Artist: Promethee
Origin: Genf, Switzerland
Genre: Hardcore, Progressive
Label: Lifeforce Records
Link: https://www.facebook.com/prometheemusic and http://www.prometheemusic.com/
Bandmembers:
Vocals – Joshua Orsi
Guitar – Ludovic „Lewis“ Lacroix
Guitar – Elric „Elvis“ Doswald
Bass – Mathieu Tappolet
Drums – Nils Haldi
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
Hello guys, first of all thank you very much for taking your time, answering our questions. Can you first tell me a little bit about the history of Promethee? How did you come together in 2008, and how did you agree upon playing that kind of music?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
Promethee began with Ludo, Elric and Nils who knew each other from school, getting together, jamming with one another and finally starting to write songs. The rest of the band met through concerts and school. We all had an instant connection, which is probably the reason the band is still made up of all its original members.
When it comes to the type of music, I guess at a young age you just want to play the same heavy pissed off music you’re listening to.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
Has this always been your favourite style?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
Like I said, at the beginning we were definitely into the same genre of heavy music. Seven years later that has all changed, we all listen to very different genres and I guess that has pushed us to write music that is a little more personal and less inspired by something we all collectively listen to.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
And what is the meaning, if there is any, behind the band name Promethee? Is it referring to the figure Prometheus from the Greek mythology? And if yes, was there any special reason to choose this figure as a band name?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
If I remember correctly before the band was official, a friend of ours tried out as singer and came up with the name.
At the beginning it didn’t really have any meaning when it came to the band’s lyrical themes or anything of the sort. But surprisingly enough as I started to write more and more I found a certain link between what I was writing down and the existential story that the Greek Mythology tells about Prometheus.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
I have written many reviews for bands that don’t have a record company. You are lucky enough to have one. How did that happen? Did they contact you? And did they ever have any influence on your musical work, or are you free to express yourself?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
Until Unrest came out we’d been doing things completely by ourselves. Producing and releasing all of our music by ourselves with the help from a few friends now and then. But yeah basically totally DIY until now. We are lucky to live in a time where bands can actually succeed within the industry doing it all by themselves.
But what I personally have realised through the years is how fun it is to collaborate with other people on your creative endeavors and that’s what a record label can help do. Of course we are free on an artistic level. The album was all done before Lifeforce Records approached us, and there was no need to change anything musically or aesthetically.
Unrest had been ready to be released for ages and we were all starting to lose hope in finding someone that would be willing to put out the album. We were pretty much at the point on planning to put it out ourselves like we’d been doing from the beginning, even starting up our own label. But thankfully the great people at Lifeforce contacted us saying they were interested and in no time the record was out.
One last thing it that has brought to the band is the people we wanted to start working with immediately started to show much more interest once we were signed, so I guess having a place to call home in the industry still has some weight.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
I have to admit that Unrest is the first album I hear from you, but I will definitely also give a listen to your earlier releases. How did the works for the current album proceed? Do the single band members have specific tasks, like writing lyrics and/or music?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
There is no specific tasks in the writing process, naturally one or two of us come up with the main ideas for all of the songs and then the rest help out while we all jam them together until we have a finished product.
Even lyric-wise on this last album we had Ludo who came up with one of the songs. Until now I had been the only one writing down words but I have always been up for the others suggesting something if they ever wanted.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
Is there any specific concept behind the album and/or can you tell me something about the meaning behind the songs? To me the album title and also the song titles don’t appear to have a positive meaning.
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
The title itself definitely doesn’t evoke much positivity. The main themes surrounding it speak of social turmoil, inner anguish and unease, indifference becoming a norm in our western world and other things along those lines. Lyrically the band has never been very positive, but I believe and can tell you that letting out all the negativity that surrounds us and that is within us can be very uplifting. I feel that is one of the main reasons one would be drawn to this type of music.
But all of that aside the first song on the album Our Common Fall has a very positive message, go check it out!
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
First I have to thank you for your quick reaction to my question for the last song Echoes Of The Universe. Why did you include the speech of Jiddu Krishnamurti in this song?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
We knew we wanted to find a sampled speech to be included during the song. And I had been struggling to find something that really fit the music and the lyrical context. I had started reading and listening to a bunch of Mr Krishnamurti’s work and just decided that the bit of that specific lecture of his simply fitted well and sounded pretty cool.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
I didn’t read other reviews, but I once mentioned the Swiss band Breakdown Of Sanity as reference to your music. What do you think about these comparisons respectively categorisations? Are they both a blessing and a curse? To me especially the categorisations are quite helpful, because they allow me to arrange special playlists…
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
People have recently had a hard time categorising our music and putting into a certain genre, and it actually pleases me that they have such a hard time doing it. Because we have always strived to search for a certain authenticity in our sound without trying to be pretentious.
You will always find something that reminds you of something else in this age of the music industry.
What I also like about not fitting into a certain style is you get to play and tour with a certain variety of bands and that really is awesome.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
You just did the Unrest Tour and will then go for some additional shows. What are your experiences from the past shows and what are your hopes and/or expectations for the upcoming ones? And do you think, there is any difference between the fans in the different countries, or are they all just metalheads?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
The Unrest Tour was a lot of fun. It constituted firstly of a tour with our new friends No Consequence from the UK who are just a killer band on and off the stage. We played all kinds of shows. Some packed, others pretty empty haha. But that’s what you can expect when you visit places for the first time, you try and leave your mark and go back again and again.
We then headed out for a long weekend tour supporting The World Alive and our buddies from Betraying The Martyrs across Germany. All of the shows went really well and we got a great response from every crowd we played for. Definitely a nice surprise since we had no idea what to expect since we haven’t played Germany that much.
Fan-wise we tend to get a little bit of everything. Metalhead or not, young or old etc… we like that about our fans.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
One more question for concerts, because you already shared the stage with many bands from different genres. First of all, how does it feel to meet all these other musicians? And what is the normal procedure for your concerts? Does your record company tell you, when to go on tour and with which other bands?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
It is pretty fulfilling playing with other bands that already have a certain experience under their belt. It definitely comes in helpful when you start touring on a more serious level.
Right now all our show and tour offers go through our manager and then we decide if we want to do them.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
Is any of you guys also engaged in some other bands or projects, maybe also with a completely different kind of music?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
I do vocals in a more hardore punk style of band called Le Grand Mal and Ludo has recently been involved in a garage punk band called Capital Youth.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
The songs are not easy to play and are demanding a certain level of technical skills. Do you have some musical education, or are you self-educated?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
Mostly everybody in the band is self-taught, a few of us have attended some type of musical education.
Time For Metal / Heike L.:
And that’s it for now. Thanks once again. Unfortunately I was not able to attend any show of the Unrest Tour, but I really hope to see you on stage one day, maybe after the release of your next album 😉 Is there anything you would like to tell to your fans and the readers of Time for Metal?
Promethee / Joshua Orsi:
Our second album Unrest is now out on Lifeforce Records and we are really happy with it. Go check it out and we hope you will like it too.
Keep a lookout for any of our shows near you and we look forward to meeting you.
Thank you Time for Metal for your time with us!
Love
PROMETHEE