Darkshine

Band: Darkshine
Interviewee: Bruno
Year: 2007
Website: www.darkshine.new.fr
MySpace: myspace.com/darkshineband
Label: None
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Exclusive... So far!

Interview

When I saw Devilish Impressions at the Electrowerkz in 2006, I also saw (and heard) Darkshine for the very first time. I was lucky enough to catch up with Bruno to find out his thoughts on his band and the metal scene in general...

Lou: Firstly, how are you today?

Bruno: I am fine thanks Lou; I've been really busy last months, working as soundman on European tours and summer metal festivals. Now I am back in south of France, I spend my days working on some new Darkshine material for upcoming release!

Lou: Would you mind telling the readers about who is in the band? Have there been any line-up changes since you been together?

Bruno: Yeah, we had many line up changes in 10 years, only Ghyis (drums) and me (guitars/vocals) have always been part of Darkshine, Jerome (guitars) left and came back several times but was there at the beginning and still there on last record. First bass player was J.M, then Greg, replaced by Seb, then Pierre (feänturi) joined in 2004,and finally Low (mephisto) replaced him for the ageless void European tour. To finish with that topic I'll mention Franck (el?nath) who played guitar with us for some times (98) and Gerald our keyboarder from 97 to 99 (R.I.P dude)

Lou: Where did the name Darkshine come from? It seems to suit the nature of the music perfectly.

Bruno: We found that name when we created the band in 95/96,we wanted something representative of the music we started to create, aggressive, and darkly melodic. Even if you can find loads of bands called dark-something?we are still happy with it cause we also think it suits our style nowadays.

Lou: So, the band?s been around for over 10 years now, which part of the band?s career so far are you most proud of?

Bruno: I can really say I enjoy of the whole Darkshine career, from first gig in our town to last European tour, the festivals or the day we played as support for Morbid Angel. Moreover, we always had such good times performing loads of gigs in south of France. I am proud of Darkshine?s 10 years of existence, and of course more n more proud with last recordings?

Lou: How would you describe the music Darkshine produces?

Bruno: Some magazines wrote about Darkshine things like ?brutal dark metal?; ?blackened death? or ?metal in a death/black jacket?;
Recently, Chris Forbes (metalcorefanzine.com / USA) wrote about Darkshine: ?it s sort of morbid angel playing some black metal!?I ve got to admit I like this sentence... Haha!
Well, as many different elements from black, dark, and death?are combined in our music. I like to simply describe it as ?extreme metal?.

Lou: What?s the Metal scene like in France?

Bruno: Difficult for me to answer, I am not really into it those days, I mean about magazines, new releases, etc. All I can tell you is what I see on the road as soundman. It seems like the hardcore metal style is now really popular, more than the extreme styles, with loads of young people coming to shows. The extreme scene which was full of black metal bands seems to reach a higher quality level that doesn?t allow crappy bands to survive, that s a good point; but still hard for promoters to get enough fans to the shows. Last years some old legends made their comeback (Loudblast, Aggressor...) and some young hungry dudes became more important in the metal landscape (Gojira, Dagoba...).

Lou: Are there any other bands on the French Metal scene that we should know about?

Bruno: No, they all suck. Haha; kidding of course. Check Scarve, Gojira, Feänturi, Dagoba, Yyrkoon, Otargos, Blut aus Nord, Phazm, Blazing War Machine?and make your own opinion.

Lou: I saw you guys perform in London with Devilish Impressions. Which other bands have you shared the stage with?

Bruno: Good to know that you were there. We really enjoyed playing there, and hope to comeback soon!
Well here are some bands we played with: Impaled Nazarene, Morbid Angel, Krisiun, Sacred Sin, Eyeless, El?nath, Korobscura, Destinity, Perverse Souls, Suhrim, No Return, Loathing, Hegemon, Kristendom, Furia, Apostasia, Benighted, Your Shapeless Beauty, Ellipsia, In Vain, Graze, Aquilon, Chrysalis, Nefas, Incest, Morgue, Gholes...etc.

