gotta admit that the first time i saw antoine last year in stralau i was amazed from his set! exactly what i wanted… pure sax mayhem via electronics and cheap effects spewn from a shitty marshall amp! thank god i was lucky enough to do a cdr of his work via editions_zero a few weeks ago and while listening to his stuff and recent cdr stuff, etc. i did this mini interview in order to incorporate it in my weekly column for the greek webzine ‘tranzistor’ (www.tranzistor.gr – absurd’s column’s called ‘multiple personality disorder’ and its nearly 17 columns can be found in the ‘features’ link) but thought it shitty not to include it on absurd’s site as well.. so here it is… enjoy, visit his sites, download and play loud his ultra shrieking doom sax sounds!!!!
nicolas
- how did you come w/ the idea of transforming your sax sounds and how did it strike the ‘doom sax’ sound thing?
Well, first i should mention the influences of different saxophone players who use their instruments with amps before me. Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich from Borbetomagus, pioneers in the abstract and noisy saxophone approach, Kevin Martin from “God” who eventually played his tenor through a marshall stack and also Dror Feiler, great saxophone “destructionist”. Those musicians being very important as they managed to propose something original, very energetic and different than the acoustic jazz or freejazz approaches on the saxophone. They definitely had an impact on me. Personnally, being fascinated by the heavy distorded guitar sounds in metal, hardcore and rock music, i sometimes try to have in mind such textures while blowing through the sax, creating heavy drones with circular breathing and some effect pedals…the marshall stack does the rest!!! Other techniques i use are pure feedback and some brutal screamings through the instrument. I also try to make it as physical and intense as possible, live on stage.
- could you please give me some infos in brief around your activities? (antoine, feel free to talk for influences as well, etc)
These days i spend quite a lot of time developing, recording, performing and touring with my solo stuffs… The electric “doom sax” of course, but I also work on an acoustic version where i try to play with the “sonic geometry” of the room im performing in, using mostly low-end drones, multiphonics and circular breathing while moving through the space. A huge influence for that type of work being Tony Conrad who really blew me away when i saw him live a year ago or so and whose music has been an inspiration since then…The works of saxophonists Thomas Ankersmit and Alessandro Bossetti are also very inspiring, allthough quite different. Besides the solo, im working in different contexts involving many forms of sonic experiments (noise electronics, drones, doom-metal, actionism, improv or collaborations with other medias.) Speaking about influences is always tricky as i think mostly everything influences me whether i want it or not…So many great musicians and great musics to discover and enjoy all the time…This is endless…I enjoy as much Morton Feldman as Corrupted, Henri Chopin, Earth, early Celtic Frost, Penderecki, Swans, Thelonius Monk, Phil Minton, Evil Moisture, Luc Ferrari, Masonna, Fear of God, Haitian music, Ornette Coleman, Neurosis, Hermann Nitsch, Skullflower or Keiji Haino, to name but a few. There are sounds everywhere, and they are all interesting if you take the time to listen to them, from the crispy noise of some feet on the snow, to the reactor of a plane starting or all the amazing sounds produced by the animal diversity (birds, frogs, insects,etc…).
- living in berlin gives you the opportunity not only to work solely yourself but also collaborate w/ a host of like minded pals who live in the city. fancy collaborating live or in the studio w/ others or prefer the solo stuff?
Berlin is for sure a very good place to meet open minded artists. It seems that more and more artists from all over the world are moving to Berlin, ´cause you can survive there with very little money (in comparison to other big cities in europe) while having a stimulating and varied cultural environment. Im definitely into all sorts of collaborations. Playing solo is highly interesting indeed but i do love playing with different people as well…Alone on a stage, you only rely on your own energy, while in a duo or a group situation you can really trigger the other performers (and of course being triggered as well). There is something powerfull in having many people playing/reacting together. Sometimes spontaneous actions with people you never worked with can turn out really good as well (sometimes really bad too). It reminds me as i was touring recently, i did a quick stop in Antwerpen for a radio session with Dennis Tyfus. I was a little afraid making music with him, being really into his work as a performer and visual artist and not being sure of what we would be doing whatsoever… We did an acoustic duo sax/vocal in the radio studio…it seemed very natural to play together allthough it was the first time. The result was totally absurd and funny : at some point the music was so deviantly funny (especially Tyfus´spoken words madness) that we weren´t able to play, just laughing like little kids while having a good time, improvising.
- if am not mistaken your are involved in monno as well. could you pls give me some infos around this group?
MoNNo is a very important project for me as it exists since many years and very close friends are involved in it. It is a four piece, featuring sound artist Gilles Aubry on laptop, electronic devices and vocals, Derek Shirley on bass, Marc Fantini on drums and me doing some low-end riffing with the sax. Over the years, the music changed quite a lot…From the free-rock with electronic textures of the beginning to a more doomy noise/metal direction of the last cd/lp, “Error”. We have been lucky enough to meet the great folks at Conspiracy records a couple of years ago. They liked our music and released our debut album. Since then, they have been helping a lot in developing the project and gave us the possibility to tour with bands like Lightning Bolt, Isis and Jesu. We are currently working on some new materials…Hard to tell which direction monno gonna takes now…I like that, it takes time to develop and grow, and you never know where it is going to go….
- i’ve seen in your blog your postings of various alchemist pictures, art brut figures, etc… interested in this piece of art as well?
Yeah, all of these are very inspiring…I feel like there´s an obvious connection between the likes of Pierro Della Francesca, Bruegel, Borges, the alchemists, Antonin Artaud, Gilles Deleuze, Jodorowsky, Guy Debord, Sun Ra, Tarkovsky and the millions of other interesting human beings very famous or totally unknown…It is fascinating to search for sources of inspiration by discovering the works and experiences of other people, whether they are musicians, writers, painters, scientists, poets, grocers, bakers, mechanics, etc … Speaking of ART BRUT: In Lausanne, Switzerland, there is this amazing museum: www.artbrut.ch Jean Dubuffet gave them his whole collection. If you have the chance to go there, i really would recommend you to check it out. There is so many amazing works in there…The Art Brut authors (some were mentally ill) weren´t always aware that they were doing art and therefore didn´t play the art games like fighting to find exihibitions, looking for success, money or stuff like that. That aspect brought to most of the Art Brut movement something really intense, honnest, pure and direct.
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