Interview mit Julien Rour Chanut von Hangman’s Chair

How is Corona doing in France at the moment? Are concerts already possible again without further ado?
Yes all venues in France are opened now with no restrictions since February 16th. Unfortunately, we had some shows canceled due to those restrictions, it was the tour with Alcest.

Are you already planning to play shows in support of your new album, „A Loner“?
Actually, we already started the first part of our tour, it began on late February, we mostly play on weekends, 3 to 4 shows in a row, until this summer. Those days we are kinda busy, rehearsing fort he first part of the tour, espacially the 2 special sets for Roadburn festival in April. Then we will have play a lot of festivals such as Hellfest, Summer Breeze, Brutal Assault, Alcatraz … And we’re planning some support shows over Europe for autumn.

The album is released by Nuclear Blast, to which you switched from a very small label (Music Fear Satan). Maybe it’s too early for this question, but: Where do you see the differences between a niche label like Music Fear Satan and a metal major like Nuclear Blast for you, the artist?
We felt very good at MFS during all those years but we thought it was time for us to go internationnal and we knew Nuclear Blast was interested, we had already talk with them since our ‚This Is Not Supposed To Be Positive‘ (2015) and in 2020 when the French office opened, it became real. So for us, that was an opportunity we couldn’t let go. They let us all the artistic aspect and they never interfere, it’s a win win situation. And their team is always behind us, at first we could fear that we will drown between all those big bands but that’s not the case, they’re good with us.

After „Banlieue Triste“ now „A Loner“. Your album titles always sound damn gloomy and depressing – but I think that unlike in Depressive Black Metal there is a positive message behind it in the end. Am I right?
A Loner relates about loneliness, but loneliness as a cure, a cure to depression for instance. So yes, we’re always between darkness and lights. I guess this contrast is a main concept in the music of HMC, when you think of it, it’s even what the band is all about. The singing voice mixed with the heavy guitars, we also like to make evolve the songs from major chords to minor chords and vice versa.
The contrast between our artwork and our music, just like the Loner video, i’s not what metal heads are used to see, we just want to show our reality and we see the world. Even in our lyrics, we can combine some metaphorical images with some really down to earth issues.

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You already mentioned it: To „Loner“ you released a video, a non-fictional documentary about „isolated“ people – in the middle of the pandemic. Are you referring directly to the lockdown situation, or also to loneliness as a general social problem?
Well it’s not about the pandemic situation, the Loner video is more those 4 outcast people, who sometimes live cut off the masses, struggling with the outside world and fighting with their everyday concerns. But still, people who are proud about their lives and they were happy to have the opportunity to express it.

Are you yourself someone who likes to be alone from time to time, are you good at spending time alone, or are you more of the social type who quickly has cabin fever?
I definitaly like to be alone, since I’m a child. But like you said, from time to time and when I want to or need to. When I want to listen to music, watch a movie, read a book or just meditate.

How did you cope with the pandemic and lockdown situation accordingly – as a private person, but also as an artist: Did the reduction in contact inspire you more or inhibit you creatively?
For me, the lockdown was very positive and even for my mental health. I gave me the break I needed for so long, wihtout asking for it. With the band, we had to change our habits, not being able to go to our rehearsal place was a pain in the ass and we work differently this time, which was really inspiring as it was a new situation.

Was the pandemic the trigger for this album concept, or did you have it in mind for a longer time and it just fits so well with the last two years?
I had the Loner concept way before the pandemic. I’ve been through tough times which lead me to depression, maybe 2 years before the Covid hit us and that’s when the theme of loneliness and self isolation came to me. It’s just so strange that it fitted with the lockdown situation for everyone a few months after.

