Hello, and thanks for your time. First of all, introduce your band to the world.
Gilles (machinery) & Dave (guitars): DMM is the masterpiece of Gilles and Dave's combination of both what electro and metal should sound like. Created in 1999, we've been busy supplying soundtracks for X-treme Sport DVD and Action video games since then.
You guys met in a very strange way according to the biography. How did the two of you became friends?
Dave: Well, the grudge in between our brothers' didn't really have anything to do with us, so when I got back from the US we started hanging out, willing to collaborate on a project that seemed like a lotta fun.
Gilles: everything went smoothly from the beginning, like we were meant to work together. At every rehearsal we knew the potential was here ready to be used.
The name Deep Metal Mechanic has a cool sounding, and really fits to the music you make. Who came up with it, and why did you choose it?
Dave: Gilles' fault. I just dug it the second I heard it.
Gilles: The story behind it is fairly simple: a couple of days after the second rehearsal, the name popped up in my mind while waiting at a bus station. Basically, I knew how it should sound, i.e. sharp and aggressive, and those 3 magic words came up, translating exactly what we felt.
According to the biography, Gilles used to be a DJ and Dave also plays in a modern rock band called MotherKingdom. How important is it for a band like Deep Metal Mechanic to have different influences like this? And what bands are your main influences?
Dave: Having a band "outside" DMM allows me to experiment the full cycle of ups and downs, worries and happiness you go through as a band. It's kindda like the difference in between fucking and making love... You really deserve both... hahaha!
Gilles: My influences come mostly from my teenage years. For the electronic part, of course Prodigy represents the right balance between the cold precision of machines and the groove of rap beats. For the rock part, as I'm a snowboard/extreme sports addict, I just bought all the soundtracks of nowboarding and FMX (Freestyle Motocross) videos! White Zombie, Ministry, Pearl Jam, The Beastie Boys are example of bands I discovered through this way.
I described your latest album as "an awesome war soundtrack". How would you describe your music?
Dave: Just like you said, the soundtrack of today's world we live in. Fast and paced, never slowing down or barely, before speeding up again...
Talking about your latest album, it received excellent ratings from our zine. But what do you think of it yourself? And how do other people react on it?
Dave: Well, thank you very much for your ratings; it's always flattering to have people enjoying our vision. I personally love "Urban Guerilla" and can't stop listening to it while driving, which is kindda odd as I'm usually anxious to start the next one. Gilles' probably sick of it, he's heard it 1'000 times more than I did, Right Gilles??
Gilles: I'm exactly like Dave, really satisfied with "Urban Guerilla" as it truly sounds like we wanted, and at the same time already a little anxious about the next album, as we want it to be even better.
The album is filled with songs who can be used in many war movies straight ahead, and with the artwork and a quote like "War is terrorism with a bigger budget" you underline it. Why make an album this agressive? Is this really your point of view on the world?
Dave: It's more like a personal snapshot of the world as of today.
Gilles: Looking back, we noticed that most of the greatest bands we know treated themes related to their era. Like in the 70's where artists felt like responsible to fight the Vietnam War. As we feel also concerned about what's happening right now, we think it's important to reflect what we see in the news, i.e. upcoming energy problems due to oil shortage, and conflicts like in Iraq. We don't have the pretension of giving advices, just to reflect what is happening. Britney can talk about love, cars and teenage issues..
When I hear the samples of your debut album and compare it to the new release, I must say that your music has been developed quite well. It sounds more powerful and more mature if you ask me. What are the differences between the two releases according to you guys?
Dave: Maturity is definitely what comes to mind. We mastered both the genre and the techniques to accomplish what we thought DMM should grow up to be.
Gilles: After "System Failure", I went to Los Angeles and attended the sound engineering program of Musician's Institute. Learning from top engineers surely improved my way of recording and producing the second album. Dave at that time was recording the first album of his band MotherKingdom. To sum things up, experience and raising the bar is probably the reason we progressed through time.
I am not known with your debut work, but I consider Urban Guerilla as beeing a concept album. Is this true, and was your debut a concept album as well? And will your future albums be concept albums as well, so that every album has a specific theme?
Dave: The concepts comes from the fact that we're starting off with a visual, an album title and then only, once we know the subject/feeling we want to communicate, do we start recording the tracks. There's then a common thread that's glues the songs together based on the choices we made. We're planning on using that theory on our next album as well.
Since there is no live gallery or gigs section on your page, I presume that you don't do any gigs. My question is, why not? Why not pick some live members and do live shows? I am in a band myself, and playing gigs is the best thing about beeing in a band if you ask me.
Dave: We're always getting that question. Obviously, the world is ready to experiment DMM Live but as a choice to not fake 6-7 layers of guitars, 10-12 different keyboards parts and having to deal with that many samples, we'd rather use that energy to work on the next track. Play and fake a live performance would just demystify the entire experience, which is just out of the question. But you're right, playing Live is really exiting and that's when MotherKingdom comes handy for me.
What can we expect of Deep Metal Mechanic in the future? And what are your future dreams?
Dave: A shitload of beats and driving riffs!!! We already started on the next album and it's getting better and better. We currently have a working formula handling everything ourselves. We don't have any pressure or requirements from anybody but our fans. We are really happy as we are.
Gilles: Unlike signed with a label, we don't have any deadline to finish an album, which is important to us. We only decide to release a new one once we're 100% happy with all the tracks.
Almost there... hehe. I only knew Samael beeing a good industrial act from Switzerland before I got to know Deep Metal Mechanic. But, how strong is the scene in Switzerland?
Dave: Switzerland has many extreme, pissed off people if you look at the Metal/Industrial scene, which is always a good thing to make things stir a little. Samael just played the biggest festival here; only 3 Swiss acts headlined that main stage for the past 40 years. Big thumbs up!
The interview ends here, thanks again. If you have some final words, place them here.
Both: The Netherlands kicks ass !!! We always love visiting you guys. And make sure to drop us a line from all over the world, we love getting comments on our guestbook.
IndustrializedMetal.tk
Official Deep Metal Mechanic website
Deep Metal Mechanic on MySpace
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