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Hello, and thanks for
this opportunity! First of all, you can give the readers
a small description of your band.
Marylin (bass, vocals): Well, Kill The Thrill is
a trio based (2 guitars, 1 bass, + machine) in
Marseilles (south France) and exists since let’s say
1992. We’re playing indie music, according to some media
it’s a crossover between new wave, metal and post hard-core,
all these stickers are not important, the essential is
to reach different people. Our latest album « Tellurique
» just came out under Season Of Mist licensing.
According to the biography, Kill The Thrill is still
in the same line up as it was when it started over 15
years ago, only the 'Low' record was recorded by two of
you. This is pretty unique in these times. What is your
secret?
Marylin: It's a long story, because Nicolas
and I met in 1989 and since we never part! First we
started as a duet called "Smash The Slash", then when we
recorded our first album "Dig" and Ep “Pit” in 1993, we
were playing as a trio that was Kill The Thrill and
since that time we have changed a lot of guitarists,
until we have decided to remain a duet for our second
album : "Low" in 1996… Since the end of 1998 we're
playing again in trio with Frederic on guitar, at this
time we were desperately looking for someone to play
with us, we were convinced that we would never find
someone able to bear us, but when we met Fred the
alchemy came immediately. It has always took a really
long time before we could trust completely a third
person, but now we are living and experiencing music as
a unit and each of us is devoted to the other. I ‘ll say
our music and our personal development have evolved
together, it is quite impossible to separate one from
each other because it's a whole. Music has always been a
reason to meet each other and reach ourselves, to forge
our identities through the time and to please us.
Finally, it’s more a question of long time relationships
between some individuals. There are no differences
between the artistic and the philosophical side or the
personal side, i guess this is the glue that has kept us
together for such a long time. To be able to play our
music is by far the most enjoyable moments we are able
to live for now. It works a bit like a protection, even
if we often miss some other things.
What are the main differences of 1989 and nowadays
when it comes to the music industry and the audience?
Marylin: I’m always wondering where has this 90’s
generation gone ! it’s still a pleasure to find that
some people working in this concerned area music
industry are still involved in their choices and tastes
inspite the business marketing as it has become
nowadays. It’s pretty hard now to find open-minded
people in the new generation, in France especially it
seems that kids are more concerned by the way of a band
is looking like, « rock » music deserves much more than
fashion. At last everybody wants to fit in a mould. If
you don’t fit in you’re nothing, that’s weird. The big
music industry is tricking people into something
constipated…
Are your influences still the same as back in 1989?
And what are those (main) influences?
Marylin: I’ll say all the important bands since
the punk movement, new-wave, industrial, hard-core,
metal or post-rock etc…. We have always listened to and
appreciated the most inovative bands, the ones that are
strongly emotional or bizarre sounding into different
styles. It goes Big Black to Killing Joke, My Bloody
Valentine, the Swans, Godflesh, The Young Gods, Cop
Shoot Cop, Fœtus, Pain Killer, E. Neubauten, Buthole
Surfers, Techno Animal, Cabaret Voltaire, Strapping
Young Lads, Throbbing Gristle, Neurosis, Rapeman and a
phenomenous quantity of other ones, a lot of
contemporary and classic music too. All these musical
waves have brought us something to several degrees
because it were all expressing a given state of mind
under various musical styles, but also a given idea of
the underground movement, an unconventional, desobediant
and emotional way of seeing life. This being said, at
the level of the influences for our compositions we’d be
neared of Killing Joke, Godflesh and The Swans.
Although you already exist such a long time and
already were chosen to support some wellknown bands
before you even released a debut album, it took more
than ten years before you got signed on a major label.
What took them so long?
Marylin: Unfortunately we’re not cultivating any
marketing, and we’re not in hurry to produce albums so
it takes time to propose material to label. We’d rather
take our time and see what happens. Our previous swiss
label was small but a good one, as they felt they
weren’t able to bring us much more they push us to find
stronger label.
Well, I am not familiar with your preverious works,
but the mp3 on your MySpace profile of the '203
Barriers' album sounds a little flat here and there if
you ask me, like you are in search for perfect harmony.
What kind of developments have you made from there until
now?
Marylin: You should listen to 203 barriers in its
whole. It’s atmosphere has quite the same energy as in
Tellurique, The question on 203 barriers was not to make
a point of having a "big" sound but to combine all
sounds so as to make melody and strenght acting in a
common way. Tellurique sounds less dirty than the former
Lp because the production has been worked differently.
