Gronde (France) 08/06/2011

Chamo: Hail my friend, Gronde was born in 2009 as an idea, I wanted to play simple yet powerful kind of Black Metal. The purpose was to be able to find musicians quickly and to perform drunk live in the name Destruction! So I started to write “All Hail God” and the basis was established. We began to rehearse in 2010 and the Gronde’s first strike was release a month ago (04/2011).

Chamo: Wow that’s a lot of adjectives here! “Straightforward and powerful” is what I aimed when I wrote the first songs so thank you for noticing that! The fact that we all play in metal bands since years makes it easy for us to focus on what is important or not, and I talk about music here. The “brutal” side of Gronde is the natural side to me, I mean it’s difficult for me to write something minimalist without being fucking boring but playing something brutal/dark is an easy way to me. “Gronde’s sales”? That’s a big word for what is going on for us, there are labels/distros who buy us some copies, sometimes we trade when I can afford it. All I can say is that’s a fucking good start anyway, the reviews are good so far and those who listened to the CD are enthusiasts.

Chamo: The fucking world in which we all crawl... I hate what I see every time I go outside, people are fucking dumb, it’s all about the New $ Religion, material possessions, the “me, myself and I” talking, being fucking ugly and acting like shit... fucking Napalm all that! We’re at the bottom of what humanity can be. I’m not the kind of guy who want to change the world, I just want to make it burn, slowly. So when I play it’s almost always dark things... I try to get a touch of “Rock” in Gronde if you know what I mean but sometimes I just can’t... so I put this kind of material in another project called Total Satan.

Chamo: The next release is not planned yet, we’re rehearsing new shit but that’s all for now. We’re looking for a label to help us in a way or an other for the next one. You know the Gronde’s demo is out since one month so we’re not in a hurry.

Chamo: Yes we all have other bands/projects outside of Gronde. The main one is a Brutal Death Metal band in which I used to play with Gino (guitar) and Glycy (drums). They still play in it cause this band is Gino’s baby but I’m not anymore. It’s good for Gronde because we all know each other well and I know they can kick ass live so I’m pretty confident for the future. Our bass player, Hrimnir play in other(s) band(s) but I can’t remember a fucking name... He has experience to and he’s dedicated to the art of playing ugly music, as we all are.

Chamo: Glycy and Hrimnir live in Switzerland actually but it’s not really a problem cause we rehearse in Geneva (Switzerland). In fact Gino and I live near the frontier between France and Switzerland so it’s not so far for us. We all are hard workers when it comes to music so rehearsals are quite easy. I write all the music so I usually come with all the guitars parts, we open some beers and we play hard till the title pound the way we like it to.

Chamo: No we haven’t performed live yet, but the first show is booked for august and other ones for the end of the year. I’m not very active in this area but I have to change that quickly because we’re set to spread the fucking Napalm live and I want to test our songs on stage as soon as possible!

Chamo: Well... what I can say is that BM in my area of France and Switzerland is pretty poor, almost nonexistent in terms of live show... however the French BM in general is high quality BM, whatever the kind you like you’ll find a band playing it with dedication! I’m not into the Elitist shit but if you do not pay attention to some ass-holes you’ll find some gems here and there. We also have good Black/Thrash Metal bands with neck-breaking fucking riffs! Gronde is pretty much a new born here so we’re not connected with lots of people, which doesn’t matter anyway. After some gigs I’m sure it will change. I will just name one band you’ll have to check out cause they’re good friends and totally dedicated to their art: Stav!

Chamo: Héhé what a question! “The church” as you call it has power over our president/king and his small court who are nothing more than a bunch of ass-holes... religions piss a large part of the population off but we’re the country of human rights right?! Bullshit. I’ll stick with this... I’m pretty nervous when I talk about all this goddamn mess called France.

Chamo: That’s too vast and too personal to be answered in an interview but if you listen to the kind of music I write and the voice I use to spit my lyrics then you’ll have a small idea of what I think about living on this planet. As the almighty Craft say: Fuck the Universe!

Chamo: Yes, as I said before they’re truly passionate persons who work very hard to keep the UG alive here, bands, labels, distros, fanzines... they’re the kind of bands you don’t see in mainstream magazines, the kind of labels which sign and promote very unknown bands just for the art! I mean... French people can have good-sense! Unexpected huh?! But it’s true. I won’t give you a list of them all (I do not know them all héhé!) but know that there’s a small army of maniacs who work in the shadow for the sake of decadence!

Chamo: Generally I listen to few bands of BM, more in the “punk” vein in fact, like Tyrant and their fucking “Reclaim the Flame,” I can’t get enough of that LP héhé! Bands like IXXI, the newer Darkthrone, Nifelheim, Noia... but I listen to a lot of Heavy Metal and old Rock’n’Roll like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Creedence. In French bands Deathspell Omega and Glorior Belli are the 2 I listen to the most. The fact is that I listen to a very few numbers of bands but I listen to them carefully.

Chamo: We all have a job which helps us living our passion and all but I will tell you the truth: they’re not interesting enough to be shouted to the public unfortunately...

Chamo: I don’t really know the Greek Scene as I don’t really know the scene in general héhé but Dead Congregation comes to my mind instantly, such a great band! Oh and I remember Inveracity, years ago we shared a stage in Paris when I played with Severeigns, great guys. I have other names in mind like Septic Flesh or Rotting Christ but I don’t know well what they play so I can’t talk about them…

Chamo: Well I already said it all I think, we’ll focus on getting opportunities to perform live and getting drunkdead with all kind of maniacs around here. No release planned for now but we rehearse new stuff, and the new stuff will kill!

Chamo: That’s the first interview for Gronde, thank you for the interest my friend! For those who read me this far: if you don’t buy our first release “Gronde” then you’re a bitch héhé but you can download it everywhere so spread the fucking Napalm around you, in a way or another! Huh!