Noyades - Go Fast (Fr)

“Le rock en France, de toute façon, c’est mort”. Que l’on soit dans la campagne la plus reculée de l’hexagone ou encore au coeur de sa capitale, il nous est simplement impossible d’échapper aux variantes de cette phrase énoncée par les amateurs de musique plus ou moins cultivés sur le sujet de la musique Française. C’est une phrase bien grave qui vient à passer sous le domaine de l’usage courant, comme si le deuil eut été fait et la page tournée pour de bon. Mais de quoi parlent donc ces personnes? Certes, il est bien vrai qu’outre une poignée d’artistes ayant tamponné leur passeport à la conquête du public américain, la France semble rarement jouir d’une renommée mondiale, (du moins si on le compare à son voisin britannique). Serions-nous donc moins créatifs ou moins aptes à sortir de la musique digne d’une reconnaissance internationale?

Sans avoir la prétention d’avoir une réponse définitive sur le sujet de la discrétion des artistes rock français, je dirais qu’il suffit simplement de s’affranchir quelque peu des préjugés et de jeter un coup d’oeil sur notre chère scène rock indé pour remarquer que tout n’est pas si gris pour la condition des musiciens Français. Comme premier exemple d’autorité pour ce constat, j’appelle à votre attention cette deuxième sortie du trio Lyonnais connu sous le nom de Noyades, un groupe dont la musique échappe autant au préjugé cité qu’à la catégorisation. Mêlant adroitement des influences issus du math-rock, du noise-rock, du stoner et du rock psychédélique, la musique de Noyades se définit au mieux par leur nom pour le coup parfaitement à l’image de leur son.  Les 7 titres de Go Fast engloutissent l’auditeur dans une marée de sons massifs, des vagues déferlantes qui se joignent avant de se briser contre nos tympans.  Le timbre électrifiant de la guitare se définit sur des riffs groovy et se décompose en bruit pur avec une malléabilité organique et terriblement efficace, accompagné d’une basse survoltée et de rythmes de batterie alternant entre grooves saccadés et rythmes tribales répétitifs.  Des premières notes de Réplique à la cérémonie de cloture qu’est Reflects, l’auditeur est happé par l’atmosphère extatique et transcendante dépeinte par le mur d’effets sonores bruyants modulants sous les rythmes endiablés de la batterie. Aussi indomptable que l’immensité de l’océan, Noyades puise dans l’essence primale de notre oreille musicale et nous contraint à lâcher prise pour nous y soumettre tout entier. Aussi bruyant et strident qu’il puisse être par moments, Go Fast est de ce fait raison un album relativement accessible d’écoute. 

Les 7 compositions de l’album s’articulent entre des structures lunatiques et transcendantes échappant à toute forme de convention tout en gardant un fil conducteur cohérent dans son ensemble, les sauts d’humeur ne se résumant jamais à de simples brisures sans utilité.De par son jeu unique et entraînant mis en relief par une production crue mais précisément définie , Noyades tait toutes les voix sceptiques avec cet album exceptionnel qu’est Go Fast et montre que l’heure n’est pas tant du deuil pour la scène Française mais plutôt de la célébration.

Ecoutez Go Fast de Noyades ici :
https://noyades.bandcamp.com/music

Interview with Mathias of Wakrat

 Storming unto the scene with a knack for loud, heavy sounds and syncopated rhythms, the Wakrat trio are certainly a force to be reckoned with. Led by french drummer Mathias Wakrat and fronted by renowned bassist Tim Commerford (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave), the band made its mark alongside their friends and tour mates from the Prophets of Rage on the “Make America Rage Again” tour and is about to release its debut album over at earache Record. Here to talk about the project is none other than the mastermind himself, Mathias Wakrat, who was nice enough to agree for an interview.

First off, could you tell us a few words about your musical background up until the start of Wakrat?

I started playing music around 10 or 11 years, I forget why I chose the drums. I studied in drumming schools in France and I moved to the US when I turned 22, so 20 years ago.  I wanted to play heavier material, I liked listening to heavier stuff than what I was used to hearing around me and what people made me play. I played a lot of Jazz sessions a the time but I was also mostly into heavy music. I figured that it would be easier to find these kinds of projects in the US so I moved. I played in a lot of bands, I played popular music and stuff like that up until I decided to get this current project going. I had this agressive punk music in mind with irregular time signatures. I talked to  few musicians I knew in LA who were very interested. We started jamming but nothing really clicked yet. Then I started jamming with Laurent, whom I met through one of my best friends, probably the only french musician I played with since I moved here. We got along well and the project happened to be what he had in mind as well, so it all started all from there.

