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INDEX
INTERVIEWS
GUESTBOOK
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BLASTING
GRINDOMANIA
GRINDING
BLASTORAMA
INTERVIEW
2013
(Some
questions are outdated of a few months, now some of the band's records
are out and available... But the english translation sometimes takes time...
1. Hello Gautier, is it blasting in Angouleme? What's new?
Hello Gab.
Yes in fact it's blasting in Angouleme. Things are slowing taking
shape again after a hiatus of a good year during which our drummer
went to Canada.
The news are loaded with the release of our
next one-sided LP entitled "Fast music means love", the
discography CD entitled "50 love hymns for grindheads",
the "In grindo veritas" compilation to be released on
Kaotoxin records, and also other surprises to come but, be quiet,
it remains a secret... Ha ha!!!
I feel quite strange answering
an interview for you, we know each others since a long time, it
seems like two friends who finally have sex together. It's dirty
ha ha!
2. For those who aren't familiar with the band, could you introduce yourselves in exactly 12 words?(PAF! Using a sentence or pasting a biography is forbidden! Only use words! (To keep the instinctive approach). I'm boring at the very beginning, I know, it's very good preliminaries Héhé)
Ha ha, yes
it's different from having to retype the biography! I like the idea,
but it's not so easy.
Blastbeat, grind core, DIY, concerts,
vinyl, violence, love, friendship, share, split, squat, co-production.
3. So since my readership is quite focused on fans of embalmed Death metal and viscous brutal death, in your opinion what could please them in the music of YATTAI? The fact it's blasting, the energy? And what else?
The peoples
who enjoy death metal also often enjoy extreme music in a more general
manner. So effectively, even if the main basis would be the speed
and the energy, I think some more convoluted parts could interest
them. I especially think about tracks with a lot of harmonized guitars
("I wanna Be a Californian Punk Rocker" and "There's
a Whale under the Rock" for example), or quieter but still
intense ones ("The gull"), or even some to be darker with
little black metal touches ("The common People Lifetime").
Even if we embrace a regressive approach (We focus on the primal
efficiency, in the way of approaching riffs as well as compositions),
we never avoided the little pleasures of mixing influences. So some
tracks squarely show our death metal roots, we almost all come from
death metal bands ("Evil Daniel Style", "Bleuarrrrgh"),
and there also are more "danceable" things closer to Napalm
Death from the 90's epoch (The "Napalm dance" track for
example).
In short, with exactly 67 tracks and a will to explore
various realms, while remaining efficient, the curious listeners
could find their happiness.
4. What
pleases me well in the music of YATTAI is the quite explosive grindcore
energy, some kind of stress that would only ask to be released from
the vice... It's cool to see you achieved to have this rendering
on a studio recording, because it's not necessarily the case of
every bands... So I wonder how your gigs could sound like, is it
musically more intense than on record? Is this an explosive big
capharnaum?
First of all,
thanks baby for these nice words.
In fact playing this kind of
music is some kind of outlet at the end. After a rehearsal, a recording
or a gig, we are all emptied and happy.
To give so much energy
on creative and physical points of view often leaves us empty from
any negative energy. This is what the band wants to convey: A positive
and communicative energy.
The studio rendering you approach also
comes from the fact we record everything in one take, or almost
(Only the vocals are recorded separately). The disadvantage is we
have to start everything again in case of a too big latency in the
playing of an instrument (Or also to keep some playing mistakes,
eh yes, we shouldn't be afraid to say so), but it is good to have
this so particular rendering, I find it to be so warm.
In short,
we aren't the preachers of a recording process in particular, but
this one fits our needs the best. It is imperfect, but straight
to the point and explosive.
The gigs are important moments for
us, because we give everything we have. Really everything.
However
we might be in front of 2 or 200 peoples, a concert of Yattai will
always be the most intense possible. It is important for us to give
so much energy to the crowd, this is what they came for: Musical
violence, the whole with seriousness, a good state of mind and warm
atmosphere. Because this is what we want to see when were are attending
a gig. We aren't there to take a pose ha ha!
And trust me Gab,
on stage our music is much more violent than on record. And the
more receptive the crowd is, the more intense the music is... Sometimes
our set can even be much shorter because we want to bring so much
of ourselves.
