Backstage Pass - Heavylution - Interview

ATP

For the record, who's answering the interview?

HEAVYLUTION

Hi Arm the Pit, my name I am Paul, the singer of the band, and first of all I want thank you for this interview and the energy you give to the metal scene!

ATP

What is your band's name? How did you come up with that name?

HEAVYLUTION

The band is called Heavylution. The idea of the name « Heavylution » is, as you can guess, the contraction of Heavy and Evolution. We wanted to assume our heavy influences but to add a thrash spirit in some rhythmic and melodies, so it is not only heavy. We do not claim to revolutionize the genre with that, but this is part of our personality.

ATP

So who's in the band and what instruments do you each play?

HEAVYLUTION

Laurent Descours is our drummer, he’s here since the beginning of the band. Olivier Dupont is the « older » guitarist : he came in the band in 2010, when I decided to stop guitar and sing only (I used to sing and play guitar when we started the band). Nicolas Savoca is our new bass player, since last year and Thibault Maurin the new guitarist of the band, since last year too. And as you already know, I play the mic’ :)

ATP

How would you describe your sound. What makes you unique?

HEAVYLUTION

The first influences of the band came from heavy metal of course, but most of our past and present members listen to heavy and extreme metal in the same time. We used to think that a lot of extreme metal bands writes riffs and guitar soli that are close to heavy metal spirit and that could have been combined with a melodic singer easily, instead of the extreme one. We had the idea to do quite the opposite : a music mostly based on heavy metal with a heavy metal singing, but including a bit of thrash or extreme sometimes in the rhythmic session. We think our music is more dense than old-school heavy metal, and more melodic than most of thrash metal bands too.

ATP

What bands have influenced each of you?

HEAVYLUTION

Before the band was really founded with a complete line-up, we were 2 guitarists mostly influenced by Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Edguy and so on… That is why the main basis is « heavy ». As a singer, I am mostly influenced by Bruce Dickinson’s singing, and I like Iced Earth, Gammaray, Symphony X, Judas Priest…One of my favorite is Daniel Heiman from « Lost Horizon » and its amazing melodies sung in high-pitch voice! Our drummer began with death / thrash metal (from Slayer to Deicide) and became more heavy / hard-rock with the years (Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, Skid Row…). Our new bass player Nico is a thrasher! He plays and write songs for its other band, Furyens, and loves Testament, Exodus, but also Revocation and Iron Maiden, which is very nice for a bass player! Olivier, who has been integrating the band early likes Pantera, Iced Earth, Slayer, and used to play a lot of Dissection or Vital Remains « when he was younger ». This is why his rhythmic is so sharp and powerful. And Thibault our new guitarist is more on progressive metal and could play jazz so we sometimes say that he is the only real musician haha! It’s a joke of course, he also listens to Pantera, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Symphony X or Dream Theater…

ATP

How experienced are you on the stage, a virgin or whore?

HEAVYLUTION

We’re a young whore and hope to become a pure MILF! We began playing a few times in pubs around our city (Saint-Etienne), and then we began to play in other towns but still in the pubs. We had our first « great show » in 2010, opening for Paul Di Anno. It was a really good challenge : the first without guitar for me, and the first for Olivier who replaced me for that instrument!! Since that date, we toured regularly in France and had the opportunity to open for some other big bands like Lonewolf, Wizard and Lordi. But the main part of our shows is with the underground scene full of energy!! We might have done around 40 / 50 gigs.

ATP

How would you describe your shows?

HEAVYLUTION

We won’t put a foot out of the stage if the crowd still has voice! This is the power of the heavy metal shows : good riffs and powerful or unifying choruses! That’s intense, and for us it is sometimes like a sport : sending all the voice I have for an hour, holding the big bass drum and doing the high speed soli while your sweat! So that’s intense, but people have fun too, we don’t take everything seriously : when there’s a joke, or any technical issue we always turn that to fun : this is part of the show, it’s alive! One day the drum kick broke : we played « Tornado of souls » of Megadeth without drum to make the fans sing until the drummer fixed it! And we have one command : we give all we have until the last second of music. People paid to see us, we must honor that. Not everybody has the chance to play on stage as we do, we honor that too. And we are crazy, living our dream! Let’s honor that too!

