In Arkadia
Through The Eyes Of The Archetype

02.10.2013

French metallers In Arkadia are quite an experienced band. A few albums, lots of ours, a rebirth – and the show goes on… The life of musicians sometimes becomes a vicious circle, but they seem to enjoy it. The French have even dared to make a surprising move – they will do a whole Russian tour starting from October. Generally speaking, this is not a sensation, as many other Western stars will do the same, but for the band, this is a significant step. We asked In Arkadia drummer Frorent Marzais to give us an update of what’s happening in the band at the moment, and what its future plans are.

Hi there, Flo. How is it going?

Fine! We’re so excited about visiting Eastern Europe! We can’t wait!

This is the first time that you will be touring in Russia. What do you expect from the tour? When and how did you get the idea of playing here?

It’s our very first time there. On top of everything, we love visiting new countries and meeting new fans across the world so you cannot even imagine how thrilled we are! It’s been a long time since promoters started asking us about coming on tour in the Cold East, but offers were not that good. You know, it’s a hard ride from France to Russia so we wanted to make sure that the trip was worth it. We had to wait until this year for a good tour proposal. But, here we are now. Ready to blast!

Nice! You toured across many countries – what did you like most of all? In what aspects do the fans differ from country to country?

We love almost everything about travelling. Waking up in a different country everyday is such a pleasure! A new language, new landscapes, new food and also a new way of two-stepping! Every country has its own audience, but the greatest thing about leaving France is that French people do not know how to circle pit and that’s a shame, you know!

You released a new CD this year, “Eyes Of The Archetype”. Tell us about it, please.

“Eyes Of The Archetype” was released in February 2013. It’s our very first album with the new line-up so that was an important step for the band. We recorded it in Germany during June 2012 so it’s already kind of old! We all really enjoy recording albums. A studio session is the only place where we can be exclusively among band members. We love partying, we love having fun, we’re all brothers so despite the fact that studio is a tough time, those weeks are always fun as hell. We could have filmed everything and set up a reality show: “In Arkadia Studio Diary: MEET THE MOST STUPID 4 YEARS OLD DEATHMETAL KIDS”.

What are your sources of inspiration? Where do you get ideas? What music do you prefer to listen to when you’re not in tours or not working in studio?

We dig our inspiration almost everywhere, from old school death metal to the newest pop scene. I’m not kidding, we all listen to the first Carnifex EP as well as Katty Perry’s or Blink182’s latest album.

What about sales of the CDs? Free downloading nearly ruined the whole industry – how do bands like yours cope with it? Do you still believe in CD as a physical format for music, do you think it still has the right to exist? Would you continue releasing material on CDs?

Sales are what they are, metal has never been a paying style of music anyway, you're prepared to that when you release an album. We're not in it to break a sales record, we also encourage people to download the album and spread it to all their friends! Of course every copy you buy is a huge help, we can't say it is enough, so if you can afford it, support your scene! People who really like your music are going to buy it most of the time, and the CD is a really nice format to hold in your hands, with the booklet and everything. So we hope it will keep on existing, we need physical copies so we feel like we invested in a little something that's ours only.

Do labels still support the bands or it is better for the musicians to release their music independently?

It can depend on what you know about the way to do it and if you have people around that can help with it. Labels always do more work of course, but don't expect everybody to do your job, you have to work for it so you can keep having fun doing it! Also go for a label that you LIKE, you will always be treated well if you play the game!

You sell your music and merch both through the Internet and at gigs. Where are the sales better?

Definitely at gigs! People have a taste and if they liked something, sometimes they want more, and the merch is a good way to have that. Also we can connect with people and it's always better to have somebody thank you for the show by helping you pay for the road expenses.

What are your interests outside In Arkadia? Is it easy to create the right balance between your music life and everyday life? Or they are connected and integrated somehow?

We only do two things: work, and work with the band. Everything we do together is about the band, but it is so much fun because we are good pals so it's not only work of course, it's really cool to do this.

I know that you changed you line-up nearly completely in 2011. Still you released a few albums before that. Do you still think of that era as of your legacy? Many bands – such as Pantera – decided to forget and deny some pages of their history. Do you still play any of your old songs?

Well we're not really attached to that. The band was different, the people were different, and the music was at the opposite of what we do now. There's always a before and after something. We don't play any old songs cause it would really seem that it's a totally different band and that would make no sense to anybody. But it's given the band a past and an experience, as well as a name. Officially, this band exists since 2005-2006. It has done some great things before, that helped the new band start on really good basis.

You have lots of merch but have you ever considered expanding the range of “In Arkadia”-labeled stuff? Some bands even make their own beer and wine - what do you think about it?

If we had enough money, trust me, we would make EVERYTHING “In Arkadia”! Bathing suits, cars, alcohol, toys, food... Merch is really fun to make, it makes you have crazy ideas and lots of laughs!

Do you perform any cover-versions live? If yes, how often? Do you think it’s good to add something special to the song especially if it belongs to a different style of music?

We have a cover of Hatebreed's “I Will Be Heard” that we will play on stage during the tour. In the past we had others that we would switch. Covers are a good way to have your own approach to a song you love, and sometimes many people know it so they sing along and have a lot of fun hearing it which is awesome for a band.

Okay, what can you tell Russian metal fans? Why should they visit In Arkadia gigs during the upcoming tour?

They should come see us so they can jump, mosh, dance, do everything they want, and have a really good time! Please be gentle with the French guys, and come support us because we will ride for 12,000 km just for you guys so come have fun!

In Arkadia on the Internet: http://www.in-arkadia.com

Petr Fateyev
September 29, 2013
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