You can find an audio version of it on Souncloud, if you understand french, right here.

David: Before we start, I must say that I loved the show. Best headbanging of the night. In one word, awesome.

Marie: Thanks

David: You now got quite a few concert behind you, still nervous before going on stage?

Marie: More an adrenaline rush, the typical stress, but nothing paralysing or too terrible. Especially when you sing for Whyzdom, everything is ready, it’s royal. No other band does it like that.

I come and sing, that’s really great, the others do all the works, everything is preset. I just have to be there and sing, it does reduce the stress a lot.

But as result, it’s Vynce who get to have everything. *giggles*

Vynce: I love that question, nobody ever asked it and that’s great, because like that I’ll be able to talk about me. 

The stress always start one hour before being at the concert, because it’s at that moment that I start to imagine all the connection and the tech (Vynce is the one doing it at every concert) and all the possible problems. I start thinking about how will be the stage, what will I be able to connect, what ridiculous place will the headliner left us… so yeah, the stress start one hour before even being there.

After that, we try to install everything in the “festival” configuration, that means no balance. Not everyone knows that before a gig, a band does 3 hours of balance. So often people will say “The bands before were not as good.” because this band only came and play. So this 15/20 minutes are like a little apocalypse to me, I’m pressured by the tech of the venue whom tell me “You can’t connect that here… this cable is too short…”, there’s a stress that I live with a lot of difficulty.

Tonight’s example, we had to play with stage effect, fire, bubbles, smoke… everything was there, but when we started to install it, it was horrible, so I said to Lionel (Bertrand, sound engineer) “We’ll not be able to do it, get the fire out, we don’t have time.” 

So we have this stress, mostly our engineer, there’s lots of adrenaline and I have some difficulty to be serene when I play the first notes.

*Arrival of Marc Ruhlmann, keyboardist*

Marc: I have a question too, more Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera ?

Vynce: Christina for me

David: Why ?

Vynce: I don’t know… Britney, her side little blonde with no brain disturb me.

Marie: Britney has some balls, because she shaved her head, so for me, it’s the best. It gives her a little Punk side.

David: You have had a few singers now, (Marie is the 5th official one) do you think Marie is The One?

Vynce: Yes, completely.

I’ll answer that by telling the story of one our first recording session in my studio. So we were in the studio, recording some parts, and at one point, I looked at Marie and asked her “Where were you hiding all this year?”

Do you remember?

Marie: Yes, absolutely.

Vynce: So yeah, that’s it. She’s the one.

David: So Marie, how is it going? Being new, have to appropriate the songs…

Marie: I was surprised that Whyzdom thought about me, I would never have thought to go from myself. I thought making the trial with them was a big challenge and at the same time a great opportunity. So I went all in and I’m still am. The first meeting with the band went really well and since then we go through the dates and it’s a real work.

Vynce: It’s a job, it fills a lifetime.

Marc: It also happens very quickly.

Marie: The first gigs I had to incorporate the songs, but Whyzdom’s songs can’t be sung like that, I mean that they must be digested, not only sung, there’s a dimension…

Marc: Reappropriated?

Marie: No… a dimension where you have to put your guts in it, otherwise Whyzdom don’t works. It’s written with a lot of emotion and you have to recreate it on stage. For that, you must have digested it and have the technique. And it’s really great, because they asked me to do some staging and that’s a part which is transformed/improved with time, it’s a really interesting part.

David: Blind? was released a few month ago now (October 2012), how did it go?

Vynce: That went very well, better than the previous one, the label is a bit bigger and made ​​more effort, we are really happy with the fans’ welcome who have generally found that it was a better album.

The only problem for some is that it’s a more complex album, so you have to immerge yourself a little more, make an effort to go in and let yourselves go. Because it is very dense, a lot of thing happens all the time, especially in the orchestral level. Really, there’s a big orchestral work on the harmonies and we are very glad it was greeted like that. For example, the song “Cathedral Of The Damned” is the longest and contains contemporary complexity in the bridge, there are harmonies we hear nowhere else in the metal, it’s really contemporary music and it works.

I was a little afraid that the public could take off and yet when asked their favorite, this is the one, so it encourages us to tell ourselves to try to make worked music, out of the ordinary and bringing our footprint, so it went really well.

