Vigils (metalcore) took some time to answer a couple of questions for us!
Picture: Credit to the photographer Hello, Vigils! Thanks for taking time to answer a couple of questions for us. Would you mind introducing your band to our readers? Hey Valentine! Thank you for giving us this interview! Vigils is a Metalcore band composed of 5 musicians/composers from France and the United States. The project was born in 2017 in the studio. When we recorded our first EP in Los Angeles with Erik Ron (Attila, Motionless in White), it was the first time we were all together and it was an incredible experience. Since then, we have continued to produce songs between France, New York and Los Angeles in order to one day release an album and tour in the US. How would you describe the difference between the French and the US metalcore scene? Have you been to France before? If you wish to, I hope you will come because it is a beautiful country, with a very rich culture and history. But please, do it for yourself, don't listen to French radio! (laughs) More seriously, it's a great question and I really like answering it. Metalcore is a style of music that is rooted in English culture. It's a derivative of Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk, genres that have emerged in the United States and England, but unfortunately not at all in France. That's why today there are many Metalcore bands in France, who play very good music, but unfortunately have very little success compared to what they deserve. There are many Metal concerts in France, I think especially of Hellfest which is one of the biggest festivals in Europe (all kinds of music combined). And there are always many people who come to these events. But labels and radio stations have not been interested in it for a long time. Ask a Frenchman what Metal bands he knows, here is his answer: Metalica, System Of A Down, Nickelback, Linkin Park and Evanescence… To my knowledge, the only French Metal bands that work are Gojira, Betraying The Martyrs and Chunk, No Captain Chunk! because they made the decision to leave France to play and share their music in the United States and then in the world. You've recently released a new single titled “Divide”. Would you mind introducing this song? What's the story behind it? Divide is a special song for us. In February 2018, we organized a composition session in New York with the band, however, it was very complicated for us to write because of the lack of inspiration and motivation as we had not been able to find the alchemy to create new songs for days. We all felt that Gil (the singer) was a little distant during this time, considering that he was absent for a few days. But when he returned, he told us of his distress. We talked a lot and shared our personal experiences, until we forgot that we were there to create music, which in the end brought us together deeply and revealed a new facet of our relationship. So, we decided to help him by doing what we do best: creating music. The lack of inspiration that had haunted us for several days finally disappeared and was replaced by a "creative therapy." Divide was then born with the aim of exorcising a friend's suffering. As this song was very personal, we wanted to produce it all by ourselves (production, recording and mixing), as it was the logical continuation of the process. The song is about being too overwhelmed with stress and anxiety and not being able to see the positive aspects of life. Forgetting why you’re alive and why you’re here because your inner demons are constantly yelling louder than your brain can think. Knowing that deep down this isn’t who you are, but the negative keeps overshadowing the good. The line “why am I being pulled from two sides?” is referencing the feelings of dissonance those contrasting thoughts cause. It’s not a neutral or optimistic song, it’s just about suffering. How’s your usual writing and recording process? Our writing process is generally done at a distance, Shura, Yann and Romain submit riff or production ideas to Enzo. He works on them in his studio, records them and finally proposes an instrumental version structured to Gil, who will then work on writing the melody and lyrics. Yann then comes back to refine the demo and make sure to give it more depth and an interesting color. As for the recording, we go back to the studio in the United States to clean and record all the instruments, as well as the voices. We also compose songs when we spend time together in Los Angeles or New York, usually on the terrace around a bottle of whisky. (laughs) In this case, we all have a guitar in our hands and have fun just improvising ideas. Some of them talk to Gil, so he improvises lyrics and a melody on it, we record it with our phones and then the rest of the process remains the same, Enzo takes care of producing the song. By the way, guys, let us know if you're interested in listening to demos of tracks that have already been released. We'll think of a cool way to make you listen to them! I really love the artwork of the single. Can we talk about it? Thank you very much! We decided to put the rose in the spotlight because is it the strong symbol of this song. It represents perfection which is a goal to be aimed for but can also lead to destruction. Which is what we wanted to represent in this music video. We are very grateful for the graphic designer June Martin, who worked on this artwork. She is very talented and has been able to adapt to our request.
What about the music video for this single? How was the shooting experience? Well, we decided to give Gil all the freedom to write the Storyboard, because it seemed legitimate to us that he could express his story in the most authentic way possible. That's why we decided to work with Eric Dicarlio, because his vision and artistic sense were totally in correlation with our vision. It was a great experience, but we were all exhausted at the end. Moving like that for hours, it was cold, but we only kept warm, well, it's better to be well prepared! (laughs). But Eric was an excellent director, he was able to motivate us from start to finish. And the whole team that was there did a remarkable job so that we could focus only on our role, we thank them again. The last words are for you. If you have any other projects in the making, here’s your chance to talk about it! We are currently working on new songs with a new team. And I promise you that if you already like Vigils, you will love it and if you don't know us, just wait for it. Thank you Valentine! Thanks Distrolution for this interview! And thank you to all of you who have read us and who support us! Thanks for your time!
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