Interview with GRELE
!!!BLACK METAL FROM CANADA!!!
We had a conversation with Amdiskazyum (Bass/Vocals). Enjoy!
Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.
Tell us a few things about GRELE (Members, Starting Year etc).
Well we started the band around May or June this year. We started talking about this the year before at a Kiss tribute show at Pont-Rouge! We were like hey, only the 3 of us likes black metal in our musician crew, so we were hey let’s try to play good old black metal!
You have recently released your demo ''Demo MMXXIV''. What is the feedback from your audience as well as from the press?
We did not expect such responses! We have a lot of good comments from everywhere, not that much from press and everything but it’s a very good start for us! People around us liked it a lot.
Label or DIY and why?
DIY at this very moment, but we can be open to work with an independent label if the chance passes by! It’s easier these days to sell stuff directly to the fans with bandcamp and social media, so DIY is a great thing. We won’t be waiting after a label to release something, if they ask in advance we will check with them what’s up with the deal.
Is there any funny or weird story from the recordings or from your live shows that you would like to share with us?
We didn’t played any shows at this very moment, so no story at all, maybe in a few months. The recording is pretty straight, We recorded a single jam session with not much equipment and it ended up as the demo!
Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
Vinyl first, I am a huge music collector so I do like every physical form! Fun fact: Our drummer ordered a very few lathe cut records of one of our jam, without even telling us about it, because he really liked how it ended. We made a video of the record spinning with the songs and people started asking us to get one! So we decided this was our demo since there was a kind of buzz around it! So Ive sent the tracks to one of my good bud to see if he can do a little mastering on these songs and it ended up pretty good! so, we will self produce it on 7’ vinyl and It’s already under pressing.
Your music style is old school Black Metal. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
Mainly the first and second waves of Black Metal! Norwegian bands for the 2nd wave! Immortal would be my first choice, especially the Pure Holocaust era! classic bands such as Dark Throne (every eras of the band), Mayhem, (De Mysteriis dom Sathanas) and the list goes on and on! I know for our drummer, Venom is really really important! He’s a HUGE fan, He got a lot of rare stuff from them!
Which things do you think a band should sacrifice in order to succeed? Have you ever sacrificed anything in your life for a better future for your band?
I guess the right answer to ‘’succeed’’ is go on the road the most of you can. and succeed on what, depending on your expectations. You make your life around what you like, who you loves and what you wanna do with it that's it!
Describe your ideal live show as a performance band. Have you already experienced that?
Being tight, sounding well and be in shape to do it as energetic as we can! Yeah I have experienced this, but with another band I was in hahaha, since we didn’t play live I cannot say this with Grêle!
What attributes do you think that a new Black Metal Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
Playing good riffs it’s all about the music, not only the concept and image of the band. Get your own identity, don’t get stuck in what ‘’it needs to be’’.
Do you believe that Digital Platforms help the new Black Metal Bands? Which, do you think, is the ideal way for a band to promote its work?
I truly don’t know, but probably! Bandcamp is awesome to reach indie bands easily and youtube channels are great to help discovering new talents! I think this can help almost everybody! Not only the major ones like spotify, probably algorithms and stuff like this helps, but I am not on these things.
Do you see any differences between the Canadian Metal Market & the EU Metal Market (Labels, Bands, Fans etc)?
I am in the underground scene for years now, and I think that the EU market is not easier but more reachable to each other than Canadian’s scene due to shipping, tax duty, exports…Touring is quite different, in Canada you have a lot of road to make to play in another city than Europe. As far as bands, of fans ges, I guess that they are probably the same everywhere, didn’t get the chance to get to Europe in my life yet, but what lots of close friends told me after touring, I guess crowd/scenesters are quite the same.
Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in Pont Rouge, Québec (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.)
Well I have to say, Pont-Rouge is a nearby Quebec city, so the metal scene is more related to Quebec city than Pont-Rouge. Quebec have a great metal scene, great bands from various genres, many underground shows and stuff!! Bands like Sedimentum and Saccage receives good responses around the globe. People are showing up at concerts, buys merch, are making related events! It’s a great city for metalheads!
Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
Honestly I've never eared that term so I cannot say much, gonna definitely checking up what is all about.
In the last 4 years, worldwide in the world, we have faced many dark, strange, and new situations in our everyday lives (covid, lockdown, etc.). Did all of this affect you positively or negatively?
Both I guess, the best we can do about this period is looking forward and learn from some mistakes everyone's did.
What are your future plans?
Our main plan is recording all the songs we have to make our first full length! After that we will be looking for some shows I guess. After this we will be back at writing new songs who worship black metal.
Thank you very much for your time & keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Support the underground, stay sick and Grêle Satan!
By Steve the Filthy Dog.
GRELE CONTACT:
https://www.facebook.com/greleblackmetal
https://greleblackmetal.bandcamp.com/album/demo-mmxxiv