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Het Franse Lyzanxia bestaat al een hele tijd maar lijkt met het nieuwe album ‘UNSU’ op het – voor de band – nieuwe label Listenable een beetje voet aan de grond te krijgen in Europa. Vorige albums brachten de formatie al op tour in de VS en Canada maar in Europa bleef het angstvallig stil rond de band. We praten met zanger/gitarist David Potvin en bassist Vince Perdicaro over het hoe en waarom en natuurlijk over het nieuwe album.
Text: Ralph
First of all introduce us a little to the band since most people still don’t know you guys, even though you’ve been around for a while.
David: Lyzanxia started around 1997, with my brother Franck and I, and both of us have been sharing the vocals and guitars duties from day one. The rhythmic section (drums and bass) was different at that time. We recorded a four-song pre-demo called 'Rip my Skin'. Then our first full-length demo 'Lullaby' in 1998 allowed us to tour all over France, and play gigs with awesome bands like Edge Of Sanity and Disfear. Then we really wanted to record a real album to push the band to the next level so we contacted Fredrik Nordström, as we wanted a good production, and started to plan the recording of our debut album ' Eden' in 2000. This album was released in France, Italy, Japan, and a few other European countries around 2001. We toured a lot in France with 'Eden' and started spreading our name. Our second album 'Mindcrimes' was recorded in 2002. Once again we worked with Fredrik Nordström. For 'Mindcrimes' we found an American label called Reality Entertainment, which released the album in the US and Canada, and got us to tour the US in 2004. Finally, we recorded our latest album 'Unsu' in 2006 at the new Fredman Studio in Hyssna, Sweden. It's now available all over the world.
In my review on your album I stated that you guys are a lot of things. Death, thrash, metalcore, melodic and catchy. In other words you are hard to label which is a compliment. How would you describe the music yourself?
David: It's very hard to put a label on Lyzanxia music, you're right! We love to mix all kinds of metal and other ambiances. I mean, we are very open-minded and I think music shouldn't erect fences. We love to explore and experiment new sounds. On our new album, for title track 'Unsu' we even used a Japanese instrument called a Shaminshen to recreate the actual rhythm of the unsu karate kata, and played over riffs, it sounds incredible! So in a nutshell I think that Lyzanxia appeals to all sorts of fans of extreme music because of our aggressive riffs, our energy, our dual vocal interplay and sometimes unusual structures, among other things... I mean to me Lyzanxia offers something definitely ass-kicking, interesting and multi-layered. And even more so on stage where we can fully deploy our devastation!
Vince: As we all have different influences, that makes the music richer. That also gives us other perspectives for the evolution of the band, which is a big source of motivation!
David: We love music, especially metal, but we have other influences that we surely include in the songs. I like the fact that it's very hard to give a specific style to Lyzanxia.
Tell us a little about the creative process in the band. Is it a team effort our do you have certain structures to go by?
David: I wrote most of the riffs and lyrics for 'Unsu', but Franck and Clement brought a lots of awesome arrangement ideas. Franck always finds his own vocal parts and Clement arranged the drums parts as he wanted to hear them.
Vince: Unfortunately, I was not there for the recording cause I joined the band two months later! But I worked a lot with David to give the songs the same dimensions on stage as they have on the albums. I can't wait to work on the new material!
Where do the influences come from? I’d normally not ask this but in your case – having such variety in your music – I am very curious.
David: Hahaha! I love all the US old school thrash scene with bands like Pantera, Megadeth, Testament, Anthrax, Metallica of course! But I also love Swedish Death Metal like At the Gates, Edge Of Sanity... Clement listen to bands like Converge, Refused, Mastodon, Saosin... he comes from the Hardcore scene. My brother is more into bands like Fantomas, Tomawak, Mr Bungle, he's a big fan of Mike Patton! Vince is more into brutal death stuff!
Vincent: That's true! I also listen to bands like Ion Dissonance, God Forbid, Nora, Gojira, Textures, Knut.... and Cephalic Carnage.
It took you almost four years to come up with ‘UNSU’. Why was that?
