Ad Patres and their respect to the 'fathers'
In days Metal scene is invaded with styles and bands where many value appearance over musicianship, it would easy to forget that intensity and power are the roots upon which was built DEATH METAL. Ad Patres deals with refreshing the memory of amnesiacs. Started in 2008 and after one promo, split with Writhing they just released their debut "Scorn Aesthetics". To support this album I had a little chat with Carnad (guitars) about the album, tours and Christmas gifts.
Hello, please give us a short introduction about yourself. Also introduce the band mates and what they get paid for?
Hi! Ad Patres is a death metal band formed in late 2008 by Alsvid, Arnaud, Canard and Julien (our first singer). At the moment, the band is Alsvid on drums, Arnaud on bass, Olivier and Canard play guitars and Axel is the singer. I’m not sure about telling what we do for a living, this might give some clues to all the groupies who want our bodies and we do not want this on our workplaces, this would be a mess.
What was the reason to form Ad Patres? And what does the name mean? And are you aware that there were other bands with that monniker?
The reason is quite simple: we wanted to play death metal the way we like it, fast and aggressive with a groovy touch. It all came up naturally when we started rehearsing. The name Ad Patres came up a bit later, it means «to the fathers» or «dead» in some sense, it’s also a way of paying our respects to the death metal bands from the nineties who inspire us most. We knew that some other bands were called like that but at some point, it’s really hard to find a name which is meaningful, sounds cool and isn’t already used. None of the bands were really active or huge at the time, so we went on with it. It’s not like we called ourselves Cannibal Corpse.
Who or what is the biggest inspiration for your upcoming release 'Scorn Aesthetics'? What sacrifices had to be made when recording the album?
Well I think our inspiration is pretty obvious if when you listen to Scorn Aesthetics: death metal! We tried and put a bit of everything we enjoy in this while not sounding like some kind of tribute band. As we are all coming from various horizons and genres, I like to think we managed to give some kind of a personality to this recording while not denying our main influences. We really took our time when we recorded this album, so there was no really big sacrifice to be made, we went at our pace, recording the drums first in a studio, later on the guitars were recorded in Bud Studio with Mat from Gorod while Arnaud recorded his bass parts with Matthieu Gervreau from Warattah and Axel did his vocals on his side. We took a really long time to get it straight but it went actually smoothly, without pressure…
I bet your lyrics are about tender loving, flowers, and how elderly people smell so nice...am I right?
Totally! nothing more to add. Next question? Seriously, the lyrics deal about the dark side of the human mind, all those phobias, little obsessions and secret desires and how it can lead to acts of dramatic proportions. Arnaud puts a lot of efforts in the lyrics, they all are meaningful while remaining obscure and powerful.
Would you ever include clean vocals in your band in the future, or are you death metal forever? What is your secretly listen non metal music?
I can’t see this happening right now, we are, after all, a death metal band. Some managed to include some clean-ish singing in their songs and did it great (songs like “Dying Will Be The Death Of Me” from Cephalic Carnage or “Birds Of Sulphur” from Gorod). This is quite an achievement but I can’t see something like that from Ad Patres.
What kind of effort will you make to improve the new songs? How do you raise the ladder?
We tend to focus more on the track structure than on any technical aspect. Having riffs that will “fit” the song rather than joining two riffs who could be killer apart and sound like crap once next to another. That’s how we “raise the ladder”, we try and get more coherent and catchy structures for our songs without it getting too much complex. And sometimes, we just say, “fuck it!! let’s make a really fast blasting one”, cause we like that too.
Do you think the French metal scene is something we should be looking forward to in the present?
Actually, yes ! The french metal scene has been quite awesome recently. Some bands go big like Gojira or even Gorod. And there all a new brutal death metal scene coming up with bands like Antropofago or our labelmates Insain.
What's your personal opinion on all these sub-genres of metal, i.e Metalcore/Deathcore?