5. The music of the band has changed quite a lot since the first demo with a drum-machine, your stuff became more intense, and it's also more twisted now! Do you think the fact of always getting deeper in the working-life could have an influence on what you have to release from the underwears, or then it might be due to the guitar lessons with Yngwie Malmsteem you got the luck to follow? (It even seems you took the "GOLD" feature, I wonder what it stands for?)
So I think
you confuse the beginnings of Yattai with one of my previous bands
called Glaucoma. We never had a drum-machine. This said, Glaucoma
is still active, but without me and with no drum-machine ha ha!!!!
But yes, the discography CD (Small infiltration of personal
promotion, you see?) will show our way of approaching music evolved,
and I hope in the right way. We try to remain the most instinctive
possible, working more on the composition and the sound.
Strangely,
even if we lifted our compositions to the max, you're not the only
one to find it twisted. I think the love of our guitarist (Will)
for dissonant guitars isn't stranger to this ha ha!!!!
The working-life,
and simply the life (Because three of us now have children) disables
a lot of underground bands. It takes a lot of time (And money) to
play in a band and keep it alive. So if we keep it alive, higher
expectations are a real plus. Even if it's little by little, we
have to go on and progress. Our recordings should always be better,
as well as our playing of instruments. To remain true to principles
of spontaneity doesn't prevent from trying to offer something always
better at all.
And also, our line up is stable since a long time,
it helps to know the right direction to follow.
So yes, the
working-life only reinforced this big desire to release all we have
in the underwears, and even more.
Speaking about Yngwie, we
are in a quarrel since a few weeks, he can't stand the fact my skills
are better than his ones... In short, this remains a personal problem
and I won't talk about it there.
6. I had
the opportunity to listen to your last album in preview, and this
gave me the feeling of a more professional band, with a bigger sound.
It is good, you thought about saving the remaining life from my
little hears. Jokes aside, wouldn't this last album become
a little more "death" sometimes? (At least at the level
of the sound). How are the feedbacks of the pressing press for now,
and are you still satisfied with the album?
Once again,
thanks baby for the compliments. Coming from you, it's really cool...
Some planning problems disabled us from entering the studio
the d-day, but instead of cancelling this session that was planned
for vocals we preferred to use it another way. With the help of
our loyal sound engineer (Mez), we spent more time working on the
production, trying guitar takes on various amps. This brings a chaotic
edge to the whole and increases the presence of riffs. It is also
a clear will since a few recordings: To improve the power of riff,
not only using blastbeats in the forefront with other instruments
in the back.
I don't think it's more death metal, but the biggest
presence of guitars could have given this impression. This said,
it's hard to have the necessary distance from your own creations.
Each listener can define what he hears.
We received a few feedbacks
from medias right now, the promotion only began, but all the friends
who listened to the album said it's our best opus. We sincerely
hope so, we put a lot of heart and energy into this.
The final
rendering obviously pleases us. Speaking for myself, I would have
liked to get more time for vocals. 3 hours is short haha !!! And
also I'm more distant now, I live 400 km from the rehearsal room
now. And I'm the kind of guy to get involved in the compositions,
it has been harder than usual this time.
So if I had to be picky,
I would say the whole resembles myself a bit fewer. But it's really
a few little picky thoughts, because trust me: We are proud of the
recording!
7. This last album was for now released on vinyl, and surprising thing: Music can only be found on one side of the record. Since I'm not an expert in the vinyl press, I would ask you the following question: Is this cheaper to have music pressed on an only side of the record? Or would it eventually bring a sound of a better quality since the furrows of the first side would be much deeper? ***HELP***
In this case,
a bastard situation led us to this choice.
We wanted to release
both our new album and discography CD on the same record... But,
to our surprise, the length was too long. So we were forced to separate
the two, on two separate records. Most of the involved labels were
ready for a vinyl, this is something we love so we didn't think
for too long. But then, another problem! The recording was too long
for a 7".
And since the press of 10" records isn't
really affordable, the solution then became to make a one sided
12".
And yes, the price is cheaper than for a 12" with
music on both sides, but it remains more expensive than a 7".
I hope my words are understandable.
It will be
a beautiful object. I'm working on it since months. I can't wait
to handle the result in my hands, believe me.
