Superbeatnik

First question why Superbeatnik?

Nico : There comes again the same old stuff … let is say that is a long story!

It seems that you guys are grooving like mad when it comes down to the rythm section..Is that part of your sound or you want  to set the band  apart from the rest of the current scene?

Nico : I can feel that groove is the most important thing to the band , it is what makes you shake your head ,tap the rythm but I do not think that it is something we have planned before hand to be unique whatsoever…

 You have released vynils before?Are you nostalgic of that period and what does it means to you?

Pascal: For us the vynil is still relevant as it has been the last release so far.I am a 100 percent nostalgic as me and Nico are absolute fans-you should see the mess in my place and his..probably mine is even worse!- but the vynil does not only relates to nostalgia if you are mad about rock and it is probably more relevant than you may think in the first place…. it is also a passionate work of art as you can go though different stages when you get into it – you can keep it, look after it and display it and its life is not over yet as long as you pay attention as oppose to the CD which is  basically a consummable material…And for sure the vynil looks great as you can easily read the albums covers and if we get into the technical details the audio quality is much better.Nethertheless we also give out the album as a CD for those who do not have the vynil deck…

When you are in studio  do you have a particular way to do record the tracks?I mean are you more of digital or analog people?

Pascal: When we actually record it is totally DIY.The last album was done in my living room with a friend of mine.Concerning the mixing desk if we had the money I would definitely go for analog but we always try to fing a compromise between the two.The digital equipment nowadays is not that bad and you have to take into account that is quite pratical.

You have played a few gigs with the Junkyard birds?Do you share the same sort of attitude when it comes down to music?Pascal: I think they are great bunch of friends and I am an hardcore fan of their “megaphone” song..it is like rock n roll in your face all the time and the rythm section is awesome man…anyway they are far more tight when it comes to play music as oppose to sort of I could not care less attitude we have when it comes down to feel the music.See you later…..

Rock documentary

Whoever has ever watched Spinal Tap know how much rock’n'roll can be hilarious when not taken seriously!But if you still believe and think that all this movie was fictitious and that you cannot still believe these things happen in real life this film will let you see how far people can go to fulfill their dream…of course you will think well another one of these rock’n'roll movies with stupid guys pretending to be the next big thing…taking drugs and all that…well that is true that film is full of wannabe rock’n'roll stars but some of them have now something like billions dollars in their bank account…what is more interesting about that period is the downside of things…what happened to some of these guys?Well they failed and screwed up…so is this a film about losers?Yes it is and you will probably be more interested in knowing that being a loser does not always suck…the proof is that film because it is one of the most popular ones in rock history even two decades later…never mind the location-not everyone was born in L.A-being a loser rules!Enjoy watching this film with a packet of crisps and a can of lager in the other one and take it easy!

Well why would I mind writing something about Flamenco when most of the time I listen to goddamn rock music?First answer coming to my mind is that I love Spain and all the culture related to this beautiful country- the sun,the food,the architecture and the German tourists,oh sorry I did not mean to  be rude!-  and because part of my origins are Spanish too.Flamenco is that type of music that go straight to your soul because it is all about telling a story,traveling and expressing yourself or somehow some of kind of catharsis.Flamenco is all about the Duende too whether you are dancer,a guitar player or you are simply in the audience when the music becomes sort of transcental,a little bit like when you are doing something and that it takes to another level of emotional connection with the music or somekind of spiritual experience.I am mostly familiar with Paco de Lucia because he is probably one of the most famous Flamenco guitar player but what appeals to me first is that Flamenco is bit like a journey into hell, a bit like selling your soul to the devil at the crossroad in the middle of a desert …a bit like the blues in fact with the Mediterranean influence…I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did!

Cheerio.

Well it is difficult to describe how incredible was last night Franz Ferdinand performance.The show was great,the set list was brilliant and the audience was mental.I have been to thousand gigs in Glasgow but I have never seen a band that connects so much with its fans.To me Glasgow is probably the best place to be for music at the moment and Franz Ferdinand is one of these bands that have something special and unique.They rock,they play good tunes and everyone sings along as soon as they start playing.Going to the Barrowlands is always and will always be a journey to rock and roll temptations.It looks like one of these cheesy Bingo places and everyone time you are standing in the queue you always feel like you are going to the Fun Fair or something but when you get in it is probably one of these uplifiting experience like you know that is something magic is going to happen.To me that night was very special because it keeps reminding me how great the city of Glasgow has always been to music fans and I think that last night you could not get more authentic than a Glaswegian band like Franz Ferdinand to kick your ass and make you feel better.Yes that is true the weather in Scotland is sheit and the food is not healthy but let is agree on something Glasgow rocks!

Van Halen

To start with I am sure that all of you  think about “Jump” and its fantastic intro with synths that was typical from the eighties.Well it is true I am guilty of having been introduced to Van Halen when I was only 6 or 7 years old and for years and years I was always going to fun fairs and go and see the local cover band playing  for two or three hours of shit music untill the goddamn intro of Jump started for the  encore-that was a time  in France when most professional musicians were heavy metal freaks playing Patrick Bruel songs for a living and I am not joking at all!

Believe me or not once I was in the French basque Country and after the band played traditional Basque music all night they played this song and the crowd went mad!To me Van Halen is one of these bands whose songs have more or less bookmarked your whole life.Well although I started listening to rock music when I was only eight years old my favourite records have been for years and years the VH ones.To me VH will always be synonymous with the Brown Sound and the outrageous stage outfits of Diamond Dave!Not to mention this whole thing about Sammy Hagar taking over as a lead singer in the mid eighties…but this is another issue!

