A couple weeks back, I reviewed Silent Fall’s debut album, Otherwise. I praised the album, insisting that this is how power metal should sound like in 2011.
Since then, I recently had an interview with their lead vocalist, Adrien Eyraud. We discussed everything – the retirement of Oprah Winfrey, the rising price of gasoline, politics and French prostitution. Actually, we didn’t discuss any of that (although I wouldn’t of mind the chat about French whores).
Either way, I thought the interview went well and you can view it after the jump.
Dose Of Metal: First of all, I would like to thank you for accepting an interview with Dose Of Metal. Besides releasing Otherwise last year, what else is new in the world of Silent Fall?
Adrien Eyraud: First of all, it’s a big pleasure for us. At the moment, this actually may seem quite empty concerning Silent Fall, but in fact we’ve been hard working since the album release. We have lost two of our members, Fabio (drummer) and Guillaume (Keyboars) and I must tell it was a tough work to find their successors. But the arrivals of Reno and Galäad are full of promises, and we hope to be back on the stage very soon, probably in October or November.
DoM: Silent Fall formed in 2005 and originate from France. What else we should know about you guys?
AE: Wow. That we play a melodic power metal with some German and Nordic influences, such as Avantasia, Sonata Arctica, Masterplan… Our previous name was Winterland, but we had to change it because of a German band which already owned the rights. Otherwise, it’s important to know that at least one member of the band is still single
DoM: The first thing I noticed when I listen to Silent Fall is the vocals. Your voice is rather unique. I imagine you took singing listens over the years. What age did you take singing serious?
AE: Thanks a lot. It’s always a pleasure to read such comments. As you say, my voice is quite unique in the metal world, and it’s the subject of a lot of debates. I mean, a lot of people like their power metal music with some deep huskily or very shrill voices, and it’s quite strange for them to listen to a voice in the mediums, working more on the interpretation rather than the pitch or the aggressively. But my voice is like that, and I don’t want to cheat with it. To answer to your question, I’ve not taken part to so many singing lessons. I’ve made one year of musical comedy, which learned me the basics, but I’ve worked a lot by myself since that time, with different bands, playing different music genres. If was counting, I could say that I’ve been truly working on it since 2002.
DoM: Listening to Silent Fall, I definitely hear a strong European influence (along the lines of Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius). Besides power/traditional heavy metal bands, what bands in other genres, such as death metal and thrash, have influenced you?
AE: Quite a lot of different musics types have influenced us, and I think it is the force of Silent Fall. All of us are fans of different types of music, going from blues to Death metal. Each of us are bringing this part of them, and it’s building Silent Fall every day. But as you said, our music has some main influences, and I could give the names of Sonata Arctica, Edguy, Angra, but also from Raintime or Children of Bodom.
DoM: I’m going to list you seven vocalists. I think three of the singers are crap, but I can’t sing to save my life, so my opinion is irrelevant. Rank them on a scale from 1-10 and feel free to give your honest opinion on them.
AE: It’s a hard question because they are all parts of amazing bands… But I’ll try to do my best
– Roy Khan
AE: I would give a 8. An original voice, full of emotions. It’s a pity that he just left Kamelot.
– Fred Durst
AE: 6,5. I’m not that a big fan of Limp Bizkit in general, and I just know a few songs. The vocal parts are not that bad, but I think there many other voices that bring me more emotions.
– Tobias Sammet
AE: 9. I’m just fan of his voice, especially on the last albums on Avantasia. He improved a lot, letting away his tremolo, and I enjoy more and more his voice. I think he may be one of my favorite singer with Russel Allen and Jorn Lande.
Corey Taylor
AE: 7,5. A really nice voice, even if I’m not fan of every Slipknot albums (Olivier, our guitar player, is gonna kill me)
– Serj Tankian
AE: The music of SOAD is quite nice, but I think it’s not linked to the voice, but rather to the melodies and the music.
– Hansi Kursch
AE: A wonderful voice that everyone can easily recognize. I’m a huge fan of the choirs part on the Blind Guardian‘s albums.
– Eric Adams
AE: 4,5.Exactly like for Serj Tankian. Manowar has some nice and epic songs, but who would say it’s “well singed”? The melodies are staying in minds but the voice is not as impressive as a Jorn Lande for example.
DoM: As I previously mentioned, you recently released ‘Otherwise‘. What’s the concept of the title and how has the reception been since you released it?
AE: In fact, we wrote the songs before thinking to a concept. As we decided to record the album, we realized that our songs were all linked by the fact that we wanted to see the world from an original point of view, like in the songs Who is the fool?, World of Secrets or Play with fire. The name of the album and the booklet came out of this reflection. Concerning the comment on the album, they were quite good. A few comments concerned the mastering and, as said previously, my voice, but globally, we had some pretty good reviews
DoM: Downloading full albums is still a serious problem today. Do you mind if a kid illegally downloads your album, yet ends up paying to get into a Silent Fall show or two down the road, while purchasing a shirt as well? It seems like some musicians are okay with that – not sure if I have that opinion. Give me your take.
AE: It’s a complicated subject. The problem is that for young bands, it’s more and more difficult to get an access to the mediatisation, and Internet stays the only way to become famous. At the same time, we have to pay for the rehearsals, for the recordings and many other things, and the sell of CDs is a great way to get back the money you’ve invested. I would just say one thing : if you want to buy a CD, try to contact directly the concerned band. You will often get same prices, and the money will go to them directly.
DoM: Have you ever toured in North America? If so, where did you play? If you haven’t, where would you like to play?
AE: No never. And it’s a dream. The problem is, for a little band, the financial risk. Would people come to the concerts? Would we have to pay to play? The best for us would be to be on the road with an already known band. Who knows? Maybe one day…
DoM: Why is it trendy for metal bands to cover ‘Poker Face’ from Lady Gaga? Would you guys consider covering that horrible song?
AE: In fact, Wildpath, the band of Olivier (our guitar player) made a cover, which is pretty cool!!! At the moment, we don’t play any cover songs, but in the past, we’ve tried Cloud Connected from In Flames as well as Mrs God from Helloween. It’s always nice when the audience sings with you during some famous songs
DoM: Would you label yourself either a) Power Metal b) Melodic Metal or c) Who bloody cares, it’s metal!
AE: Definitely d) Silent Fall‘s music. I hate genres. It looks like categorizing people and their ways of thinking… The most important is that we like the music we play, and that our fans like it too. After all, being the singer of a hard country disco nu melodic symphonic power metal or progressive flamenco thrash death metal band is not the most important
DoM: Thanks again for the interview, anything you’d like to say to our readers?
AE: Thanks for reading my shitty answers. I hope that you’ll enjoy our music, whatever
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