BLACK METAL SPIRIT: BELENOS

jueves, 13 de abril de 2017

BELENOS - INTERVIEW

1. Belenos was born in 1995, throughout his career has had different members but always you, Loïc Cellier, has remained as the fundamental axis on which has turned the future of the band, from the beginning of Belenos you were clear that it would be A one man band? And why should the incorporation of new members in some moments of the history of the band and its subsequent departure, is for reasons of recording a new album or pos the possibility of being able to offer live concerts?

Well, that's right, one has to consider Belenos as a "one man band" entity since the beginning, I have had, I still have live members but who don't really take part to Belenos except on stage. The only real band period was between 1998 to 2004, but working alone is better for me, easier, more rapid and stressless

2.The region from where you come is Brittany, region where Celtic influence is very marked and that surely has served as inspiration to create Belenos, we can say that there is a direct link between the cultural identity of the zone where you Was born and the creation of Belenos, as a way to capture the whole history of their region?

In fact I'm born in the north of france and until 2004 I was living over there, since 2004 I live in Brittany (the western region of france and the only one which has strong celtic traditions), It's obvious that now it helps me a lot to get more inspiration for the last albums (legends, language...)

3.Unlike other bands of black metal, Belenos texts focus on the historical and real part of events, regardless of esoteric or fantastic elements, how do you choose the themes to be treated in the Belenos albums and what is their main source of inspiration?

Yes, I don't want to focus on the regular themes used in black metal such as destroying christianity and so on; the "pagan" touch within Belenso is above all present in the choice of the themes, thus I often speak about nature or sometimes history (real events like on Chants de bataille or celtic legends) Inspiration can come from certain epic films or historical books.

4.We can not forget that thanks to their work compiling historical data, we can almost say that each album of Belenos is like a conceptual album that narrates some significant historical fact, to which the texts of his last album "Kornôg" refer and why Consider them appropriate for a Belenos album?

Some of the Belenos albums are indeed conceptual with a precise theme, it's the case for "Chants de bataille" dealing with real war rituals for the Gallic tribes in the Antiquity, "Chemins de souffrance" which talk about lonely and mournful journeys in winter, and of course "Kornog" which gathers local legends of the sea...the other albums have different themes in each song and later a theme's song can be developped in a full album if I feel there's enough matter to talk about.

5.Following in the line of bands with a black sound influenced by Celtic culture and thematic, perhaps, the most representative band is Primordial, what other bands, in your point of view, are interesting and are a direct influence for you?

There can be some common points however I don't really know their works enough, my better influences were certainly what I was listening to and appreciating in the 90's: the first offerings of Enslaved, Burzum, Emperor and later perhaps Immortal, Belphegor, Dark Funeral, Windir

6."Kornôg" is his recent work, an album that comes after a silence period of about six years, in which he has used all this time? Was it difficult to re-compose music for a new album? The sound of Belenos over these years?

Six years after "Yen sonn gardis" is definitely too long but I had no choice, I was extremely busy with my private life, we did a lot of concerts (average of 10 per year) which need a lot of time too and the new songs of Kornog were difficult to finish and to improve, the recording was extremely long and difficult too, all that facts explain this delay !

7.Although Belenos is their main band today, in the past and also in recent times has been part of other projects such as Asyndess, Beer Vomit, Bereavement, Excavation, Nydvind, Despair's Tiny Things or Artesia, bands linked to the extreme metal But not completely linked to black, Why today no longer figure in these projects, perhaps because of lack of time or issues of musical affinity?

It was often to help friends when I had some free time, the other solo projects Asyndess or Excavation don't exist for a very long time !

8.There are many bands that deny the possibility of being able to offer live shows, and much more in the case of the one man band, however although you manage to be able to record all the instruments in the studio albums, it is also true that Has managed to gather a group of musicians to be able to offer concerts, how important is it for you the possibility of being able to offer a concert, its live music and the contact with the followers of Belenos?

I don't like playing live so much because it demands tons of work and time to prepare, travelling and it's extremely difficult to earn money; this year of 2017 will be quiet due to several reasons of organisation. Today there are so much bands that we must keep a minimum of live presence otherwise our notoriety would decrease

9.I suppose that the region from which you proceed also must be an important influence to find inspiration when composing music for Belenos, what Celtic elements next to where you live, would recommend visiting and discovering?

Here I like culture, language: the Breton which has nothing to deal with French, it looks like to what is spoken in the celtic regions of great britain (isle of man, cornwalls, wales), architecture: a lot of castles built in stones, medieval houses (I own one), and traditionnal music which is very similar to what we can hear in Ireland and Scottland and a lot of other things: local food and alcools. In other words, one has the impression not to live in France but rather in the west parts of England. On top of the castles and the awesome costline, Brittany is known to have the biggest concentration of primitive rised stones in the world, one of my favourite place is the forest of Huelgoat, very dark and wet with gigantic stone chaos, caves and water falls.

10.Belenos was born in 1995, a time when the French black metal in its most underground slope was in full swing, what memories do you have of this early age of Belenos? Did you ever feel part of this movement?

No, not really, at the time I was not aware of what french underground scene exactly was, because my view of it depended on what I read in the fanzines, internet didn't exist, and Belenos has never been a real black metal band hailing Satan with torches and war paints

11.He has recently reissued his first three demos in tape format through the Casern Bitch Productions label. Why did you choose this record label and, above all, what led you to choose the tape format for the reissue?

This idea was not mine, I just said "okay let's do it" to the guy behind this label which proposed me this interesting project.

12.For the "Kornôg" edition, Northern Silence Productions is back in the same vein as it was with their previous "Yen Sonn Gardis", how is their relationship with the label? Satisfied with the work done in terms of promotion and distribution by Of Northern Silence Productions? Do you have in mind to offer "Kornôg" in another format such as tape or vinyl?

Belenos works with Northern silence for 10 years now, I'm satisfied with them ! Perhaps a vinyl could be done later, even on another label like Forgotten wisdom, but no tape I think.

13.Just started this 2017, what future plans for this year has for Belenos?

Well, in may we will play in two festivals: les feux de beltane fest in Brittany and the Darktroll fest in Germany, at the same time will be reissued the last long sold out album "Chants de bataille" (sound and artwork improved, 5 bonus tracks, limited A5 digipack format and regular CD)

Due to personal reasons we won't play much concerts for this year, but I will focus on the next album which is already written at 66.6% ! Meaning that this new album should be out quickly, I hope it could be out around summer 2018...

Thank you very much for taking the time to Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for the followers of Belenos, this is the place. I hope the questions are to your liking.

thanks a lot, for more informations, merchandising sells, there's just one place: www.belenos.biz

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