Bagpipes in Drakwald Style

Drakwald released another killer album once more, called ‘Riven Earth’. About time to talk with Thibaud, Max and Marc about songwriting, France, bagpipes and more.

Hello guys, congratulations with another killer album. Are you satisfied with this album?
Thibaud: “Yes! Actually, this album is the one we wanted to make from the very beginning of the band, we were obviously not mature enough at this time to build such tracks, but release it nowadays is a huge source of satisfaction.”

Were there things you like especially in the reviews?
Max: “A good review for us is a honest one regardless whether it’s good or not. If the guy likes it, we’re interested to know what part or what element he likes in our music and same thing happen if he didn’t like. A good review must be explained whether it’s good or not :)”
Drakwald seems to be quite productive, again another album, is it this easy for you guys to write new tracks?
Marc: “We compose when we are inspired. We can’t say that we are in trouble with compositions. The only thing not ” that easy ” is to find a place for every instruments in each songs.
I must say we will, maybe, take more time for the 3rd album because we think about more things when we compose now than when we started the band.
One reason that we decided to record the 2nd album not far from the 1st is that we were not satisfied by the sound quality of Resist Fataly. We wanted something better so we made it as fast as possible.”

“I compose when a melody comes to me”

Where do all your ideas for the songs come from?
Marc: “For me, I compose when a melody comes to me. It happens when I work, when I drive, when I play guitar, everywhere in fact, even when I’m not in a composition process, which is boring when I’m losing one because I can’t write what I’m thinking about. Then, with these melodies bases, I make a composition by adding riffs and creating the architecture. The guys are helping me at this step.”
Thibaud: “It may came in many different ways, I can have a melody in minds like Marc, or just a mood or sometimes even just some lyrics that pop in the right way and inspire me for a whole track. Usually I try to write this idea as fast as I can to not let it go and try to build a song from it.”

Is France an inspiring country for Pagan music or folky tunes?
Thibaud: “There is a huge Celtic background in France; it’s obviously an inspiring country for such music. There is medieval festival in many little villages in France, a lot of castle in the Loire Valley, and of course many forests near our hometown; France is a fertile land for folk music and I think we cannot make such music without this background.”

“There is a huge Celtic background in France; it’s obviously an inspiring country for such music.

Do you think there’s a relation between the France landscape and Drakwald’s music?
Thibaud: “The France landscape is a part of our background, so it inspires us even if we don’t pay attention. It may happen that a special place came with a special mood, so its influence us in many way.”

The use of bagpipes in the music isn’t as traditional as we can hear in the more folky bands, what are your feelings about letting the original tune go and use the bagpipes as a full metal instrument?
Max: “Nice to see that you highlight this, I think you’re the first person! Anyway, it’s really a choice made few years ago when Bertrand joined Drakwald, we wouldn’t use it like Eluveitie or others folk bands.”

The music has all kind of changes all the time, do you create them as a band, or is there one person who has all these ideas?
Thibaud: “Marc and I are the main composer, usually one of us write a first strike for a song, we talk about it and try to improve the work of the other by adding some riffs, remove some other, add a lead or a flute melody in one part… And finally we all talk about the song and try to improve it even more by playing it in rehearsal.”

How did you stumble upon Dooweet and what do you think are the pro’s and con’s of having a label or promotor?
Max : “These days, it’s really hard to promote yourself, you can’t spend too much time sending CDs and pressbook all around the world plus doing your job on stage. Back in 2015, we were searching for a promotor and we saw that Dooweet did a great job with others bands so we contacted them.”

Do you like to perform with other Pagan or folk-metal more, compared with performing with other metal bands? Does it influence the atmosphere?
Max: “I don’t know fore sure, we like both situations I think. But yes, there were some shows we played with only pagan bands plus some animations like medieval market or Viking re-enactment which are really great for their special atmosphere.”

“planning a tour starting in September 2016, hopefully a European one, we’d like to reach Belgium, Germany, Netherlands but it depends on local promoters…”

Any plans for the future?
Max: “Yep, we’re currently planning a tour starting in September 2016, hopefully a European one, we’d like to reach Belgium, Germany, Netherlands but it depends on local promoters… if you read this, feel free to contact us for any gig opportunity :)”

Anything else you like to say to our readers?
Max: “Thank you for reading this, hope you like when Drakwald is talking :)”

By: Michel