Good day, Jeremie, how are you Today, my friend? What did you do last weekend?
Hi Adrian, first thank you for this interview. Well, I saw family, worked new riffs on my guitar, went to rehearsal and watched football on tv.
Tell us the story of DIKTAT in a few sentences.
At the end of 1997, Alex (guitars), Mathieu (vocals), Nico (drums) and me formed DIKTAT. We tried several bass players before Fabrice joined the band to record with us the first eponymous demo tape on 2000. From 1998 to 2003, we played many gigs in France (and even in Belgium) with underground and famous bands, as IMMOLATION, DECAPITATED, MALEVOLENT CREATION... Fabrice left the band on 2001 and we had to play without bass 'till Michael joined us on 2002. On 2003, we went to studio to record a 2nd stuff. The recording turned out badly and Nico left the band. More, we had different problems in our lives. We made a long break and got back on 2007, giving 2 shows without any drummer. On 2008, Gogo joined DIKTAT and we are back, giving shows and working on new tunes.
Why founding a Brutal Death band in 1997 when the Death Metal scene was almost close to extinction and no extreme metal genre was doing good, maybe except Melodic Black Metal? What do you remember from your first days as a band? How was it?Well, just because Brutal Death Metal was what we wanted to play. We never cared with the in thing. About our first day as a band, it was in rehearsal, of course. Before composing anything, we started to play 2 covers: "Suffer The Children" by NAPALM DEATH and "Fall from Grace" by MORBID ANGEL. It was both harsh and funny. Then we started to play "Self Prostitution of Psyche's Organ", which was our first song.
Although the band was formed back in 1997, you have released your debut demo only 3 years after. Was it because of the band's lack of a bass player, or what?
Yes, we lost a lot of time trying many bass players. Getting Fabrice to record the first demo was very hard and we just managed to keep him
in the band for few gigs after. Guys who tried were unable to play our tunes or scared of our technical riffs and of the twisted and
elaborate way we structure our tunes. But there's another reason. Between the moment we formed DIKTAT and the one we could record our first demo, we had to work very hard to get skills to be able to perform the crazy stuffs we wanted to.
I liked your debut demo a lot and it seems a lot of others liked it too. How were the reactions you received back then from the public and metal scene in general?
Thank you. Well, we received a lot of positive reactions and great reviews. Many people liked it and helped us spreading it all over the world. We got several offers for an album, from small labels. Now, it's amazing to see many guys still remember our old first demo. Moreover, here's a gift for fans and people who read these words, a link to download it: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9SQTVEGM
It was a selfreleased tape, how have you managed to promote it so well? And how have you managed to get so many distribution deals all over the world?
Alex and me sent it everywhere we found labels, distro, zines, radios and gigs organizers contacts. On that time, internet was starting growing up and Nico was in charge of our website and e-mails. That's true, we managed to get many distribution deals all over the world. We kicked our asses to make people know DIKTAT but I think it worked so well because people liked it.
Any idea how many copies of that demo were sold? Which was the most special feedback you have received from a metalhead or from anyone at that time?
Well, I remember we spread around 2000 copies, but I don't know how many ones sold exactly. Moreover, I guess some people made bootlegs copies. The best compliment we received from a metalhead was from YATTERING who told us that we had played better than them when we opened for them near Paris, on 2001. Otherwise, the most special feedback we receive sometimes is when someone who's not into Metal is impressed by the way we play.
On your website, which is not updated for a long time now (why?), it is mentioned that the band recorded its debut album between 2003 and 2004, but that album was never released... What really happened?
You're right, our old website hasn't been updated since Nico left the band. Now, we communicate through MySpace and Facebook. We'll update it when we'll have more things to put on it. About the album mentioned, we were not satisfied with the recording and as Nico had left the band after the recording, we chose to make it a demo and it actually became our second demo, II.
Now it's 2009, almost 10 years since the release of your first demo... Why so much time to release new materials? Are you planning on fixing this problem for the future?Well, I think I've answered it partly in the previous questions, because of line up problems and different shits which happened in our lives. But also because we have full time jobs and because we have to manage and promote ourselves, and it particularly takes Alex and me a lot of time. But we're rather slow to compose too and we'll have to kick our asses.
How come you're still an unsigned band? No label showed interest so far or you're just too picky? :)
We received few offers from small labels, but it was to release 500 or 1000 Cds and we considered they couldn't do it and promote us better than us. Of course, it could have left us more time to play music, but we're not interested in working with someone who has less contacts than us, because we won't be able to promote us better than we can. Maybe we're picky, as you say. Anyway, no big label showed us interest yet.
Now you have a new release, demo "II". Please present to our readers what's happening on this demo.
It's a self-released demo CDR with 7 ultra fast and tech Brutal Death Metal songs. Some aggressive music with lot of riffs, breaks, rhythmic changes. It's really brutal: many pure Grindcore fans like us, whereas they usually don't like tech bands. It last around 30 minutes and it gonna make your neighbours crazy!
Where from all this brutality and twisted rhythms? What do you listen to at home that could be considered influences?
Well, our main influences are in Heavy, Thrash, Death, Brutal Death and Black Metal, for sure. But we also love every kinds of Music, as Jazz, Classical, Flamenco, Rock n' roll, Hip Hop, Indian or African Music... There are interesting, technical and fantastic things in every kinds of Music. But in DIKTAT we keep it sick & brutal, so when we write tunes everything fast, oppressive and aggressive inspire us.
How do you plan to promote this new demo? What about distribution?
We actually started promoting it on last year. Alex and me work on it through MySpace, Facebook and snare mail. A lot of fans and friends, like you, help us through their underground activities (zines, radios, compilations...). But the best way to promote a band remains giving shows. About distribution, it's more difficult now than ten years ago, due to internet and downloading, and also to the financial crisis.
How's DIKTAT when it comes to live shows? How are you on stage? Where have you played so far and where are you planing to play in the near future?Giving shows is the part we prefer. That's why we play in a band. It's the moment we let people share in our Music. It's the moment we meet fans, people we're in touch with through the web and also other bands. On stage, we often play it faster and it sounds very brutal. We've played in Belgium and we should go and play to Germany on January 2010.
Why should a metalhead listen to DIKTAT? Why are you listening to DIKTAT?
Because it's fast, brutal and above all because we have spies everywhere who will soon poison every metalhead who doesn't have our stuffs! No joke, because we play what we want to and never follow any stream. We play a technical kind of Brutal Death Metal, but we don't abuse with all these same tapping and sweeping things you can hear in several bands who sound the same way.
Let us know some good upcoming bands from your area that you would recommend.
Well, there are many good Grind/Death bands here. DESECRATOR, PSYCHOBOLIA or AYAKSVOKSOM for example.
Ok Jeremie, I've questioned you a lot so it's time to put an end to this interview. Thanks for your time and wish you all the best with this new demo. Hope to have a next release a bit sooner that 10 years from now. :)
Thank you Adrian and thanx to everyone who read this interview. We'll try not to make you wait overmuch. Thank you for your precious support and help. Stay sick & brutal!
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Interviewed by Adrian
November 2009