From what I understand you guys met through a french Bistro in Los Angeles.

Yeah, I’m actually a co-owner of a french restaurant. At the time I was really struggling to get by with music as my sole resource so I started taking jobs here and there on the side and I somehow ended up in the restaurant business. Being french, it was one of the easiest way to make money abroad. I wasn’t too bad at it and I ended up taking over a restaurant with my partner Jean-Christophe.  We’ve been open for quite some time now. Laurent actually worked there for a bit, that’s how we first met, he was a friend of Jean-Christophe. Through this restaurant, which frequently serves a lot of artists and musiciens, the word and the fact that I play music spread out. I became quite good friends with the frontman of Rage Against the Machine. Being a mountain biking enthusiast, Zach planned to hook me up with Tim to go riding together. So that’s how I met Tim over 10 years ago.  Tim know I played the drums but never knew how well until he heard the demos Laurent and I made. He and Zach really dug it, they thought it was different and they were impressed. We asked him if he’d like to lay some baselines on the songs and so it all went from there.

So you already had the basis of your sound when you brought him into the band.

Yeah, a lot of the demo tracks actually landed on the record, some of them having been more or less rearranged in the meantime after we added the bass and vocals. Once we rearranged everything we got back to the studio to re-record everything with Tim. We relearned the songs and rearranged them all together, which wasn’t an easy task for Tim, being that he had to play bass and sing. In the end we finished up all of the drum parts in one afternoon. It was a long process to get there but the recording in and of itself was done very quickly. 

Your songs rely on a lot of odd time signatures. Was this part of your artistic vision for the project or simply an integral and natural part of your playing style?

Being a drummer, the idea of playing to odd time signatures was a dream. As a matter of fact, all of the riffs and time signatures are based on rhythmic ideas, they’re the basis of our writing. I come up with a groove and a few riff ideas and Laurent works with them. On top of that, the bass comes over to add the melodies. At first our music was very mechanical and electric. It got a lot more melodic after Tim joined us. I’m a big fan of The Prodigy and their electro/punk style with weird sounds and crazy rhythms and I liked the idea of creating that sound with electric instruments. I really like odd time signatures because it gives a “kick”  to the songs. Instead of having the monotonous 4/4 time signature you get this unexpected hit before things kick back on track, kind of like a hit in the face. I like that, but it wasn’t intentional at first, we just ended up with odd time signatures.

Are the main ideas born from jam sessions or rather rhythmic ideas that you work on your own before bringing them to the rest of the band?

The three quarters of these rhythmic patterns are based on ideas I had on the fly. I’ll wake up one morning with these rhythms in my head. I test them out in the studio and Laurent tries to lay something on top and we discuss it. It’s a real team effort. Everyone adds their own element, that’s what’s great about the band. There’s a huge group effort and I’ve never seen anything like this before. Everyone brings their own angle and that’s what makes our unique sound. With that being said, people are always going to trace things back influences: people would mention Helmet and Fugazi. I was really into Helmet back in the 90s’ actually and Tim also loves them. Nowadays however I listen mostly to Jazz from the late 50s to the late 60s. Strangely enough that’s what inspires me to make stuff like this. 

Although the lyrics center around a more personal outlook, they seem to be the reflection of broader socio-political issues. What is is that feeds this energy of yours in Wakrat?

The music is really born from the collaboration between the 3 of us, it’s not really thought out. Lyrics-wise, the political aspect is entirely Tim. I know Laurent is also into politics as well, him and Tim agree on a few things but not everything. Tim is a very political from his background. I will admit that I don’t agree with everything he says, namely his way of condemning the US, which is the country I chose to live in and love, even though Tim may have a few points on a few things. Tim handles all of the lyrics. I always say that he never told me what to play so I’m not going to tell him what to write. It’s part of his way of expressing himself, it’s what he wants to do and thats’ what makes this project so beautiful. This project is a dream. Tim has things to say an I’m not going to stand against that. He’s got some ideas I don’t related to, but I respect them. I’m glad to give him this medium through which he can express himself and talk about it. 

