Monday, February 10, 2014

The Milton Incident Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
We’ve been working a lot to promote the album with our label Dooweet Records. We’ve also shot a video for the song “Deadset” that will probably be online in a few weeks and we also managed to put together a limited box set with the album and tons of goodies for our die-hard fans. We’re currently working on some bonus songs for this limited edition. In the meantime, we’re rehearsing like hell for the upcoming shows.

2.A few months back you released your first album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical direction you have taken with the new recording?
Actually Innocence Lost is our very first album. We’ve had a few home-made demos online for quite a while but this album is the real deal. It took us around 2 years to write it. The recording/mixing process has taken a whole year and has been quite hectic for various reasons but in the end we really got to the bottom of it and we made the best possible record. Music-wise we didn’t set ourselves any limitations. We wanted to keep the heavy stuff that is the basis of our music but also have catchy melodies and be able to include softer parts when we felt it served the song. So we ended up with a bunch of very different tracks from metalcore songs to power ballads.

3.Can you tell us a little bit more about the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
We wanted to be as open-minded as possible and we tried to avoid the usual metal cliched themes. For instance, “Conspiracy of silence” talks about children abuse, “Deus Ex Machina” is about hacktivism and major companies trying to take over the internet, “Split Second” is a modern adaptation of the myth of Icarus, Deadset is about brainwashing through religion. Some songs were also inspired by cult movies, “Dearest Enemy” is based on Welcome to Zombieland and “Memento” is obviously inspired by Christopher Nolan’s film. As you can see, that’s quite a wide range of topics !  

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'The Milton Incident'?
We wanted to find a band’s name which was connected to the very dark tone of the songs we had started to write. Something set in an almost apocalyptic vision of the future. “Incident” refers to Tchernobyl’s nuclear incident that occurred in the 80’s which is also underlined by the use of Soviet font for the band’s name. Milton refers to John Milton’s Paradise Lost which can be somehow interpreted as the fall of men. And above all, it sounds pretty cool J

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We’ve been lucky enough to share stages with big names in the business such as Kreator, Moonspell, KlogR or Eyes Set to Kill. We’ve also opened for French famous bands Dagoba and Mass Hysteria. Every single time we go on stage, no matter if it’s a small or big venue, who plays before or after us, we try to give 100%. Playing gigs and sharing our music with people is definitely the reason we’re doing all this. It’s always unique and a great chance to meet people and visit new places. We’ve been playing with American, German, Italian bands and the amazing thing with music and especially metal music is that it’s universal and it often feels like some sort of family reunion.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We’ll be playing at the legendary Parisian venue La Boule Noire on May 26th and we’ll probably have some other gigs and shows at summer festivals after that. It’s something we’re working on with our booking agency.

7.The new album came out on Doweet Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
We were in touch with Dooweet even before the album was recorded and the’ve always been very supportive with our project. So when the album was finally done, it seemed kinda obvious to us that we would sign up a deal with them. They are fair and passionate people. In the music business, it’s pretty rare to find partners who are not driven only by the money they’re gonna make on a record .These people truly believe in music.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of alternative and metal?
Thanks to internet and social networks, we’re able to reach people all over the globe. We have fans all over Europe, in the US and even in South America. It’s great to see that our music can touch people on the other side of the world. Our album will be available worldwide on main MP3 platforms such as ITunes or Amazon and this is a great chance for a band like us to grow a little fan base even in places we’ve never been.

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
We’re always working on new stuff, it’s somehow vital. I think that maybe we’ll change a bit our usual writing process to renew ourselves. We’ll probably aim for more technical stuff and try to keep away from what we’ve done already. Once again, we don’t set ourselves any limitations musically.

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We all have different influences but some bands are really a reference for all of us such as Sevendust, Slipknot or Tool. There’s also Daughter of Mara which has been a huge influence for us. We’ve had the chance to work with DOM’s singer/songwriter Shawn Zuzek for this album. It’s been an awesome experience. We all listen to very different kind of music. Fa and Romu are much into metalcore / djent music with bands such as Periphery, Circles, Tesseract or Sky Harbor. I’ve been listening to Twelve Foot Ninja’s album a lot recently. We also like more mainstream metal bands such as Breaking Benjamin, Stone Sour or Avenged Sevenfold.

11.Do you have any interests outside of music?
Romu is a seasoned skydiver, Fa is a pro photographer and short movies director, Sam is a huge surfing fan and Jay tries to build his own real estate empire. And as for myself, besides my job and family life, I spend a lot of time trying to become a decent guitar player, which is quite a challenge !
 

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Well thanks for the interview, hope to see y’all on stage and keep headbanging folks !

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