Flowing Tears : Rétrospective...

PART I : THE EARLY YEARS

1. Hi Benjamin and thank you for accepting to answer this long interview. To begin, I wanted to come back to the origins of the band (around 1995), at first known as “Flowing Tears & Withered Flowers”. How did you meet the other members and what were your expectations about the band at these times?

I was in the audience of the very first Flowing tears liveshow, that's how I met the band. After the show I talked to them, and as they knew me from my former band they asked me to produce their first demo. I did so, and when the demo was finished I was asked to join the band as their 2nd guitar player. To be honest – on that day I didn't expect to spend such a long time in this band haha….


2. What was the signification of the band name “Flowing Tears & Withered Flowers” for you?

To be honest: When I read the band's name on the poster of that very first show, I thought “what a bad name”, haha…. Well, still today I couldn't really say I like the name, but I got used to it. The good thing about it is that you probably don't expect funny music and party entertainment… the bad thing is that it's hard to get a more clicheful name for a gothic metal band, haha… but you know, they've all been 16 or 17 years when they chose the name…. and therefore it could have been worse…


3. In 1996, you released your first album, “Swansongs” on the Italian label Seven Art Music (the only one I didn't listen to yet). Was it hard for you to get a contract deal?

No, as we didn't even send a demo. The label read a review of our first demo tape in an Italian magazine and then wrote a letter (yes, no emails back then...) to ask if we could send them a tape. We did, they offered us a contract, and we signed it.


4. I read a lot of good things about this first album, which seem to be quite different from your other albums, darker and heavier (according to the reviews), maybe because of the vocals. Do you agree with that? What do you think about it nowadays?

I still like that album. You know, I always compare old albums with old family pictures. You might be amused about what a silly shirt you've been wearing back then, but the older the picture gets to more worthy it becomes as it's a part of your life. That's why I still love our first albums. Musically it's completely different from what we do today. No female vocals, only male grunt and spoken vocals. And 13 minutes dooooom death songs...


5. After this album, Stefanie Duchêne joined the band as a female and main singer. How did you meet her and why did you take the decision to change your vocal style? Did you feel your style needed a female presence? Or was it to listen to her voice that made you think about including female vocals in your music?

We didn't plan on integrating female vocals. We wanted to integrate melodic vocals, and as our former singer simply wasn't able to deliver good clean vocals, we looked for a 2nd singer. Not a girl in particular. We didn't even think about it. Until one day our bass player told us that this girl in his school class has a great voice... we invited her for an audition, we were blown away and that's how we became a female fronted band. Back in the days it was still something quite unusual to have a female singer.... it was in 1997 when she joined...


6. Your second album “Joy Parade” was released in 1998, always on Seven Art Music, with Stefanie on vocals. What were the reactions of the listeners about these changes behind the mic?

Ho be honest I can't remember. The album got a really great response and we played quite a lot of liveshows. Maybe some people were disappointed by the change, but I never got any of these reactions. For me this time is like the birth of the band Flowing Tears as it is today. We discovered how to write real songs, and we learned what it takes to be on tour as a band...


7. What do you particularly keep in mind of this period of the band? Do you have great memories about these first years?

It was a great time. No disappointments, no disillusions until then. We discovered being on tour, we just enjoyed ourselves, and we had a really close relation among the band members to that time.


8. Unfortunately, these 2 albums are now unavailable. Do you know if there's any project of re-released?

We plan on doing so since years. Unfortunately our former Label Century Media has the rights to do so or not. And I bet the will not.

PART II : THE CENTURY MEDIA ERA

9. After “Joy Parade” and a self-released EP titled “Swallow”, you get a contract deal with Century Media for your third album “Jade”. Getting a signature with such a company is not common and I suppose it must be something very grateful for your music. How did you make it happen and how did you feel at this time?

Being signed to Century Media changed a lot for us. We started working on a professional level, we had to learn a lot, but also had much more possibilities than ever before.


10. “Jade” (2000) was a direct continuation of “Joy Parade”, a very emotive and atmospheric album. What do you think about it today?

As I already told you. Old albums are like family pictures. For me personally JADE displays what I had in mind in 1999. It was an emotional album, a lot of atmospheric stuff on that one. I think we found a good way of combining atmospheric parts and strict songwriting on that one.


11. “Jade” is also the first album under the name “Flowing Tears”, without the “Withered Flowers”. Why did you decide to shorten the band's name?

