Overmars Interview

Some musicians cautiously play by the rules, finding it simpler to communicate their musical ideas with familiar mediums of expression, while others dare to invent altogether new mechanisms of sonority, challenging listeners to broaden their comprehension of musical understanding. Overmars fit squarely in with the second group, their latest Candlelight USA release being a cornucopia of sounds ranging from massive riffing to more minimalist enhancements. Finding your way through an album like this isn't just entertainment, it's a learning experience. The Gauntlet picks the mind of Overmars' Xavier and Ben in order to discover how this highly talented group manages to conceive such compelling, involving sonic landscapes.

The Gauntlet: Over the course of "Affliction, Endocrine�Vertigo", there are many shifts in stylization. How do you define the group's sound on the whole?

Xavier: It's quite difficult for us to define it. To make it short and to make easy the work of the reviewers, we can say it's some kind of "doomcore" but we bring to our music influences from many different background and scenes.

The Gauntlet: Do you seek to challenge listeners with the music that you create?

Xavier : We try first to satisfy ourselves. Honnestly, we never think about the potential listeners when we create our music. But of course, we cannot deny that sometimes, for some parts or break, we think it can mislead the listener. But that just makes us laugh and never have an influence on the song.

The Gauntlet: The record succeeds in conveying a wide tapestry of sonic emotions. What are the primary sources of inspiration, musical and otherwise behind your group?

Xavier: Our background is punk hardcore and metal. But we listen to a lot of music and everything we like is incorporated in some way in Overmars. So you can find on the record dub, doom, crust, post rock, new wave, industrial, noise, blues influences. For the lyrics, all starts from personal feelings, from personal experiences and history. And most of the time, it turns to something political, even if it's not a conscious choice. But we evolve a lot in the punk hardcore network, so it can explains...

The Gauntlet: Exactly how much time was spent in writing the music for the album?

Xavier: First song was written in summer 2003, last one in autumn 2004.

The Gauntlet: Is Overmars the type of band that has to have every nuance perfect before heading in to record, or do you adjust the songs in the studio as you go along?

Xavier: What we recorded in studio is not that much different of what we previously wrote. But Serge, the nice guy behind the table, gave us some good ideas for some songs, but it's in the details, not in the structures. We just created the "Destroy All Dreamers" and "Buccolision"'s vocal parts in studio.
But we're not against the idea to enter in studio with just some ideas of structures and adjust the songs while recording. If one day we can do that, we'll certainly try.

The Gauntlet: One thing that really stands out about the record is the variety in the length of the songs. It makes for a more intriguing listen. How difficult is it for you to determine the sequence in which you place the tracks on the record? Is this something that was preordained or did it naturally fall into place?

Xavier: Benjamin (drummer) and me wrote all the lyrics. About 6-8 months before the studio, we worked together, looking at all the common points between the lyrics, looking at recurent themas or ideas. Some of the songs weren't even written. So, with all the lyrics, we decided of an order who seemed us coherent, gave some muiscal orientations for the songs to come. In summer 2004, we recorded a demo of the album with the songs we had. We tried the order we proposed and it worked.

The Gauntlet: How much attention was placed in achieving the proper dynamics in the studio? What did you do in order to achieve this?

Ben: We do not work in those terms. I don't see music through notes, or chords or dynamics or whatever you want� we don't really pay attention to that. we just feel when the takes are good, when everything seems to fit�then we just stop.

The Gauntlet: What is the concept behind five part series of tracks that are intertwined amongst the lengthier pieces?

Xavier: This is a call against apathy, a call of reappropriation of our own lives. It's ok to dream, it's better to live our dreams. Or at least, working at making them real.

The Gauntlet: Tell us a little bit about the DVD that accompanies the record�

Xavier: There is some live video, remixes, experimental videos, a short length movie, pictures, drawings... This is a little bit more about us and this is too what we cannot express only through the music.

The Gauntlet: Did you include the video as a sort of value-added item?

Ben: No! This is definitively a work with whole share. Arno is projecting films with us on stage. We wanted this part of us to be present in our full length album. Visuals are as important as the music in Overmars.

The Gauntlet: The album art is quite abstract and makes a good fit for the music contained within. What does the painting on the album's cover symbolize?

Ben: this is the work of a friend of us who is tatooist. Actually, he proposed us this design of a human basin telling us that when he heard of our music, he could feel it strong in his stomach� so he drawn this basin because this is what our music represent to him.

Xavier: It's quite the same for the LP artwork. It's a bear fishing with a forest in background. Julien, who did it, explained me that for him. The bear symbolizes the heaviness and power of our music.

The Gauntlet: What types of groups do you see as a good fit for your band in a concert situation?

Ben: Easy answer: neurosis� we recently toured with playing enemy, we were quite complementary.

Xavier: And next tour will be with The Axis Of Perdition (www.theaxisofperdition.co.uk). Their music doesn't really sound like ours but I'm convinced it will fit very well. I think we can play or tour with any kind of musical style. It's not about sounding metal, hardcore, noise or whatever... It's more about... guts! And sensibility, of course.

The Gauntlet: What is one thing about the group that you would most like for our readers to know about?

Ben: We're not playing music in order to become fucking rockstars, so if you like our music and come to see us in concert one day, please, get in touch with us. Feel free to come and talk to us about what you feel about what we do. We just want to try to give an alternative to all the shit the society wants us to consume without thinking.

Xavier: Support underground activism, support bands who take risks, be active in your underground local scene. Without that, no more interesting bands and artists. And most of all please, go to shows!