Season of Mist Artist Kells Interview is up




  1. For those of us new to Kells tell us how you came to be?

Virg : Kells really became a band when Fabrice (ex-keyboarder and co-founder) and I met Patrick (Guitar) in 2004. We composed the whole « Gaia » album together in nearly 6 months and it was released in November 2005. To be able to tour, Guillaume (drums) and Jérémie (bass) joined the band. In 2007, The line-up changed considerably : Jérémie was replaced by Laurent, Guillaume by Jano, and Fabrice left, each one because Kells was growing too fast and their personal lives couldn’t fit anymore.
For more than a year, while touring in the meantime, we composed the « Lueurs » album, which was released on February 2009. And for the same reasons as Guillaume, Fabrice and Jérémie, Jano happened to leave us in 2010. Julien Nicolas (Drums) joined and we began touring all around Europe with Tarja Turunen, Epica, Leave’s eyes and Revamp, but never ending to write the songs that are part of « Anachromie », out on January 20, 2012.

2. I know this is your 2nd album for Seasons of Mist how did you come to
work with them?

Virg : Season of Mist were already willing to distribute « Gaia » in 2007, but for some reasons (« Gaia » was already distributed by Adipocere Records), it was not possible… So when I offered Season of Mist to distribute « Lueurs », they accepted immediately, without even listenning to it. Then, « Lueurs » sold quite well and that’s why they accepted to add us fully to their artist roster ! And we are really proud of this !

3. Your song to my ears on Anachromie is a mix of Gothic, and doom and
prog metal with some very eastern elements. It's like mixing In this
moment, The Gathering and Third and the mortal together. Has the moved
to this song or has it always been this complex?

Pat : Actually, we do not limit ourselves in the writing process, and this allows us to explore various musical horizons. In the previous albums, I kind of restrained myself when I composed because in Kells, we have always mixed the ideas of each members and we were not all in the same musical direction before Julien Nicolas joined. That’s why « Anachromie » is stronger, because we’re all tending to the same direction, and creating a kind of unity. But that’s just the beginning, because the more we work together, the more we create a style that is just us.

4. Is there a running theme on Anachromie?

Virg : In this album, I deal with many different themes: mirages (“Illusion d’une aire”), conflicting relations (“Se taire”, “Nuances”, “Addictions”, “L’autre rive”), alcoholism (“Quelque part”), psychological confinement (“Bleu”), my car accident (“L’asphalte”, “L’heure que le temps va figer”), pedophilia (“Le manège déchanté”), unsolved disappearances (“Emmurés”), loss of dearest ones (“Cristal”, “L’écho”) … But what makes the coherence of ANACHROMIE is that everything is written in a disjointed way, the space-time notion is broken, the reality mixes up with the dream, as in the surrealist genre... Globally, the lyrics are anachronistic. Also, I use many adjectives of color (ochre, silver, gold, amaranth, blue, white, black, saffron, amber, sapphire, sandy…), which gives the lyrics a very pictorial aspect. It is the mixture of these 2 concepts, the chromia and the anachronism, that gave birth to ANACHROMIE.

5. What is a live show like for Kells is it very theatrical or more just
more raw rock show?

Ju: Because we have some symphonic orchestrations, people often think that we will be theatrical on stage, like other gothic bands. The thing is that we do not consider ourselves gothic, but a mixture of rock and metal. We are really energetic on stage, jumping and headbanging around !
The songs are always thought for the live, for the dynamics, it is very important for us!

6. What's the bands thoughts on the modern digital age. Do you feel it
hurts artists with social media, and digital audio and websites
everywhere? Do you miss demo and tape trading with print zines?

Virg : Sometimes, downloads can be considered as a good advertising. People may hear from you on the internet and will be curious enough to download it illegally and have a listen. If they like what they hear, sometimes they will be fair enough to buy it to help the underground scene survive. In this case, it can be considered helpful and a means to discover bands. But most of the times, people that will like what they hear won’t buy, because why would they pay for something they can have for free ? So, it is also something killing the artists, because sad but true, no more art is possible if artists can’t afford it anymore… Playing music has a cost and it must be able to cover expanses otherwise they won’t produce anything more.

7. The artwork on Anachromie is very unique how does it play into the
ideas of the Album?

Pat: The cover artwork has been made by Blackthorns Design. We appreciated what he had made for other bands, this mixture of surrealism and modernity, that’s why we decided to work with him.
Virg: Anachronism and Achromia gave birth to "ANACHROMIE", so the frontcover and the booklet are an illustration of the lyrics… The girl with her bridal veil, with all her dreams, the tortured childhood, the nightmares, and the anachronism always there, with the hours of the clock, the tracklist in disorder … As in the surrealist universe, where nothing has any reasonable landmarks or points of reference…

8. Kells seem to mix modern sounds with old school metal. Do you find
your fan base very divide between metalheads, and nu metal and
experimental music fans?

Virg : It is true that our fans come from various musical horizons… Mostly Nu-Metal heads and Symphonic Metalheads… And we are glad our music reaches not only one kind of audience but gathers people of different tastes !

9. With there be any music videos coming from Kells for new album?

Lo: Actually, there’s already one that has been released on November ! The video exists
both in french and english, it is « Se taire » and « Furytale ». We are currently writing the
scenario for a second video extracted from « Anachromie » and the song is called
« Emmurés » (translation : immured).


10. The vocals a mix classically trained, death metal and melodic hard
rock all done by a powerful female voice. Do you feel that in 2012 that
gives the band a unique edge in extreme music scene?

Virg : I don’t think that my growls make Kells an extreme band because the clear voices are
too present, but yes, it gives the music a new agressive sound that fit Patrick’s guitar riffs
perfectly and highlight the soft passages.

11. Kells do have a slicker more commercial edge over all. Would you
ever want to move to a major label or is it much better on a larger
indie like S. O. M?

Virg : In France, Metal is not a music genre much appreciated. That’s why we do not interest major companies here. And indie record companies that sign metal bands, will rather sign an extreme metal band than Kells. So Season of Mist offered the perfect deal. They could promote us both in France and abroad. There were not many record companies ready to do that here in France, but THEY took the risk and I see no reasons why another record company should harvest the fruits now that they have done everything…

12. Thank you for the time any closing thoughts here?

KELLS: We wish we’ll be able to tour in the USA in the near future !
Thank you for your interest, time and support !  

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