Tears From The Sky interview

The Gauntlet: What distinctive qualities does each member bring to the group musically? How are you able to smooth out any musical differences amongst the members?

Dom: Personally, I bring a more trashy style on guitar, while Yan (the other guitarist) is more technical. As for Seb (Bass) and Guillaume (Drums) they are really good at tying everything up together (songwritting and structures). And then JS (vocals) usually brings fresh ideas to the whole. He played guitar for many years (and he still does) before joining TFTS, so he has a really good understandment in music. As for the musical differences, we all have many inspirations, ranging from hip-hop to death metal. But we all grew up to the same kind of music (Metallica, Pantera, Slayer etc.) so we usually get along pretty well when we write new stuff. Our roots are the same. But it's also about respecting differences in what everyone listens to. We're all open-minded people so that's not a problem.

The Gauntlet: Tell us about the manner in which TFTS approaches songwriting. Is it a collaborative process or does a certain member or members bring a completed idea forward?

Dom: Everything is a collective effort. We don't like the fact that one or two person creates everything in a band. Of course some ideas are brought in and kept intact, but usually it's done all together.

The Gauntlet: 'Nailed Down' is a song that seems to glorify violence toward women, a theme which is becoming a disturbing trend who listen to the record take your message too seriously? Why is it that you feel a need to write about topics like this?

Dom: This song only reflects a feeling of rage and hatred, not violence. We totally respect women and in no way we wanna influence people to be violent with them. Plus, the song isn't aimed toward women in general. In fact, I don't particularly like this subject, because it's being talked about so much in songs nowadays. Some bands even sing only about that. I mean, get over it! Anyway, we love women and would never raise a hand on them!

The Gauntlet: The album's artwork has a military theme. What inspired this type of a theme? Do the operations in Iraq influence this artwork or is there an ulterior motive behind the imagery?

Dom: The artwork can be interpreted in many ways. But for me, the war in Iraq has been an inspiration. This war had become such a big a part of our everyday lives throughout the medias that gave us unjust information. All photos for the CD were taken with plastic soldiers and tanks, showing that this whole war was like a big Risk game, with Bush playing it like a retarded kid. But in the end, it's being played with real lives. Fuck that! Nobody wants their kids to be involved in war.

The Gauntlet: What is your favorite aspect of creating music? Does the band prefer the live atmosphere to the recording studio? What were the biggest challenges in the creation of Power Symbol?

Dom: For me, it's all about the live atmosphere. What I love the most about music is the energy it delivers. It gets to his peek in shows, and that's what motivates me to go on in music, day after day. Travelling and meeting new people is also a big part of my motivation. As for the biggest challenge in the creation of the EP, it was definitely the recording and production. We recorded with our guitarist (Yan), and it was his first time recording a band since he got out of school in sound engineering. But in the end he did an amazing job and we were all extremely happy with the result. In fact it exceeded our expectations. Another challenge was recording the last song "As One Till' The End". Featuring 10 guest vocals from different Quebec bands, all lyrics were written in a single day, and then recorded the same night. It was a memorable day for the band and we're all proud that this song is on our debut EP on Life Sentence Records.

The Gauntlet: Religion seems to be a recurring theme in the band's lyrical content. How do the band members feel about religion?

Dom: I have nothing against religion in general. May it be Christians, Buddhist or whatever, they all have their good sides. However, some of the institutions behind those religions sometimes use people to their advantage. Unfortunately this has already led to many unfortunate events in history, and in those cases I have no respect for them.

The Gauntlet: Tell us about the lifestyle of the members of the group, what types of things you do professionally, for leisure and entertainment. Do you see the band as a viable career for a prolonged period of time?

Dom: Personally, I am a university student. For me that's a passion, but the band is even more. What I wanna do before anything is play music as mush as possible. For the others, Guillaume is a Web developper, Seb works in a shop, Yan is a sound engineer and JS delivers food. We all want the band to become our main career, and go on a full-time basis with it. That's what we are working for right now.

The Gauntlet: How do you feel about being lied to by the government?

Dom: I'm fuckin' tired of it. The government has never been a real democracy and everyone's being lied and crooked everyday. For example, there is a big scandal going on right now in Canada. The government has stolen public money to finance the assimilation of Quebec residents (where we live). It's a shame to see so much money being stolen to get rid of our culture. The worse in that is that the government will never pay back what he has stolen.

The Gauntlet: Do you guys get a lot of groupies hanging around when you perform? Tell us about the pros and cons of groupies.

Dom: Not really. I don't need them anyway, I have my girlfriend. But I'm sure other guys in the band (like JS) wouldn't hate to be admired by a couple of them. He's on myspace if you wanna hook up and become a groupie, hehe.

The Gauntlet: Have you ever seen The Penis Chart on metalsludge? Do you look forward to one day having the size of your tools reported on the internet to millions?

Dom: I've never heard about that site. Probably, because I don't search for penis related stuff on the internet. Anyway, my engine is probably too big to list on that chart, so I'll pass.

The Gauntlet: What's your favorite kind of sandwich?

Dom: Shish taouk and falafel. I love Lebanon food.

The Gauntlet: Are there any bands coming up from your local scene that our readers should know about?

Dom: Five-Seven: Good band in the vein of Madball. Great bunch of dudes too! Mi Amore: Excellent trash/stoner rock n' roll. I really like their sound. Plus they have good political lyrics. Check out their new CD called "The Lamb" on Cyclop Media. Beneath The Massacre: Best musicians I know. They play grind/death metal and the result is just insane. Keep an eye open for these guys! Their first CD will be out on Galy Records this spring. And there are many other excellent bands from Quebec: The Expectorated Sequence, A Perfect Murder, The Vice, and Final Word, to name a few.

The Gauntlet: Now that you are officially rock stars, you should think about buying a beach house. What color would you paint it?

Dom: What kinda question is that? I don't know orange maybe!?

The Gauntlet: Tell us about your future plans for world domination�

Dom: We are currently writing songs and doing pre-production for our upcoming LP that should be out in the beginning of 2006. We should record it this summer. Other than that it's gonna be touring and doing promotion as much as possible. We wanna do at least 1 tour to promote our EP before recording the LP (either Canada or US). And after recording it's gonna be touring touring and more touring. Of course we'd all like to play everywhere in the world : US, Europe, Japan, Australia, UK. In the end that's what it's all about, sharing music live with people out there!