Aren’t there limits to what you’d agree to affiliate yourself with as a fellow bandmate?

Not really, because when you listen to the lyrics you don’t really know where they come from. You can make up your own interpretation and your own opinion. You’re not necessarily going to interpret things the same way as he does, that kind of happens very often when you listen to the radio. You’re surprised when you hear about the inspiration or meaning of the song because you had a different idea in mind. I let tim write the lyrics without having him explain what they mean and I had made my own interpretation of them. When we finally sat down and he told me what inspired him to write these words I found some things I totally agreed with and other things I completely disagree with where I prefer to refer back to my initial interpretations. That’s whats’ beautiful about it. I love Rage Against the Machine but I’m sure that there are some ideas that Zach sings about that I wouldn’t approve of, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love the music and that I hear his lyrics from a different angle. I will never impose Tim any ideas. It’s what makes art beautiful and it’s called freedom of speech. Although I may find he goes a little too far on certain subjects, I support him completely the same way I let him do his thing when he expresses himself through his bass guitar. We might change a few things if they sound better musically, but in terms of content I respect his choices. Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I approve of them.

I was wondering where the french title “La Liberté ou la Mort” came from. Why the french song title?

Actually that was just a song title that we kept. It was the name of the song when we wrote it with Laurent. It was the second song we wrote together. The rhythmic pattern with the open and closed hi-hats reminded me of a guillotine, we were joking around with Laurent on that idea. We were talking about revolution and so as a joke we called it La Liberté ou la Mort (Liberty or Death), figuring that we’d change it later. The song title turned out to fit well with the lyrics and Tim liked the idea of having a French song title. It just came from a private joke. There are a few titles like that, we changed quite a few of them but there are 2 or 3 of them that kept the same title. The same goes for “Nail in the Snail”, which came from a private joke between Laurent and myself. We were eating snails and Laurent was fixing somethings to the walls so I told him “Watch out, you we don’t want to end up with a nail in the snail!”. It made us laugh and it just so happened that we were writing that song at the time. Again, the name just stuck because people liked it and we liked the way it sounded.

Regarding The Thing, is that a reference to the movie? Or maybe Heidegger?

No actually that’s how I happen to call my wife (laughs). “La Chose”! It’s just an old joke. Again, we had the title before writing the lyrics. We changed the song title after writing the lyrics. We had finished the record and mixed it and it came back to us saying “I loved The Thing! I think it fits with the lyrics and it’s way more interesting than the other title!”. I feel a little silly giving you this answer, it’s a lot less “intellectual” than you had expected I’m guessing ! (Laughs)

How did your wife react?

She laughed. My wife is the most laid back and supportive person there is. It’s true that it’s not a super positive song but it’s not about her. It makes her smile. When we finished everything it was Tim that insisted that we keep that title. He also wanted to make sure that my wife wouldn’t take it personally, he knows I call her that. She doesn’t care. 

Touching upon a subject from in your Earache introduction video, you mention social media and our relationship to them in modern day-to-day life. As a band, what is the line that you draw between the benefits and downsides of social media?

I admit that I really don’t care for social media. On the other hand it can also be a magical tool, the fact that you can record a song and share it with the whole world within the hour is great. It’s amazing. When I was a kid I remember that when I went to by this album by Tony Williams I needed to order it and wait a month before getting it. Nowadays when a record comes out you can have it immediately. As a band you have to use them. I’m just glad I don’t have to handle all of that because we wouldn’t have gone very far otherwise. What bothers me with social media is that you can’t dissociate what’s true and what’s false. The same goes for music. The beauty of a project like ours is that we’re 3 guys playing together. Nowadays you can listen to incredible things but you’re not sure whether they can really play these things. It’s all turning into an illusion I find. It’s easy to put a bit of makeup on and look good. That’s what you see with music and social media. It’s all based on what’s called “the hype”. You expect something until you find that there isn’t really much of anything behind it.

There are a lot more ways to hide and compensate for imperfections and nowadays.

Exactly. On the other hand you’ve got guys making albums on their own and that’s great. You’ve got some incredible electronic music producers out there. I love electronic music and I’ve got a lot of friends who are DJs and who do amazing things, but I find it sad that we’re losing these bonds we used to make as musicians. There’s nothing better than meeting up with your friends and making music together. We’re losing that in the internet age. I guess you need to keep up with the times, but we lose human contact and interactions. People go out less, they’re less curious. People come see us because we’ve got Tim from Rage Against the Machine, otherwise people don’t leave their homes to check things out.

