Inhumate [ Grindcore | French | Interview on July 24, 2002]

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Inhumate [Date of interview: July 24, 2002]
You knew the words "Underground band"? If you don't know, I wanna recommend you guys to know the band named "INHUMATE", they are the underground band 100% self produced!!! Master grinders from French!!!

Please introduce yourself to Thailand.
Fred | INHUMATE: I'm Fred the bass player of a French death grind band called INHUMATE.

You, Christophe, David and Yannick, that's the current line-up, right?
Fred | INHUMATE: Yes, that's absolutely right, this line up is up and stable for almost 8 years!!!

INHUMATE has been together since 1990; tell me about the early days of the band.
Fred | INHUMATE: Everything started in the end of 1990 when I moved to a French town called Strasbourg. I did not know anybody there so I looked for some musicians to help me to put up a death metal band. I found a guy called Olivier who was vocalist and so we started INHUMATE like that J! We had to wait 1993 to make our fist release and first gig too. It was a bit long because in 1990 when we were starting we did not know many things about the underground scene, we were dreaming of being the news CANNIBAL CORPSE or OBITUARY!!!!!

'Growth' album was the third chapters of seven chapters like the concept album; please tell me about this concept?
Fred | INHUMATE: We are working on a 7 album concept and we call this "our" heptalogy. Those 7 albums will be 7 steps of a human life and will try to show that life never ends, so if life never ends then there is no time left and we arrive at what we call the abolition of time. Some people gonna tell me that life ends when a guy dies, and to this I answer that in the normal way of life all person should give birth to a child, in that case life goes on through the child, ok ? So when the parents gonna die, life won't end because the child will carry it. And when that child will die (in a normal age I mean) it should have been the same, that child, when he'll be an adult, he should have given life to his own child… So, when the try to understand what life is for the all humanity, you can't understand when it begins and when it will end, can you ? And time cannot be counted into a so wide moment, is there then a real time ? Can't it be abolished ? I think that yes, because he human brain isn't strong enough to understand all those things. So, that was for the whole concept. And we try to put this, to explain this through our cover artworks (and a little bit through the lyrics). Our first CD "Internal Life" was dealing with the life before life, the life inside the mother. The second one, "Ex-Pulsion", which means the moment of birth in French, is about that time. When you got the whole complete CD, you can see the pictures of that moment, maybe the biggest traumatism that all human people has to feel in it's life. The third CD called "Growth" tries to deal with all the young years, the teen ages years. More precisely the moment when you get higher and when you learn things... The moment of the beginning of the knowledge. Then there will be "Life", "The Fifth Season", "Expulsed" and "Eternal Life". With this last CD, we close the concept and in the same way that the name sounds like the first CD, the story begins again, and never ends as long as there will be human people on Earth. Now the only thing we hope is to be able to finish this long concept, 7 CD it won't be done in 2 years….

I think seven chapters that's the long metal way, man. Maybe more than ten years to complete this concept, what do you think about this?
Fred | INHUMATE: Yes, it will be very long to finish it and as I told it we know that. But we're not stupid and we know that maybe we won't do them all… But you know now the line up is stable for 8 years, we all know ourselves good and I think that it's maybe possible that we can make them all complete in the coming years. 10 years is a minimum but we are not in a hurry are we ? We are underground and self produce so nobody has to tell us when we have to record some stuffs, when we have to play or to do this or that, we're totally free and as the concept is around time maybe time won't kill us !!!!

Your lyrics and concept just like the cycle of life, like the metaphysics or something like that, why you choose this concept to present? Wanna hind some message, something?
Fred | INHUMATE: Why? I don't know… Maybe because this is a topic that interests us more than the usual gore and blood thirst clich? we're used to see in the underground scene. I think that INHUMATE is a different band because of many things : 100% underground attitude, way of playing, music feeling, lyrics and so with the concept too !

The reason that I asked you in the last question because I think your lyrics not like the same grind death metal bands' concept. What do you think about this, please show your opinion?
Fred | INHUMATE: Hum, I already answered a bit to this before… Yes, you're right we are different and you know I think it can be positive for us and also negative… Positive because more and more (but it doesn't mean thousands!!!!) people begin to understand what INHUMATE is and want to spread for idea. We try to give a positive sight of life and we show it in our concerts as we enjoy those moments!!!! We're not here to cry! And I think this is positive because it gives a new way to feel this brutal music. It's also negative because when you propose something new many people turn the back to you; many people want some music sounding like MORTICIAN with gory lyrics and don't even want to listen to what you do just because you're not exactly sounding like all the fashionable death metal acts of the moment… But we don't really care as we are still alive after all those years and still having the same ideas!!! We don't follow any fashion, we are and we will always stay underground!!!