Ever tried to remember the name “Flowing tears and withered flowers”? Ever tried to write it on a flyer? There you go.... haha...


12. 2 years after came “Serpentine” (2002). When I first listen to it, I was very surprised by the evolution of your style, more aggressive and electronic while I thought you would continue to stay on your atmospheric side. Did you all wanted to come back to something more “metal”? Did you think you had nothing else to say with the style of “Jade”?

Well, we are a band that never plans things consciously. Developments in the music happen, they can't be planned. Serpentine was different from Jade because of several things. First of all – after the release of JADE we had been touring a lot, we played our first full European tour as a support band, and soon found out that it was hard to present the atmospheric stuff from JADE in a 30 minutes support set with no lightshow and a poor stagesound. Maybe this experience led us towards a more strict and focussed songwriting, and maybe also towards a more heavy direction. But as I said – we didn't plan that, it happened. And it would have been silly to write a 2nd JADE...


13. Some times after this album, due to a busy schedule, Stefanie left the band to focus on her private life. I guess it was quite a hard decision to take for her. How did you welcome her choice and did she tell you about that before? Are you still in touch with her?

Yes, we're still in touch. Just yesterday we met and talked for hours. She's still a good friend and has ever been, even though we had no contact for a while after she left, as it was necessary for both sides to let things go. I think it was hard for her when she finally left, but it was the right decision. For her and for Flowing Tears.


14. Then you found a new female singer in the person of Helen Vogt. I wondered how you would be able de replace the warm voice of Stefanie but I must admit that Helen surprised me in a good way, her voice being actually quite close to Stefanie's one. How did you find her? Did you absolutely look for a down and warm voice such as Stefanie's one or is it just a coincidence?

We did look for a similar voice indeed, as this kind of voice had become a trademark for Flowing tears. But we didn't look for a Stefanie-copycat singer, and the fact then Helen can sound exactly like Stefanie if she wants to was rather a kind of coincidence. What was much more important was that Helen could carry on the spirit of Flowing tears with both her voice and her presence – and of course that she fitted into the band on a personal level.


15. In 2004, you released your fifth album “Razorbliss” with Helen on vocals. Did she participate to the writing or was the album already written before she came?

No, she participated. We didn't really start working out new stuff until we had found a new singer. I can't write songs if I don't know the people involved. Writing a song is something emotional and it takes personal commitment.


16. I found that the style on “Razorbliss” was a continuation of “Serpentine” musically speaking but the new voice changed the atmosphere, less emotive, more powerful. What do you think about it today?

I think you're right. That's maybe what changed if you listen to both of the voices going beneath the surface of “they both have a deep registered voice”. Helen's way of singing and presenting music is more powerful than Stefanie's, but on the same time maybe not as atmospheric if you want to say so. Both ways have their good and less good sides, both styles have different possibilities on what kind of songs you can realize.


17. After “Razorbliss”, the news were rare about your activities… What happened to the band between 2004 and 2007?

Well that's not quite true. After the release of Razorbliss we've been busier than ever. We played three tours promoting the album, played numerous festivals and had no rest during all 2004. That's why by the end of the last tour for Razorbliss, in the end of 2004 we decided to take a time off for a few months, to clear our minds, to simply do something else than being in this band, and to live a bit. Well, these few months that were planned had then become 2 years all in all, but I think it was a good decision to take that break. We felt kind of burned out by the end of 2004, and if we had started writing a new album back then without any break I'm quite sure it would have been not an inspired album. We simply didn't feel like we have something to tell, we had no stories we wanted to tell, and if you don't feel like you have something to say – then be quiet. That's what we did. There's too much being released these days anyway.

PART III : NOW

18. Last year you finally released an excellent semi-acoustic live titled “Invanity” on the new label Ascendance Records. When I bought it, I was surprised to learn that this show had been recorded in… 2004! Why didn't you release it before? And why is it sooooooooo short?

We didn't release it before as we had changed our label, and things like these can take a long time. It's one of the reasons why our break had become much longer than intended. We wanted to release that live album right after we had stopped touring for Razorbliss, but negotiations and legal things had taken quite a while. In the end we were happy we could release it. Well, and the reason why that album is so short is that the show we played was so short. And it was so short because we had been playing this show as support band to The Gathering on their semi acoustic tour back then.