Anyway for me the first records of VH are my favourite because they were not only good albums but they were also representative of the L.A scene and all the decadence and freedom of the time although I never got a chance to experience it because of my young age…although years later I purchased a yellow stripped guitar in a guitar shop for 4000 Francs at the time to start practicing “Eruption” and experiment the tapping technique on my fret board!

What is this book about is certainly more about capturing a moment , a little bit like a journey through the rise of VH to megastardom.When you look at the pictures they  are absolutely brilliant and there is no doubt that Neil Z did a brilliant job by getting these shots done.You certainly cannot get any closer to a band and I think it is what makes this book so relevant is that it feels like you are just hanging about in L.A with the band.For the people like me who were too young to be there the book is a bit like a well documented journey about the band and the legacy they left at the time,which is by the way still massive 20 years later…

To conclude I would recommend this book to anyone even if you do not know the band…some shots are absolutely outrageous but they cannot be more authentic and in my opinion it is the reason why this book is good…a little bit like these books in black and white about Jazz in the 50′s.Obviously there is lot of close shots about Eddie collection of guitars and if you are fan of replicas and all that it is just like the holy bible for musicians.On the other hand I think that what it makes it such a great book is that it also can be worth of interest for all the millions of fans of the band itself…well a little maybe like “some kind of monster”  does it for the Metallica fans!

If one day you feel going to Holland and experience something different the first thing coming to my mind would be listening to the new album of DriveByWire.Let is enjoy this interview that speaks more than words and tell us what the band is about!

Alwin: It fits the music, there’s a lot of drive in our songs…The name actually comes from a journey I once made with a really old car, on the end of that trip the car was litterary held together with wire and duct tape, working the throttle we had to do by a wire, because the throttle cable had snapped..

Alwin:Inspiration for me can come from different things you know, a really good movie, a good surf session..and of course other bands/music..we are greatly influenced by blues and rock from the late 60′s early 70′s….I have to name some bands: like: Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Pink Floyd older ZZ-Top etcetera… but also newer bands like Kyuss, TOOL, P.J. Harvey, Black Keys…

Yeah, we try to approach studio sessions like we play live on stage, amps on full power, and the bandmembers standing really close to one another….it’s important to catch that chemistry we have going on while playing live, I think it’s more important to catch that feeling of the whole band rather then have 4 individually flawless playing musicians on a record without that important “chemistry” or “soul”.

This week we get to know Dextrine , a French band who has got what it takes to make it big on the metal hardcore scene.Rather that following the traditional interview format Dextrine chose to speak their mind  and chat about what the bands stands for and their ultimate goal!

“We practise in an old factory in a slightly dark space where from most our inspiration comes from and where you can also find all sorts of tools and chemicals one amonsgt the other being a barrel of dextrine (cf wikipedia!) that has been observing us since the beginning and which could probably testify that we are passionate about music and that we want to set the world on fire.That is me finished with our story  so let ‘s move on to the more depressive facts now!

 Dextrine, which is basicaly a group of childhood friends and brothers is composed of six members – 2 singers,2 guitarists,one bass player and a drummer- and has been active for the last seven years and has also experienced two different line ups.

 Dextrine is first of all a group of people passionate about music,heavy duty metal drum beats and lyrics that do not necessarily relate to the current climate but above all relate to our feelings,thoughts and sometimes anger,which could perhaps relate to the current climate if you see what I am saying….

 To conclude I do not really think that the bottom line of our songs is to deliver a message as we would rather try to let the painful and boring times of our lives work as a therapy for us and our projects.Our goal is to play,take no prisoners,record an album and perform on stage and why not let us embrace new horizons and explore a bit further the dark side of humanity.

See you later and have a drink on me!”

Vera Cruz

Is there any particular reason for chosing the name Vera Cruz?

It is the title of a Western Movie.Within the band we very much like Western movies fans and the imagery of the genre.By the way we thought “well that sounds great let is keep it that way!”

You have already recorded three tracks?Are you planning to record some more?Do you actually have all the equipment necessary to record new tracks?

We are songwriting all the time and we have just finished completing the line up so we are currently rehearsing like hell on new tracks.Once one track is basically done we move onto the preproduction side of things.
By now we have nearly finished one demo track.It has been at least ten years we have been in this industry and we have played in lots of bands before and we made a living of music so we have been used to the D.I.Y and all that but we are all set up for recording music and all our friends and contacts can give us a hand without any bother,which allows us to produce our music.

How does Vera Cruz perform on stage?

Very good question indeed as the band is quite young at this stage as we have not done a single gig yet but as I said before we make a living of music and the fact that we toured and performed with our previous bands makes me think that the band is going to sound huge on stage!
In my opinion the stage presence and the show we put together is as much important as the sound itself.We hope that we will make history on the forthcoming tour!

Which are the artists you would like to play with?

I am thinking about a band that we particularly love and its name is Every Time I die.I do not think that I am wrong by saying that as it would be an honour to play withthem.
Generally speaking we would like to play with bands with whom we appreciate the music,share the sense of humour and on top of that with whom we would had no fear of stealing the show.So as I say there is world of opportunities out there!

What are your plans for the future?

Work harder and harder!We are currently practising a lot in order to be able to tour as soon as possible.we would really like to hit the road in Spring around mid-April but I would like to think that we would have already done a few warm up gigs in March as a preparation for the next tour

Flo / Vera Cruz