Inner Light from France is a really good and hard band which was so nice that they answered a lot of questions about the group. June-2023

‌Please tell me a little history of Inner Light, how you met and why you did start to play together and when ?  

-It’s a quite short story. No epic tales behind the band creation! Inner light is born from the ashes of a former project (Thorn in Flesh) in which Marine (vocals), Tristan (Guitar) and Mathieu (Bass) were members. Sadly the global Covid crisis put an end to the project but the trio still wanted to play together so they started a new one. They put offers in order to find the missing members. Nicolas (guitar) contacted us and after some trials it became a member aswell. Finding a drummer is sometime very hard but we were lucky enough on this one. Max (Drum) and Nicolas are friends from a very long time and after a quick call Max was in. 

Marine, Tristan, and Mathieu started to compose in summer 2021. Finding a second guitarist took some times, Nicolas joined in November 2021. At this time the band had a drummer (Manu) but he left quickly finding no really interest in the project. It was in early 2022. Max joined the band in June 2022 with the challenge to be ready for the first band performance on November 2022. The line up is now steady with the will to keep going as a team.

Have it been the same members all the time, or have it been many lineup changes? Earlier bands?  Never any thoughts in being more members? 

-Except from the drummer replacement and a few one session guitarists who made some trials in mid 2021, we can say that the current line up is there from the beginning (first EP) and is the official one.

Concerning adding more musicians… well, in order to play the sound that please us there is no need for more members, so this is not a concern for the band right now. But, if in the future the will to evolve and play something different appears and this evolution would require more instruments, then it would not be an issue to add more members.

Each members had experience with former bands, for exemple Marine played with Tränenzeit (horror metal), My own Fear (Trash/death) and Thorn in Flesh. Tristan had many former serious project such as Sanghelis, Thorn in flesh just to mention a few. Mathieu played in Thorn in Flesh as mentioned above. Nicolas and Maxime have had two bands in which they played together but it seems they are cursed because none of those bands were able to produce anything or play live. Those formations are disband nowaday and we hope that the curse attached to those two members will not contaminate Inner Light XD!

Inner Light  is the name, where did it came from and you wasn´t afraid that some other group would be named so? What do you mean with that name? 

-Finding the name was not on the top priorities until the line up was completed. It appears that every members wanted something that could bring radiance in their lives by avoiding all the “dark something” or “lethal shadows of infinite darkness bringing the apocalypse of doom” like. The concept of light became obvious following this path, and after some tries, Inner light pleased everyone between several other band name propositions. It’s a generic name that everyone could identify themselves and put the meaning they want. It’s obvious that the signification is not the same for each members or each person, but globally it referred to the forces in each human being that push them to still keep going in life despite everything that is thrown to their face. 

You sent me the 5-track single, are you satisfied with it and is this your only release? 

-We are totally satisfied with those tracks it means a lot for each band members. It symbolizes the accomplishment of the formation that has finally managed to emerge and remain stable. It’s a collective victory. Moreover, this EP carry the DNA of what we want our metal to be. It’s a solid basis on which one we can refer to improve ourselves in the future. The energy and the global groove in this EP is what please us and what we want to be us for the incoming years.

Until this day the EP “Inner light” is the only release form the band. But we plan to release a new one at the end of this year.

Is it important to give out the record as physical releases do you think? Would it feel like you have released a record if you only release it digital? 

-It’s a bit old fashioned but yes a physical record does matter for us. Especially for our two noobies (Nicolas and Max) who never participated to record session before this project. They were like children on a Christmas evening when they got their own one! It would have been totally fine to keep it digital but in many years from here in the future we want to be able to remember this project even if digital platform doesn’t exist anymore. When everyone will be old we want to be able to remember all those good memories with just one look at the records neatly stored in the cupboard in the middle of the living room. It’s an embodyment of who we are right now and it means a lot. 

Do you play any covers when you play live? If you do, which then? 

