To celebrate the launch and impressive success of their intoxicating new alternative rock album Another Friend, we were blessed with the chance to interview French indie rock and industrial-fusing act The Rolling Dead, to find out more about the project, their growing audience, and the sincere evolution of their sound. Here’s the conversation in full.
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Hi Thomas, great to connect with you – massive congratulations for the release of the new album. To introduce things, what first inspired the creation of The Rolling Dead, and why this band name?
Hi Rebecca ! Thanks for having me.
I created The Rolling Dead in 2021, when I started to post some instrumentals on YouTube.
I was inspired by Rammstein, RATM, Feldup and Ankor.
“The band name is a silly joke about my disability that my mother did when I was a teenager.”
Like “The Walking Dead” but replacing “walking” by “rolling”… Funny, huh ? I don’t even know why I keep that as my artist name to be honnest haha
Tell us about the new album – how long was this in the making, and is there a conceptual thread throughout the songs of Another Friend?
It takes around two years from the first composition to the first day of recording. After that I send the entire album to my sound engineer. The mixing process lasted five weeks.
Yes, Another Friend is a concept album. Every song is talking about loss (loss of innocence, love, health…) And some of them are about many of my childhood trauma.
The project meanders beautifully from delicate keys to distorted guitars, bass and live drums. The intensity varies immensely. How do you generally create your sound as a solo artist?
I try to provide a sound for my current mindset. Distortion can represent pain, the delay can represent the confusion and so many more examples.
All I have to do is simple : let my mind express itself through my ears.
As a listener who doesn’t speak French, you’ve achieved something quite unique in building this sonic experience, with melodic and heavy progressions, making us almost entirely forget the language barrier. Songs like Tramadol are addictively satisfying and interesting in fusing production qualities and concept. Is this something you’re conscious of when writing songs, or do you just create from the heart and see where it takes you?
For Tramadol, I wanted to represent the overstimulation, euphoria and tiredness that someone under tramadol can feel. This is why the music can be really fast on the verses but slow on the chorus.
But for others songs like Disparition or Another Friend, I simply let my heart speak. So it depends.
There’s a clear stylistic evolution in your sound since the 2020 release of ‘The voice of a teen’s pain?’, what can you tell us about that creative journey, and is this down to pure conviction to the cause, learning new skills, new influences, or something else?
From 2020 to now, I’m working everyday on my music, so I’ve learned pretty quickly how to create a sound.
‘The voice of a teen’s pain’ is just a compilation of my firsts compositions. I already had in mind the sound I have today.
You’ve already had notable success with downloads and support for your music – what would you say has been the driving factor in achieving this as an independent artist?
Work, work, and again work. But today, I think a good and constant communication on socials media is the most important part, sadly.
You can work 5 years on the best album never recorded, if you’re not active on social media, nobody will listen to you.
Is live performance a big part of your plans, and if so, what would a live show involve?
Sure ! We are working on a live set with some friends.
It takes many time and efforts (finding some musicians, rehearsal studio, money…)
But I really want to play my music on stage and, I will. It’ll take time, but it’ll be great !
What’s your biggest ambition as a musician?
Live performance is a big part of my ambitions.
Which song from this new album do you feel best represents it, if a new listener only had time for one, and why?
It’s hard ‘cause my favorite song of this album is Disparition, but it’s a song that stands out from the others. So I would say Tramadol. It’s heavy, speed, politic, melodic… It’s a good start for a new listener.
What’s something about you that would surprise fans of your music?
I love pop music (Tate Mcrae, Billie Eillish, Vendredi Sur Mer…)
I’m a metalhead but, pop music can take a big place in my playlists haha
Is there anything else we should know?
Another Friend is available on physical format on my Bandcamp and I’m working on so many projects… I can’t wait to show you !
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Find The Rolling Dead on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube.
