I had the chance to interview Soror Dolorosa
before their amazing show at the SGM Festival, Madrid. Andy Julia
(vocals), Frank Ligabue (drums), Hervé Carles (bass), Nicolas Mons
(guitar) and David-Alexandre Parquier, called DA (guitar) squeezed in
the tiny backstage of the Gruta 77 to answer my questions. Thanks a
lot to the band, here is the interview…
Guillaume Renard
On tour
You're
touring since the release of the second album, I would like to know
what are your impressions on this tour compared to the previous one.
Andy:
"No More Heroes"
has been a transition for us. We moved from a not really looked at
band to a band that people are expecting. We clearly felt the impact
of this album. Now we have much better conditions on tour, the
feedback of the public is multiplied by 2 or 3. We took time to make
an album, we put everything we could into it, so it's good to have
such feedback. The album has worked for himself, with the press and
with the fan-base, which has grown, people have start to cling more
to our music. So for us it is a transition album... and we also
learned to compose music in a different way. All this leads us to
consider things to a larger extent, the scene as well. It has
expanded our vision.
You have
made mostly festivals this year, is it a formula that suits you
better than a proper Soror Dolorosa tour?
Andy:
Yes, for now festivals are
good for us. Our fan-base is not large enough for us to be able to
tour alone and make shows in front of 200-300 people, as we have done
it in all the cities that we have visited. The festivals are a great
way to get the public to know you, to meet other acts, there are many
people in the same place at the same time, it creates a special
atmosphere. And the afters in festivals are also nice, because there
are a lot of people and we like to party, we like people and in
festivals you get to meet people, it's nice.
Which songs
do you prefer to play on stage? How does the public respond to these
songs? Are you sometimes surprised by the audience’s reaction to a
song?
Frank:
I enjoy playing all our
songs, although there are some songs I would like to take a break
from, because we have played them so much, but people expect them, so
they stay in our set. All the songs from the last album are very
enjoyable to play, they are punchy, they are catchy and it is a
pleasure for me to play them.
DA:
All the songs give me the
same pleasure when I play them. We use more or less the same setlist
and the songs are more or less in the same order since the beginning
of the tour, and the transition songs in the set are the one I
appreciate the most, like "Silversquare”, which comes at a
time when I have had time to warm up and this is when I totally get
in the show and forget all the rest. I discovered Soror when I was
16-17 years , with the first EP , and became a total fan, so playing
songs like "Beau Suicide" is amazing for me. I used to
listen to it with my little headphones on my way to high school!
Regarding the "hits" I can understand Frank, but in general
we get such a fucking good feedback of the audience that I personally
love playing them.
Andy: It also depends a lot on the public's reaction , and it’s something you can’t foresee. Sometimes we play a song like "Autumn Wounds" , which was a hit on dance-floors, and when we start playing it I think "Well, ok, let's go, let's play Autumn Wounds…" and then I look at the people in front, they start dancing, people are waiting for the lyrics to start singing along. It lifts you up and you rediscover the song through the public. We don’t want to do all the time the same concert, we adapt, as we are a live band. The songs don’t sound always the same and the reaction of the public affects our behavior and our perception of the concert, and we like that.
Andy:
We work with samples on two
songs, but it is light enough.
DA:
There are samples on the
intro and the outro, the first and last songs. During a concert, both
the band and the audience make the song come to life.
Andy:
That 's why we still like to
go on stage like the first time, each time is different. If the
audience is cold, we try to make some more. When the public is hot
it’s the best time.
Have you
thought about releasing a bootleg?
Andy:
It's a very good question,
because this project has come to life by itself during this tour.
People have recorded our shows without telling us, and over ten days,
I have received three different very good live recordings which have
been mixed (note: Berlin , Milan,
Vienna). We are considering doing a
live album, either of a single concert, or bringing together several
concerts, and perhaps releasing one LP of it. Live vinyls are always
something special when you like a band, and I think the fans would
like it. We are thinking about it, it takes time to listen to the
recorded shows, and decide whether it 's what we want to leave
behind... We also have a good live recording in Burg Stenberg and
another one in Paris during the show we did for Le Boucanier, who
organizes parties in Paris since 25 years. We have to select the
songs, remaster and polish the outcome in order to release something
really worth it.
Do you still
have a lot of upcoming concerts for this tour?
