Daniel: Requiem
is standing out as an opus with extraordinary manifold instrumentation.
You do play several instruments yourself. How many instruments
did you play by yourself and how many guest musicians have supported
you?
Eric: I don’t play so many instruments in fact…
The only instruments I play correctly are trumpet and recorder.
But I can play also a bit of keyboard, drums, bass, guitar and
several more “exotic” instruments like Tibetan horn
or didgeridoo, all of them quite badly but working in home studio
permit miracles!!!
For Requiem, I recorded it completely
alone, in the contrary of my previous opus, on which several
friends have played many classical instruments like French horns,
violin, guitar, oboe, cello....
Daniel: Are
there any sampled instruments on Requiem?
Eric: This work is 100% warranty without any sample!!!
It’s pure “healthy organic music”!!!
Daniel: How
would you describe the developing process of Requiem?
Eric: This is a bit the story of the last 3 years of
my life… Many deaths around me… Much sadness…
Many ceremonials and engraving… Despair moments…
The music probably saved me during this period; despite I did
very few things (musically speaking) in comparison to other
periods of my life…
Daniel: With
view to the manifold, dense and diversified musical arrangement
how is your musical background?
Eric: My first and most important background is without
any doubt classical music. I began trumpet at the age of 8,
play in orchestra since the age of 11, made music studies at
university, conduct amateur classical orchestras since around
10 years and I’m music teacher.
During my university years, I played in various contemporary
music groups (I was – and I’m still - mostly interested
by XXth century’s “independent” composers
like Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, Toru Takemitsu,
Alfred Schnittke, Aulis Sallinen and Karlheinz Stockhausen)
and it was my first experiences which mix electronic, tapes
and classical instruments. We did the French premiere of “Sternklang”
(of Stockhausen) which have been one of the greatest music experiences
and musical shock of my life! Probably consequently, few time
after, I discovered the German Krautrock (especially the early
Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and the Cosmic Jokers), the “new
music” scene (things like Fred Frith, The Residents, The
Lounge Lizards, Tuxedomoon or Aksak Maboul), then industrial
music through bands like HNAS and Nurse with wound. My interest
for more “rock’n’roll” and mainstream
staff (like Killing Joke, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack
or Tom Waits) came later…
Daniel: Classic
composers of several musical eras have dealt with this form
of a mass for the dead. To what extent does Requiem
look about to such examples?
Eric: I’m not too sure… The only thing
I’m sure is that I never tried to be “in the tradition
of…”. It would have been completely presumptuous!
I’m not Mozart, Verdi or Berlioz!!! I just tried to do
“my own food with my own receipts”. The recording
of Requiem was something personal
and I didn’t ask me any question of this sort, even if
I had sometimes in mind the models of Saint-Saëns (for
the lack of pathos), Hindemith (for the humanist aspect), Ligeti
(for the dark side) and Pärt (for the mysticism and the
music).
Daniel: GAË
BOLG went on uncommon terrain with the last release of the musical
version of the French literature classic Aucassin et Nicolette.
Requiem is dedicated to deceased friends and relatives.
Was the album any possibility to deal with death and how is
your attitude to death?
Eric: My attitude in front of death has change these
last years. When I was teenager, I was terrorized by my “non-eternality”
and completely fascinated by everything morbid. Then the death
has become something more concrete and, recently, with the death
of friends and people of my family, I’ve slowly realized
that death is finally just a moment of life, a sad moment (more
for those who stay than for the those who die), but you can
nothing against! Saying that, you have 2 possible reactions:
lament yourself and turn into cynicism or just profit of your
life day after day. I’ve clearly decide that the second
way is more reasonable and constructive.
Daniel: Requiem
impresses by a sacral spirit. But the song Totentanz
is standing out by its lusty singing. Is there any place for
GAË BOLG humor of former releases on Requiem?
Eric: Requiem has of course
something “sacral” but (I think) not only: it’s
some nostalgic moments and also some optimistic. Totentanz
is more related to a certain popular medieval vision of death,
something which can be ironic. And of course, it’s also
an homage to Saint-Saëns’ “Danse macabre”,
a French composer who was able to laugh of everything! Totentanz
is probably the only moment with a certain sense of humor in
Requiem, but again, the subject,
so personal, conducted me naturally in this more sober and serious
direction…
Daniel: Will
future releases differ from such personal themes?
Eric: In certain aspects, all of GAË BOLG
releases have something personal, but each time in a different
way. The next one will be completely different: noisy, mad,
punk, clubby and rock’n’roll!!!
Daniel: According
to photos, live gigs are complex and unusual arranged. Can you
imagine a performance of Requiem? Maybe in a church?
Eric: Each concert differs. For the very first GAË
BOLG concert, I was alone on stage, disguised in various
things, something ritual and strange. When we played 3 or 4
years ago in Paris, we were 14 on stage, including 8 drummers
and it was quite powerful!!! For the concerts we did last years,
we were 4 plus a dancer and a videast. It was a complete crazy
multi-media show and I heard people comparing it to the Monthy
Python Flying Circus (which was one of the best compliments
I’ve ever received!!!).
Around 2 months ago, GAË BOLG played in
Paris with opera soloist, classical choir and 2 amateur orchestras,
around 100 people on stage!!! We played extracts of Requiem,
extracts from La Nef des Fous and
older songs. It was a great musical experience (despite some
mistakes here and there) and I think that it would be the best
formula to play Requiem!!! But of
course, touring in this configuration is simply impossible…
For our next gigs (in November), we’ll be only 4 or 5
on stage, but I think it will be a lot of madness and energy!!!
Daniel: Is
there anything else you would like to tell the readers of Nocturnal
Hall?
Eric: If you think like me that stupidity, wild capitalism
and power of money are not a fatality, if you think that respecting
our planet and our neighbors is the not only a hippie phantasm,
you can have a look on the following interesting websites (unfortunately
mostly in French):
www.confederationpaysanne.fr
www.attac.org
www.sortirdunucleaire.org
www.monde-diplomatique.fr
And of course, you can have a look on:
www.myspace.com/gaebolg
(which is updated sometimes more or less regularly)
Hope to see you at our concerts in November!!!
