The delicate nature of Decoherence



interview with Phil on 23-7-2005

Please give us a short introduction of yourself?
Ok. I'm Phil, guitarist in Decoherence. Is that short enough?

Why do you play in this band? What is the typical fun for this band?
I happen to be a founding member of the band, so I guess that is the main reason for my playing in the band today, apart from that I just enjoy creating music with my bandmates and sharing it with people who have enough bad taste to find it interesting. Music is by far the thing in my life for which I have the biggest interest so I had to get myself involved in a band at some point and in its creative process. I could not be happy in a lifestyle consisting only of working, eating, drinking, having sex, and so on. Some people can and it's fine for them. I just can't.

Which Disney movie pulls your tears? Why?
I
'm not really fond of Disney movies, to be honest, and it's mainly due to my extremely sensitive and delicate nature, they're way too unbearable for people like me.

For what price will you sell your music for the commerial sells?
Well, for as much as possible, obviously. It's all about money in Decoherence you know.

How is the metal scene in your area? Lot of gigs? Easy to get them?
It used to be a metal no man's land, but things are getting better little by little. There are more quality bands nowadays than 10 years ago, even great quality I would say (I'm thinking of bands like Symbiosys, Gojira, Garwall, for example).There are always a good number of gigs around Paris, at anytime, and surprisingly, as far as Decoherence is concerned, we did not find it that hard to get billed on shows. We were lucky enough to be contacted immediately after we recorded that first demo by people who offered us opportunities to play with great bands like Suffocation, Necrophagist (that one was cancelled in the end as their lead guitarist/singer had issues with his health) or Cephalic Carnage and some other more underground gigs. The main problem for us is more that each member has a fulltime job, which makes it rather hard sometimes to play live.

How does a show look like? What does the most fanatic fan gets from you after the show?
Hum... looks like 5 guys on stage trying to play extreme metal, I'm definitely not the right person for you to ask on that subject, come to one of our shows and you'll know what it looks like.
We don't have ’fanatic’ fans, as you say, not really, some people turned out to be really enthousiastic about our music but nothing that gets close to fanaticism, and that's fine that way, I always had a problem with groupies, no matter what band they like, they often are stupid and close minded people.

What do they have to do to obtain free tickets?
There's no possibility, I told you it was all about money in the band. Except maybe for good looking women if they agree to do hardcore porn with all of the band members, then they might have a discount of 2% on the ticket price.

Reacte on these three words (random order)
* sperm swallowers - Possibly the kind of women who could have a chance to have a discount on a Decoherence gigs entrance fee. Also applies to quite a good number of people in the parisian metal scene trying to establish connections with booking agencies, when you can't rely only on your music and luck, you have to find other ways...
* green blood - The kind of things you can see in pollitically correct video games. Despicable genre in the industry I have to admit.
* thumbtorture - Reminds me about my bassist, always complaining about his fingers and his unability to play sixtenth notes without a pick (which he doesn't use). We should fire him but he is the richest one the band, so we keep him. And who really cares about the bassist in death metal anyway?

What is your drive to make music? Did you study for it?
Money, women, glory.
To be serious, I've been a music addict for ages so I had to do some , and I only studied myself. If you're passionate enough you can learn anything by yourself, just by looking, analyzing, discussing with other musicians and trying to understand how things are done.That implies a lot of work, in a way, but you don't really think of this as a ’work’ when you actually love it.You're always learning, every day, at anytime, this is what keeps things interesting.

How do you keep your memories of your musical career alive? Write it down, video?
We tend to have a bunch of shitty videos close friends usually film at our gigs (you know, those made with old VHS systems nobody would ever use today).

Do you play covers? Some when rehearsal?
No, never.
We did a cover of Suffocation (Catatonia) in the past as we were asked to add an extra track to our setlist, and had no more of ours to be added at the time, doing a cover was the easiest solution in the end.

Which bands will appear on your tribute album in 2008?
We are a widely known and respected band throughout the world you know, so I guess those people probably would like to appear in such an album: Steve Vai, Messhuggah, Rammstein, Nevermore, Soilwork, Morbid Angel, Bon Jovi, Quincy Jones, Metallica, Celine Dion, possibly Johnny Halliday.

Do you have other activities in the metal scene?
I used to be a live sound ingeneer in the past but called it quits since it took me too much of my time and made it impossible for me to play music, being always on the road, which drove me crazy.I'm working in a music store now as a fulltime job, and it's better that way, I now have time to pratice with my band.

Interest outside the music bizz? What are your hobbies? Sport interest?
Well, when I'm not playing music with my bandmates or dealing with the out-of-musical-aspect of things with the band, and we're not having party, I usually go back to my kenjutsu and iaido katas, old japanese martial arts as you may know, in which I have a rather poor level now as I don't have that much spare time for this as time goes by. Not really a sport you'll say, but it sure helps me maintaining my spirit and physical cohesion.

Is there life after metal?
No, of course, and there's no life at all, anyone who says the contrary says bullshit.

What prejudice do you hate people have of metal musicians?
That they all have long hair, which is unfair, since I'm bald.

Say something in your language that makes my wife horny as hell?
’Tu sais que tu m'excites chérie, depuis que t'as ton nouveau dentier?’

Last rites?
Thx for the interview,
Band:
Interviewer: twansibon
Jul 23, 2005

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