E-Mail Interview with Aurel from ZUUL FX - English Version

(ZUUL FX)

25.04.2007 von Melanie Schupp

After receiving a promotional copy of ZUUL FX current album “Live Free Or Die” we got the chance to do an e-mail interview with drummer Aurel.

As we just get to know each other I´d like to ask you the most obvious question: What does your name mean?

Aurel: Hi, yes it's a good question. Ok ZUUL is Steeve's nickname and FX is for all the stuff we create together. There is not a hidden sense or something like that, it's only the easiest name that Steeve found when he decided to form the band.

Who came up with the idea for the band name?

Aurel: As I said the idea came from Steeve (ZUUL) our singer. He decided to form a new band just after he left No Return his former band. Steeve got the idea of the name and many more. When he called me to play the drums he had already written some tracks with our former guitar player (Blast). Shag has joined the band few days before our first record "By the Cross".

Is your music some kind of an outlet for you?

Aurel: Yes for sure. We are really satisfied to play together and we are really proud of our music, of our new record "Live free or die". I wouldn't be very original saying that "live free or die" is our best work together but it's true, it's what we all feel. And today we are all in a very good state of mind in ZUUL FX, all very happy.

You can often hear that wild musicians are very gentle in private life. Like Keith Flint (the Prodigy)... rumours say he´s looking after his rose garden at home. How about you? Do you like the wild Rock n Roll lifestyle or do you like it more relaxed?

Aurel: You know we live a wild Rock'n roll life style, we do a lot of gigs, those times we do a lot of promotion. We are used to sleep 5 hours by night!!!! And we are used to drive more than 1000 kilometers between venues. So it's a what we like, to be on the road, to play in front of different people every evening. But when we come back at home we like to be more relaxed, in a gentled lifestyle, with our close family and friends. We don't have a garden full of roses. Steeve and I, we live in a very beautiful place where the famous Painter Vincent van Gogh lived. It's a nice place with a river, a lot of fields and forest. It's nice and really peaceful.

How does your band/music develop in your home country France?

Aurel: ZUUL FX is today one of the most important Metal bands in France. But our Kind of music is not really famous here, for example we just have one big Metal festival, the Hellfest that's all. So we have to work more and more to prove that we are able to do some Metal in France.If you want to be interesting for media or magazine you have to work a lot and harder than in other style of music. I think the bands level in France is growing up due to this lack of acknowledgment.

How long did the recording for your current album "Live free or die" take?

Aurel: We did it in 25 days with mix and master. 5 days for each instruments (vocals included) and the rest for mixing and mastering. We are used to work with Francis Caste our producer, so everything goes really fast with him. It's someone talented, a musician, he was very involved in ZUUL FX and aware about our music. He is like the fifth member of the band.

Did anything extraordinary happen while recording?

Aurel: Yes!!!! Day after day during the recording we felt a very good vibe together, it sounded really good, we were really enthusiastic and happy. And when Steeve started to do his vocals we realized that we were doing something we had never done before, something better.It's was so exciting that we have written another track during the recording, and we put the song on the album.

You´ve got a new guitar player on this record. Did this have any changes on your music?

Aurel: Yes absolut. Karim our new guitar player has a great culture about music. He is able to play many kinds of music and he is not focused on his guitar, he has a global vision of a band's sound. Compared to our former guitar player (Blast), Karim is more precise, he has a better sound. His guitar sound is closer to our music, we say Metal'n Roll to introduce our song and Karim takes an important part of this musical approach, being able to sound very Heavy, Metal and sometimes Rock'n Roll.

Did you know him before he joined the band?

Aurel: Yes I know him since 1999, we've met in a musical school in France, and we haven't stopped playing together since then. When we needed a new guitar player for ZUUL FX , I introduced Karim to ZUUL and SHAG. They led the audition and I chose to be out of the decision, I didn't want to influence their choice. But at the end after 35 guitar auditions, with people from Netherlands, UK, US they decided to take Karim because he was the best!!!!

How did he get to join the band?

Aurel: We needed a good guitar player, someone living not too far from us because our former guitar player lived in Geneva, we needed also someone in our state of mind. We had to find a guy able to be a part of ZUUL FX not only a guitar player. Karim was this guy! We gave him our first record "By the cross". He learnt all the songs in 4 days we did a rehearsal and felt that he was the guy we needed for ZUUL FX. You know something really cool happened during this first session. We felt somoene we have never felt before, the band sounded better.One month later we were on stage with Fear Factory and felt this again, the band was sounding very good.

Are there many bands like yours in France?

Aurel: There are a lot of metal bands in France but ZUUL FX is more and more considered as very special and personal. There is no other band doing our style of Music. You have other big Metal bands like Gojira but they are closer to Death metal. Or the band Dagoba, they are very good musicians!!!

In which country would you like to go on tour?

Aurel: Oh we want to play everywhere, on the moon if it was possible!!!!! We had to tour in Europe for "By the cross", opening for Impaled Nazarene, but the tour was cancelled for us one week before the first show. You can imagine our deception. The tour promoter didn't respect the deal with our label for the tour, so we stayed home. Then we really want to go everywhere it"s possible, because there are too many people we don't know. In Europe, Asia, North and South America, we receive a lot of emails from the whole world. We have a special wish, to play in your country because it seems to be so great for Metal here, with many music Festivals, your country is metalized!!!!!!!

