Alors que les kiwis s'apprêtent à embarquer pour une tournée européenne, c'est H.Walker, le batteur du trio, qui a pris de son temps pour répondre à nos quelques questions sur la vie de l'autre côté du globe mais aussi la préparation de leur nouvel album et les concerts.
De la Nouvelle-Zélande, on ne connaît que quelques groupes, comment est la scène rock chez vous ?
On ne connaît que la scène rock alternative, on ne s'intéresse pas à tout ce qui est commercial. Il y a de supers bons groupes : Beastwars, High Dependency Unit (HDU), Mountaineater, Old Loaves, Jakob, The All Seeing Eye. C'est une bonne chose d'avoir autant de bons groupes, la Nouvelle-Zélande est très éloignée de tout, c'est très difficile pour les artistes de pouvoir faire de bons albums s'ils ne tournent pas à l'étranger, nous ne sommes pas très nombreux en Nouvelle-Zélande et voyager hors du pays coûte horriblement cher.
C'est facile de trouver des concerts, de sortir un album ?
Il y a énormément de restrictions quant à la vente d'alcool chez nous, ce qui fait que les squats n'existent pas vraiment. Du coup, les jeunes groupes commencent par jouer des concerts lors de fêtes chez les gens avant de pouvoir en faire dans une vraie salle de concert. Et elles ne sont pas nombreuses donc il vaut mieux connaître d'autres groupes qui y jouent et essayer de faire leur première partie. Quand tu fais une tournée en Nouvelle-Zélande, tu as souvent intérêt à ajouter des dates en Australie, les villes néo-zélandaises sont très éloignées les unes des autres alors que Sydney n'est qu'à deux heures de vol d'Auckland.
Et pour sortir un album ?
On a de la chance parce qu'on possède pas mal de matos pour enregistrer et c'est David, notre guitariste qui mixe nos albums, c'est donc plus facile pour nous que pour d'autres. Nos disques sortent via Golden Antenna en Europe, il y a donc des gens qui nous aident beaucoup, on les remercie au passage ! Hors d'Europe, on doit payer pour tout ce qu'on fait, c'est un gros boulot pour faire en sorte que ça marche.
Pourquoi avoir enregistrer et mixer vous-mêmes cet album ?
Sur certains titres, enregistrer et composer, c'est la même chose pour nous. Là, en gérant tout, on pouvait passer pas mal de temps à faire des prises puis les écouter et voir si ça nous plaisait assez pour développer encore le titre jusqu'à ce que ça sonne comme on le voulait. On a notre propre studio donc on peut enregistrer et mixer comme on veut. David a enregistré beaucoup d'autres groupes, c'est évident pour lui de s'occuper de nous ! Et bien entendu, ça nous coûte beaucoup moins cher que de louer un studio...
Vous retravaillez les titres en studio ou c'est juste pour enregistrer ?
Sur nos deux premiers albums, on répétait et enregistrait tout ce qu'on faisait ensemble ! On bossait en continu sur les parties qui nous plaisaient le plus jusqu'à avoir des titres entiers qui nous satisfaisaient. Ensuite, on allait dans un vrai studio et on les enregistrait proprement. Pour Pirohia, c'était différent parce qu'on ne vit plus aux mêmes endroits, c'était à chacun de nous d'amener des idées qui étaient déjà bien élaborées pour les présenter aux autres. Une fois qu'on se rencontrait quelque part, on ajoutait les idées des autres jusqu'à obtenir la structure de base et on rebossait dessus pour fignoler et placer divers arrangements avant d'entrer en studio pour tout enregistrer.
Quel est le pays qui vous attire le plus en terme de musique ?
Il y a de la bonne musique dans chaque pays, on n'a rien contre aucun pays ! Bien sûr, on aime pas mal de groupes de Nouvelle-Zélande... Au niveau du rock, les gens ont besoin de temps pour écrire mais aussi de relations et d'argent pour pouvoir répéter et enregistrer quelque part. Je pense que seuls ceux qui réunissent tout ça peuvent monter des groupes durablement... Hors de chez nous, si on considère la population totale du pays, les Suédois s'en sortent pas trop mal, non ?
Venir un mois en Europe, c'est des vacances ou le boulot ?
Les deux ! On adore composer et bosser dur pour sortir les meilleurs disques possibles puis faire les meilleurs concerts possibles. Partir en tournée, c'est là aussi un peu des deux parce que c'est dur physiquement et mentalement. Ceci dit, on est très chanceux parce qu'on voyage, on rencontre des gens, on donne des concerts, c'est cool. On apprend beaucoup et on voit plein de choses qu'on ne voit pas chez nous.
Ca demande des "sacrifices" dans vos vies ?
