Good day BULLET RIDE! How are you guys doing these days?
- Manu (Vocals) : we’re going well, but busy as we are preparing the release of our 1st album At the Gates of Hell.
First of all, please introduce your band and band members to our readers. I’d like to know about the formation of the band. How did you guys meet and all? Also, is there any special story behind the band title?
- Stéphane (Bass) : Bullet Ride was formed in 2014 as a cover band, and the line up changed until 2016. It is now composed of Philippe and Alexandre on guitars, Manu on vocals, Thibaut on drums and me on bass .
From that moment we started to make our own songs.
The band name was chosen at the creation of the band. All the members proposed 5 band names and after a fiery deliberation, the name “Bullet Ride” was selected. This name sounds great and is also a good In Flames’s song.
I expect a long reply for this one. Can you please tell us about the concept and lyrical themes of all your previous releases?
- Manu : At the Gates of Hell gets its substance at the edge of insanity.
It deals with the darkest feelings we experience and also the questions about Death that disturb us.
This album is clearly related to what we live now, all this mess, all this chaos.
What we live inside us is appearing outside of us, in the world.Let me explain this point with the lyrics of one of our songs : Weather the Storm.
I wrote this song when I had to manage difficult relationships with my family. I experienced that fear makes people act violently.
As people don’t know themselves, they identify with their ego and their mind. The result is that they want to be right, to be the better, to do a lot of things they don’t need.
When you are in front of aggressive people who have lost their link with their own humanity, you can only wait… weather the storm... All these people agitate themselves in all directions without any true reason, just to avoid “being”.
If I take another example, the song At the Gates of Hell deals with the hell we create in our own life, when we’ve lost someone. This experience is one of the hardest in life. Knowing that we all have a creative power, we add suffering to our pain.
This album At the Gates of Hell is quite dark. But would we be able to see the light without darkness ?
Is there any special reason for choosing your music conception?
- Stéphane : There was no special reason, we composed music as we liked it.
How do you guys manage to create music at all? What challenges do you face while writing and recording an album?
- Stéphane : Making this album was a long process. Making music is not that hard, but making good songs is, so we hope we succeeded.
The basis of a song was provided by me, Manu, and Alexandre, depending on the song. And finally, we finished the composition all together in rehearsal. That's how we worked for this album and it worked pretty well.
At The Gates Of Hell will be released early next year. How was the experience working in the studio? Any funny or even sad happenings during the studio work?
- Stéphane : For the recording, we did it ourselves in our home-studios, except drums which were performed in the studio. The problem with recording "at home" is that there is always a reason to postpone recording until later!
And the other big problem is that Alexandre is always ready to decide for changes in the parts of guitars, and therefore of bass at any time ! Even when you think it's over : "Wouldn’t it be better with E here?
And here I would put a D #", and There we go, we take out our instruments, we plug everything and we record again ! Philippe (Guitar) and I lived in terror until the masters were sent to the label ! :)
You guys are still underground/underrated, although your music has been appreciated by the critics worldwide. What, according to you, is the reason behind it?
- Stéphane : It's the beginning of the promotion, the whole world has not listened to our music yet.
But, they will discover the truth when they all hear "A the gates of hell", we hope!
Can you throw some light on your past as musicians?
- Stéphane : Manu has played in several bands in the recent years, notably "Methadol" with whom she recorded 2 albums, Thibaut played with "Otargos", he took part in the making of the albums Ten-Eyed Nemesis and Kinetic Zero, he currently plays guitar in another French group: "After the last Circle".
Alexandre has played in several local bands and is currently a singer in "Nemedian Chronicles". For Philippe, Bullet Ride is his first band. As for me, I have played in several local bands and recently in a French Black Metal band, AN.TH.LI.SH.IN.DA, whose guitarist is making our first video clip.
Tell us about your favorite bands, from whom you gain inspiration. Are you having any favorite artist/band that has emerged from metal/rock soil?
- Stéphane : Many bands inspire us, we all listen to a lot of kinds of metal, Heavy, Thrash, Death, Black, Power, etc... It's also the reason why there are clean vocals and sometimes extreme vocals on this album, the other reason is that Manu can do it.
But I think the bands that inspired us for this album are probably bands like Helloween, Kreator, Megadeth, Arch Enemy, Iron Maiden.
Bands that have emerged, for me, these last years and that I found interesting are Unleash The Archers, Avatar, Aphanemer, Ghost, Kobra and the Lotus, etc...
How is the metal scene going in your country?
- Stéphane : In France the metal scene is going well, everybody knows Gojira, but there are many interesting bands in many styles, the scene is alive, there are also more and more little festivals.
But the metal we practice is not so popular. Most bands are more brutal (death, black, etc..) or more "traditional", Germany would probably be a better place for our music !
Tell us, if you have played abroad.
- Stéphane : Not for the moment, but maybe in the future, we hope.
Are you working on any music videos, might it be videoclip or lyric video?
- Stéphane : The lyric video of our first single “World on fire” is already available on Youtube.
For our second single, we are now recording a video clip, as I said above. It's an interesting experience, even if it's easier for us to make music than to perform as actors :).
There will probably be a third single with another lyric video.
Rapid-fire section. Just for fun. So just chill, and just type the first thought that comes to your mind when you hear:
* Religion – METAL !
* Death – Life
* USA – Megadeth (actually I thought about Metallica, but Megadeth is better for me :) )
* Drugs – Rock n’ roll
* Bullet Ride – I've heard that before, but where?
Thanks a lot for your time! It’s really nice to know more about you. Would you like to say anything to your fans and our readers?
- Manu : thank you for reading us and listening to our 1st single World On Fire. We hope that you enjoy our music!
