Flo Mounier from Cryptopsy interviewed by Mike Meier; Zofingen, Switzerland; 04/19/02

So there's hardly any need for introductions here, but to start things off, could you bring us up to speed on what's been going on with Cryptopsy since "And Then You'll Beg" came out?
Well, we've just been doing lots and lots of touring - we played in Europe, in the US and in Japan, and we got a new singer into the band.
Japan? What was that like? Aren't the Metalheads there all into Power Metal?
Great. People are very different there, but they're definitely into it. It's not just Power Metal, they like all sorts of things there.
Does your success surprise you at all, considering the type of music you play? You seem to me to be too complex for the level of success you've had, compared to other bands that are that big.
We've been working on our music for such a long time and seen it evolve in such little steps until a certain point that nothing's changed for us. We're still playing music, you know what I mean? The more people there are, the better. The bigger the shows are, the better, but it's also cool to have small intimate shows like tonight, that's gonna be a lot of fun. So no, we're not surprised, we've been doing this for so long, it's just... whatever. Whatever happens happens.
I'm sure a lot of old fans would still like to know - what happened to Lord Worm?
It was kind of a musical thing - Lord Worm likes the simpler stuff, and we were getting more and more complicated. He didn't like that. Also, he never liked touring too much. And at the point we're at now, it's a career decision and it's kind of a life decision. If the band is growing, you're expected to tour more and more, and if you don't like touring, you're just going to make it hard for yourself because that's just the way it is.
Many people still consider him the "real" Cryptopsy singer. Why do you think that is?
Well, often people do that. When a band starts, and you have a lead singer that starts with the band, even if it's only one or two albums, there's always gonna be that thought in a person's mind that that was the original lineup, and that was the original singer, so that's the way it should be. But we just don't really care. First of all, if they're not happy, it's completely out of our control. And second of all, I find that change is often good. It brings freshness and diversity, and it's pretty cool because you can have different albums that all sound different.
Complete change of subject. How do you write songs?
Well, it depends. In the past it used to be more John and I that would compose and we'd come up with riffs and then structure them. Now since John, Erik and I have been playing together for a while now, we're starting to develop a lot more chemistry and Erik's writing full songs, Alex is starting to write full songs as well. It's basically input from the whole band and then we try to structure things together and make it happen. Some songs take long, some songs don't, it really depends. It's a potpourry.
In terms of songwriting, I kind of noticed that the songs on "And Then You'll Beg" are generally longer, maybe a little more repetitive, more sort of standard Death Metal in terms of structure, while on "Whisper Supremacy" you had a lot more short songs, and there seemed to be kind of a Hardcore influence in terms of song structures. Why do you think that happened?
I don't interpret it that way, so I can't really explain that to you...
Well, how do you think it developed?
What we did is we cut out a lot of the unnecessary little things that fans really couldn't hear that much. Because "Whisper Supremacy" was very complicated, and there were a lot of things in "Whisper" that didn't really have to be there because you couldn't really hear them anyway. So what we did for "And Then You'll Beg" was to try to find everybody's part, and when somebody was doing a solo, not do a whole drum fill over it, and really put things on a shelf. And the recording as well, we just tried to put things on individual shelves, so that you can hear everything that's going on. That's why maybe it sounds simpler. When you break it down into groove and the counter structures to the rhythm and the melodies and the guitar work though, it's often more complicated than Whisper Supremacy. It just sounds easier because it's played easier. I think that's my interpretation of it and that's what we set out to do.
Do you have any new songs written yet?
We have... let's say one? But we've been concentrating on getting the new singer really comfortable with everything so we haven't been writing much, but when we're headed home, we 're gonna start.
I take it that means you have no idea when the new album's coming out?
No. No idea. I don't wanna get anybody's hopes up or down or anything... it'll come out when we're ready.
Do you think you're still looking for the perfect song?
No. We're not playing pop music...
What's your motivation in writing songs then, if that's not it?
Every song is different, and every song has other elements that make it a challenge, and we're the type of band that doesn't necessarily have one or two good songs per album, but we try to make the whole album have good songs. If you say you write one good song, that means that your others aren't as good, and that's not how we look at the writing process. There's too many riffs in a song for it to be that Beatles song, you know.
But still, even if you have fifteen riffs in one song, it's still one song, right?
Yeah, I mean, I have my favorites to play and stuff like that, but I find that all of them have such different elements, such different beats. We try not to repeat ourselves very much in the sense that we can really come up with different parts that we've never done before. Of course there are things that we usually do, but every song is different.
So for you it's a more a matter of every song being different then.
Sure. Make every song interesting. And challenging, perhaps, but interesting. Because if you're listening to the same shit over and over and album after album... some fans like that, but to be honest with you, I don't understand why. I think that's just boring. Any band I listen to, whether it be Jazz, Rock or anything - I find Jazz to be very repetitive in a lot of aspects, and I don't like that. It's crap. There's a lot that we can do with music. I mean, there are a lot of things that have already been done, and it's very hard to come up with something completely different. But you can combine your five people and different elements and different technologies and make something sound interesting.
How do you feel about having a record deal? You're a band that started out in the underground, and there are definite advantages to not having a record label. Is it a good thing to you to have a record label?
Well, there's advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is the world wide distribution. The second advantage is tour support. So when we want to go out on tour, we ask them for tour support, so that we can make some money and come home a little bit less stupid. At the point we're at, it's very difficult in our lives because we're touring so much and putting so much of our lives and energy into what we're doing, so we can't go on tour for months on and months on and make no money. Great merchandise, too, that you can take from their offices and stuff like that... (points at Century Media shirt he's wearing)
I'm asking him if he likes the label and he's wearing a Century Media T-Shirt...
(Laughs) It's a company. It's a business. There's pros and cons. They're out there to make money. People have to consider that."Oh this fucking record label, they're just out there to make money" - well, so's the next one. I mean, it's all the same thing. You know, they help us out in ways, and we help them out in other ways. Like or dislike, it's usually the way to go unless you have a lot of financial backing from yourself to do what they do, but then you also need to have a lot of time on your hands as well.
What's the Metal scene in Quebec like?
Excellent. One of the best in North America.
Any other bands you can recommend besides you and Gorguts?
Martyr... Quo Vadis... Um... (thinks) there's a few different styles... there's Goo Lunatics. Alex is wearing the T-Shirt tonight (points at Alex who just walked in). Goo Lunatics has more of a Hardcore type edge to it. There's a lot of good bands from there. And what's great about the scene is there's just a lot of support. A lot of fans.
Lots of good clubs to play at?
I wouldn't say lots, but there's nice ones. It's very well organized. Bands especially from the States and other places, when they come to Montreal, they're very surprised, and very happy to come back because it's a nice scene.
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