19. October 2008, your sixth album “Thy Kingdom Gone” is finally ready, 4 years after “Razorbliss”. How do you feel these times? Anxious? Impatient?

None of that. I feel relaxed. I love that album, and that's all that counts. Over the years you learn not to worry about reactions on your music anymore. I know there will be opinions from “this is the best album ever” to “this is bullshit” – so why should I care about that. I'm happy that this album has become a very personal one, and very emotional one. I think it's the first album I really wrote without wasting any time thinking about what anybody except of me and my bandmates would think about it, and that's a big artistic freedom. That's what counts, not what anybody writes or says about the album later on. We had a great time elaborating that album.


20. There's a lot of things to say about this new album, a lot of changes according to me. And the first one concerns the style which is more aggressive (except a few songs), more appropriate to the powerful voice of Helen. How spent the writing process on this album? Did everyone get fully involved in it?

No, this was the first album we actually wrote without working out the songs as a band. I wrote and pre-produced 90% of the music in my studio, then worked out the vocals together with Helen, and only two weeks before we want to studio we worked out the stuff with real drums... quite unusual as until then we had been a very traditionally working band...


21. I also noticed that your electronic side was less present, contrary to the other instruments (including piano). Did you want to get back to a more natural result?

Yes. I experimented a lot with electronic stuff on Serpentine and Razorbliss, but I felt like I had nothing to add. I just felt like it was time to go back to a more natural approach. Musically a lot of parts on the album sound quite old-school-gothicmetal...

22. I was also surprised to hear some growls parts on a few songs and on the eponym song in particular. Who interpret them? Sometimes I thought it was Helen herself…

Yep, 100 points. It IS indeed Helen. She did these grunts on liveshows ever since, and we always wanted to integrate that in a song. This time it just worked on the song “for my enemies”. The title track by the way isn't sung by Helen, it's Samael singer Vorph who's singing that one...


23. Except the song “Thy Kingdom Gone”, there are 2 other songs that are different from the rest: “Miss Fortune” and “Kismet”. I found them very interesting as they show another side of your music. What do you think about these songs? Is it something you want to explore on your future works?

Why talking about future works? We DID explore this now. I like these songs, and they're necessary to make this album a Flowing tears album, as there has always been that non-metal side in this band, and it's something important for us. I personally think that especially Kismet has become one of the most intense songs we ever did, but that's a very personal opinion.


24. Could you tell me more about the lyrics of the album and about its title?

The title is a methaphore for loss. I like playing with words, and the title is a modification of the first line from the Christian Lord's prayer, where it says “thy kingdom come” – well, and now it's “thy kingdom gone”. It's a methaphore for loss. Be it the loss of belief, the loss of trust or the loss of confidence. I guess everybody knows situations like these.


25. Is there a tour already planed to support this new album?

There's nothing confirmed yet. We don't try to get to play a tour at any price. If it happens that we can play a tour together with good fitting bands, then we'll surely do so, but if it doesn't happen, we're not sad. We will probably play some well chosen festival shows next year though.

PART IV : BONUS QUESTIONS

26. Now a very difficult question: except “Thy Kingdom Gone”, if you should choose one album of your discography, which one would it be and why?

Joy parade. It was magic without any pollution in mind back in the days. Great album, great time.


27. Do you have a *normal* job in parallel of Flowing Tears?

Yes. We never wanted to risk it all to live on the band, as if we had ever chosen to the music wouldn't have been free from that moment on anymore. If you live on the music you're directly dependant on the sales figures and you automatically have to be compromising and calculating your way of being an artist. That's not what we wanted. Not ten years ago and not now. Not everybody understood that, but it was no question for us. I want my music to stay something magic for me and not become a job, as this would destroy the magic.


28. What are you listening to these days? Any good album to share?

The Foreshadowing, an Italian doom band. Excellent music. The album is called “Days of nothing” – go and get it if you can, great one! And of course ISIS...

29. That was my last question and I think it's enough, isn't it? Thank you for burning your time on these questions. Hope it wasn't too boring… Now I'll let you conclude!

Well, if I ever should plan on writing my memories I'll contact you, as you can push more memories out of my old brain than I could myself with all the questions you had, haha.... no, honestly: thanx for a really dedicated and interesting interview beyond standard questions. I like that and not many interviews go that far. Well, and then: thanx to all you readers who read all of this...

Un grand merci à Benjamin pour avoir pris le temps de répondre à une si longue interview par email !