Fange Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Hi ! We are FANGE, a sludge/ harsh noise trio from Brittany formed in late 2013 by Baptiste from Brain Pyramid (acid rock) and Ben from Huata (occult doom), joined by Jean-Baptiste from Zalhietlzi (noise/ambiant). We are digging into a filthy and aggressive sludge/doom riffing with harsh noise parts. We'd like to say that if Nihilist would have played sludge on Sunn Amps with Merzbow as special guest, it would have sounded like FANGE.

2.Recently you have released your first ep, can you tell us a little bit more about your musical sound?

'Poisse' is our very first record, after a short period of composing we had enough material to release an EP. We tried to make our own sound, with a huge amount of distortion, hard beats and aggressive noise backgrounds. Some songs are reflecting our groovy part ("Lucifour", Grêle Molle") some are pure crushing doom/sludge ("Suaire") and we also wanted to had some D-beat/Entombed stuff like "Ammoniac". We are very happy with the massive sound of KKP's mix and Sylvain Biguet's mastering. HM-2 on top of their aggressiveness.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

We are dealing with human grime and filth, disturbing behaviours, and decomposition of the body due to unbearable heats and acid sweats. We wanted to have disgusting subjects, some topics that we can't stand in real life, feelings that we hate or inspired hatred in mankind in general, but metaphorically turned into degenerated stories. 

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'FANGE"?|

Fange is the French word for "mire", we were looking for a name that deals with sludge, mud, and hideous fluids. French in the lyrics and our name is a choice that not a lot are making in our country because it is a hard language to sing. But as we only scream, it fits good with the harsh sound we have, and some words are more powerful in french than in english in our opinion.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

We only had a couple actually, and they were loud and nice. We can say that if you don't have earplugs for our performances, you will suffer.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We have few shows booked for France this year (Yellfest, shows with Huata, Cult Of Occult...) and had some plans for touring but maybe next year when we'll have more songs and experience. 

7.The cd version was released by Cold Dark Matter Records and the cassette by Zugzwang Productions, do you feel these labels have done a lot of help for the band?

Yes indeed, Damien from CDM is a good friend who was really involved into this release, and Jean-Baptiste decided to make some tapes (as we already worked with him a few times with Huata) because the DIY handmade format is always appreciated by the audience. They are a big part of our exposure and we hope that the LP version of 'Poisse' coming the autumn will be enjoyed as well.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of sludge metal?

We have some reviews from foreign webzines and radios at the moment and they are pretty good ! That's really enjoyable to see that doomsters from different places can dig your stuff, the power of the riff is limitless, and we can spread our sound outside our borders. That's a good thing for the sludge scene to see that we have good bands in France that can find audience everywhere.

9.What is going on with the other musical projects these days that some of the band members are involved with?

With Huata we are actually working on our next full-lenght "Lux Initiatrix Terrae" that we'll record this autumn with Baptiste (who recorded the Fange EP and new Brain Pyramid) we also have a new guitar player for our next performances. A lot of good work to do. Brain Pyramid "Chasma Hideout" newest release is done, they are looking for labels and it will crush, pure psychedelic spaced-out rock'n'roll !! Jean-Baptiste is actually working on new songs with Zalhietlzi and we released with Hendiadys (our drone noise duo) a new tape 'VIIV' available on our bandcamp. 

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We are actually composing new stuff, we want to pursue into our mix of groovy riffs, catchy parts and harsh noise ambiances. We want to develop these three aspects into something more personal and deeper, especially the noises parts. We hope to record a new EP or album in early 2015 and why not a split if everything goes well.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Our music is inspired by sludge band like HALO, Lazarus Blackstar, Cavity, Laudanum, Bongzilla, Noothgrush, early Melvins, the heavy riffing and sound of Entombed/Nihilist/Carnage and many others old-school swedinsh death metal bands, and big harsh-noise sounds. But actually we can listen to many different stuff, from 90's hip-hop to old school death metal, post-punk, indus, grindcore, drone, black metal, space rock etc. The latest Swans, Floor, Young Widows, Eyehategod are awesome in the latest stuff we listened for example.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

From movies to drawings/paintings, also literature, and of course beers, drugs and Jacques Chirac.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

HM-2 Forever ! Thanks a lot for your interest, looking forward to make your ears bleed with new songs.