David: Mindcrimes was released in 2002 in Japan, 2003 in Europe and 2004 in the USA/Canada. Our label at the time, Reality Entertainment, wanted to promote 'Mindcrimes' in the US and to work on the European market after that instead of getting us back into the studio. We really wanted to record 'Unsu' because we had a lot of material, and we knew that we needed to get a new album out, but they didn't agree with us. So we had to make a decision and switch to another label to record the album and that's why we signed with Listenable Records and released 'Unsu'.
How is the response to the album so far?
David: It's very good so far! The media and the fans seem to really appreciate this album. Some of them prefer 'Mindcrimes' but they still like 'Unsu' because of the "very Lyzanxia" style! Most of the media are very supportive and that gives us a good motivation to promote 'Unsu' and to play the songs live!
Vince: I knew the band before joining it, and I have to be honest by saying that I prefer 'Unsu' because of the concept. I think the songs are much more effective. The album is more aggressive than 'Mindcrimes' and 'Eden', and the sound is massive! I really see the evolution of the band in a good light.
David: Thank you! Hahaha!
It seems that the band has been picked up outside Europe a lot more in the past. Can you explain that?
David: Since our debut album, we've been distributed in Japan by Soundholic for 'Eden' and King Records for 'Mindcrimes' and 'Unsu'. Reality Entertainment launched the band's career in the US and Canada by distributing 'Mindcrimes', and giving us the opportunity to tour the US in 2004 with Sybreed from Switzerland and Freakhouse from Los Angeles. But the band is also strong in France, and we'll continue to develop our career in the other European countries. It's great to be with Listenable Records because it's finally opening new opportunities for us in the rest of Europe. We had the chance to tour with Soilwork in the UK in September, and we played gigs in Switzerland and Italy these past few weeks. We should do a Euro tour in early 2007, so I guess that's gonna help to make the band more well-known. As a European band we really want to play live all over Europe, meet some cool people and have fun!
Now you signed with Listenable, would you say this is what Lyzanxia needs in order to make the next step?
David: Yes absolutely! Listenable is a very good label with a good distribution in Europe, and the USA. They really want to push the band to the front and we're working very hard with them. As they are also French, we work in the same direction and we have the same way of working. I know that we'll do something great with them!
I can imagine it is an advantage as well as a disadvantage to have two brothers in one band. How do you feel about that?
David: Yes, I definitely think it's an advantage because we know each other so well that we communicate efficiently, don't hesitate to say the ugly truth and solve problems quickly. Franck and I are actually sharing an apartment so we have the luxury to be able to work on our music or the promotion all day long. We don't need to talk to understand each other. We do argue sometimes, of course, like any brothers or sisters but that's not a big deal cause we know the limits! I think it's very important to get a strong core to motivate everybody in the band! Each one of us knows that nothing can stop the band! Hahaha!
So, what are the plans for the near future in terms of touring?
David: We're gonna play gigs and festivals in France, Switzerland, Belgium. We are working on a European tour in 2007 and we'll probably be touring in the US too in 2007. Our booking agency also wants to get the band on the road as much as possible so we're happy as can be about that and we'll do our best to kick ass in each and every possible country! Since we've been playing the songs from 'Unsu' live in the past couple of months, we've realized how fucking awesome they sound live. You need to come see us and check this out when we finally make it to the Netherlands, very soon I hope!
And a next album in 2009? Or can we expect something earlier?
David: Hahaha! We want to record a new album as soon as possible. We are actually working on the new riffs! We really don't want to waste any more time!
Vincent: Now I'm in the band and I can't wait to record the next album, so I'm gonna push everybody for that! Hahaha!
Is there anything you really want to talk about but I failed to ask you?
David: We are going to shoot a video clip in a few days for the title track 'Unsu'. It's gonna be directed by Guillaume Pin, with whom we've already worked on "Medulla Need" from 'Mindcrimes'. For that video we should have Myriam Szkudlarek who is the female Karate world champion. It's gonna be awesome! Check out www.lyzanxia.com and www.myspace.com/lyzanxiaband and be ready to get your ass kicked on tour!
http://www.lyzanxia.com
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