Interview by Roberta Ilaria Rossi
On the wake of the most famous bands like Arch Enemy, The Agonist, In This Moment, a “newbie” French band is moving its steps in the European metal scene, with one only easy target: spreading the words on the other side of the French boundaries. We’re talking about Eths, a new French metal core/nu metal band, already known by many in their native home. Now that a few months have passed from the official release of “III”, FM had the pleasure of exchanging a short chat with Candice Clot, that has revealed us something. This is the result of our brief jaw.
Hi Candice. Welcome to our website. How are you doin’?
Fine, thanks!
Let’s start our interview. Recently, one of your first records, “Soma”, released in 2004, has been issued again by Season of Mist. What’s behind the decision of a new reissue?
It seemed to be clear for us to continue the road with SOM, we live in the same town it’s easy and we really know each members of the house. We have a great deal with them.
Talking about this new record, I think it’s a new and “fresh” one, quite strong. For a moment, please correct me if I’m wrong, my mind associated your sound to the album called “Follow The Leader” by Korn, because of the more robust sounds, which quite remind the thrash of Sepultura or the hardcore of Biohazard, embellished of course by your voice, which is the main point of the sound of the band. Do you agree with this statement?
“Soma” has been released in 2004 so it’s quite so long ago.
The first thing clearly noticeable in the listening of Eths music is surely your voice which is quite versatile, because you use a very cutting, sharp growl, showing a first-rate performance, maybe one of the best ever listened in the “female fronted” metal, going through then a use of the clean vocals which result more mellow and persuasive. How do you manage to lead these vocal passages? Do you train your voice a lot or is it a pure and natural talent?
15 years in the metal world breaking my voice but I worked a lot for my clean voice and find a way to mix both voices was with the help of a good breath and a coach. When you have the vocal technique you can afford a lot more things and it’s not just talent but only work and experiences.
Step back for a moment: we talked about your voice and maybe some fan has made some comparison with some famous growler vocalist like the German Angela Gossow or the Canadian Alissa White-Gluz. What do you think about these two women? Do you like their music, their vocals?
I know the music of Arch Enemy the singer is a real front woman, she really knows the job but I don’t know the other sorry.
Talking about “aggressive” vocalists like the ones I mentioned, is there any other person/female singer you like to listen to the most?
I don’t have any references about female voices, but I’ve always respected the work of Tarrie B from My Ruin.
Eths is a nu metalcore band from France, you are already known and famous there and you’re trying to get step by step the way to success all over Europe, but the project was mainly born in 1996 as “What’s the Fuck” and right after you changed the name in Melting Point, reaching at the end the final name: Eths. Could you please share something more about the band biography?
We played in Chile Brazil, Russia, England, etc. Done big festivals like Graspop, Szigets, Dour, Wacken etc .So we garnered a lot of good stage memories and saw many big bands, I think we’re lucky.
“III” is the latest and newest album, recently released by Season of Mist. The thing that captured my attention in this record was the choice of putting some tracks sang in French and also in English and I’ve noticed that the same has been done by your “colleagues” and friends Kells. What did cause the choice of putting these tracks in this latest record?
We made 4 songs in English it wasn’t easy to rewrite these songs because poetry in French is not the same in English, it’s the same subject but not the same words. It was a compromise to record it but the label didn’t force us to do it but they let us know it could be a big plus for the band so we made it.
The production of the record has been given to Fredrik Nordström, which has worked in the past with masters like The Haunted, Dark Tranquillity, Dimmu Borgir, Arch Enemy and more and the final result is more than excellent. Why have you chosen to trust this man to work on your material?
Fredrik is a great producer, he’s pushing you to your limits to have the best but always let you decide what is the best cause it’s your disc, in front of him we could feel his experience in some details, he absolutely don’t want to complicate the things, so he was really efficient and we learned to go straight to the point. It was the first time we worked with of a real metal producer and we’re really happy with the sound he did, by the way I have to say that Henrik Udd (his acolyte) did also a great job and working with them learned us a lot.
Also the artwork of the record is quite curious. Would you like to talk about it? What is the concept behind it?
This is a post apocalyptic goddess who is the link between our songs. Nicolas Senegas did a real good job we are totally satisfied with the result.
‘Till now, your music has been chiefly written using the French language. Will we ever see a record totally sung in English in the future?
No, as far as I write the lyrics I can’t write an whole album in English even if it ‘s only a translation it’s a lot of work. Everything has to be changed even sometimes the meaning because of the musical with words. Everything has been simplified for an optimal hearing and I don’t like to write like this.
“Tératologie” (2008) was your last album and “III” has been released recently after 4 long years of silence. How come have you decided to wait for so long to release some new material?
After the “Tératologie” tour we were very tired, I’ve had a kidney infection at the end of the tour and Staif a hand tendinitis so we needed a break. It took a long time to Staif to be in a good shape because he couldn’t play guitar anymore. I took time to a have my daughter and time to reconnect to music. Also we realise we needed a break to tell new things, new stories to renew the music and it’s very important to create different songs.
Talking about your music career, I know that you’ve taken part in the track called “La Sphere”, by Kells. What could you tell about this cooperation and about your personal friendship with Virginie Goncalves?
I know her from quiet some time, we played on a gig with our bands and one day she asks me if I would sing on a Kells song. Yeah, it’s my friend even more today because we’ve been on tour together and we’re mothers, so we share a lot, we understand each other and the simple fact is that we scream, we sing and raise our children that’s funny.
Let’s talk about lyrics: who is the main person who do write the lyrics in the band? Where does the inspiration for the creation of your music come from?
I write the lyrics and everything could inspire me. Humanity is a great inspiration and I like to shell every part of it. Now “III” reflects a fact of life and a desire for change, a renewal for humanity. We talk a lot about 2012 in general but mostly I’m inspired about the different eras of our earth, the intelligence and the predictions of ancient civilizations disappeared which are necessarily developed the process of “III”. The planet has gone through several apocalypses and we are the fruit of it… it helps to ask many questions like birth and death.
Recently you’ve embarked on a mini-European tour with Kells. What could you tell about this experience?
It’s always cool being on tour with friends or other bands now the different thing was that I wasn’t the only girl so it was more girly but you know on tour. It’s always the same for every band known or unknown. You soundcheck, you wait, you play, you drink, your party and you sleep… with your friends.
What is the most beautiful thing in living on the road?
For sure not the road but to be on stage.
What could you tell, instead, about the relationship you have with the fans?
I’m not a fan of Facebook and I prefer talking after shows than reply to emails it’s a better way of communication. I generally do not like fanatics minds and I do not understand them but I owe them respect. We are often associated with young teenagers and I always try to remember when I was 15.
Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that Eths tours in Belgium and France only. Will you ever embark on a full European tour, setting foot on every single European country and, why not, all over the world?
And we need a good European agent or world agent 😉 it’s the only way to see us the band is not so big on Europe so we need someone who believe in the band to bring it abroad.
Any future goal for the band or yourself?
The best for everyone.
Thanks so much for your interest in us and thanks for having allowed us this interview. You have carte blanche in order to speak and say something to our readers and your fans! Thanks so much again!
Thank you all!!!
Credit Photos
Candice Clot Photo by Nicolas Sboub Delpierre
Band Photo by Eric Canto
Links
MySpace * Facebook * Twitter * Site
Latest Multimedia