People find their music online instead of going out to shows to discover new bands.

Exactly. You go online, listen for a bit and if you don’t like it you skip it, kind of like girls nowadays. You go on these apps and swipe right or left if she’s not your type (laughs). It’s kind of the same deal with music nowadays. People listen for a couple of minutes and move on to something else. It’s a shame but what are you gonna do.

Have you kept an eye on the music scene in France since you left?

Actually I had stopped paying attention before I even moved out of France. It was kind of like the mafia at the time in France, it was always the same deal. I followed a few musicians from the Jazz music scene, I have a few friends who are Jazz musicians in France. In terms of radio songs, I don’t know anything at all and to be honest I’m not too upset about it (Laughs). With that being said, we’ve also got some shitty radios over here!

Can you name one of your favorite albums, movies and books?

That’s hard, there’s a bunch. I’ll go with Evil Empire by Rage Against the Machine! Movies… I don’t go often to the movies, the other two guys would have jumped all over that question, they love movies. I really enjoyed The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese. It’s one of the rare movies I loved and that I’ve seen dozens of times. I mainly read biographies, so I’m going to go with The Amazing Life of Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius. I must’ve read that book 25 times, and I’m not even a reader, which goes to tell you how much I was obsessed with that book! (Laughs). Basically all of my picks are music related. What struck me with The Last Temptation of Christ was namely the score by Peter Gabriel.

Interview conducted and Translated from French by Robin ONO

A huge thank you goes out to Mathias and to the the staff at Him Media for Making this Interview Possible!

Be sure to check out Wakrat on their website and social media pages!

Wakrat

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/Wakrat/

Official Website

http://wakratband.com/

Interview with Mathieu and Marc from Cobra (English Translation)

Cobra is a band that has a tendency to leave their audience completely dazed and confused. Formed in 1984, the band has managed to gather a reasonable cult-following thanks to their undeniable singularity in todays' metal scene; with songs like “Des lieux associatifs pour les jeunes” (tr: “Associative space for the youths”),  “Pédés et drogués” (tr: “Faggots and junkies”) or  “J’aime regarder les filles qui marchent sur des seringues (sur la plage)” (tr:”I like watching girls step on syringes (on the beach)”); perplexing tracks that have nonetheless found their audience with fans all across France. Their reputation eventually led them to unleash their zaney aesthetic and ridiculous lyrics at Le Nouveau Casino in Paris, opening up for none other than Kickback (a rather peculiar lineup contrasting the bands' weird sense of humor with the Parisian Hardcore bands' infamously ferocious reputation). Right before their Parisian show opening up for Iron Reagan, I got a chance to catch up with the bands' guitarist Mathieu along with vocalist Marc for an interview about this growing yet alienating force known as Cobra.

- For those who've yet to hear of you, could you start off by explaining what is the "Cobra spirit"?

Marc: (Pensive) The Cobra spirit is about metal first and foremost, because that's the type of music we play. It's Hard Rock/Metal/Punk music; it's energetic, brutish music for brutish people. It's something that's straightforward, that doesn't think too much...

Mathieu: ... that doesn't think at all, really. We see it as something to have fun and to feel good.

- For those who've had to chance to witness some of your previous shows, one can only be struck with surprise with regards to the peculiar image and the atmosphere surrounding your music.

Marc: That's true, but we're not too good at putting a finger on it really. It just goes off the wall. We try to maybe shock people , push things to the extreme, not only with our music. In extreme music the lyrics are usually a little... I'm going to say "consensual"... and we're basically trying to be like an overdriven guitar. We take our ideas, we put an overdrive on it and what we're left with is something completely saturated. It's just nonsense, stupidity pushed up to the max.

- Why did you choose the cobra to represent your band?

Mathieu: Basically we've known each other for quite some time and we were already playing "music" back in 1984 and at the time we though the name was awesome.

Marc: We were ... pretty young (Mathieu laughs). To give you an idea of how old we were, we actually thought of the name as being pretty appropriate, especially since at the time you had bands called "Scorpions"...

Mathieu: The fact that we were 12 years old does explain it as well.

