiend
Line Up
U.W. - Vocals
Jean-Jérôme - Guitars
A.M. - Guitars
A.B. - Bass
R.R. - Drums
The French band Regarde Les Hommes Tomber was one of my more frequent listenings in the last weeks. The self-titled album that I reviewed has presented an unknown band with great qualities that, due to the availability of Les Acteurs De L'Ombre Productions and Jean-Jérôme, now we'll try to know better.
Hi, it's a pleasure to have you here with us, welcome to Aristocrazia Webzine. How are you and how are you spending the summer?
Jean-Jérôme: Hi! Thanks for your interest. I'm Jean-Jérôme, guitarist. It's a nice summer, the sun shine.
How did you choose this name?
We took a long time to choose a name for the band. We tried to find a name fitting with the music and the general theme of our texts: the perpetual failure of the Human Being in his quest for the absolute. We wanted the name represents the melancholic and desperate side of our music. Antoine, the second guitarist, was really affected by the movie "Regarde Les Hommes Tomber" directed by Jacques Audiard. That's why he made us this proposal to be called like the movie. At the beginning, we were scared of being penalised because of a french name for the band but this unusual name RLHT is just perfect with the image we want to give of ourselves and our music.
How was the band born? Who are the members?
I started to write the songs on my own. That was an introspective and lonesome work, very personal. Then, gradually, I played the demo of the songs to my current fellows. We are friends and played together in several bands before. Excited, they all decided to take part of this project. We have been working together for one year and half before going into the studio.
Do you have a common musical background between the band's members or do you come from different listenings?
We all come from different listenings. Our drummer and guitarist are addict to Death Metal, our bassist to Punk Hardcore and Post Hardcore, our singer to Black and atmospheric Metal, and I'm addict to Post Rock, classical music and Black Metal.
What is the biggest challenge that you can meet in an attempt to merge many musical styles, such as in your album?
As you notice, we have a lot of musical influence. So the hardest thing to do is to write a coherent music. So we chose a concept, a main theme, and we work on ambiance and atmosphere.
I have portrayed "Regarde Les Hommes Tomber" like a fall that release us from the dogmatic chains: is this the message you would like to convey or is there more?
The main theme is about the perpetual failure of the Human Being in his quest for the absolute but also the opposition between the Man and the Divine. Man wants to be greater than the Divine, greater than he is and keep failing in his quest for the absolute because his meaningless condition as a mere mortal is unable to understand a tiny part of this immensity. It's an hopeless struggle with an inevitable conclusion. Man will always be caught by his lower instincts, his desires and his egoism. The Human Being, starting from a will to become a better Man, will always turn his quest for the absolute into a mean of domination in order to control his environment and people. This thematic is discussed in a lot of biblical stories. So, we asked our friend to get the inspiration from those biblical stories to write the lyrics of the songs. The story of Babel, Noah, Cain and the Dante's initiatory route with Virgile are all told and expressed in our songs. These examples show that the immensity which surround us, called God by the Human Being or natural elements, will always bring the Man to the reality; to his mortal and meaningless condition.
In a globalized world, but yet deeply divided by thousand reasons like the religious ones, what is the medium that could keep it alive?
I think we can't find a way, a method or a perfect solution. Human Beings have already tried everything to put an end to their external or internal division: religion, ideology, dictatorship, democracy, meditation, isolation, etc... Everything has failed.
The human race continues to fail in an attempt to be perfect, the future may will be dominated by machinery and the madness of religious fundamentalism could will be supplanted by some sort of schematic rationality that should to eliminate the "artistic" side of life. Are we a race destined to decay by self-mutilation?
What is dividing us the most, it's this selfish will to be better, to dominate... In order to avoid self destruction we need a deep and a true change. We should stop and wonder: "What are we doing? We made a mistake! Let's start all over again". But are we really ready for such a change of our way of thinking and operating?
How did you join to the Les Acteurs De L'Ombre's family? Do you will continue your relationship with them in the future?
We gave our very first gig in May 2012 in opening for Wolves In The Throne Room where Gerald from Les Acteurs De L'Ombre Productions noticed us. Convinced by our music, he decided to sign us up on his label and produce our first album. We are very satisfied with our label cooperation. LADLO give us the opportunity of streaming our music in large scale. We are very thankful to Gerald. He is doing a great job for us. Thanks to him, we did the opening of Enslaved, on March in Paris. He spends days and nights to promote his groups. We respect his work. It's also an honour to work with LADLO because the other bands are excellent.
The French extreme music scene has always been full of interesting proposals, but in these last years, in my opinion, it has churned out a lot of more awesome stuff than in the past. What are the band of your countrymen that you mostly listen and follow? And what are the ones ended up between your latest purchases?
Indeed, in France, there are more and more interesting groups, which was not the case ten years ago. Things are moving on... thanks in part to the new generations who hasn't been influenced by Neo Metal. The Black Metal scene has proven itself for a long time, and groups such as Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, Celeste, The Great Old Ones, Svart Crown, Antaeus or Aosoth keep proving it.
What differences have you noticed in music by those who follow the more "extreme" styles since you started to move the first steps both as listeners and as musicians? The relationship with art has become secondary?
Unfortunately, bands who chose the path of extreme music produce a very violent and technical sound. The purpose is to impress but they often forgot the musicality.
Let's take a lightly moment. I will list you a series of words and for each one tell me the first thing that you think about: rehearsal room, beer, gigs, musical instruments, women, Black Metal, Sludge, Old School, Black Sabbath.
Rehearsal room: work and good time.
Beer: I don't drink alcohol.
Gigs: huge pleasure.
Musical instruments: passion.
Women: the half of humanity.
Black Metal: Emperor!
Sludge: Neurosis, Isis.
Old school: Bad Brains.
Black Sabbath: pioneers, the great Tony Iommi!
Are you playing live now? There are already scheduled dates that you want to share with our readers, with the hope they can participate in?
There are our next shows:
20/09/13: Bordeaux w/ The Great Old Ones, Lifestream @ Le Bootleg.
21/09/13: Toulouse w/ The Great Old Ones @ Le Saint Des Seins.
26/09/13: Strasbourg @ Le Molodoï.
27/09/13: Help us! Book us, please!
28/09/13: Lille w/ Love Sex Machine, Hast @ Le Biplan.
01/12/13: Paris - Black Metal Is Rising Festival.
Concerning upcoming concert, please take a look to our official Facebook page to get in touch: www.facebook.com/rlhtband.
There is some kind of difference between the equipment you used to record the album in the studio and the one you normally have used in live? And, specifically, what kind of guitars and bass guitars, amplifiers, drums, etc., do you use?
We use the same equipment in rehearsal room and stage. We used to play on Orange amps, Blackstar amps, Marshall cabs and Ampeg cabs. Concerning instruments, we play on Gibson guitar, LTD guitar, Warwick bass and Gretsch drums. At last, we used a lot of reverb and delay pedals!
Are you already working on the new album? There are already some new song?
No, it's too early for a new album. Currently, we promote our first album.
We are at the end, thank you for the time spent with us. The final word is up to you.
I hope you'll enjoy reading this interview and thus to know RLHT better. The most important thing about us it's we are big fan of music above all: its history, its environment, its evolution and its differents trends... We always try to learn and discover new things. Real geeks and bulimics of music! We don't do that just for fun! It's this passion who drives us and gives us the motivation to go ahaead. We just wish to convey it to a wide audience!