ATP

Tell us about your favorite show and why?

HEAVYLUTION

Hard to say…I can’t speak for all the band, each musician might have his own preferences but I would select 2 : The show we did when we opened for Lordi was just the biggest we did, and it was a real outcome for us : fighting all theses years to play on an international stage and prepare as a professional band. This show was also done in our town, Saint-Etienne, in « Le FIL » a famous big venue there, and friends who saw us beginning in the pubs were really happy for us. The promotional clip of the album « Children of Hate » was recorded in that gig! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrdaaZs-9EI And the second one is the gig we did to launch the same album, in February in the Thunderbird Lounge : it is the pub where we played for the first time! It was an honor to play there again and it was crowded as we never saw it!! Completely intense and fans were singing before we began the show : just amazing, thanks guys!!!

ATP

Tell us about your worst show and why?

HEAVYLUTION

We did not have really fucked up a show, but of course some of them were not as good as we expected. I have a funny story about one : I became sick the day before the show and had absolutely no voice in the morning! I tried to take medicines to save the day, but I took too much and it finally made me vomit 1/4 H before the gig! I tuned down all the songs and could hold one hour and a half show, so it finally was a very fun experience!

ATP

Tell Us About Your Dream Show, who you'd like to play with and where?

HEAVYLUTION

Well, I think every band dreams to headline a stadium as AC/DC does all the time, giving a great and amazing show with interludes and solos, and once again, spreading all the energy we have in front of 100 000 or 200 000 metal heads! But more seriously, since the beginning I’ve always dreamt to open one day for Iron Maiden : the band that brought me to music. And honestly, I begin to believe it possible, even just for one gig. Of course, I am not sure that our status or fame will permit that, but something tells me that if this would happen, people should like because the Iron Maiden’s influence is really present in our music while we’re not a copy of it.

ATP

Do you have a street team and how can you join?

HEAVYLUTION

We currently have no real street team, but our fans helps us very often. A friend helps us posting news on the internet (forums dedicated to metal for example), another will help us for the gigs promotion, to broadcast our songs on the internet, to make some stickers, some graphism, to do our website… A lot of people believe in us and help. And you know why? This a very good question and we should think about doing a real street team! Thank you for that!

ATP

Do you have a record label and if not are you looking for one?

HEAVYLUTION

Yes we have, our label is called Brennus Music and this is a French label specialized in French Hard-Rock / Heavy / Melodic Metal. He loved our songs, and allowed us to be distributed in France and in the world through the partnerships he has with foreign labels. Here is the link : http://www.brennus-music.com And here is our album! http://www.brennus-music.com/brennus-ap-29/heavylution-children-hate-p-8569.html The album is also on all the digital streaming services (Spotify, Deezer etc…) which is a very nice thing for us.

ATP

What are your plans for the future, in a year, 5 years?

HEAVYLUTION

For the year to come : we still have gigs to promote our first album « Children of Hate »! We are proud of this CD and want to keep going on promoting it. Many people told us that it is a very good quality first album! We began songwriting a bit for a future album, and we should work on it seriously next year. Nothing’s really planned, we all have another job than the band, but I think next year will be a nice time to do that. We’d like to do a clip too, but did not find the time yet. This makes part of the discussions we had recently.
For the 5 nexts years, we’d like to record several albums and tour abroad of course. But let’s appreciate the way we go day after day an the steps we will pass with the first album, and all the gigs that come with it! Maybe things will come differently and bring us the show of our dream!! Scream for me Rock in Riooo??!

ATP

Finally, do have any words on what Arm The Pit means to you?

HEAVYLUTION

Your job is amazing, the philosophy of Arm the Pit is exactly what new artists like us need : being discovered by people who really like music. And those people are in general involved in what they listen, they spread the word, come to the shows, they make their new favorite band being discovered by their friends, some will buy an album or a T-Shirt to help the band! And the play on words « Arm the pit » is well found : your conviction is a weapon! Thanks once again for your involvement, and please never stop : bands need you!
Stay Metal!