Marc: There's also a bit of that, yeah (Mathieu laughs). It's pretty sad to have to say, looking back, that at the time it was all completely serious. At the time we thought it was super cool to call ourselves Cobra because it sounded Heavy Metal, it sounded like those bands we'd see in "Enfer Magazine" and it ended up staying. We did a bunch of other stuff under different names but we eventually came back to it because it sounded so outdated that it sounded great to us.

- So the name took on a different meaning after a while.

Marc: It did take on a new meaning yeah. Cobra reminds you of car tuning, bikers, all of these brutish things that try to be rough and tough...

Mathieu: ... without really buying into it.

Marc: There's also the cheesy ring to the name Cobra that I happen to like as well.

- So I've read that Cobra's been around since 1984, yet your first album was released in 2001, why the long gap ?

Mathieu: Like we just said, we did a bunch of other stuff when we were kids and eventually they just strayed off; we hadn't made anything concrete with that. People sold tapes at that time and so the first time we were lucky enough to get our hands on a CD burner we made an album (laughs).

Marc: Our first album basically dates back to the first CD burners and the first internet connections that allowed us to spread the word.

Mathieu: We've always recorded everything at home.

Marc: It's always been a hobby; it never really was a "real band". At first it was just a thing we did for ourselves and for our friends, which is why there's always been this "private joke" aspect to it all. There's always been the opaque side to us where you feel like there's something stupid going on but you're not sure where it's at. It often relates to the things we've experienced, things we've seen and that made us laugh, things that we then bring back up and that are completely retarded. People might think that it comes from nowhere but in reality there's always a bit of truth, some reason behind the things we say.

- Your band makes some references to France's 80s' Hard Rock and Metal Scene, namely with your song "Fils du Cobra" (Son of the Cobra) which references Malediction, Satan Jokers and Killers in its chorus : « Fils de Satan, Fils du Metal, Fils de la haine », followed by « Fils du Cobra ».

Marc: Yeah but it's not really intentional, it's not really a tribute that we make specifically to these bands, more like a tribute to that scene in general. I wouldn't go so far as to say that we're trying to recreate it but it was nice to have a scene that didn't take things too seriously and that didn't try to convey any messages... there were band that would call themselves "Sortilège" (spell) and be completely serious about it. That's sort of the outlook we have on metal; it's something very serious, people don't play it for a joke but they engage into it wholeheartedly without any shame. We don't try to intellectualize things.

 

- Your band exists for just about 30 years now. What is your outlook on the evolution and state of rock and metal music today?

Mathieu: I think there used to be a time when it was a shame to listen to metal. Right now it got back into the mainstream, take for example all of these guys you can see walking around with Burzum t-shirts...

- Like that guy who just stepped in 5 minutes ago to grab a beer from your fridge.

Mathieu: Yeah... (bursts out laughing). Take for example a band like Metallica; you can clearly pinpoint the time when they tried to hold on to the grunge era because metal music was uncool. It was during that time when the fact that you listened to metal meant that you really enjoyed it. There was a huge gap during that period but now ... I wouldn't go as far as to say that it has become "hip" again, but it certainly has become a part of our current musical culture again. I don't know if anything of what I'm saying is very clear right now (laugh).

- It's been 3 years since you last released an album, when can we expect some new stuff from you guys?

Mathieu: You're already going to get a 12-inch, which is already a miracle. We're really not productive when it comes to that.

Marc: It's a hobby for us, it's something we do on the side, it's certainly become harder and harder for us to find the time...

Mathieu: ... to lay something new.

Marc: In any case we don't really have a label; we don't really have any obligations. Whenever we'll decide to do something, it'll be because we feel like it, because we'll like it. We're not just going to start follow the wind, release stuff and make people laugh simply because we're getting a little more known, that's not the point.

- Your lyrics talk about drugs, satan, nihilism but you also have some socially conscious outcries towards some of societys' ills, most notably concerning the French youth of today.  What is your take on French politics and the youth of France today?

 Mathieu: I don't get it and I don't give a shit.

Marc: We don't have any opinion because we really don't care at all about social issues. We're kind of idiots in a way. Consider us as little barking poodles. We just like to yell.

- Could you name one of your favorite albums, movies and books?

Marc: I'd say... Killing is my business and business is good by Megadeth. I also listen to a lot of Black metal.