On est loin de nos familles et on se retrouve souvent dans des endroits et des situations où on se demande "qu'est-ce qu'on fout là ?". Mais on est assez passioné par ce qu'on fait pour continuer d'écrire de la musique et essayer de l'amener au plus de monde possible.
La mer est au centre des très belles photos de l'artwork, c'est quoi pour vous ?
J'ai pas trop envie de développer, je pense qu'avoir une telle image permet à l'autre de se mettre à la place de celui qui prend la photo et de ressentir les choses. Certaines questions ne doivent pas avoir de réponse, c'est mieux de garder une part de mystère. J'espère qu'il y a assez de clarté et d'ombre dans l'artwork pour que chacun se fasse sa propre idée.
Vous pouvez nous parler de "Kwea Tatou Ki Nga Hiwi" ? C'est une sorte d'hommage à votre pays ?
Déjà, la traduction pourrait être "Amener nous aux collines". D'habitude, on n'a pas de chant, pour la première fois on a écrit une ligne mélodique pour une voix et on voulait l'utiliser comme un instrument. On a bossé sur les textes et le chant plusieurs semaines avant le studio. Les chants traditionnels maori n'utilisent pas la gamme occidentale et leurs lignes de chants ne s'éloignent jamais de plus de 4 ou 5 notes de la note principale. Et souvent la musique passe d'une note à l'autre très lentement, du coup, il y a de tout petits changements de tons. Les textes sont difficiles à traduire, ils sont écrits en vieux maori et non pas dans le langage parlé d'aujourd'hui, cette vieille langue est bien plus élégante et une lourdeur insistante sur les métaphores. C'est pas vraiment un hommage à la Nouvelle-Zélande, ça semblait juste naturel pour nous d'utiliser le maori quand on a décidé de mettre du chant sur cette chanson.
Ce chant est davantage présent pour sa musicalité que pour le message mais il est tout de même en maori, ça signifie quelque chose...
Depuis toujours, notre approche a été mélodique. Bien sûr que si tu utilises la langue maori, c'est inévitable de faire le rapprochement avec cette culture mais on n'a pas voulu que cela ait un sens particulier, d'ailleurs c'est la même chose dans les chants traditionnels.
Si vous aviez des textes, de quoi parleraient-ils ?
Peut-être qu'un jour je pourrais répondre correctement à ta question... si jamais on utilise des textes !
L'edition collector de votre album s'est vendu intégralement avant sa sortie, vous vous y attendiez ?
Pas du tout ! On est très touchés que les gens dépensent leur argent durement gagné pour venir à nos concerts et acheter les disques sur lesquels on a travaillé. C'est très excitant de savoir que des gens partout dans le monde croient suffisament en nous pour commander un album qu'ils n'ont jamais entendu !
Vous sortez régulièrement des titres en digital, c'est une volonté d'utiliser les nouveaux media ou est-ce que c'est par commodité pour toucher le monde entier ?
On apprécie tous les formats. Quelque soit le moyen, on est heureux que les gens écoutent notre musique. Le digital est très pratique parce que tu l'emportes où tu veux. Notre format favori pour profiter de la meilleure qualité de son, c'est le vinyle. Les formats physiques forment un tout, en plus d'une excellente qualité sonore, tu as l'artwork que l'artiste a voulu pour l'accompagner. C'est bien aussi pour l'aspect social du disque...
Merci pour tout, profitez bien de la tournée européenne !
Merci !
Merci à H.Walker et à Kerretta mais également à Magnus chez Golden Antenna !
interview with Kerretta
We've only heard of a few rock bands from New-Zealand, what's the rock scene like there?
We only know of the alt-rock scene in New Zealand, not the commercial stuff. There are some great bands. Beastwars, High Dependency Unit(HDU), Mountaineater, Old Loaves, Jakob, The All Seeing Eye. So the fact that it produces these great bands is positive. New Zealand is a long way away though, so it's difficult for artist's to keep making records if they don't tour a lot outside of the country as the population is so small and the cost of traveling out of the country is prohibitive.
How easy is it to find venues to play gigs?
There are a lot more restrictions around the sale of alcohol in New Zealand. So squats don't really exist. As a result new bands have to begin by playing parties at peoples houses and then straight into proper venues. To get a show at a proper venue it's difficult as there aren't so many, and you need to know other bands that have shows so you're able to open for them. When touring New Zealand, it's often best to add Australian shows as well, as New Zealand cities are quite far apart. Its just a two hour flight to Sydney from Auckland.
How about releasing an album?
We're lucky as we own a lot of the equipment ourselves and David (the guitarist) mixes our albums, so it is easier for us than other artist's. We have our records released by Golden Antenna in Europe so thankfully we have some people that help us a lot. We fund and pay for everything outside of Europe though, so it's a lot of work.
Which country do you think the best music is coming from?
