SCARVE
Well, one of the biggest
in the extreme metal scene of France, and one of the best drummers,
gives to us his point of view about SCARVE and many other things…
Dirk Verbeuren for all you!!!!!
1.- Hi Dirk, first of all introduce
SCARVE to our readers
Hello Fran! SCARVE was formed
by Patrick Martin (rhythm guitar) and myself (Dirk Verbeuren, drums)
in late 1993/early 1994, with the intention of creating our own kind
of futuristic thrash/death metal. We met at a modern music school in
Nancy called Music Academy International, and all people in our current
line-up - completed by Sylvain Coudret (rhythm & lead guitar), Guillaume
Bideau (clean & raw vocals), Pierrick Valence (raw vocals) and Loïc
Colin (bass) - went to this school at some point. We released the "Scarve"
demo-tape in 1994 and the "Six Tears Of Sorrow" mini-CD in
1996, followed by two albums: "Translucence" in 2000 and "Luminiferous"
in 2002. "Luminiferous" was also our first release for Listenable
Records, and to promote it, we did quite some touring throughout Europe
supporting bands like Nile, Behemoth, Tiamat, No Return, Aborted, Pungent
Stench, Dew-Scented, Sinister and Reclusion among others. Our new album
"Irradiant" was produced by Daniel Bergstrand and released
earlier this year in Europe, Japan, the USA, Canada and Russia. Since
then, we did close to 30 shows in France but also Denmark, Switzerland,
Spain, Belgium and Holland.
2.- Your work has been produced by Daniel
Bergstrand, How was the experience of working with him?
Daniel Bergstrand had already produced our first two albums, but his
work back then consisted mainly of setting up the microphones and mixing
the songs, because our budget didn't allow us to do better. This time
around, both he and we wanted to do everything in his Dug-Out Studio,
and it made a huge difference. Since Daniel is used to working in this
place, he knows exactly how to get the best possible sound there. Same
goes for Örjan Örnkloo, who's responsible for recording most
of the guitars. They also pushed each of us to perform as well as possible,
and Daniel spent a lot of time with Guillaume and Pierrick to make the
vocal rhythms and melodies perfect. It was a very interesting stay,
we learned a lot of new things, had a lot of fun with Daniel who's become
a real friend over the years, and most of all, "Irradiant"
sounds exactly like we intended it to: crystal-clear, powerful and in-your-face!
3.- What is your definition of the music
SCARVE plays? It is original, w/clean vocals, elements of death, thrash...
I'd say we play our very own, futuristic kind of death/thrash metal.
Acts like Coroner, Carcass, Cynic, Atheist, Loudblast, Sepultura, Fear
Factory and Morbid Angel were amongst our influences in the early days.
But we all listen to many, many different things, ranging from jazz/fusion
to pop to folk and electronic music. We still enjoy a lot of metal as
well, but it's not so much of a direct influence anymore, since we know
exactly what we want to do with SCARVE and how to do it. Over the years,
when you get to know a style really well, you also become more critical
and it gets more difficult to find bands that really stand out, so a
lot of the stuff that really kicks our asses is often outside of the
metal sphere.
4.- What is your lyrical motivation?
To resume it briefly, we express our own views and feelings through
our lyrics, which are influenced by what we see, read, hear and live
everyday. Since the beginning, there's a red line that runs through
our work: Patrick and myself are very interested by modern science and
technology, such as genetic manipulation and nano-technology. This futuristic
aspect is always present in our music, lyrics and artwork, but not necessarily
in a positive way. In our eyes, those sciences could drastically change
the future of mankind: for example, the simple thought that creating
"super-humans" will soon be possible is pretty frightening
to us! This being said, I use a lot of metaphors when I write, so everything
stays open to interpretation. On "Irradiant", songs like "FireProven"
and the title-track express some of our visions and fears about humanity
running out of hand because of tools that are "bigger" than
us. The other lyrics on this album are mainly influenced by some difficult
times I've been living through these recent years at a personal level,
and they delve into the dark depths of the human soul.
5.- You have done a lot of concerts,
opening for NILE, playing with TIAMAT, BEHEMOTH, PUNGENT STENCH... If
you look backwards which are the gigs that you would like to repeat?
The ones that you'll never forget, and... Why?
We love playing live, and I think our music really comes alive
on stage. There's a lot of energy involved, especially when the crowd
is going apeshit! We've played countless great shows during the last
four years, but the best memory is without a doubt our European tour
alongside Nile, No Return, Sinister and Myrkskog; despite the rough
conditions, I rarely enjoyed myself as much as during those three weeks!
Also the Graspop and Fury festivals were amazing experiences, because
we don't get to play in front of 8000 people that often. In fact, I
enjoy almost every show we do because playing live is to me the most
fun thing about being a musician.