Frank: We
have booked shows until September 2014.
Andy:
As the tour goes along,
promoters contact us. It is a slow tour, we are playing with
promoters who really want us to play. They usually talk to each
other, or see us on stage and contact us, and little by little we add
new shows to the tour. We are planning to play in Athens and Rome,
and we expect a tour of the East Coast of USA and Canada for 2014. We
want to be well settled before that, to avoid blowing it.
Do you have
a big fan-base in the US?
Andy:
It’s starting to grow, as
"No More Heroes" is doing well in the US, it is less gothic
than "Blind Scenes", less sad and nostalgic. It’s deep
but with a catchy rock base. It has variety, tracks are different
from one another and the Americans usually like this type of albums.
What is
their reaction to the fact that a French band sing in English?
Andy:
Maybe because we don’t use
the English in the same way, usually they appreciate our use of their
language, and they understand our sensitivity.
Frank:
Native English speakers
usually like the French accent in rock music. This is true for
Americans and British too.
DA:
They think it’s classy.
Andy:
Yes, and we must accept our
accent.
Any anecdote
you can tell us on this tour?
Andy:
We have anecdotes at every
concert, we always a great time...
Frank:
We did a karaoke with punks
in a squat in Austria! At 6 am we were singing the soundtrack of
Dirty Dancing with them!
Line –up
How was
Nicolas and DA’s integration within the band? Have you ever played
together before?
Nicolas:
I started because the
guitarist at the time (note: Emey)
was not available for the tour with Alcest in February 2012, so I
replaced him at short notice. Finally he did not return, so I
integrated the group.
Hervé:
I had already played with
Nicolas, and I suggested to Frank that we should call him.
Andy:
It all happens naturally,
through people we know. We could not make a casting and
auditions on Facebook for example. The human side must be more
important.
Frank:
Things happen naturally, we
need human relationships, it has to be sincere . For the integration
of DA , it is difficult to explain because even we can’t
remember...
DA:
We had already met, and then
Steph from Alcest, had recommended me to the band. Basically I had to
make the sound on tour and become the sound engineer of Soror, as I
am a sound engineer. Eventually it didn’t happen, which I 'm glad
of today, because I would not be a guitarist in the band now, had it
happened. After the tour with Heirs, the group planned to add Heirs’
guitarist in the band, but it was complicated as he lives in
Australia. So, Andy sent me a message, "I heard you're a good
guitarist, come." For me it was incredible! I must have
rehearsed once with the band, and I found myself at the Milan
concert... But I had already contacted the band a few years ago to
offer my services as a second guitarist...
Andy: Is
that true?
DA:
Yeah, you politely answered
no... (laughs)
Frank:
Oh, that was you ?
New Album
Andy:
We're currently working on
the new album, a lot. We will make the band evolve, we follow our
inspiration. The album will probably be longer, more immersive.
Frank:
It should smell of more smoke
and dust than before.
Andy:
"No More Heroes"
describes poetic, nocturnal urban scenes trapped in the city. With
the next album, we will see further on the horizon. It will be more
ethereal, more impersonal, but emotionally deeper, with sleeker new
sounds. This is something usual, after a very "full" record
as the previous one, which doesn’t give any break. There will be a
greater contrast between the songs with very intense moments, and
others where the intensity will completely draw back. We are giving
time to the album to evolve by itself.
Frank:
I think until "No More
Heroes", we have been writing songs, whereas with this new
album, we started to write music. There will be more consistency ,
more emotion, without looking for dance-floors hits, but with more
elaborate arrangements. It will be more an album than a collection of
songs.
What about
the production?
Andy:
Same producer
(note: Benoît Roux aka
Mr. Xort )
Videos
You chose
dark and intimate songs for your official videos (Low End, Hologram).
Why did you make this choice? Catchier songs would surely have
attracted more attention?
Andy:
That's true. The director who
focused on our sound (note: Toshadeva
Palani ), and offered to make videos,
focused on the artistic side of the band. He chose the subjective
side and our inner relation to music, rather than the entertainment
or the "catchy" songs. He worked as a film-maker, taking
the essence of the music, and that's why he chose these songs. It
seems quite logical to me that our first clips are very deep and
artistic. If we ever need to make more commercial clips, we will. But
for now we remain close to the point, and in harmony with the lyrics
. Nothing about our work is disregarded, and that is important to us.