I don’t really care how the band is tagged, as long as the music sounds good. But when you’re in front of a band who has the total look, the right tattoos, the haircut and everything and play uninspired one stringed riffs for an entire set, there might be a problem musicwise...
The new album has to be promoted. What is your fav way to do it?
Live!! We can’t wait to go out and play to promote Scorn Aesthetics! We are a live band before anything else and we’re ready to prove it to those who never saw us! If you ever want us to come and show you how we do it, just get in touch with us! For those who cannot come and see us for any reason, we also have a Facebook page and everything (Twitter, Youtube channel, Soundcloud), we try and keep some kind of “relationship” with everyone but it’s not easy since we get more and more "fans"...
Describe who your ultimate headliner would be on a world tour when promoting Scorn Aesthetics? Are willing to buy in for a tour? Is it easy for you to get free from work when a long period tour is offered?
We all would have our favorite, but I think everyone in the band would be all crazy about a tour with Suffocation. That would be really great! I always find it weird to buy in for a tour, paying to play is not really our priority, but it always depend on the tour we’re proposed, sometimes it’s impossible to say no. Then again, going on big tours isn’t really easy, we have jobs, families and everything and while our families are quite understanding about our passion, usually it’s not the case of our bosses and managers, you can’t just come in one morning and say “hey Bob, I won’t make it to work for the next six weeks, sorry!”...
I'm sure there's been many times where at least one you guys has been absolutely shit-faced and done something crazy during a live set, please explain your worst memory of such things.
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I think I’m the only one in the band who ever went up on stage totally wrecked. It was for a show with Demented and a band called Caesarum, those guys had like a secret pocket somewhere on them which led straight to a dimension with infinite booze. As I was heating up before the show, those guys came around and we started the drinking/talking/drinking more routine. I remember getting up on stage then it’s all blurry… The show’s been taped but there’s no evidence of me doing something crazy apart from crappy guitar playing and ridiculous comments... Never again I promise.
Overall what's the band's favourite choice of takeout/fast food after practice or performance? Why and describe the taste.
Anything that has fat in it and is totally unhealthy would do after a show (burgers, pizzas, chinese takeaway, fries, you name it). After practice we tend to mostly go in a pub and eat pints of beer, it’s liquid bread, it has everything your body needs.
In couple of months we are in December, what was the most metal present you've ever received for Christmas?
Well, years ago, I was burglarized, the bastard took all of my CDs, I was left with a bunch of old tapes (which was cool) and a broken tape player (which wasn’t). This all took place in the end of the summer, I was unemployed so I couldn’t afford to buy anything. For Christmas I got the “essentials” from my family, my sister bought me a Black Sabbath album, my mother an Iron Maiden one, everyone bought a classic. It was awesome, especially since they don’t know much about all this. And I got a new tape player as well!
What will bring 2013 for Ad Patres? What would you like to achieve? And what would you like to achieve in personal life?
Hopefully, with all the good feedback we have about “Scorn Aesthtics”, 2013 will be full of cool gigs, we’d love to play a couple fests next summer as well. We will also keep on working for a next release to blast your brains out. Personally, I’d like to achieve shitloads of money so that I can put all my efforts in music, but sadly that’s not really going to happen hehe.
What will be your proud story to tell your children/grand children about Ad Patres (dreams are allowed)?
Without even dreaming, I still can’t believe we played in front of thousands at the Hellfest 2011 opening, even though most of them didn’t have a clue who we were, the pit went totally wild. A couple of weeks before, we played in front of fifty people, most of them were friends of us, and there we were! No, I won’t need a lot of imagination in this case.
Anything else that should be mentioned? Go ahead and do some shameless self promotion!
If you like what we do, get in touch with us. If you don’t know us: listen to “Scorn Aesthetics”! Listen to the other bands we play in: Seth, Unbreathable, Evil Spells (check the Facebook page for more info…). Keep supporting your scene! Go to shows! Wear the shirt! Buy the music! Thank you for this interview and all the support BRUTALIM gave us. You guys rule! And thanks to everyone who support us!