-No covers live. It’s part of our philosophy and it was a deal from the beginning. If we go on stage it’s for the Inner light vibes. There is a will to share our sound and energy live. Moreover it’s not that easy to find a cover that would please everyone considering the range of what each member prefer in the Metal genre. We keep it simple with our compositions only.

Please tell me a little about what your songs are about? 

-We tried to focus on the dark side that reside in everyone and make an opposition with the importance of keeping hope and never let the “inner light” totally disappear. The song Inner light is a good illustration and have a very personal meaning for Marine for instance. Been diagnosed with a disease that will have an impact forever in her life. Thinking about thinking sinking and forfeit in life…., and finally be able to find the strength to fight and keeping the will to carry one despite everything. At this point this project and record can be view a bit as a therapy. There will be songs that will emphasis the dark side, but there will always be songs that will compensate and state the need to keep going on in life. Those thought drives us right now.

Is it important to get out your opinions in your music, or do you only sing about trivial things? Which is your most political song or shouldn´t you put politics into music? 

-Every form of art is political. For instance Monsters talk about the victim of mass shooting. This kind of events doesn’t occur in France yet, but still we are able to have empathy for casualties. Messiah point out the danger of sectarism, Scars on Earth talk about environment issues, but still, the position of each members is to be able to deplore things without denouncing. Indeed, we don’t think that our morale prevails on others but still we want to be able to talk about flaws when we see them. At the end of the day, songs theme are dictated by the mood of the moment depending of the inspiration.

Do you think that your lyrics can have effect on other people who listens to them…any example on it? Have you changed anyones mind?  

-Everyone can appropriate for themselves songs like “Inner Light” or “Inside my Veins” that talk about more generic aspect and put their own feelings. At the moment noone made feedbacks on the lyrics so it’s quite hard to tell. Most of the public is french maybe there will be more feedbacks on this topic if the songs cross the borders.

How is it to play this sort of music in France and which type of bands are you having concerts with? Which is the most peculiar band you have been playing together with? 

-Despite the Hellfest wich is a massive event each year in France, the metal genre is not popular in this country. Culturally France is more about ditty and in the last decades Rap/R’n’B. Mainstream media keep stigmatize metal with all the cliché wich doesn’t help at all. Still there is an important fanbase with a lot of gigs, concert and local festivals each year but there is no professional scene.

We only participated to 3 concerts till now and we had the chance to play each time with a mix of several bands bringing their own flavour to each gigs. It was very wild ranging from crossover to blak metal to heavy, metalcore or trash.

We didn’t meet yet a band who would deserve to be call “peculiar”.

Do you have any football team that you support? (I support Arsenal and a Swedish team which is called GAIS) 

-Marine is a huge sports fan. Like… every sport! Considering football, she follows each results of the French Championship and the Champion’s League.

Tristan…well Tristan don’t know what a muscle is so let’s not talk about sports with him.

Mathieu prefer Rugby over Football especially in this era were the French rugby team perform so well.

Maxime has his heart beating for Basket ball and Nicolas follows the results of the Rouen Ice Hockey team. (More a Scandinavian sports by the way).

How would you describe your music in three words for people that haven´t heard you? Say it in three words? 

-Heavy, Melodic, and Modern

I like beer and also make beer.. If Inner Light would do a beer , what would it be named and which sort of beer would it be? Or maybe you´re straightedge?;-) 

-It seems we have a common passion! We do like beers (except Marine who is straight). This question has sparked a huge debat between us. Some would say a double IPA (8-10°) because of the fresh and strong aspect, but others wanted to say more like a Neipa: Strong, fruity and with a little of bitterness!

And how is it to live in France now? Racists, the cost of living, and what about peoples reaction to the Ukraine-war?  

-France is not the worst place on earth obviously depending in which social class you were born of course. Obviously, the increasing cost of life is a weight on everyone making it harder for everyone. The economic situation tend to make everyone more nervous and could participate to increasing resentments and radicalizing a bit the positions.