6.- You have played a few months ago
at the Alhama Metal Madness Festival, how was the experience? Do you
like the Spanish audience?
It was cool because we slept at a friend's place close to the sea
the night before, so we were really relaxed, hanging out and enjoying
the great weather! We had some stress during the soundcheck because
of technical difficulties, but when we finally started playing, everything
went great and the crowd was really enthusiastic. The afterparty was
really funny as well, we ended early in the morning as usual, haha!
I like the Spanish metalheads because they really go nuts when they
enjoy what they hear. We had great souvenirs about the shows we did
in Spain with Nile in 2002, so it was good to be back and we definitely
hope to do more shows in your country very soon!
7.- Would you define "Irradiant"
as your best work? Do you have new songs composed? How does SCARVE compose
a song?
To me, "Irradiant" is definitely our best album because
it turned out exactly the way we wanted it, and we're still very happy
with it these days, both music- and sound-wise. I still like our older
stuff a lot too, but nowadays I just wish the production would be as
good as on "Irradiant"! As for new songs, we have a couple
of ideas we've been playing around with. There are many ways our music
comes alive, but it's mostly guitar and drums in the beginning. I have
started working on the drumpatterns of a song, and Guillaume and Loïc
have recorded some rough demos as well, which is cool since they've
never written any songs for SCARVE before. I think the next album won't
be recorded before the Autumn 2005 because we're touring until June
at least, and we really want to be fully satisfied with our new stuff.
8.- You have played with ABORTED and
other bands... Is it possible to play in various bands and have side
projects when your main band becomes bigger and bigger? What do the
other members of SCARVE think about this?
Well, until now it hasn't been a problem, but maybe one day it
will be. I'm also currently playing with SOILWORK, for whom I did all
the touring in 2004 and recorded drums for the new album "Stabbing
The Drama". They have a very busy schedule and so does SCARVE -
to a lesser extent - so we'll have to see how things turn out. But basically,
I'm the one who decides about what I choose to do and not, and I'm very
dedicated to SCARVE. It's the same for every member of the band: we
are all individuals who are free to do as they choose, but hopefully
this line-up stays together for a long time!
9.- Now the typical question... You
began mainly influenced by bands like Cynic, Death, etc... What are
the CDs that made you understand the music the way Scarve plays? Which
are for you the best CDs ever? What is your playlist at this moment?
It's really hard to choose a few albums, because we all have very
different tastes. But some CDs most of us agree on are "Chaosphere"
by MESHUGGAH, "City" by STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, "Domination"
by MORBID ANGEL, "Natural Born Chaos" by SOILWORK and "Rusted
Angel" by DARKANE.
My favourite albums ever would be "Sol Niger Within" by FREDRIK
THORDENDAL'S SPECIAL DEFECTS, "Disco Volante" by MR BUNGLE,
"Chaosphere" by MESHUGGAH, "Reign In Blood" by SLAYER,
"Homogenic" by BJÖRK, "Entangled in Chaos"
by MORBID ANGEL, "Blackwater Park" by OPETH and many, many
more…
I'm currently listening to the new BLOODBATH, RED HARVEST, ENTOMBED
and BLACK LUNG albums, and very curious to hear the new ABORTED!
10.- What are your plans for playing
alive in this moment? Is there any band you wish to play with and you
have not played with yet?
We will keep on playing live until September 2005, with shows planned
in France, Holland, Belgium, Finland (Tuska Open Air), Norway and maybe
even Iceland!
There are many bands we would like to tour with, my personal choices
would be MESHUGGAH, SOILWORK, ENTOMBED and MORBID ANGEL.
11.- Are you glad with Listenable records?
This is a great label, I wonder if the bigger the label is, the less
personal treatment you receive? When is your next CD going to be released?
We are more than happy with Listenable! They have spent a lot of
time and effort in promoting "Irradiant", and Laurent is always
incredibly supportive and enthusiastic. He's not only one of the coolest,
most down-to-earth guys we know, but also one of our biggest fans and
that really pushes us! Listenable is the perfect label for Scarve at
this point. It would probably be pretty difficult to have such a good
relationship with a bigger label.
Our first album "Translucence" will be re-released by Listenable
with new artwork and a bonus-DVD, sometime during the Spring or Summer
of 2005. And hopefully, we will be back in the studio by the end of
the year to record a new album.
12.- Thanks for all Dirk, now say whatever
to your Spanish fans.... STAY BRUTAL!!!!!
Thanks to you for the interview, and thanks to the readers for
their interest. We hope to see you again soon on stage in Spain! Check
out www.scarve.net for more info! Cheers!!!
JANUARY 2005
Interview by Fran
www.scarve.net
Discography:
Scarve DT 1994
Six Tears Of Sorrow MCD 1996
Translucence CD 2000
Luminiferous CD 2002
Irradiant CD 2004