Mathieu: Lately I've been really fond of Kvelertak, first of all because its' sung in norwegian so I don't understand it at all, so at least I don't even have to try to understand anything. Performance-wise, they're just full of energy and they manage to blend together the rock n' roll and blast parts into a coherent whole. They've got this Turbonegro vibe in some of their riffs and their mixture of genres is really fun to listen to.

- In terms of Movies?

(both of them take the time to think in silence...)

Marc: ... they're all old shitty movies!

Mathieu: The problem with us is that it can be pretty much anything. It depends on the day, we can go nuts about anything (laughs). Rue Barbare and Tchao Pantin are some good examples...

Marc: All of these sordid French detective movies from the 1980s'.

- In terms of books?

Marc: Oh no! Thats' a no-no for us! (Mathieu laughs)

Mathieu: No but we.... yeah...

 

Marc: Speaking of which, we say you reading a book a few moments ago and we don't like that! (Mathieu bursts out laughing). We're absolutely anti-culture, especially when it comes to written culture (laughs). Zero books!

- To close this off, do you have a message for your potential readers and fans in the US?

Marc: We like Americans! To us, america is a bit like in the lyrics for Pantera...

Mathieu: ... or Mötley Crüe. We're actually going to catch their last tour in MONACO!

Marc: Americans should just stop taking shits from the snobs who criticize them. They don't need to take any advice from anybody! (laugh)

Mathieu: It's AMERICA!

Marc: More seriously though, all of the bands that blew us away back in 1983 and 1984 were American bands. Since we've kind of staying in that period, it really did leave a big mark on us: Twisted Sister, Mötley Crüe, WASP...

Interview and translation from French by Robin ONO

Thank you to the band for making this interview possible ! 

 

Cobra
Bandcamp
https://cobra06130.bandcamp.com/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cobra-06130-en-force/184194688330863

Interview avec Mathieu et Marc de Cobra

Cobra est le genre de groupe qui laisse son public plutôt perplexe. Formé en 1984, le groupe a su se constituer une fanbase grâce à leur singularité dans la scène metal actuelle grâce à des morceaux comme «Des lieux associatifs pour les jeunes », « Pédés et drogués » ou encore « J’aime regarder les filles qui marchent sur des seringues (sur la plage) » ; des titres pour le moins interpelants qui ont su trouver leur public à travers la France. Cette réputation leur a par ailleurs permis de faire retentir leur Hard Rock aux textes et à l'esthétique décalés en première partie pour Kickback au Nouveau Casino (une programmation pour le moins curieuse contrastant l'humour décalé de Cobra avec la réputation ténébreuse du groupe Parisien). A l'occasion de leur passage à Paris en première partie pour Iron Reagan, j'ai eu la chance de pouvoir caler un entretien avec Mathieu (guitariste) et Marc (chanteur) pour discuter de leur groupe qui commence à faire de plus en plus de bruit tout en laissant certains tout aussi perdus.

- Pour ceux qui ne vous connaissent pas encore, est-ce que tu peux tout d’abord nous expliquer : qu’est-ce que l’esprit Cobra ?
Marc: (Pensif) L'Esprit Cobra, c'est déjà le métal, parce que c'est quand même le style de musique qu'on joue. A la base c'est du Hard Rock/Metal/Punk, quelque chose d'énergique, une musique de bourrin pour des gens un peu bourrins. C'est quelque chose qui va droit au but, qui réfléchit pas trop...

Mathieu: ...Qui ne réfléchit pas du tout. On voit ca comme quelque chose pour s'amuser, pour être bien.

-Pour les gens ayant déja assisté à un de vos concerts, on ne peut qu'être frappés par l'esthétique et l'ambiance assez particulière autour de votre musique.
Marc: C'est vrai, mais finalement on n'arrive pas spécialement bien à l'expliquer. Ca part dans tous les sens. On essaye peut-être un peu de choquer, de pousser les choses à l'extrême, pas uniquement la musique d'ailleurs. Dans la musique extrême on va dire que les paroles sont un peu... on va dire consensuelles... et nous on essaye de faire comme sur une guitare quand on met un overdrive. On a nos idées, on met un overdrive dessus et quand ca ressort ca sature de partout. C'est n'importe quoi, c'est de la connerie poussée à fond les manettes.

- Pourquoi avoir choisi le Cobra pour vous représenter ?
Mathieu: En fait on se connait depuis assez longtemps avec Marc et on faisait déjà de la "musique" en 1984 et à l'époque on trouvait ça très bien de s'appeler Cobra.