And we realize that the public comes to the concerts even with the change of singer. Each time some lost interest in the band. And it’s fun, we noted that during the concert at the Bastille (Paris, France), the audience has changed. Some who had an interest in the singer left, but also a new audience that we were not used to see is there and it’s great.

Marc: The followers of the person left seats for fans of the music, the people who stayed are those that acceded to the music, to the spirit of the group, while those who adhered to the singer have more difficulty.

Marie: I can only say a few words compared to Whyzdom fans, I had a fucking crazy welcome. I did not expect this, many stayed despite the change of singer. And they came to the concert, even just to listen.

Vynce: Very important, even if we have new face among our fans, we always had a constant crowd supporting us since the beginning. Which when changing singer can be difficult.

Marie: And I was impress by their kindness, I always dedicate a song to them, it really surprised me. I’m not bragging, I just arrived, I have to prove myself, but the reception is really positive. This is not in any groups.

It is true that because of the changes, it can be more violent than that, it really shows that the spirit of the fans is very positive, and it reflects the spirit of the group which is positive, ranging from the front, which overcomes these events with a smile.

Marc: Especially that arriving in this context, it was far from a foregone conclusion. And with your welcome, you created yourself in your way of interpreting and how people felt it.

David: Talking about fans, you’re really active on social networks.

Vynce: For me it’s the basis, we are all human beings, when we make music it’s to share, making music with no one to hear is useless, so social networks are wonderful tools.

Keeping in touch with people who are interested, it’s a pleasure, from this point we no longer talk of fans, it’s friends and we find them at concerts, it’s great. For example, tonight, I saw Jack Williams, he comes from the U.S. and we know him through Facebook, it’s great, there’s beautiful encounter.

Like English fans, we have rare opportunity to see them, on Facebook I knew a dozen and there I meet them real life today. So for me, the social networks are really great.

Marc: And paradoxically, our French forum is a bit outdated while the English part seems to be progressing.

David: Can you go on tour and not eat junk food?

Vynce: Often, concert venues have a kitchen and they do really good food.

Marie: Like tonight.

Vynce: But sometimes the catering is not great, but I do not throw stones at anyone. I organized a concert at the Bastille and catering was sandwich, so not the best, but it’s expensive.

So yes, it is difficult to go on tour and not eat junk food. We are still subscribed to McDonald’s, sandwich…

Marie: We can buy apple, sometimes, but it’s not vegan.

Marc: It is true that focuses more on the music than the food on tour.

Marie: And there is the stress of the moment, the time is moved …

Vynce: We eat at impossible time since, we’re often on stage during eating time. It’s always too soon or too late, we eat cold…

Honestly, life on tour is exhausting …

Marc: But rewarding!

Vynce: Oh, I love it.

Marc: Everyday we benefit from globalization, because even in every country there’s always a McDonald’s.

*burst of general laughter*

David: So, what’s your preferred cake then?

Marie: Without objection, the Charlotte of my mom. She made ​​several, a magnificent one with raisin, to fall for and a terrific chocolate one.

Vynce: Saint honoré.

Marc: The Mi-Cuit Chocolat, the really fat stuff … A bit like my humor.

David: What’s the strangest thing fans did during a concert?

Vynce: We had some slam.

Marie: We had a circle pit in Germany. I said “Do you want to dance with Lucifer?” And they began spontaneously. And it was tremendous, really great.

Vynce: It’s not strange for a metal concert, but it had never happened to us.

Marie: And it’s fun.

David: What is the most “stupid” thing that you agreed to do?

Marie: Well, we can always say no.

Marc: Worse than being interviewed by a Panda?

Marie: But it’s a cute panda.

Vynce: No, for the moment there is nothing really extravagant.

David: Well, thanks for this interview.

Whyzdom: Thanks and Hi to every reader, see you in concert!

David: Any last word before leaving?

Vynce: A big thank you to all the fans who support us despite the setbacks with the singers, but it’s over because we have Marie.

And we look forward to begin the work on this third album to finally make a way where we can all express ourselves and have a nice group harmony.

A big thanks to Whyzdom for that interview (which was my first one… so yeah, I was nervous, but thanks to them, it went really great) and for an amazing show that night.