I use this opportunity
to thank all the labels who helped us to release this record, so
there is:
Junky Monkey Records : http://junkymonkeydiy.blogspot.fr
Underground
Pollution Records : http://undergroundpollution.e-monsite.com
Douchebags
Records : http://douchebagrecords.blogspot.com
Horned Terrör
Incarnated Productions : www.church-ov-ze-dead.com
Nuclear Alcoholocaust
: http://nuclearalcoholocaustrec.webs.com
Rewolucja Records :
www.rewolucjarecords.com
No Way Asso : http://nowayasso.blogspot.com
Crustatombe
: http://crustatombe.free.fr
8. You have released quite a lot of split Eps and short duration recording since the beginnings of the band, and lately you had the opportunity to gather everything in a discography compilation. Explain us a bit what the listener could find inside.
It's easy,
the content resides in all we did between 2004 and 2011!
So there
is:
- demo 2005 CDR
- split CDR w/GASTRICK BURST (2006)
- split CD w/CAKEWET (2007)
- split EP w/GRUNT GRUNT (2008)
- Teriak Compilation CD (2008)
- split CD w/KRUPSKAYA (2009)
(Never released)
- split EP w/FANTASTIKOL HOLE (2009)
-
split CD w/JACK (2010)
- split EP w/TREPAN DEAD (2011) (Never
released)
50 tracks for almost one hour of music. No less than 13 unreleased songs (The joys of labels who rip you off or suddenly disappear), some hard to find tracks (From CDr splits that were released to very few copies, and we never got the luck to receive ha ha)
Apart from
finally offering the unpublished songs, we also wanted to answer
the requests of peoples who don't own a vinyl player and wanted
to own these recordings.
It is in no way a question of ripping
peoples of, but to offer them a global vision of the band's evolution
on a single record, and they can get some unreleased songs as a
bonus. The whole for an affordable price, obviously.
This CD
will be a coproduction between these following friends:
Inhuman
Homicide Records : http://inhumanhomicide.free.fr
Obskure Sombre
Records : http://obskuresombrerecords.blogspot.com
Teriak Records
: www.teriakrecords.com
9. Until
recently I thought Powerviolence was something like a more "core"
version of grindcore, mostly with vocals to be more "screamy"
and guitars to sound a bit more "Crrr", but I could read
on some forums that this kind of music could be much more extreme
than regular grindcore. Ok, the guys were maybe thinking about quite
relaxed old school grindcore, with a round atmosphere and death
metal influences in the riffs, but when I listen to "From Enslavement
to obliteration" by NAPALM DEATH or "A chapter of accidents"
by DEAD INFECTION I say to myself there weren't many records to
be more extreme since then (On an emotional point of view, then
if the drummer is blasting a bit faster this is another question...)
Since
I'm not an expert of what occurs at the level of Grindcore/ Powerviolence,
would you show enough kindness to explain me what are the noticeable
differences between classical grindcore and powerviolence? (Without
taking in account the more relaxed "lazy" grindcore or
the "Grind metal" that contains more death influences
in the riffs)
This question
leads to many more questions. The border is sometimes hard to distinguish.
I think PV has even more punk roots than grindcore. The sonorities
are rawer indeed, with more high pitched frequencies that bring
this feeling of emergency (I consider as a characteristic of the
genre).
The idea of "more or less violent" and "more
or less fast" is absurd in itself. The important thing is each
listener to find what he needs in the music, isn't it?
I currently
pay no attention to these stickers. Many bands aligned under the
same banner are completely different, sticking them with few words
only gives an idea of their sound, that's all.
Personally, I
have a problem to catch the common points between Fuck on the Beach
or Lack of Interest for example, you see what I mean? It is both
so different and similar... Same for the examples you quoted...
In short, these discussions are good for purists. I am and I am
not a part of them. As said before, the important is what you search
(And then find) in the music.
I stopped asking myself too many
questions on this subject, because I was making nodes in my head.
For example, punks called us metallers, and metallers called us
punks... After some time, you don't pay attention to this anymore.
With years, we act more and more an instinctive manner. Only
the attitude and values should remain strong, then the remaining...
But
if some advised peoples are able to define our music better, I can
take it. We mostly try to inspire ourselves from anything that pleases
us, whatever might be the kind of music. We stick our style as "grind"
for reasons of convenience, nothing else.
So, here you have
a question without a real answer, sorry...
10. If I tell you "FLOWER POWER VIOLENCE", what do you think about? HuHu
I think our positive side could get along with this idea... At least if we play power violence for real ha ha!