With which band would you like to tour with?

Aurel: A lot , the list is too longer. We've played with Motörhead, Anthrax, Wednesday 13, Ill Nino, Fear Factory. Maybe if we can play with Stone Sour, Machine Head, Slayer, Korn, it would be a great pleasure, but we also like a lot of bands like Guns'n Roses, Alice Cooper... I think Shag would be very happy to play with Europe or Scorpions.

Have you ever played outside France? What´s the difference between audience in France and somewhere else?

Aurel: Yes we've played many times in Switzerland, and Belgium, but we've played most of time in our country.
About the audience, it depends, in France the audience can be really cool, open, and rock'n roll like in the north, east, and west but if you go in the south sometimes there is not a good audience. In France, metal music is not really developed, it's better and better year after year. But when we've played abroad, we've met some crazy people more attentive, focused on music. People in France prefer pop music or R'n B, so if you have a long hair and black clothes you can stay in your garage.

What was the most amazing place you ever had a concert?

Aurel: I think the Furyfest in 2005 in France was a big time for us. But we felt something very special during a show in Switzerland near the city of Sion. We've played in a little town for a festival, lost in the mountains!!!!!! It was so beautiful, snowy and full of nice people, so cool and crazy for the show. A great souvenir!!!! It changes a lot of our urban lifesytle in Paris.

You´ve already had some gigs at France´s biggest metal festival. What´s next?

Aurel: There are many places we haven't played yet in France. So we continue to tour France, we also have to introduce our new record to our audience. So we have a lot of work here.

Will you play at some festivals this Summer?

Aurel: Yes, we come in your country for the "with full force" festival!!!!!!!! We are so happy to do it. We are checking now for others festivals, we hope we can spend a few days in Germany, to play and meet German ZUUL FX's fans!!!

Have you already made plans for touring through Germany?

Aurel: Not yet we hope to come in Germany and all over Europe, we are making plans for a European tour. But nothing is sure for now. Maybe for September.

How is feedback of German magazines, fans etc.?

Aurel: Really good, like in the U.K, a lot of magazine appreciate our new record "Live free or Die". We have a good welcome in the whole Europe. We have some Germans fans who let us a lot of mail saying they like our new record and they want to see us on stage.
In the U.K Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) has broadcasted "Hate me bastard" from our new record on his Radio Show on the BBC. He already did it for "by the cross" so it's again a good welcome for us.

Could you describe each band member with one word?

Aurel: In one word...... ok I try: ZUUL (Steeve) is determinated. Shag is very relaxed. Karim is very professional. And , I .....just play the drums, about me ask to the others.

Do you want to reach a special audience with your music or do you just don´t care.

Aurel: We don't care, because we don't think that an audience is better than an other one. We make our music without any special wish about the audience. No one tells us what to do we are the only ones to decide what we will write and play. So we work to do it well that's all. And all the people who like our music are welcomed!!!!

Is there a message you want to propagate with your music?

Aurel: It's not a really definite message but with the title of our new record "live free or die", we want to say, if you know what is good for you in your life we think you should follow your mind that's all. We have chosen to be musicians in ZUUL FX and sometimes we pay the price, at the beginning it was hard to make money, it's always hard for our family but it's so cool for us to be able to do some music and we hope it will never stop.Don't follow the trend, do what you want.

What are you thinking of when you are on stage?

Aurel: To do a great show, to give all the energy we have and all the energy we receive from the audience. Our tracks take all their sense in live. Sometimes, in studio the music is "solidified", on stage we can give the feeling we felt in playing those songs. It's more intense and deeper than in studio.

What was the funniest thing that happened while touring ?

Aurel: Hey hey, I think it's was with Shag just before the Intro of our show, he decided to go to the other side of the stage, to be near his amp to start the show. The light was switched off and he got lost in a big black curtain behind the scene and he was not able to find an exit!!!!!! It was ridiculous we heard him but we couldn't see where he was. He found the stage after a minute but we laughed at him during all the show.

What´s your most favourite live song (of your own songs)?

Aurel: I think it's I8U, because we create a big circle pit and sometimes it's really incredible to see all the audience going crazy.I also like "Here is pure hatred" because we start the show with this violent track and we put all the pressure of the day in energy for this song it's really powerful for us.

Is there a song you´d like to do a coverversion of?

Aurel: We already do a Fear Factory cover at the end of the show. But I keep the track secret. We would like to do a Sepultura's cover too, something from Arise. We are thinking about it.

In your opinion... what´s best and what´s worst thing about being in a band?

urel: The best is to play every night your music and to meet new people every day and give them your music on stage. The worst is when you come back home, the life is so different that we need some times to adapt. To be confronted with all the standards of life.

Thank you for the interview!

Aurel: Thank's a lot Melanie!!!!

And Musicheadquarter also likes to thank Nicolas and Equilibre Music who made this interview happen!