Burn Your Own Church, Black Strobe’s début album, is a genre-smashing mix of rock, techno and industrial styles, with a little bit of French pizazz thrown in.
It’s as hard to categorise as any album you’ll ever hear – small wonder when you consider that Arnaud Rebotini, the man behind the band lists artists as diverse as Kool and the Gang and Napalm Death among his influences.
The Dreaded Press fired off some questions at Arnaud during Black Strobe’s touring schedule. Here’s what we found out …
TDP: Where are you right at this moment, and what have you been up to in the last few days?Arnaud Rebotini: I just came back from Malaysia … we had a gig there, it was cool.
TDP: How did the studio sessions for Burn Your Own Church go? Was it hard to make the transition to playing as a band?
Arnaud Rebotini: The sessions went quite well; it was not so easy to make the transition but it was made before the studio sessions. When I started to write the album, I had the idea to be more organic, to turn Black Strobe into a band. Most of the “acoustic” part was imagined during the pre-production time, so it wasn’t really difficult to record it during the studio session.
TDP: What was the plan when you started writing the album? And how different is the final result from what you expected.
Arnaud Rebotini: The album is not really different from what I expected, even though Paul Epworth bring us a lot.
TDP: What about the atmosphere – there’s a real sense of decadence and apocalypse on the album. Where did that come from?
Arnaud Rebotini: I’m not sure there’s a real sense of apocalypse on the album. I just wanted to do a “romantic” album, like I already said, the the album is a collection of raw songs about love, addiction,(self) waste… maybe it came from my influences. Bands like Nitzer Ebb, My Bloody Valentine or even Neil Young and Burzum do really write happy music.
TDP: Can you give us an insight into the song-writing process – where do your tunes start, and how are they developed?
Arnaud Rebotini: A tune always starts with a musical idea like; a harmony, a chord, a beat, a sound, etc. From that idea I build up something minimal enough for me to find a vocal idea, if it’s a vocal track … after that comes the time for lyrics, Ivan Smagghe did the most of the lyrics on Burn Your Own Church. All this becomes a demo, and then we can go to studio to record it.
TDP: Which are your personal favourites from your back catalogue – the two or three songs you’re proudest of - and why?
Arnaud Rebotini: “Innerstring”, because a lot of people laughed about us when it was released, and now it’s more or less a classic tune and a genre definer. “Fitting Together”, because it’s sound is still topical.
TDP: If you could permanently erase one of your songs from history, which one would it be?
Arnaud Rebotini: There’s no song I’d like to erase.
TDP: You’re out on the road touring at the moment. Do you like being out on the road playing live, or do you prefer being holed up in the studio making new material?
Arnaud Rebotini: For me it’s like having to chose between cheese and chocolate … that’s two really different activities, I love to do both and you can’t one without the other.
TDP: How are audiences reacting to the live shows so far?
Arnaud Rebotini: Good!
TDP: Tell us about your worst live show ever – what went wrong?
Arnaud Rebotini: It was our first live show in Paris … we were really bad, the sound system was shit, and I was really close to fighting with the stage manager.
TDP: By way of contrast, what does it take to make the perfect Black Strobe live show? Do any band members have bizarre pre-show rituals?
Arnaud Rebotini: I think you can’t really know what will make a perfect live show … there’s something mysterious between the band and the audience, and you never know when it’s happened, but when it’s happened it’s so great. We don’t have any bizarre pre-show rituals - we don’t cut the throat of chickens, and we don’t do any human sacrifices.
TDP: It’s a frustrating world we live in – what is it that motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?
Arnaud Rebotini: I don’t feel we leave in frustrating world! I have wonderful job and family, so it’s easy for me to get out of bed.
TDP: Which albums or bands were the trigger for you choosing to become a professional musician?
Arnaud Rebotini: For different reasons: Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy; LFO: LFO; New Order: Low Life; Kool and the Gang: Wild and Peaceful; Napalm Death: Scum
TDP: How about now – can you tell us a few recent albums that have really inspired you?
Arnaud Rebotini: I really love the albums of iLiKETRAiNS, Grinderman, The Horrors, High on Fire, and Oren Ambarchi.
TDP: So; you’ve been called electro, techno, industrial, electroclash, EBM – what’s the strangest label you’ve been given? And how would you define your own sound?
Arnaud Rebotini: I think “industrial” always sound strange to me, for me industrial is bands like Nurse With Wound, and Current 93 … I think we are an indie band, and it’s quite difficult for me define my sound, but I think we are a nu-rave band.
TDP: You’ve come from a background in electronic club music, but there are big hints of other sounds in Black Strobe’s music. What made you decide to move toward putting together a ‘real’ band?
Arnaud Rebotini: I moved toward to putting together a real band because i just wanna do it this way. Nothing particular made me decide.
TDP: What audience are you aiming for – who is your target listener when you are writing songs for Black Strobe?
Arnaud Rebotini: Open-minded music lovers are my target - there’s no particular audience targeted with Burn Your Own Church.
TDP: If you could go back in time, meet yourself right at the start of your career in music, and pass on one lesson you’ve learned, what would it be?
Arnaud Rebotini: I would say to myself “try to be everywhere”!
TDP: What do you do when you need a break from music?
Arnaud Rebotini: Sleeping …
TDP: Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, and good luck with the tour. [Thanks also to Annette at Beggars for pulling the strings and arranging it.]
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Posted in Interviews |
Tags: Arnaud Rebotini, Black Strobe, Burn Your Own Church, industrial, nu-rave, rock