Recording Kill the Thrill’s music is not easy because we
have a lot of sounds to mix together, i’s hard to find a
good combination between all samples, guitars etc… We
are always very accurate to extract the essential from
each song, a sense. With Tellurique we have tried to
give more air, more space in its listening. Nicolas is
used to record and mix kill the thrill since our debut,
but this Lp was the one where we have spent the longest
time on its production.
It was very hard for me to review Tellurique, because
of its complexity and its art. Can you explain your
point of view on Tellurique?
Marylin: Well, Gerardo you’re a great sailor and
i’ve found your description on the review very personal.
I did appreciated that you speak of music as a travel.
That’s a liitle bit the same for me, i’ve experienced
tellurique as a "psychedelic" travel trough landscape
and visions, sounds and emotion.
When I first listened to the record, words like
"Shakespeare", "theatre" and "middle ages" crossed my
thoughts immidiately. Are you influenced by the middle
ages, and by ancient art?
Marylin: You’re the first to point our music with
such words ! I’m very keen on theater, and when i was
youg i was so impressed by the Shakespeare’s plays on
the BBC that was retransmitted on french tv, it was
amazing, it has open me so many doors to litterature.
The middle age was full of ambiguity, today people have
mostly a romantic idea of the middle age but this period
was quite incredible, politicaly and socialy. I like the
gap (the breach ?) between what main artists had let us
know of their ideal and the reality of this period. To
me composing music has the same meaning, sense than
writting a piece, its process has the same rule, the
same running, or progress. But that’s a huge subject…
The music on the latest record is very atmospheric
and dark. Does this also reflect your view on the world?
Marylin: Second to me, our music is not so dark
as it seems at first, i’d rather speak of melancholy
combinated with wrath or anger. I guess that this
ambiguity is turned into aggressivity. That’s not the
way i feel the world but my vision of music, that is the
best way we have found as far from now to express
ourselves. But our aggressivity is never destinate to
the others or to complain about something. I think
there's also some beauty and hope in what we are
playing. Anyway it is very interesting to see how music
is perceived by people, we just can agree with someone
telling us he feels sadness or desperation in kill the
thrill music's because it is surely his mind-state.
While in most songs sorrow covers the world, I was
surprised to hear a pretty happy song: "Non Existence".
How did you manage to create a different song which is
still in harmony with the rest of the record?
Marylin: Well that song is speaking about doubts,
about what you achieve and destroy. More than happiness
i would speak of energy, of positivism. It has a to do
with my answer above. Harmony is THE word of your
question. Emotion is convey through a lot of dualistic
feelings, and though there's still a kind of a rigidity
or a paralysis in our songs, we try to let a door open,
there's still at a moment an evasion, and it is most of
the time epic and melodic because these moments work as
a relief, a breath.
To me, Tellurique sounds like the perfect album. How
do you think that you can improve this in a future
release?
Marylin: Musically this album is the continuity
to the others, after 11 years we are still following our
way, maturity came slowly, our music is something we
have developped from the inside, so i hope all future
releases will improve better and better.
After listening to your music, I also became pretty
curious about the live performance. What can a stranger
expect when he visits a Kill The Thrill live gig?
Marylin: Oh, i could not speak about what people
expect from us ! But i can explain what i’m expecting
from playing live : emotion. Performing bring you some
very strong and various sensations which are much more
on the maniac side of personnality (in a clinical
sense), it is the ultimate moment of vertigo because all
of these sensations flow back into you, I’m used to feel
very fragile before going on stage, "kill the thrill" to
me is a paradox because we don't want really to kill the
thrill, on the contrary it's good to flow in all these
sensations. Our band’s name is representative of what we
need to feel while playing or creating. To kill the
thrill works for me as a corrida. While performing i
don’t think depression is appearing as a proper state,
if it does you bored the audiance.
You will be on tour very soon. Can you tell me
something about that?
Marylin: We’re going to tour in october with
Arcturus as headline in France, Spain, Denmark, Germany
and Belgium, then alone in France in november, a tour in
Italy is expected in January 2006, then France again.
What else can we expect in the future?
Marylin: Staying passionate for music and sincere
in what we will give to listeners, though it is rather
banal to say that!! Our main goal at the moment is
touring as much as possible, in a way this album could
be a key-album. The label promotion is much more large
than before so we can hit more people, from medias to
listeners, until now we have very good reviews in the
international press, i hope it will help us to tour more
than before.
Thanks a lot for your time answering my questions. As
always on IndustrializedMetal.tk, the final words are
for you.
Marylin: Well, i would like simply to thank you
for your interest and comments on KTT.
Interview by: Gerardo (September 2005) |
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