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The Distrolution / Distrolution Merch team had the chance to participate in the Hellfest Festival from 19 to 26 June 2022. On the programme, concerts, meetings... and several interviews, which you can find each week in FR version on Distrolution Merch and in EN version on Distrolution! Discover without further delay our interview with Arnaud and Adrien from the band Beyond the Styx!
Hi guys. Can you introduce yourselves individually, then introduce your band to us?
Arnaud: Well, I'm Arnaud, I'm the lead guitarist in Beyond since December 2019.
Adrien: I'm Adrien. I drive the van (laughs). No, I'm the drummer in the band since the beginning, so since 2010. And the band was formed around that time. First EP in 2013, and now, we've released our third album in February, with Arnaud who joined the band a few years ago. Roughly 200 gigs, the album is out, it's doing well, sales are cool... In short, everything's good!
How long did you work on this album (Sentence) and how do you divide the roles within the band?
Arnaud: When I joined the band, there were already about 3 tracks written, pre-recorded, let's say. What happened is that there was Covid, so we composed. We compose as a group of 5. We tried, each at our own homes, we did things on video calls... everything we could. As soon as we had permission, we met to rehearse and we tried these new things. I think in terms of duration, it must have been a bit more than a year of composing, to get to the recording.
Speaking of recording, do you have a funny little anecdote from a studio session?
Adrien: A bit, yeah! (laughs)
Arnaud: Wait, wait! We're not thinking of the same one?
Adrien: Well, yes!
Arnaud: I had another nice anecdote, but you can start. We have two anecdotes!
Adrien: We recorded with a Canadian. You should know that Canadians are very, very good at humour and we worked a lot, but we also laughed a lot! You should know that in Canada, there's a viral video.
Arnaud: But really, everyone knows it there!
Adrien: There you go, it's mind-blowing. A video of a guy who soiled himself, let's put it that way.
Arnaud: At McDonald's!
Adrien: At McDonald's!
Arnaud: From Gaspésie! A very remote place.
Adrien: From Gaspésie! Because Gaspésie is like Creuse for us.
Arnaud: And there's only one McDonald's!
Adrien: And there's one McDonald's for the whole region!
Arnaud: And so we stayed on that video.
Adrien: And actually, he's filming himself. The guy knows he's soiled himself, but he pretends to be ordering. And so there are people around who are...
Arnaud: "Did you shit yourself?"
Adrien: "I think you've shit your pants!" And then the other guy goes:
Arnaud & Adrien: "A bit, yeah!" (laughs)
Arnaud: And you can't do it "A little bit!" (laughs). It's either you do it, or you don't!
Adrien: And that's the anecdote! And you, do you have another one?
Arnaud: And yeah, in the studio we laughed because the producer did it to us all the time, so that's cool! And in the studio too, because we're featuring with Vincent from The Butcher's Rodeo, who came for a day in the studio. And I quickly understood that he was a jolly fellow and so I had a good laugh with him all day. We were waiting to do backings and all that, and we had a little moment of downtime. We practised, in fact, he showed me that he could make completely incredible noises with his mouth like a crying baby, and so we had a kind of battle of mouth noise imitations. I was doing the chainsaw...
Adrien: Arnaud is very good at doing the chainsaw! Everyone has a speciality.
Arnaud: We spent a good hour doing that in the studio, with him, it was a great memory! (laughs)
Adrien: We did record some tracks though! (laughs)
So, these are exclusive anecdotes?
Adrien: Yeah, I think so!
Arnaud: Yeah, I think we've never told that story!
Adrien: No, well, it stays within the group. We still laugh about it among ourselves.
Thanks for sharing that with us. Well, now everyone's going to know!
Adrien: Oh, well, it doesn't matter! We have others that we won't tell! (laughs)
Arnaud: If only you knew! (laughs)
Adrien: Let's say there are people who drink and shouldn't fall asleep. But anyway! That's another debate! (laughs)
Arnaud: I don't know what you're talking about! (laughs)
You mentioned it earlier. You had to compose the album remotely due to the pandemic. How did you manage your band during this special period?
Adrien: Actually, Beyond is a band that meets every week. That's what it was basically! In rehearsals or concerts, etc. We see each other every week. And so yes, Covid slowed all that down a bit, so we said "Never mind, we mustn't give up, we have to find a way to keep moving forward". We suffered from that, clearly! There's no other way to put it. We did things remotely, we did everything remotely! The guys would record a riff, we'd send it to each other, I'd record drums over it, we'd see if it fit... We'd do video calls all together, we'd try to talk, exchange, we'd often go back and forth. So it took a lot longer than when we compose all together, because we're a band that composes 100% in the rehearsal room and all together.
Arnaud: For real. Simply for real!
Adrien: So, it took much longer. The time to record, send, re-send and so on... In short, it was endless! Some people in the band handled it better than others. For some, it was more complicated, this video call thing that didn't speak. As soon as we had the means to meet again with travel authorisations, those forms...
I don't even remember what it's called anymore!
Adrien: The travel certificates!
Arnaud: Yeah, yeah. I had lost it too.
Adrien: As soon as we could do that, we met up, we made music, we tried the songs again and finally, what was ultra positive, is that everything we were able to do remotely, we played together. With a few arrangements, it matched!
Arnaud: It matched, because we were working on our own.
Adrien: It's that we kept the thread and it was positive.