Lou: How did the tour with Arum and Devilish Impressions come about? Were they good touring buddies?

Bruno: Jose from Icon Music Agency was booking the ageless void tour for Aeternus; we met in the past when Darkshine shared the stage with its band sacred sin. He just made a proposition about joining that tour, as we were available and hungry for European live shows, we made everything possible to do it. I have to admit, that the Aeternus crew, the devilish family and bread-brothers arum were the best tour buddies ever, sure we'll all remember that amazing link that naturally appeared from first day in Amsterdam.

Lou: Do you have any good/funny stories from life on the road?

Bruno: Ooh, I've got so many... We had such great parties on that tour, one of those was in celebration of Ghyis (drums) birthday, somewhere on the road between Slovenia and Belgium. All the tour buddies organized a crazy nightliner-party with cake, candles, drinks and so on... excellent...

Lou: Which other bands would you like to tour with in the future and why?

Bruno: I would like to tour with bands like Immolation, Zyklon, Keep of Kalessin, Behemoth, because they keep innovative and really bring something interesting in the extreme scene. Well,?ageless void tour part 2? with the same dudes would just be perfect.

Lou: Are you touring at the moment? Will you be coming back to London? (Say ?yes?! hahaha)

Bruno: Of course coming back to UK would be really great, playing in London was an interesting experience; at the moment there are no gigs/tour planned. You'll have to wait a bit, until upcoming release, to see Darkshine on the road.

Lou: Which are your favourite venues to play in?

Bruno: My favourite venue to play in is definitely the Rockstore in Montpellier (France), because I feel like home on that stage; we played there with Morbid Angel, Krisiun, Impaled Nazarene... etc this is also the place where I spend many time working as soundman, and partying with friends till morning?

Lou: I really like getting myself new band merchandise and I was wondering if there were any ?girlie? sized Darkshine t-shirts available? Also, while we?re almost on the subject, where can people pick up a copy of ?Ten Years? from?

Bruno: Ten years CD can be directly ordered on our website or on our MySpace page.
People can pay via paypal, visa, MasterCard?s?10 euros /free shipping!
Darkshine logo t-shirts and girlies are available too! You can contact us by email to get one, and they will soon be available via paypal as well.

Lou: Who would you say were your biggest influences?

Bruno: Ghyis (drums) and I were between 10 and 12 years old when we discovered bands like Metallica (And Justice for All), Coroner (No More Color) or Death (Leprosy) who were very striking musically .I can say that those bands gave us the desire to play music and therefore influenced us.

Lou: Which is your favourite track from ?Ten Years? and why?

Bruno: My favourite track is ?A Whore for God?, one of the last ones we recorded. I enjoy to play and listen to it cause it contains almost every kind of elements we like to mix in Darkshine: from doom intro to furious blast, including death-structured parts, blackened atmospheres... and it still sounds to me like ?from one piece?. I think this track is representative of that style we built through years.

Lou: Do you have plans for another album in the near future? If so, what is it called?

Bruno: Nothing about title is planned yet, but for sure some new material should be release next year, I am working on it?

Lou: How do you go about writing music for Darkshine? Does one person handle most of the writing duties, or is it a group effort?

Bruno: It has always been a group effort between Ghyis (drums), Jerome (guitars) and me; creating tracks by jamming together, bringing own ideas to work on during rehearsals, or long acoustic guitar session at night with beers and pizzas...
Those days things are bit different, we are all very busy, I am really often on the road as soundman and my dark buddies got lot of work with their rock band ?Mephisto? (I am their soundman as well) and other projects.
So, until now, this time I am working alone on main ideas for new material. I am really excited with it and I will soon have to share it; then, we I'll need beers and pizzas.

Lou: What?s next for Darkshine?

Bruno: To continue moving forward, musically as well as professionally, then we?ll see where that takes us, through hard work and perseverance.

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