Taufpatin interview

●     Hi! La Taufpatin is supposedly an 18th-century witch from Alsace who was eventually burned at the stake, only to return centuries later with an album to settle an old score. Why did this particular figure deserve to be resurrected?

I don’t really know why I was brought back to life. But I’m very glad someone ever performed a ritual for me to be back. I’m now there and very happy to be! But now I’m resurrected and will use my time on Earth first to fulfill my vengeance, second, I will use my time on Earth to harm human beings. Third, I will make music because it’s a good way to perform both first tasks.

●     The character is described as “perfectly and absolutely unbearable”. That's quite different from the usual romanticized image of the witch as some mysterious, misunderstood figure. Was it important to make La Taufpatin genuinely mean, petty and unpleasant?

Romanticism has made the witch a sister who is obsessed with wisdom, who masters plants and potions and who can heal, but I can tell you the truth. I’m obsessed with my vengeance and the harming of all beings, and the only plants and potions I master are the deadly ones. I’m not here to heal stupid old people or whoever touched by a disease? Let them die. In fact, the Romanticized version of the witch describes a “good fairy”. I absolutely despise them for being so nice and gentle with everyone.

●     Her entire revenge apparently begins because she wasn't invited to a fairy party. That's wonderfully ridiculous. Why make the origin of her vengeance something so small and childish rather than some grand supernatural injustice?

For us magic people, the parties are very important. The casus belli is not ridiculous in every point. Parties are a way to make network, to meet other fairies, to congratulate and celebrate the forces of the universe. Grand Supernatural Injustices are often covered and repaired only with small changes in the course of events. This SUper-big injustice of me being cancelled out of the Party needed an accordingly super-great vengeance. Think! I had prepared a dress just for it! I was getting to be the most beautiful of all fairies and witches! I am the most beautiful, in fact! But i nearly had the chance to prove it. And now it’s all gone, it’s gone. My beautiful dress is waiting in the wardrobe, covered in chocolate, and i got a bit fatter i cannot put it anymore.

●     She eats an entire pot of chocolate, grabs her broom and hat, and decides to ruin the fairies' lives. At what point did the project stop being merely folklore-inspired and become deliberately comic?

First i have the right to like chocolate! Second, nothing is comic in the tragic course of these events. It’s not folklore-inspired. It’s reality. And also it’s not comic, it’s just tragic. I had to avenge myself.

●     There's a strange contrast between the historical reality of witch trials and the mischievous fantasy presented here. How conscious were you of that contrast? Does the album treat the old folklore seriously, playfully, or somewhere in between?

What you call folklore is just history for me because I had the chance in the past to witness and even be a part of it. As for witch trials, I could not compare my story to that of poor and sometimes non-witch women trialed by protestant despots in 18th century Holland and Germany.

●     The story comes specifically from East France / Alsace, rather than from the more familiar Germanic or Scandinavian witch mythology that gets recycled so often in metal. What makes Alsatian folklore particularly interesting to you?

Oh, I don’t know. I was born in Alsace but I travelled by broom in many lands. There is nothing especially in Alsacian folklore that appeals me. I could only tell you cranes is a nuisance when it comes to block a chimney. In those crane-nests regions, I cannot enter the chimneys to perform my spells on poor people.

●     How much of La Taufpatin is based on an actual piece of regional folklore, and how much have you invented around the original character?

Taufpatin is a common Germanic word to name a Godmother. It’s also me, portrayed many times in some children books of Rapunzel or The Sleeping Beauty. Many of those children books were written to get the little blond ones warned about my mean nature. By chance, most children forget about their childhood when they grow up and become easy targets for my mean spells and manipulations.

●     You describe the album as telling the whole story of La Taufpatin's revenge. Did you approach the record almost like writing a theatrical play, with each song functioning as another scene in her story?

You’re right. My story unfolded like a play and by chance I could adapt it respectfully of the truth and also in a way that the album can be easily apprehended. I used the main events of this tragic story like chapters and everything went very well writing the music and lyrics.

●     Since the character is so visually strong - witch, broom, potions, fairies, fire, revenge - how closely were the music and visual presentation developed together? Did the character exist before the music, or did the music create her?

Oh, I existed long before the music. In fact, I existed in the seeds of the Devil even before the Earth, the Sun and the Moon existed.

I wrote the music only a few months ago. This is nothing for someone like me.

●     Antiq talks a lot about creating music through sound, image, video and attitude as one coherent concept. With Taufpatin, that approach seems particularly appropriate. How far does the project extend beyond the album itself? Is La Taufpatin supposed to exist as a character outside the music?

Oh, you can find me on instagram and on every nice sabbath or convent where are nice people and witches. Of course I exist outside the music!

●     The label jokingly claims it was “forced” to release the album because La Taufpatin took control of its channels and cast spells on everyone. At what point did the joke become part of the actual identity of the release?

I had a first contact very mean with Antiq, them making fun of me because I had been bad with the good fairies. But little by little the attention grew between us, and we found points of convergence. Now they are almost convinced to release my album; I have forced the releases on their website and cast a certain number of spells to ensure my release to take place in this great label. Despite them being utter serious persons, I like their roster of musical identities. Véhémence already talked about witches (La Sorcière du Bois Lunerive), Passéisme has a nice approach to romanticism which I like, Grylle makes music that is just cool, also i like the themes very medieval, reminds me of my mother who lived in the XVth century.

●     There is something refreshing about having a supernatural character whose motivation isn't world domination, Satanism or cosmic destruction, but essentially “you didn't invite me, so now I'm going to fuck with everyone”. Do you think petty human emotions actually make folklore more interesting than grand supernatural evil?

Oh, I do think my small emotions as a witch make the whole point of the album. And yes it’s far more interesting because it’s actually close to what people know. Do they know Satan? Do they know evil? Do they even dream of world domination (like I allow myself to do)?

No; most people are normal people. They know what I had to face: being persona-non-grata to a great party where I would have been the prettiest!

●     After spending an entire album helping La Taufpatin tell her side of the story, do you actually believe she was unfairly excluded from that fairy party - or do the fairies perhaps have a very good reason for not inviting her?

Of course it was completely unfair. The album is here to precisely explain this.