Parade/Astral Underground Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your musical projects for those that have never heard you before?

I am the main composer behind the project "parade" and one of the musician of the band "astral underground". Actually Astral Underground has splitted... my mate decided to stop playing black metal for some personal reasons. 

2.How would you describe the musical sound of your projects and how they differ from each other?

Parade remains the mirror of my own views in music; it's not only black metal in essence although the demo "vieilles pierres" is clearly oriented in this way. The next demos, on which i'm currently working will focus on drone, ambient & ethnic elements.

Astral Underground was the result of my encounter with a very special guy, with a very dark and depressive mood. As a result, the music we used to play depicted our own personal problems and mental illnesses.

3.How would you describe the song lyrics you write for your different projects?

The lyrics behind parade' "vieilles pierres" were all about surrealistic poetry.. I was mostly inspired by Maya Deren' Filmography, Lautreamont' "les Chants de Maldoror", and Nerval' "Sylvie". The last track of the demo was sampled from my favorite film "Persona" from I. Bergman.

Astral Underground lyrics are all about mental illness.

All of them are in French.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the names Parade and Astral Underground?

Astral Underground sounded to me very clever in as much as we tried to level up our muddy, dirty, impure... underground minds toward purer, astral levels of sensations. The association of both term was somekind of an oxymoron.

Parade was chosen as my own band name because it sounded to me enough universal. A parade is something in which everything may occur.. just like in my music.. 

5.On both projects you worked solo but managed to make each band sound different, do you feel the music would of not been the way you wanted it if you worked with a full band?

As i've written above, astral underground is the fruit of two guys. Now that it has clearly ended, i think i could not manage to find out someone else to play this music... actually i don't want to find any, it's like the chapter of a book...

For Parade, i would be very interested to find musicians to play live, in particular a drummer. however, the way it's composed make it really unattractive for skilled musicians.. so i guess the line up will remain the same until i manage to compose death metal.

6.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or received any interest?

Not in particular.. what for? everything is possible just with the www now.

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?

Unfortunately i really don't know... both demos were only published on a limited number of some black metal blogs and i never really received any feedback.

8.Do you also have any other musical projects that you are involved with?

No

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

Astral Underground is dead and will remains dead

Parade will evolves toward more ambient music, but with still some influences of black metal.. the mood will explores twin peaks mythology and X-files ufo sighting stuff!

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

My music is deeply inspired by Burzum' "Filosofem" and "DSEV", Darkspace I, II and III, and bathory.

Nowadays, i'm a lot into krautrock bands, brian eno, mount eerie' Phil Elverum and in sun ra' cosmology.

11.How would you describe your views on Occultism?

No opinions.. i've a phD in physical chemistry so you can guess i'm too much cartesian for that.

12.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Science, Astronomy (and not "logy"), Books, painting etc...

13.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview? 

maximum volume yields maximum results

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Parade/3540298641

Parade/Vieilles Pierres/2009 Demo Review

  Parade  are a  1  man  band  from  France  that  plays  a  very atmospheric  and  ambient form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2009  demo  "Vieilles  Pierres".

  "Intro  (dans  sa  demeure  de  r'lyeh  la  Morte)"  starts  off  with  an  acoustic  guitar  piece  which  utilizes  both  finger  picking  and  full  chords  to  set  up  as  an  introduction  to  the  demo.

  "Ritual  In  Transfigured  Times  (Mayan  Deren)"  starts  off  a  slow  black  metal  riff  and  synths  before  going  into  the  grim,  depressive  screams  and  drum  programming  while  also  keeping  the  synth  and  guitars  and  as  the  song  moves  on  the  fast  and  primitive  parts  start  kicking  in  while  retaining  the  ambient  elements  as  well  as  switching  back  and  forth  between  the  fast  and  slow  parts,  and  close  to  the  6  minute  mark  the  guitars  and  vocals  vanish  for  awhile  with  the  song  focusing  on  ambience  for  a  minute  before  going  back  to  the  heavier  elements  which  also  close  the  song.

  "l'  acte  Clscologiaque"  starts  off  with  a  slow  and  melodic  black  metal  riff  along  with  some  drum  programming  with  the  riffing  using  some  variety  and  there  are  no  vocals  with  the  music  being  all  instrumental.

  "Vieilles  Pierres"  starts  off  with  some  slow  depressive  black  metal  riffs  being  combined  with  drum  programming  and  acoustic  guitars  which  utilize  full  chords  before  going  into  a  more  mid  paced  direction  along  with  some  grim  vocals  in  the  background  which  leads  to  blast  beats,  faster,  primitive  guitars  and  suicidal  screams  which  also  leads  to  the  switch  back  and  forth  between  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast.

  "Outro"  is  mostly  spoken  word  samples  and  avant  garde  sounds  as  well  as  some  acoustic  guitars  which  also  closes  the  demo.    

  Song  lyrics  are  written  in  French  and  cover  Surrealism,  Darkness  and  Nightmares,  while  the  production  has  a  very  dark,  raw  and  primitive  sound  with  the  bass  playing  being  mixed  down  low  in  the  mix.

    In  my  opinion  Parade  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  ambient,  atmospheric  and  depressive  black  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  project  and  it  is  available  here, http://www.mediafire.com/download/1y21bhl1cb4zash/Parade_-_Vieilles_pierres.zip.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Ritual  In  Transfigured  Times  (Mayan  Deren)"  and  "Vieilles  Pierres".  RECOMMENDED.