I think your band show power for the audience around the world in the commitment of the words "true underground band", you walk in the tunnel, releases and promote your band like true underground band in the way of 'D.I.Y.' band, that's fuckin really great. What do you think about this things,Bro'?
Fred | INHUMATE: Thanx a lot for your words!!! You know we think that the metal scene is cut in 2. On one side you have the commercial scene with all the RELAPSE, METAL BLADE bands, etc… Those bands don't interest me (of course some play good music!!!) because I think they're maybe a bit too much dedicated to god dollar J ! And the other side, the dark one is the underground side. In this side you can find many many bands that play because they still fucking like it, because they have metal in their veins and I think that those bands are the true spirit of the metal scene!!!! Of course as soon as they begin to run after money they're almost dead, but as long as they play in extreme conditions (I don't support this, but it's really happening too often) they all deserve all my respect ! In INHUMATE we fight for the purest form of music and nothing else, and absolutely not for the will to make money! Now about the world underground scene I think that many people (band but also zines and all kind of supporters) stop too early just because they think they don't have the audience they think they deserve… That's the most difficult thing to understand: the underground is very interesting but I think that only the strong survive in it, or the ones that have money too (most labels of course!)!!!!

Actually, I think just the band like 'INHUMATE' , must have many major label/records wanna catch you guys for ink the contract, something like that, have any? And why you reject the major records?
Fred | INHUMATE: Ah, ah, ah!!! You're not the first to tell such a thing. But you know we don't think that we need to have a worldwide promotion!!!! We don't search for a label, we're following our life and we do what we have to do. Now if a "big" label is interested in us than it's to him to ask us and then we will discuss about the conditions and that's the ONLY way. We already had some propositions but I think we always were able to do much better by ourselves. Now if a record label like RELAPSE asks us we will discuss of course, we won't spit on them but if something should be signed it should be with OUR conditions. I think we already showed enough that we were absolutely able to make everything alone.

Your album has distribution by Witchhammer Recs. in Thailand. How's going on with this distro?
Fred | INHUMATE: We have more than a distribution deal, we have a repressing deal. WITCHHAMMER RECS repressed our "Growth" album in tape format for Thailand and Asia under licence of GRIND YOUR SOUL. Now, how is it going, I can't really answer as I don't have many news from there…. The only thing I can say is that they told me that the repressed only 100 tapes and it's long to be sold I think…. But I don't know how the scene is in your country and maybe is it very hard to sell INHUMATE tapes ;-)

Have you ever listened Thai metal bands or the bands from South East Asia?
Fred | INHUMATE: Yes, of course. I bought a zine (MAELSTROM 666) with CDR comp a few weeks ago and on the comp. Are bands like CALORIC, SHE'S GORE. But I'm always looking for some more underground brutal bands !!!!! I know that the Malaysian and Indonesian underground brutal scenes are strong, now about Thailand I never heard very fucking brutal blasting bands and if there are some it should be great if those bands could contact me for possible trades !!!!

How's about your label 'Grind Your Soul', are you satisfied about the result of your label?
Fred | INHUMATE: Of course we are as GRIND YOUR SOUL is INHUMATE. In GRIND YOUR SOUL there are 4 people working to spread the sickness in our area and those 4 people are INHUMATE members. So, of course we're satisfied with the work we do J.

I ever read some magazines and you told you like classical music, and you think you use some influences from classical music to put in your songs?
Fred | INHUMATE: No, there are absolutely no influences of classical music in what we do. You know the music is composed and grinded at 99% by David (guitarist) and he doesn't listen to such music!!!!

Do you have any plan in the future? How's about your new album? When your new album releases?
Fred | INHUMATE: We are currently working on the 4th album. The only thing I can say is that we have 12 tracks almost ready but we still need some more and that this CD will be really interesting I think because it will be the middle of our concept so we will try to make something really great ! Besides this we will print some sweat shirts after summer and we plan some gigs here and there.

Thanks a lot for your time, if you have any final remarks, please fill free...
Fred | INHUMATE: You're welcome, thanx also to you for the support to INHUMATE… keep it fucking sick and don't forget INHUMATE & GRIND YOUR SOUL (free distro list full of underground stuffs) addresses (all letters and e-mail will have an answer, no fucking ROCK STAR IRC needed here) :

INHUMATE
c/o Fred ANTON
19 rue des paturages
67310 ZEINHEIM
FRANCE
INHUMATE@ifrance.com
http://www.inhumate.com

GRIND YOUR SOUL Distro
c/o Yannick GIESS
61 route de l'hopital
67100 STRASBOURG
FRANCE
professeur.burp@libertysurf.fr
http://www.inhumate.com