Arnaud: Even though it lasted a long time actually, we weren't falling behind, because we were really working on our own, whether it was on the composition or on the rest, so that when we arrived, we knew our time was limited, so we went all out!
Adrien to Arnaud: You're getting closer and closer to me, it's disturbing me, because I'm hot! (laughs)
Do you remember your first concert after the pandemic?
Adrien: Yeah, well yes! Well, it's easy. The 8 Fest.
Arnaud: The 8 Fest!
Adrien: Everything was there for it to be cool. There was an outdoor stage, etc. Anyway, it was a festival, it was the first organisation, but the guys, they were on point! It was in Brittany and during the day, storm warning, orange alert...
Arnaud: In a single department! Ours!
Adrien: So they relocated the concert to a room that was normally intended for backstage. It became the concert hall. They had said "Well, we'll still leave outdoor marquees so people can set up the bar, because we don't have the space". And in two hours, the orange became red, torrential rain, torrential rain, never seen anything like it! Wind and stuff! They strapped down the tents so they wouldn't fly away. In short, an outdoor catastrophe. Afterwards, it was full indoors. Sold out! It was as hot as it is here, in the room, even though it was in October, late October. As hot as here, the humidity level, the same! And it was... a battle! (laughs)
Arnaud: From the soundcheck!
Adrien: Yeah, that's right. We were doing the line check, people were starting to mosh even though we were still on the line check (laughs). I personally remember it anyway, I'm not someone who stresses before getting on stage, I really take the stage as a cool thing, but there was still a little bit of thinking "Wait, it's been a year and a half since we've played, we don't have any automatisms anymore". Because the band is also a lot about automatisms. That's why we rehearse often, why we see each other every week, etc. To have fun, you also need to have your head elsewhere and not have to think about what you need to do for the next riff. Here, it was "Have we lost these automatisms?" Well, in the end, no! But there was a little moment of "Oh, it's been a year and a half since we've played though!" and that first kick drum hit, that first feeling of playing again, you think "Ah, that's cool! It feels good!"
What do you like most about concerts?
Adrien: The concerts! (laughs)
Arnaud: The audience... Seeing them have a blast, it's really the best reward, truly. Sometimes I see two feet of a guy, I don't even see his head, it's running on stage, things are happening... And I think to myself "Guys, what we're doing, it's not for nothing!". These guys are externalising.
Adrien: The good atmosphere, and the people, as you say, are there to have fun. The example that Yoann gives, which marked him the most, is a gig we did in a cellar, where the guys were running from one side of the wall, running back in the other direction, they would grab each other and hop! They would go around the vault with their feet, it was flying (laughs). It was the sun of the cellar vault, you see! Well, things like that where you tell yourself that people are ingenious and full of inventiveness, to always surprise us.
Arnaud: Yeah, that's true!
I like the word ingenious. I might have said a bit dangerous too (laughs)
Adrien: No, because they don't hurt themselves too much! (laughs)
Arnaud: They're stuntmen (laughs)
You mentioned it earlier. Your band has played about 200 shows and you've performed in several countries. Is there one that particularly stood out to you?
Arnaud: I'll let you answer (addressing Adrien), because I...
Adrien: Well yes, since you've only done France. No, no, you've done Belgium!
Arnaud: Belgium!
Adrien: Honestly, it would be difficult to answer, because in each country, there's something cool to do. In Belgium, it's the welcome, the audience, the people, the generosity. We always talk about the generosity of the North, but it's not for nothing. It's real, it's true! Having toured everywhere, between the South-East and the North of France, it's two completely different mentalities, really. So there's that, and you find it in Belgium: the welcome. In Holland, the quality of the bands you play with. The amateurs in Holland are the pros of France, actually! They play so well! When you go there, you shit your pants because, without being Gaspésie (laughs)... And then the level, super nice people, of course.
Germany, it's the same. Rigorous people. Spain, it's the warmth, even though it was in the middle of February and we were very well received, it was nice. Switzerland, it's for their calm side, and again, we arrived on time at the gating, and finally, the organiser arrives later than the band saying "Oh, well it's the first time I've seen a band on time!" (laughs). So yeah, I couldn't tell you ONE country, because ultimately, live music happens everywhere, there are people behind it and that's what's important!
It's indeed a very difficult question, because from one country to another, it's so different. You might take some time to visit a bit when you're there, and even then...
Adrien: It's hard! It's very, very hard, because you have very little time. You do a lot of driving, and when you arrive, you already have to unload the equipment, set up the merch... And in the end, it's rare when we visit the cities!
To wrap up this interview, can we talk about your future projects?
Adrien: No! (laughs)
I should have phrased the question differently perhaps (laughs)
Adrien: No, it's a joke! Well... tour the album. That's it, do gigs, tour, tour.
Arnaud: We're back on stage in July, on July 9th at the RIIP Fest in Tours, so we're playing at home.
Adrien: With Integrity!
Arnaud: Yeah, with Integrity! There's a poster that's clearly...
Adrien: Incredible!
Arnaud: There you go! And then after that, the Useless Fest at the end of August. Yeah, small festivals and that's it!
Adrien: And the big tour!
Arnaud: European tour in preparation!
Adrien: We're leaving... The first date is Dijon, and the last date will be the Czech Republic, passing through Germany, Belgium and Holland.
Arnaud: So the countries he likes!
That was my last question, thank you for taking the time to answer and see you soon!
Arnaud & Adrien: Thank you!