Concerning the Russia/Ukraine war well it’s a bit sad to see in 2023 country still trying to annex others, it gives the feeling of a regression for the European continent. Fortunately, today institutions protect most of the European countries and make it possible to curb the conflict.

Which is your own favorite song among your own songs? And which song is the people choice? 

-Each member has it’s favourite song, exemple: Max Messiah, Mat et ,Marine Inside my veins, Tristan don’t give a shit, Nicolas Inner light.

From what people shared to us, it seems that Monsters and Inside my veins are the more popular tracks.

What´s the biggest difference when you plays live nowadays if you compare when you first started to play in a band? 

-Pretty hard to answer with only 3 concerts in our pocket but from the feedback we had it seems we have  succeed in few month to improve our scenic prestation, the coordination and overall a better scene management.

And have your opinion about punk changed through the years? What do punk mean to you, only a musicstyle or a lifestyle? 

-Punk as it was in its roots in the 70’s have disappeared from the french background. Note that it was never really a thing in this country. It is hard to imagine this kind of music without the lifestyle associated. It’s spirit was born from a protest stance and it seems that it’s legacy still lives on in the metal vein. You can often recognize a metal head just at the first look when you meet one ^^. To sum up in one word punk = protest…. From a certain point of view in history French could have been some of the biggest punks with the french revolution!

You do your song in english, never in french? 

-Indeed we do write in English. We did it naturally and think that’s it allow to touch most people since it’s the most common language over the world.

Is it easier to do songs in english? 

-Yes. English is naturally a more singing language than french with more intonation in the way of pronouncing words. It allows to say more ideas in fewer words wich is an advantage for our songs format. Moreover, the extreme vocalization don’t make French really understable.  If English is more of a singing language, French is more suitable for poetry with all it’s nuances, synonyms, and figures of speech.  Finally, we have listen to so much songs in English over the year in this music style that it feels more powerful and natural.

What´s your biggest live gig you have done this far? The biggest band you have played with? 

-Till now we only have performed small gigs in local pubs. We hope it will change in the near future.

What do you know about Sweden? What is typical Swedish? And what is typical french? 

-Obviously when you mention Sweden the first thing coming in mind is IKEA. Making people pay for building their own furniture was the big revolution of this era ^^.

From a more tasty point of view we are aware of the swedish people hability to eat rotten fish. No judgement on that, french gastronomy is full of weird stuff if you take time to observe it from an external point of view.

Normandie and Sweden have a common history with some viking legagy (Normandie meaning literally « Country of the Northman” referring to the Scandinavians who found their path to the more southern country.

Last but not least, Sweden has a huge metal legagy which is the concern of this interview.

It’s a bit hard to go beyond the cliché because none of us have been to Sweden yet.

French specialties revolve vastly around food with the “baguette”, cheese, wine, frog legs, snails etc…. It seems that public protestation against government is one of our national sports that everyone wish they had too.

Have you ever been here? Any good bands from Sweden that you like? 

-As mention above none of us traveled to Sweden yet… we are waiting for the invitation !!!! ^^. Still Sweden gave some wonderful bands to the world just to mention a few : In Flames, Arch Enemy/ Carcass, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, Amon Amarth, Dissection, Ghost etc….

Your audience when you play live, which type of people comes, age? 

-We managed to mix a lot of heterogeneous population man/woman rather between 25-50 years old.

What´s the best of playing live? 

-The thrill a few second before the first note. This tension that you can feel in the air between each members. Then the deliverance when the first note blast out from the amps. Then it’s all sharing, and let off the steam. It represents the culmination for the band. If we take time to rehearsal, it’s in order to enjoy each second in live!

Please tell me a funny thing which have happened during a livegig with your band? 