Marc: On était... assez jeunes (rires de Mathieu). Pour te situer l’âge qu'on avait, c'était quelque chose qu'on trouvait assez pertinent comme nom de groupe. A l'époque on avait des groupes comme Scorpions ...

Mathieu: Il faut dire qu'on avait 12 ans aussi...

Marc: ... Ouais y'a de ça aussi (rires de Mathieu). Franchement c'est triste à dire en y repensant comme ça mais il n'y avait aucun second degré. A l'époque ca paraissait super cool de s'appeler Cobra, ça faisait heavy metal, ça faisait ce qu'on voyait dans "Enfer Magazine" et finalement c'est resté. On a fait d'autres trucs sous d'autres noms mais on y est revenu parce que ca faisait tellement désuet que finalement c'était bien.

- Le nom a repris une nouvelle signification du coup.
Marc: Ca a en effet repris une nouvelle signification oui. Cobra ca fait penser au tuning, aux bikers, à des trucs un peu bourrins qui se veulent méchants...

Mathieu: ... sans trop y croire (rires)

Marc: Il y'a un côté ringard dans Cobra qui me plait bien oui.

- J’ai pu lire que Cobra existe depuis 1984, or votre 1er album date de 2001, pourquoi avoir mis autant de temps pour sortir vos albums ?
Mathieu: Comme on vient de te dire, on a fait plein de trucs quand on était plus gamins et ca a dérivé au fur et à mesure. Là dessus on n'avait jamais vraiment concrétisé. On faisait des cassettes à l'époque et du coup la première fois où on a eu la chance d'avoir un graveur de CDs' on a fait un album (rires).

Marc: Le 1er album date plus de ca disons, ca date du premier graveur de CDs' et des premières connexions à internet pour diffuser un peu.

Mathieu: On a toujours tout enregistré chez nous.

Marc: Ca a toujours été un loisir, ca n'a jamais été un "vrai groupe". A la base c'était quelque chose qu'on faisait pour nous et quelques copains, pour une bande, c'est d'ailleurs pour ca qu'il y a toujours eu ce côté "private joke", et ca passera très bien auprès des lecteurs américains. Il y a toujours ce côté un peu "opaque" qui fait qu'on sent qu'il y a une connerie mais on ne sais pas vraiment laquelle c'est. Souvent ca a un rapport avec des choses qu'on a pu vivre, qu'on a pu voir et qui nous ont fait marrer, qu'on ressort et qui sont complêtement débiles. On peut penser que ca vient de rien mais il y a toujours un front de vérité, une vraie raison dans les choses qu'on peut dire.

- Votre groupe fait également référence à la scène hard-rock et metal francaise des années 80. Votre titre « Fils du Cobra » fait notamment référence Malediction, Satan Jokers, Killers dans son refrain (« Fils de Satan, Fils du Metal, Fils de la haine », suivi de « Fils du Cobra »).
Marc: Oui enfin c'est pas volontaire, c'est pas un hommage qu'on a fait à ces groupes-là, c'est plus un hommage à cette scène-là. Je ne vais pas dire non plus qu'on essaye de recréer ca mais c'est vrai que c'était agréable d'avoir une scène qui ne se prenait pas trop la tête, qui n'essayait pas de faire passer des messages... des groupes qui pouvaient s'appeler "Sortilège" et qui faisaient ca au premier degré. C'est un peu la vision qu'on a du métal; c'est quelque chose de très sérieux, on ne fait pas ça pour rigoler mais c'est plutôt décomplexé. On ne cherche pas à intellectualiser les choses.

- Etant donné que votre groupe existe depuis maintenant une 30aine d’années. Quel est votre point de vue sur l’évolution de la scène rock et metal aujourd’hui ?
Mathieu: En tout cas je pense qu'il y a eu une époque où c'était la honte d'écouter du metal. Maintenant c'est devenu mainstream, t'as qu'à voir le nombre de mecs que tu peux voir se balader avec des T-shirts Burzum...

- Y'en a justement un qui est venu ici pour taxer une bière dans le frigo il y'a 5 minutes.
Mathieu: Ouais... (fou rires). Si tu prends un groupe comme Metallica par exemple tu peux voir la période où ils ont essayé de se raccrocher à la période grunge parce que le métal était banni. C'est un peu cette période là où le fait d'écouter du métal signifiait que t'aimais ca. Il y a eu une grosse période de creux et maintenant c'est vrai que... j'irais pas jusqu'à dire que ca redevient "branché" mais c'est vrai que c'est à nouveau considéré comme faisant partie de la culture musicale actuelle. Je ne sais pas si c'est super compréhensible ce que je raconte (rires).