There is great music in every country, we're not prejudice against any! Of course, we like a lot of bands from New Zealand In terms of rock music, people need to have the time to write and know people or have enough money to get a place to rehearse and record. So I guess it's only those people that are in countries that enable these things we get to hear bands. In terms of music that makes it outside of the country, I thing for the population size, Sweden seems to do very well though?
When you came to Europe for a month, was it more like a holiday or working?
A mix of both! We love writing music, and work hard to make the best records and shows as possible. So touring is a mix of both because touring is hard on the mind and body. But we're lucky because we get to travel, meet new people and play shows. That's fun. We get to learn and see things we'd never see where we live.
Did you have to make any sacrifices in order to do the tour?
We're away from family, and you're often in places and situations where you think, "what are we doing"?! But we're passionate enough about what we do to write records and want to try get the music to as many people as possible.
Did you have to work your songs in studio or is it just a recording time?
On the first two albums we wrote, all three of us rehearsed together and recorded everything we jammed. All of the material we liked we'd work on continuously until we were able to form full songs and have something we were happy with. These songs we'd then go into a larger studio and capture properly. Pirohia was different because we all live in different countries, so it was up to each member to bring an idea already formed to the others. From that, we would meet up in the same country and work by adding new ideas until we had a basic structure. Once we had this, we worked through the finer details until we went into a larger studio to record.
You have recorded & mixed by yourselves this new album, why?
The recording and writing process can often be the same thing for us on some songs. Because we own the gear, we're able to spend a lot more time recording and then listening back to it and being able to develop it continuously until we're happy with how it sounds. We own a studio space we can record and get some mixes happening as well. David records a lot of other bands, so it makes sense for him to record and mix us. It is of course more cost effective to do it ourselves and rent studios when we need to record properly.
The sea is main theme of the beautiful artwork of the album, what does that represent for you?
I don't want to give too much away, as I think having an image such as that enables someone else to put themselves in the point of view position, and sometimes questions are best left unanswered and a mystery. There is enough darkness and light in the imagery to enable your own subjective opinion hopefully.
Can you tell to us about "Kawea Tatou Ki Nga Hiwi"? Is that a tribute to your country?
The best translation is "Bring Us To The Hills".
We don't usually use vocals but for the first time we wrote a melody line and really wanted to use voice as an instrument. We worked on the vocals and lyrical content for many weeks before getting into the studio. Traditional Maori waiata (song) doesn't use the western musical scale and the singing ranges no more than 4-5 notes away from the root note. Often the music travels between notes very slowly, so it has some microtonal elements to it. The kupu (lyrics) are difficult to translate, but they're in older Te Reo Maori rather than the modern spoken language, so the language is more elegant and has a heavy emphasis on metaphor. It's not really a tribute to New Zealand, but it felt natural for us to use the Maori language once we decided to use vocals.
This song has some Maori/Tribal singing, is it there for the melody or to convey a message?
Our approach in the past has always been about melody. But it is unavoidable when you use Te Reo Maori language to not have some type of meaning applied to the content, as this is the way it is used in traditional singing.
If there were lyrics in your songs, what would they be about?
Maybe in time I'll be able to answer this question better if we ever use more lyrics!
The limited coloured version of your album is already sold out, did you expect that to happen?
Absolutely not! We're very humbled that people spend their hard earned money coming to our shows and buying the records we work hard to make. It's exciting to know that people all over the world have enough faith in us to order a record they never heard.
You often release things digitally, do you prefer to release the music like that or is it more convenient?
We're not prejudice against any format. We're happy for people to listen to our album in any way. Digital is very convenient as it's so portable, but our favorite format for high quality listening is vinyl. Physical formats seem more all encompassing, as you get the artwork that the artist envisaged and ultimately wished to release in as higher quality audio. The social aspect of records is also fun.
Thanx for all, have a great time in Europe !
Thank you!
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http://mesperles.over-blog.com
Re: interview with Kerretta
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Go Habs Go !
Re: interview with Kerretta
--
http://mesperles.over-blog.com
Re: interview with Kerretta
--
Go Habs Go !
Re: interview with Kerretta
lol
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http://mesperles.over-blog.com
Re: interview with Kerretta
Oli, t'es un paresseux des fois ;)
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Go Habs Go !
Re: interview with Kerretta
Terrier : Là-bas.
We only know of the alt-rock scene in New Zealand, not the commercial stuff. There are some great bands. Beastwars, High Dependency Unit(HDU), Mountaineater, Old Loaves, Jakob, The All Seeing Eye. So the fact that it produces these great bands is positive. New Zealand is a long way away though, so it's difficult for artist's to keep making records if they don't tour a lot outside of the country as the population is so small and the cost of traveling out of the country is prohibitive.
How easy is it to find venues to play gigs?