You also shot a video for „Cold & Distant“, here the French actress Béatrice Dalle was involved. What was the basic idea behind this clip and how did you come to Béatrice Dalle?
We already knew the video director Oscar Bizarre, he also directed our clip Who Wants To Die Old (which was filmed before C&D) and as we were working on this first video, we asked him if Béatrice Dalle would be interested into featuring our second video clip, as he is a close friend of her. For us, it was a joke as we thought it was impossible. But he seriously answered us, yes I can ask her, she’s a metalhead and she could be digging HMC. He asked her and she said yes, simple is that! Then we change our plans and decided to put out the C&D as our first single. The basic idea behind this clip was film her playing four versions of herself, to use her craziness and her incredible talent of acting.

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In general, thanks to Youtube etc., videos are as much a part of music today as they were last in the days of linear music television. Apart from their promotional value, how important are music videos to you as another artistic level?
We are very concerned about all the aspect of HMC, from the music to the sound to the production to the album cover to the merch and of course to the videos. We want the videos to be as important as the rest and we do not want to neglect them. We want them to be special each time that’s why we involve guys like Kendy Ty or Oscar Bizarre.

Also the cover could hardly be colder and sadder – an old man, probably not only exhausted by his day, in black and white, in addition cold neon writing in even colder turquoise … but your music sounds so warm and friendly from the sound. Is this artificially (or artistically) created contrast the charm of your art?
As I said just above, contrast is the basis of HMC. we love those contrats, even in every aspect of life. It’s really relevant for me and Mehdi who are the 2 original members and fondator of Hangman’s Chair, we have been friends for about 30 years, we met at school at the age of 12 years old and we are still friend to this day though we are completely different, almost the opposite and that’s what make us complementary. I don’t see it as a duality, the band need those two sides.

Musically, you have once again clearly developed further with this album – one can still recognize HANGMAN’S CHAIR, of course, but you are far away from the stoner rock of the early days and also from the (harder) doom of the last albums and are now on the road in clearly more prog-rock spheres. Do you see it that way, too, and if so: How do you explain this development?
In every album we try to evolve and we want HMC to be different, not in the substance but moslty in the form. Our sound has evolved, we chose a production brighter, harsher and less distortion with more ambient waves. For this album, we wanted something with less bass, maybe less “doomy”. I don’t know if we are more prog rock because I don’t really listen that genre, actually during the composition of “A Loner”, musically and lyrically, I was so much influenced by “From The Lions Mouth by The Sound”, I was looking for that simplicity in the structures of the songs, in the guitar sound as well, like I said, less is more. And the lyrics of Adrian Borland really touched my soul when I was experiencing tough times, it helped me a lot.
For my guitar sound, I had my mind the Quicksand sound in the album “Slip”, nearly a crunch sound with very medium frequencies, which was totally different from my guitar sound in the previous album. And for my guitars effect, I listened a lot to “Brighter Than A Thousand Suns” by Killing Joke., that reverbed chorused guitar sound was what I was aiming to.

In France you are going (or at least wanted to go) on tour with Alcest, who come from Black Metal themselves, but have also made a clear musical change. Nevertheless, the combination surprises me a bit. Why do you find this constellation fitting?
For us, it was a good match, you can find the same sense of melody and sensibility in both bands. And when we first met Neige, there was a mutual respect, a ggod connection between us and similarities. Unfortunately, most dates of the Alcest are canceled, only a few in France were postponed.

And if you have to dream: Which band would you most like to go on tour with?
Type O Negative.

In any case, let’s hope that concerts in general will now be possible again permanently! Thank you very much for the interview. Let’s wrap it up with our traditional brainstorming – what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the following terms?
Last album you listened to: FDT by FREEZE CORLEONE, french rap.
„Frühling in Paris“: haha, I had to Google it, I don’t listen to Rammstein.
Black Metal: Lord Of Chaos, the book by Michael Moynihan.
If „A Loner“ were a car – what type? It would be a pair of Air Max, I don’t have my driving licence.
Streaming: Lazyness. And I am lazy.
HANGMAN’S CHAIR in 10 years:  I don’t believe in the future.

Once again thanks for your time. The last words are yours – is there anything left you want to tell our readers?
Thanks for your support.

Publiziert am 28. April 2022 von Moritz Grütz