- Voilà 3 ans que vous avez sorti votre dernier album « Les Clefs de l’inquiétude ». Quand pouvons-nous espérer une nouvelle sortie pour Cobra ? Et à quoi devrions nous nous attendre ?
Mathieu: Vous allez déja avoir un 45-tours, ce qui est déja un miracle. En fait on n'est pas du tout productifs par rapport à ca.

Marc: C'est un loisir donc c'est quelque chose qu'on fait à coté et forcément plus tu avances dans le temps moins tu as de temps pour certaines choses donc c'est vrai que c'est de plus en plus dur...

Mathieu: ... de pondre.

Marc: De toute facon on n'a pas vraiment de Label, pas vraiment de "contraintes". Quand on fera quelque chose, c'est qu'on aura eu envie de le faire, que ca nous plaira. On ne va pas non plus, parce qu'on parle de nous un peu plus maintenant, sortir des trucs, pour aller dans le sens du vent, faire rigoler les gens... C'est pas trop le but.

- Vos paroles parlent de drogues, de satan, de nihilisme mais pousse également des cris de révolte engagés contre  certains maux de la société, notamment les problèmes auquel la jeunesse de France fait face. Quel est votre avis sur l’Etat de la politique francaise et de la jeunesse de France aujourd’hui ?
Mathieu: Moi j'y comprends rien et ca me fait chier.

Marc: On a aucun avis parce qu'on ne s'intéresse pas du tout à ce qui peut se passer dans la société. On est un peu des abrutis. Considère nous un peu comme des petits caniches qui aboient. Ce qu'on aime, c'est gueuler.

- Peux-tu nous citer un de tes albums, un de tes films et un de tes bouquins préférés ?
Marc: Je dirais... "Killing is my Business ... and business is good" de Megadeth. J'écoute beaucoup de black metal aussi.

 
Mathieu: En ce moment j'aime beaucoup "Kvelertak", déjà parce que c'est chanté en Norvégien donc j'y comprends rien, au moins ne cherche pas à y comprendre quoi que ce soit. Ensuite je trouve que scéniquement c'est énergique et il y a une bonne homogénéité dans leurs compos avec l'aspect rock n' roll avec du blast par moments. C'est un mélange qui est assez agréable à écouter et qui a un petit côté riff à la Turbonegro qui est agréable.

- En terme de films?

(Les deux prennent le temps de réfléchir...)
Marc: ... c'est que des vieux films de merde!

Mathieu: Le problème avec nous c'est que ca peut vraiment être tout et n'importe quoi. Ca dépend vraiment du jour, on peut s'enflammer sur n'importe quoi (rires). "Rue Barbare" et "Tchao Pantin" sont des bons exemples...

Marc: Tous les films policiers français sordides des années 1980.

- Et pour les bouquins?
Marc: Ah non! Alors ca c'est interdit! (rires de Mathieu)

Mathieu: Non on.... ouais...

Marc: D'ailleurs tout à l'heure on voyait que tu lisais un livre et ca nous plaît pas! (fou rire de Mathieu) On est absolument anti-culture, surtout la culture écrite (rires). Zéro livres!

- Pour finir, avez vous un message à faire passer à nos lecteurs américains?

Marc: On les aime bien les américains. Pour nous l’Amérique c'est un peu comme dans les chansons de Pantera...

Mathieu: ... Ou de Mötley Crüe. D'ailleurs on va aller voir leur dernière tournée à MONACO!

Marc: Que les américains arrêtent de se faire emmerder par les intellos qui les critiquent. Ils n'ont de lecons à recevoir de PERSONNE! (rires)

Mathieu: C'est l’Amérique!

Marc: Plus sérieusement, toute la claque qu'on s'est prise en 1983-84 c'étaient des groupes américains. Comme on est un peu restés sur cette période et sur cette ambiance là, c'est vrai que ca nous a marqués: les Twisted Sister, Mötley Crüe, WASP...

Interview par Robin ONO

Encore une fois merci à Cobra pour avoir rendu cette interview possible !

Cobra
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