Syndrome 81

A Brest, entre Grise et Mélancolie

Syndrome 81 is one of those bands that truly fill my heart with joy. Although their sound is darker and melancholic, there is something about it that lifts me up, that grabs me by the throat. I was caught the moment I heard them for the first time. The language, the melodies... their sound is not just Punk, not just Hardcore, not just Post Punk or New Wave, or whatever you throw at them! From Brest, to the World…: Syndrome 81. 

Hello, gentlemen. Thank you, once again, for the opportunity. Congrats on your first Full Length. Have been wanting for very long, and it is amazing, truly!

I have been away for so long, that this release was completely unexpected, so I did feel that rush of excitement when I saw it. How does it feel to be back with new music? What is the concept behind this new release? "Prisons Imaginaires" is a very heavy title.

FAB: First, thank you for the kind words on this new record. To us it has been a long path to have this out. In fact, Jacky had in stock like almost 20 songs since 2018 at least. So I had to write the words to all these songs, we were already working on those songs before COVID hit the whole planet, and started to play live some of those songs. But as I am very slow to write the lyrics, never truly satisfied with my ideas, always dubious, so it was a long way to finalize each song. Moreover, we could not meet and practice as much as we wanted because of those confinements and shit. Finally it let us time to rethink the track list, and we let aside a few songs who were first supposed to be on the album, to get, we hope, a more tightened track list. So it was not so bad that took us so long. Anyway, here it is, it is finally out, that is what matters...

We are pretty excited to share our music and to get the feedbacks, negative or positive, we know we can’t please everyone, that’s part of the game, because we are aware of it, this recording is less spontaneous, less raw, it leans towards our more melodic side.

There was no concept behind it, but in the end, that is true, this LP is almost like a concept album by accident...It was not planned like that, but finally, the artwork, the poem, the title and most of those songs match together. “Prisons Imaginaires” comes from the prints of Giovanni Battista Piranese, an italian artist from the 18^th century. I discovered him when studying Thomas De Quincey, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, this English writer was heavily struck by Piranese art. The French writer Marguerite Yourcenar is the one who spoke the best about it in “The Dark Brain of Piranesi”, maybe you can find a translation somewhere (1)

Tell us a bit more about how the whole process went. From writing, rehearsing, and finally recording. Was it a long, and heavy process, or an easy one?

FAB: Jacky wrote all the music, he has a clear view of how the song must globally sound, of its structure, then we may change lightly some stuff, make some adjustments or arrangements. We do not practice that much. Concerning the voice, Jacky and I, we spent lots of time searching for the vocal phrasing that seems to fit the best, the music. Hours and hours in front of the computer or in my car. My kids are the ones who know best the instrumental version of the LP...as said earlier, my process of writing can be very, very, very long...

JACKY: I’m not as slow than Fab to write music, but I like to take some times to try some new things when I write new songs, so before the lyrics, it took me several months to finish the demo of “prisons imaginaires”. To be honest we practice most of the songs when the recording process is finished.

Like many others in the Past – if not all – “Prisons Imaginaires” was recorded in Brest. I assume that this is where you feel comfortable, and where you know people understand your sound, right.

FAB: The fact is that Jacky, is our sound engineer, and has his own home studio, so that explains why we were not in a rush, we have this luxury to record at our own pace...which has its drawbacks since we lost this kind of urgency you may have when you have a tight timeline. So he is the most able to tell you about our sound and its work.

JACKY: Yes, the good thing is that we can take our time to do the best takes we can, and the bad thing is because we haven’t deadlines so we’re very slow...I don’t have the gear of big recording studios, but for syndrome 81 I didn’t try to do a huge sound, but most of a cold sound. I think that today I will not be able to record outside my home studio, I really love to be free of what I want to do and (not especially with my bands but with every bands I record) there’s no way for me to record some shitty takes.

Moreover, although I have never been to Brest, your music seems to depict the atmosphere I got from my research of the city and its moments in History. Can I conclude that your sound is, in a way, the soundtrack of your birthplace?

FAB: that is nicely said, “the soundtrack of our birthplace”, I save it for later interviews, thanks! I don’ t know, the thing is that I let the music the lead to give me the inspiration for the lyrics, I don’t have prewritten stuff, I may have a few notes, but it the music that drives the lyrics, so maybe Jacky should answer that…

But one thing for sure, I tended to be more autobiographical on this record, there were previously personnal songs as well, but I think it is more pregnant here...Maybe I  explored the melancholic side of my personality, but I think that did not pay justice to Brest, ok it’ a gray city at first, but there are also great moments of friendship, happiness, and lots of things happening, so the picture ain’t that bad...One thing for sure is that we are geographically far from everything, as evoked in “Toujours à l’Ouest” and it can be a curse when you want to tour...

Your sound is a perfect blend of Melody and Melancholy, and your influences are well known – from the previous interview – but this release seems to be the most melodic, and calmer, from your discography. Have your “washed away” all the anger and rage that you had in the Past?

JACKY: The new songs are melodic because I wanted to do something less hardcore, I think that we’re better with the melodic stuffs, the lyrics of fabrice have more sense with our saddest songs. I kept two hardcore songs “violence sociale” and “sur la brèche” on this lp, I don’t think these are our best songs, maybe I kept them just to justify that we’re still hardcore kids.

Once again, thank you very much for your time and your words. Hoping to see you in Portugal one day! Au revoir.

Syndrome81 Official Bandcamp

Destructure Records - DIY Hardcore Punk

(1)Comme le précise Marguerite Yourcenar en analysant la seconde édition des Prisons qui est largement plus sombre que la première, c'est un « monde factice, et pourtant sinistrement réel, claustrophobique, et pourtant mégalomane (qui) n’est pas sans nous rappeler celui où l’humanité moderne s’enferme chaque jour davantage... ». Elle ajoute : « La véritable horreur des Carceri est moins dans quelque mystérieuse scènes de tourment que dans l’indifférence de ces fourmis humaines errant dans d’immenses espaces, et dont les divers groupes ne semblent presque jamais communiquer entre eux, ou même s’apercevoir de leur respective présence, encore bien moins remarquer que dans un recoin obscur on supplicie un condamné. »