You gave him
carte blanche?
Andy:
Yes, we talked , we exchanged
e-mails , but we did not meet. He is a young director, he lives in
the United States, in Providence. He offered his skills, and as he is
a young director, we especially didn’t want to curb him. He put all
his feelings and it is a good thing because these songs are long and
slow, and not easy to transpose on video. These are beautiful
stories, that everyone can relate to and in harmony with the lyrics.
He focused on the artistic side, that can seem more difficult to
understand, but after receiving the feedback of the public, we know
that people understand.
Are you
planning another video-clip?
Andy:
Not at the moment.
Side Projects
Andy, you
sing on the beautiful song "Nightshift" on the first album
of LowCityRain. How did that happen?
Andy:
Markus of Lantlôs, had come
to Paris with Neige (note: from Alcest),
because Neige was playing with Lantlôs, and he also had seen us on
stage in Oberhausen. He had enjoyed the concert. When Markus started
composing New Wave and enlarged his musical outlook, he asked me to
do the vocals on one song. He has a very intimate and low voice, and
he was looking for stronger and clearer voices. It was a pleasure for
me because I think it’s a very very good album. He also asked me to
make the cover of the album, it was a pleasure too, as I was very
inspired by the album. Collaboration between musicians is always a
good thing when they understand each other.
Do you have
any other collaborations in progress, as a group?
Andy:
We will certainly do a split
EP with Liar In Wait, the cold-wave side project of American group
psychedelic metal band Nachtmystium. They sound great, and they asked
us to do a split EP. Right now it is in talks.
And each of
you, do you have musical projects?
DA:
During the concerts you
usually meet other musicians, with whom you find similarities and
connections. I work with the singer of British band cold-wave band
Phosphor, on a project called Luminance and we get along very well.
Andy:
I do the drums in Dernière
Volonté. It is a band of New Wave-Military-Pop-Synth-Wave. I still
do concerts with Geoffroy (note:
Geoffroy D , founder of Dernière Volonté).
Nicolas:
I have another project,
L’Oeil, but I 'm not the main member. Right now it is in stand-by,
but we will resume as soon as possible.
You are very
present on social networks , how do you use it for Soror Dolorosa?
Andy:
We try to be present, and
interesting , that is to say, give things to see and hear that are
simply related to what we do, and not give a different image on the
social network because it is reality. It allows fans who appreciate
the albums to go a little further.
Musical Tastes
If you had
the opportunity to reform or resurrect a group to see it on stage,
which would it be?
Frank:
Led Zep!
DA:
Slowdive
Nicolas:
For me, The Doors !
Hervé:
For me, the Lords of the New
Church !
Andy:
Me too, the Lords...
Hervé:
Led Zep, and also, the Black
Sabbath live in Paris 1970 , when you see the live video, Bill Ward
banging, getting through the skin of the drums, this is THE sound!
What are
your latest musical discoveries? Do you listen to new acts?
Hervé: I
am not easily pleased by new acts. It is not often that I am excited
with something new. I still listen to Deep Purple, Joy Division...
DA:
You're an old fart ! (Laughs)
Frank:
With the background we have,
we still have not processed all the music we know..
.
Andy:
I listen to a lot of new
stuff, I buy a lot of music and there are lots of things that have
pleased me lately, especially on the American label “Italians do it
better”. They make a kind of blend of Dream Pop, chill-wave,
cold-wave. Cold sounds of the 70 's or 80 's, but with a new style,
naive and straight-to-the-point. The Chromatics have made a great
impression on me.
DA:
I buy a lot of music too. Of
the newest, I am addicted with Phosphor, I find their album amazing,
I listen to it all the time...
Nicolas:
My cult bands are Nine Inch
Nails , Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance. These are the three groups
that impacted me and I am still sticking to their music...
Hervé:
Marduk is a band I listen to,
a metal band.
Is there
anything you would like to add for the readers of This is Gothic
Rock?
Andy:
I would like to say,
especially for readers who do not know Soror Dolorosa, that we are
not an 80's revival act, we couldn’t care less about being one, we
just do what we feel at the time and if we are compared to 80's
bands, I think it's mostly because the bands then followed their
instincts. They were not trying to belong to a particular scene or
get their picture in magazines, they did what they felt, and this is
what makes the music interesting. We work exactly that way, and we
are proud of it.