There are a lot more restrictions around the sale of alcohol in New Zealand. So squats don't really exist. As a result new bands have to begin by playing parties at peoples houses and then straight into proper venues. To get a show at a proper venue it's difficult as there aren't so many, and you need to know other bands that have shows so you're able to open for them. When touring New Zealand, it's often best to add Australian shows as well, as New Zealand cities are quite far apart. Its just a two hour flight to Sydney from Auckland.
How about releasing an album?
We're lucky as we own a lot of the equipment ourselves and David (the guitarist) mixes our albums, so it is easier for us than other artist's. We have our records released by Golden Antenna in Europe so thankfully we have some people that help us a lot. We fund and pay for everything outside of Europe though, so it's a lot of work.
Which country do you think the best music is coming from?
There is great music in every country, we're not prejudice against any! Of course, we like a lot of bands from New Zealand In terms of rock music, people need to have the time to write and know people or have enough money to get a place to rehearse and record. So I guess it's only those people that are in countries that enable these things we get to hear bands. In terms of music that makes it outside of the country, I thing for the population size, Sweden seems to do very well though?
When you came to Europe for a month, was it more like a holiday or working?
A mix of both! We love writing music, and work hard to make the best records and shows as possible. So touring is a mix of both because touring is hard on the mind and body. But we're lucky because we get to travel, meet new people and play shows. That's fun. We get to learn and see things we'd never see where we live.
Did you have to make any sacrifices in order to do the tour?
We're away from family, and you're often in places and situations where you think, "what are we doing"?! But we're passionate enough about what we do to write records and want to try get the music to as many people as possible.
Did you have to work your songs in studio or is it just a recording time?
On the first two albums we wrote, all three of us rehearsed together and recorded everything we jammed. All of the material we liked we'd work on continuously until we were able to form full songs and have something we were happy with. These songs we'd then go into a larger studio and capture properly. Pirohia was different because we all live in different countries, so it was up to each member to bring an idea already formed to the others. From that, we would meet up in the same country and work by adding new ideas until we had a basic structure. Once we had this, we worked through the finer details until we went into a larger studio to record.
You have recorded & mixed by yourselves this new album, why?
The recording and writing process can often be the same thing for us on some songs. Because we own the gear, we're able to spend a lot more time recording and then listening back to it and being able to develop it continuously until we're happy with how it sounds. We own a studio space we can record and get some mixes happening as well. David records a lot of other bands, so it makes sense for him to record and mix us. It is of course more cost effective to do it ourselves and rent studios when we need to record properly.
The sea is main theme of the beautiful artwork of the album, what does that represent for you?
I don't want to give too much away, as I think having an image such as that enables someone else to put themselves in the point of view position, and sometimes questions are best left unanswered and a mystery. There is enough darkness and light in the imagery to enable your own subjective opinion hopefully.
Can you tell to us about "Kawea Tatou Ki Nga Hiwi"? Is that a tribute to your country?
The best translation is "Bring Us To The Hills".
We don't usually use vocals but for the first time we wrote a melody line and really wanted to use voice as an instrument. We worked on the vocals and lyrical content for many weeks before getting into the studio. Traditional Maori waiata (song) doesn't use the western musical scale and the singing ranges no more than 4-5 notes away from the root note. Often the music travels between notes very slowly, so it has some microtonal elements to it. The kupu (lyrics) are difficult to translate, but they're in older Te Reo Maori rather than the modern spoken language, so the language is more elegant and has a heavy emphasis on metaphor. It's not really a tribute to New Zealand, but it felt natural for us to use the Maori language once we decided to use vocals.
This song has some Maori/Tribal singing, is it there for the melody or to convey a message?
Our approach in the past has always been about melody. But it is unavoidable when you use Te Reo Maori language to not have some type of meaning applied to the content, as this is the way it is used in traditional singing.
If there were lyrics in your songs, what would they be about?
Maybe in time I'll be able to answer this question better if we ever use more lyrics!
The limited coloured version of your album is already sold out, did you expect that to happen?
Absolutely not! We're very humbled that people spend their hard earned money coming to our shows and buying the records we work hard to make. It's exciting to know that people all over the world have enough faith in us to order a record they never heard.
You often release things digitally, do you prefer to release the music like that or is it more convenient?
We're not prejudice against any format. We're happy for people to listen to our album in any way. Digital is very convenient as it's so portable, but our favorite format for high quality listening is vinyl. Physical formats seem more all encompassing, as you get the artwork that the artist envisaged and ultimately wished to release in as higher quality audio. The social aspect of records is also fun.
Thanx for all, have a great time in Europe !
Thank you!
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\o/~\o/~\o/~\o/~\o/~\o/~\o/~\o/~\o/
Re: interview with Kerretta
L'anglophonie et les adeptes du gras te remercient
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http://mesperles.over-blog.com