Interview with POISÖNCHARGE
!!!MOTORPUNK FROM LYON, FRANCE!!!
We had a conversation with Jay Poisön. Enjoy!
Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.
Tell us a few things about POISONCHARGE (Members, Starting Year etc).
Hi ! I'm Jay Poisön. I founded POISÖNCHARGE in 2015, when I was homeless and needed an outlet. I've done things alone for about a year and then asked Splathammer and 8.666 to help me, as I was playing with them in death metal band TEMPLE OF WORMS. 8.666 left and was eventually replaced by Sint Gufré. Gufré left France for the UK in 2020 and was recently replaced by Filthy Bast, but he remains in the band as second guitarist for the studio and for shows where he can fly over here. Otherwise, Poisöncharge is mostly my project. I write everything and have fulfilled every spot possible when needed.
You have recently released your EP ''Hell Bent for D-Beat''. What is the feedback from your audience as well as from the press?
It released literally yesterday, so we're still waiting on feedback ! But so far it's good. It has already outsold all the other releases by far and is making the rounds. I'm hopeful it will get around a little more.
Label or DIY and why?
Honestly ? Both. Labels are nice because you don't have pay too much money upfront and they handle most of the promotion, but DIY is cheap and you retain total control. I did end up founding my own label that deals with Poisöncharge stuff, Motörkaos Records, but the releases are pretty rare and mostly online. Really depends on the release and your ambition.
Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
I like all formats, as long as it's good stuff. I really like tapes, both for their sound and for the object ; the stuff I really appreciate best is on vinyl (big artwork, warm analog sound), but CD and mostly digital are really really practical and easy to use. I buy a lot of vinyl and tape, but I end up mostly using digital for practical reasons. I mostly like physical formats like vinyl because of all the ritual that go around : having to set up your gear, paying enough attention not to forget flipping the record, etc. Makes you pay more attention to the music !
Your music style is Black 'n Roll Metal. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
Yeah I honestly don't understand why we are labelled black 'n' roll, the 'n' roll part I get it, but black ? I hate black metal, aside from really early stuff like Hellhammer and the first three Bathory. My vocals are blackish but that's it. We're a speed metal / d-beat band. Our influences are mostly NWOBHM stuff and d-beat. Discharge and Venom were the two big ones at first, and Motörhead of course, but it gradually shifted to stuff like Totalitär, Gasmask Terrör, and Anti Cimex, and classic heavy metal bands like Angel Witch, Diamond Head and early Iron Maiden. Poison Idea is a huge huge influence as well, our song All Black All The Time is basically an homage to them. Current songs are getting a lot more influenced by bands like Meanwhile and Tank, and are generally gravitating more and more towards a heavy metal influenced d-beat. I think our song Tarot is a good summary of our new direction.
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 of your Band?
Drama and competition. Seriously. It's music, and especially when it's underground, all drama and competition is completely useless and a hindrance to both yourself and your band. No one ever wins anything when shitty drama happens. Fights within bands and between bands over shit like alcohol, drugs, who's more metal / who's more punk, who wants to fuck who, leave that out of the band and keep it part of your personal life. As long as you're in the general vicinity of the rehearsal space or the stage, leave that shit at the door. I've seen talented musicians become sad shells of their former selves because they were much more invested in drugs, who they were trying to fuck and how badass they looked, than just playing music and try to do that for the longest time. Honestly ? Fuck that "live fast die young" crap. Music is my life, I want to keep playing that until I die, hopefully as late as possible. Drama and competition over who's more anything is just a hindrance. My life already has enough of that, leave that for when we're not playing.
Describe your ideal live show as a performance Band. Have you already experienced that?
I don't think I have an ideal live show, as long as everything goes smoothly ? So far I'm happy with most of the shows we did. The one dream maybe would be to have the audience know our lyrics ? But that kinda happens with some of the songs that are made for being sung along.
Which attributes, do you think, that a new Black/Speed Metal Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
Stop trying to sound "authentic" by just copying your influences over and over. I absolutely get the sentiment and why this is done, but the more personal you will get, the quirkier your other influence will be, the better you will sound. You already ARE authentic, since you have decided to play that genre, now think about what you can do with it, how you can play with its codes and limits, and make it your own.The classics were all built from wide arrays of completely different influences. Look into that. I know we're not the most original band ourselves, but we definitely get inspiration in completely different stuff than just Discharge / Venom. My guitar playing is extremely influenced by surf rock and classic guitarists like Link Wray, and my solos mostly come from blues harmonica playing. I'm a big admirer of Little Walter, Charlie Musselwhite and Sonny Boy Williamson.
Do you believe that Digital Platforms help the new Black/Speed Metal Bands? Which, do you think, is the ideal way for a Band to promote its work?
It helps everyone, since most people now use digital platforms first, before going to shows or buying records or merch. It's the easiest and cheapest way to put your music out there. The main problem I think is the sheer number of bands around now, and that most of the platforms are absolutely dominated by people and labels who have enough money to play the algorithms and put their stuff upfront. It's really hard to get noticed on a platform when for every band in a genre, you get the same 10 recommended artists on a loop.
Digital platforms are good, but the current, algorithm based method, is absolute horseshit.
Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in France (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.)
To be fair, I barely keep up with the french scene. Haven't seen a lot of interesting stuff so I kinda gave up. I know we have a super good traditional heavy metal scene, with bands like Tentation or Citadelle leading the way ; a solid thrash scene with stuff like Savagery / Deathroned, Shotgun Logic and Hexecutor, and as usual a whole bunch of really good old school death metal. I've mostly been caught up in hardcore punk, we have a couple of incredible d-beat bands (Bombardement and Deletär are treasures), and stuff like Cuir or Alvilda are bringing back the sound of early 80's french punk rock in a way I would have never thought possible. We still have a lot of great grindcore too, I'm waiting to get the new Blockheads at the moment. As for bands similar to us, I don't think anyone else is playing that sort of metal/punk hybrid at the moment ? Sexplosion from Bordeaux were incredible in the same style but I don't think they're still around... Pure black/speed is doing great though, between stuff like Manzer or Blackowl, there's a lot if you like that style, and we do have our Motörhead-inspired bands too, like Iron Bastards.
Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
Aside from Rotting Christ (that I'm not into) and Flames I'm afraid I don't know a lot of Hellenic bands, which is shitty on my part. I remember checking out a heavy metal band called Strikelight because they did a Sortilège cover, but I don't know much more than that. Would definitely be interested in knowing some traditional heavy metal and d-beat though. I'm gonna have a look after the interview !
What are your future plans?
The next steps are more records and more show ! We've been trying to make split with our local friends from SHOTGUN LOGIC for a couple years, so this is the priority. After that we'll work on the second album, which is taking a very different approach compared to the other records. Listen to Tarot from Hell Bent For D-Beat, it's basically where we're going, a darker d-beat sound with occasionally heavy metal leanings.I want to try to direct a proper music video too, I think we're lacking this, but this is going to wait a little.
Thank you very much for your time & Keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Thank you very much for that interview, listen to Discharge, hell bent for d-beat, and raise the black flags of chaos !
By Steve the Filthy Dog.
POISÖNCHARGE CONTACT:
https://www.facebook.com/poisonchargeband/
https://poisoncharge.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/poisonchargeband/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/53E8e7pjnHRpA1C4NQ5Dj9