11. Can we find interesting grindcore bands in the area of Angouleme? (This said, are there Death metal or brutal death bands?)
Angouleme became
a grind bastion since a few years.
The good ones are Atara,
our friends of Grunt Grunt and Vengeance. 3 bands with different
musical approaches that I appreciate both humanly and musically.
Be quick and listen to their sounds!
I confess I'm not aware
about the existence of death metal bands. There used to be some
black metal ones, but then again I'm not informed...
I must say
we mostly know the peoples who use the same rehearsal place than
we do. So we meet a lot of guys from various musical horizons, but
from the genres you requested I unfortunately don't...
12. YATTAI is also a Japanese restaurant in San Nicolás de los Garzas, Mexico. You seem to pay a lot of importance to import/ export and mondialization!
Yes we are
vile marketers who thought about export since the very first days!
Ha ha! Yattai can take two meanings in Japanese: It's the name of
little street stalls, and it also means "super"!
This
said, you should know this wasn't planned, this name is the fruit
of an ethylic delirium and a will to roll away from the habits of
the genre.
But I won't mention the real reasons that lead us
to choose this name, it's too shameful ha ha!
13. Before YATTAI you had a grindcore project called GLAUCOMA. Could we find any link between both, or then stop, bad idea, there's nothing in common between both?
Stop bad idea there's no link between both, except a pleasure that was shared with many peoples and some experience to be earned as a bonus. I always deeply enjoyed the projects I was involved in, trust me.
14. Few years ago you were also running an underground label. For those who aren't familiar, could you tell us few words about it? Aren't you somewhat nostalgic of all the time spent answering mails, preparing packages, going at the post office? Do you think you could start again one day, or then one should be lucid, it becomes more and more complicated to sell records?
The label was
called Dead Cirkus records. I even don't remember when I stopped,
but for sure it began the year 2000. The first record was the Mesrine
album entitled “Going to the morgue”. Then there was the Glaucoma/Mesrine
split 7", the Lycanthrophy/Nesoucast Stroje split 7",
I don't remember the releases' order but there were also Da Grind
split CD (Sickbag, Disaster, Elysium and Desecrator), EST/Fantastikol
Hole split CD, Eat Shit Experience MCD... Pfiou, all of this stuff...
Yes,
to be honest I really miss it. But I don't have the time anymore
to make things correctly. I attend few gigs, I have a little girl,
and a job I like (But that can take up to 80 hours a week), so in
these conditions it's already enough to be able to play in bands
(I'm also a part of Grist).
But I really miss it, I would really
like to release "Da Grind 2" on vinyl. It would be great...
I also thought about it very often lately, nowadays France is full
of great new bands in the style, it would have been the perfect
moment... And Yattai would be a part of it of course ha ha !!!
15. Now the band released its first album, didn't you reach a "special point", and what could the listeners expect from the following? Some kind of continuity in blastification, or potential changes at the level of music? (You never know, Relapse might be interested?)
To reach a
special point, I think it's too strong words.
Let's say we'll
keep on doing our thing, at our speed.
What could peoples expect...
First we will hang brands, then we will play few European festivals
in 2013.
Musically speaking, I think we will keep on searching
for efficiency before all. I can't tell more, we haven't begun the
composition process. And since it's very important for us not to
intellectualize our music... It should come from itself, from the
guts.
It should, in our opinion, remain "The feeling before
all". Many tracks were thrown away because it wasn't instinctive
enough.
All of this to say we will be led by our feelings and
desires of the moment. But it will be blasting, it's certain.
The goal is also to offer a few surprise. So expect continuity in
the evolution ha ha!!!
Concerning Relapse... Honestly we don't
care much about it... It's not our goal. And I doubt it would happen
one day. (But it doesn't prevent us from sleeping, far from this
ha ha!)
To release our records is what matters. And the peoples
we collaborate with are great. This is enough to be fairly happy.
16. That's it, the interview is over. I let you conclude and add a thin layer of jam if you wish.
Thanks Gab
for this interview. I am as surprised as delighted.
I hope I
wasn't too talkative and these lines will encourage some listeners
to discover our music. Thanks for your attention, and keep an eye
on us. The best is still and always to come.
Kiss and blast!
Gautier
for Yattai
gautiertubbs(a)hotmail.fr
http://yattai.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/YattaiGrind