-Well on the second gig we played, (it was a competition in which the winner would won the right to play in a local festival) Tristan forgot to switch on his wireless cable. We played like half a minute with the global feeling something went wrong…. (no leads) Then he realized… the organization allowed us to restart.

On the last one Maxime made a mistake and set up the metronome 10 bpm higher on a new song we wanted to test live…. It was sweaty XD. Sooooo for now each live we had to fight against ourselves to not making something stupid wich is a bit challenging ^^.

Is there any good bands in France today? New bands which is good?  

-Well, our heart melt for Primal age, Praïm faya and Aephanemer.

Which is the record that you always must have in the tourbus? 

-If we had a tourbus we certainly would always take Crossroad from Bon Jovi with us everywhere. It’s very hard to explain but it seems the energy of this record is timeless at least for us.

Do you buy much records, or is it only Spotify and those type of things to listen to music? Is there any good record shop in your hometown? 

-It depends of each member. Marine is a compulsive collector she will take all the merch available from the bands she likes. (album, collectors, vinyl, bootleg etc…)

Tristan is in the same orientation.

Mathieu is very old fashion and will dig for the vinyl format of the album he enjoyed.

As mentioned earlier we are attached to the physical aspect of the music. Maybe it’s an emotional thing, can’t really say.

Which was your first record, the latest you bought and the most expensive you have bought? 

-First record:

Mathieu: Painkiller Judas Priest

Tristan: Smash Offspring

Marine:Hybrid Theory Linkin Park

Maxime: Queen the Greatest hits I & II !

Nicolas: Meteora Linkin Park

The latest:

Mathieu: Lux Aetherna

Tristan: Hysteria Def lepard Vinyl

Marine: Leather terror de Carpenter Brut

Maxime: Fleshgod Apocalypse : Labyrinth

Nicolas: Foregone In Flames.

The award for the most expensive record goes to Marine with “Through the ashes” from Machine Head first press LP, a very rare one.

Do you care about reviews? Which is the most peculiar you ever had, with this band or any other band you have been to? 

-Obviously at the beginning of the group having encouraging reviews is a plus, and it would be a lie if we say we were not a bit nervous. But overall, no matter the verdict, it will not change the orientation that we have taken nor what we have decided to play. Still, review is a wonderful way of taking measure of the feelings of the seasoned public.

Nothing really peculiar in the reviews.

Buuuuut, this interview could won the award for the most peculiar one! Asking what would be our beer if we had to do one and then switching on the Ukrainian war was kind of unexpected ^^!

If you could choose five bands from the past and the history and nowadays and both dead and living bands to have a concert together with your band. Which five have you been chosen? 

-Wow 5 bands is already a festival ^^

 Tristan = Deftones

Mathieu: Behemoth/ Aerosmith

Maxime: Children of Bodom, Aeternam and SOAD

Marine: Machine Head/ Heaven Shall Burn

Nicolas: Linkin park/In Flames

It’s way more than 5 sorry!

And if you been paid for do a cover-record with four songs,which four songs have you done then? 

-“Davidian” from Machine head (we are forced you know Marine is kind of the biggest Machine head fan in the world).

“You give love a bad name” Bon Jovi because…. Crossroad.

“Astronomy” cover from Metallica …. Which would be a cover of a cover…

And we couldn’t agree on the fourth one…. Explaining why we don’t play covers live!!!

Futureplans for the band? And for yourself? 

-The next big step is to release our second EP at the end of the year! Then keep playing live to improve ourselves. We have already several concerts planed in November and December. The end of 2023 gonna be exciting for us.

Wisdomword? 

-A mix between:

Keep hope and believe in yourselves/ your dreams.

Everything is a matter of perspective, there is always a little inner light… just follow it.

Anything more to add to the interview? 

-Well we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for giving us the opportunity to introduce ourselves and for giving us a bit of visibility. It was really interesting to answer all this questions which cover a wide range of subjects and we hope to renew the experience after the release of the second EP !

Thanks a lot!