Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.55 04/06)
excerpts from an interview with Jean Pierre Louveton (Vocals, Guitars)
As usual, we gave the best of ourselves for the composition and the recording of this album. All songs show the best we were able to do at the moment we wrote them. The second work is to record it properly, and I can tell tell you that the sound we have on this album is the best we ever had. We do the whole work by ourselves, and we learn little by little how to do it. That explains the progress you can hear from an album to another.
What's the conceptual background of the current album?
We just watch the world live, as everyone, with tv news. And we try to imagine where do it goes. One of the big fears concerns genetic progress, and what it will offer soon: immortality, life after death, the food controlled by private firms... It's more than anticipation, all is probable, and what we want to say is "Please stop here before it's too late!"
The new album is called "Part I", what leads to the question, if there are already plans for "Part II"?
The second part is written, and the release date is planned for 2007. This is a double album, but we prefered to separate the two parts, mainly because of the cost of such a project.
What's more important for you: the music or the lyrics?
Definitively: music. But words have to be meaningful to fit with it. I can't imagine Nemo playing music with stupid lyrics, or with no lyrics at all. We also have something to say about the world we live in, we have our self ways of thinking and we want to tell everyone what we don't like in this world. Our message is humanist, environmentalist, and atheistic.
Why did you decide to sing in french? Do you think it would be easier to distribute your music if you would sing in english?
It is not a "decision" it seems... We never talked about it at the beginning, just because it is our language. Why should we sing in English ? We do accept and listen with pleasure a lot of English and American bands, why should'nt they accept our natural language ? There are ears enough in the world for several cultures and languages, and we won't abandon that freedom just to sell a few more albums. Maybe on day we will release two version of our albums, but not yet.
What kind of musical and artistical development do you see from album to album?
We try not to repeat ourselves when we work on a new album. I know bands that take pleasure to, when they reach commercial success, record the same album every year. I would be very bored to do that, like working at the factory! Our pleasure is to create and always try to find news ideas and arrangements. So we hope to be creative for a long time still!
In which way do the work of Jules Verne influence your music and concepts?
It used to directly influence us for the first and second album. Now we can say that we modestly try to continue his work, by trying to imagine our possible futures.
What's the difference between your albums and playing live on the stage?
Well, none I think. It's just that on stage we make mistakes we didn't leave on the records. The way we compose makes that we are able to play on stage nearly everything we recorded. We don't add dozens of tracks in the studio, just the essential. You can hear it on our "Immersion Publique" live album, wich contains no overdubs or rerecordings. The versions are close to studio ones, just a little faster!
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 2006