Interviews: Xenotheory

On this new occasion, we had the opportunity to interview the Deathcore/Slam band Xenotheory from France. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you plan it or come out just like that?

Florent: A mix of both, in fact when we started the band we decided with Nicolas, our vocalist, to contextualize the themes we wanted to talk about in a popular science fiction universe. We talked about Blade Runner, and Warhammer 40k and finally settled on Alien, so the band's name is a contraction of Xenomorph and Theory, Xenotheory.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

Florent: For its cathartic side I think... To be honest, I don't listen to much deathcore. It's Adrien, the other guitarist, who's more of a connoisseur. I'm into kinda more "old-school" Death Metal and Progressive Metal, so we decided to mix our influences. The result is a Slamming Deathcore with sometimes polyrhythmic and oppressive ambient guitar leads.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Florent: Not exactly hahaha, in fact, I knew Adrien, who was in another band with Léo, who was in another band with Nicolas. Basically, xenotheory is a mix of members from three bands. We got to know each other better during the recording of the first album we'd written with Adrien a few weeks earlier.

4. Each band member's favorite band?

Florent: Oh man, that's a tough question. I'd say Hate Eternal, Meshuggah, and, in a completely different genre, an electronic music artist called Venetian Snares. I think Léo is a lot into Aurora and Frontierer these days. For Nicolas, I'm pretty sure he's into Filth, Aegaeon, and Disentomb. And Adrien's favorite bands are Extermination Dismemberment, Korpse, and Anorexia Nervosa.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Florent: Meshuggah is my biggest influence, I discovered them in 2008 with their album Obzen, and I liked it so much that it's influenced the way I've made music ever since.

6. Where was your last gig?

Florent: don't do live gigs that often, because we all have jobs with very restrictive schedules. The last time was a few months ago at a slam death festival in the middle of a forest and a menhir field.

7. Where would you like to act?

Florent: Everywhere we can!

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Leo: Aurora! No, but for real, we’re open to any feature as long as we’re on the same wavelength.

9. Whom not?

Leo: People that aren’t on the same wavelength as us!

10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

Leo: Oh yes, of course, we all did and still do. This a very normal reaction of the body and that means it’s working well! My main tip is (and it works on so many other things than playing gigs in front of people): Do it scared, but do it anyway. There’s no backing out from it, of course, the other main thing is to play your set in front of your mirror, your grandma, your friends, and of course your bandmates. Play it until it becomes second nature to you. Then when you get on stage, you’ll be scared. But fuck it, do it scared anyway, and remember to enjoy it too! Because 9 times out of 10, people won’t notice your small fuckups. (And just don’t make a face when you do one haha)

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

Leo: The bands that got me into metal music are the ones that inspired me the most personally! That would be Deep Purple and Led Zep. Then at a later date, it might be Meshuggah, The Algorithm, Waveshaper, and Deluge.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

Leo: Nothing too crazy for now, my resistance to weirdness is very high haha

13. What do you think of your fans? 

Leo: Our fans are the best fans we could ever think to have for a small band like us. We see all of the comments of people on Reddit who recommend our band, the shares on Fb, and the stories on Instagram. Thank you ‹3

14. What do you think of our site?

Leo: It is very well done, the UX is very intuitive and you share the good stuff! Thank you for the great opportunity to appear on it too.

15. Something to add?

Leo: Metal is good, but Funk is too! Don’t forget to venture into other music genres too, it helps to broaden your music mind.