Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.16 08/97)
excerpts from an interview with Jan-Luc Payssan (Guitar, Vocals)
Well, old progressive bands certainly had a great influence upon us. Yes, Camel, but also Gentle Giant and more jazz-orientated bands like Hatfield And The North, or french band Magma. We are not fans of bands like Marillion, because I think progressive music was much more creative in the 70's. Meanwhile, we listen to many kinds of music. It's very important, because, as musicians and composers, we have to keep open ears, not staying locked just in the progressive field. We have deep relations with celtic and early music. Thierry, our keyboarder, and I have a strange familiarity with medieval music from the 13th, 14th and 15th century: french composers like Guillaume de Machaut, Guillaume Dufay, Josquin Des Prés and many others. Sometimes we say, with a joke, that the both of us certainly lived during this period, in another life! We're also interested in baroque music from the 17th and 18th century: Händel, Bach, Lully, Charpentier and above all Claudio Monteverdi, who was a real genius. Bassist Eric Rebeyrol is more jazz rock orientated e.g. Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, drummer Charly Bern is a fan of Yes and King Crimson, Sonia and Jean-Baptiste listen to any kind of music: classic, pop, rock, modern jazz. As a guitarist, I have a sincere admiration for Steve Hackett, Pat Metheny or brazilian acoustic guitarist Egberto Gismonti. Anyway, any creative music can inspire a musician, and feed its own music, especially when you pretend to be progressive. But the real challenge is to develop your personal sphere, and quite honestly I think that Minimum Vital have now reach their own style.
When comparing your current album "Esprit d'Amor" with the predecessor "La Source", it's obvious that since singer Sonia Nedelec has entered the band, you've put more emphasis on the singing, in comparison to the almost pure instrumental music you've done before. Was this a logical development?
It was a logical development. Sonia and Jean-Baptiste are good singers, so it was interesting to take this opportunity, having a lot of singing in "Esprit d'Amor". We wanted to explore the vocal side of our music, what we never really did before. Moreover, I think vocals gives a fresh and luminous feeling to Minimum Vital's music. For this album, we worked very hard to create beautiful and deep melodies, that you can have pleasure to sing and listen to, without being comercial, you know what I mean! It was a big challenge for the band, and I think we managed to record a beautiful album, in fact, the best album we ever made, to my opinion. But instrumental parts are still very improtant for us, and, in fact, we often use vocals as an instrument, as in "Song a Cinq" for example.
Taking a look at the lyrics, they are a special mixture of several languages. Why did you choose this unique way to express your thoughts?
That's an important question, thank you! As I said, we have a french and european culture, but we also feel citizen of the world. That's the reason, why, just from the beginning, we didn't want to sing in french or in english. So, we decided to create our own language, which is based on strange sounds coming from many countries: italian, spanish, portuguese, old french dialects, and sometimes totaly imaginary words. In our mind, it's a kind of new esperanto, a non-meaning, but purely poetic language anybody can feel, we hope, with its own sensibility. It's fiting very well with the muisc and it gives us, I would say, a universal sound.
Your music combined with the vocals sounds very positive. What do you try to express?
Well, for Minimum Vital playing and composing is a joy, a very deep, spiritual joy and we simply want to share this feeling. In fact, I think we are searching a kind of light behind the music, something higher, a better world, maybe. We want to open doors, and for us, music can make you grow, in a spiritual point of view.
When taking a look back to all the albums you released until now, which kind of feelings do come in your mind and what do to they mean personally to you?
"Envol Triangle" was recorded in 1984, we were only 20 years old and had no experience of recording techniques, the sound engineer included! Musically, we were interested in jazz at that time. We wanted to create a kind of symphonic jazz-rock. Now I think the music is too rich, too complex, it's lacking of melodies. We were in the New Wave period and we wanted to sound as complex and technical as possible, in reaction to the 80's. "Les Saisons Marines" was recorded in 1987. In our mind, it was a more romantic and epic album, with a lot of atmospheres, close to progressive rock. I think we began to reach our own typical style in a track like "La Tour Haute". I'm not satisfied with the playing and the sound on the album. We had a new drummer, Christophe Godet, and were lacking of stage experience with him. The band plays now tracks from "Les Saisons Marines" on stage much better and with more energy than in the studio at that time. "Sarabandes" was recorded at the end of 1989 and beginning of 1990. This is a very important album for Minimum Vital, the first record we are really satisfied with. We changed our sound engineer, we had played a lot on stage the year before. We had many creative and happy moments in the studio, that was built near an old castle. On this record, we really kept the alchemy of Minimum Vital, a mixing of different styles: medieval music, jazz-rock and epic progressive rock, with lyrical melodies. I think we reached an interesting balance with spiritual feeling, like the gregorian-like vocal parts at the end of "Hymne et Danse" for example and moments of electric madness like the final part of "Sarabandes No II". On "Sarabandes" we also recorded what I think is the most adventurous track we ever made: a strange composition called "Cantiga De Santa Maria", a tribute to the spanish troubador Alfonso El Sabio, who lived in the 12th century. And the track "Le Chant Du Monde" became Minimum Vital's favorite on stage! In 1993, with "La Source", we tried to explore the vocal and religious side of our music. I sang a lot of the vocal parts, with some help of english feminine singer Jacki Whitren. But I'm more a guitarist than a singer, and I felt not very well with the vocals. It was an ambitious album, but we made some mistakes in the production, I think. We wanted a modern, clean and electronic sound. We used a lot of machines and computers in the studio, that's why the drums are electronic drums, and it was not a good idea! Meanwhile, this is an important recording for Minimum Vital, because we began to use our special vocal language in it. Some melodies and arrangements are nice, I think the album contains good compositions, even some emotional moments in "La Source" or "An Dey Floh", for example. In 1994, we got new drummer Charly Berna and singer Sonia Nedelec, joined very soon by Jean-Baptiste Ferracci. We had a very happy and creative period, playing live and recording "Esprit d'Amor". I'm now totaly satisfied with this new band.
In 1996 you played at the Art Rock Festival in Rio together with Bacamarte, Sagrado and Solaris. How was it to play in Brazil and which impressions did you take home?
We loved playing in Brazil, which is for every european, a very attractive country, full of colours, contrasts, sounds and music. It's strange, because we composed a tribut to Brazil on the new album called "Brazilian Light", long before going there! French musicians playing for brazilian people was an interesting meeting of cultures, and the proof that progressive rock is an universal music. The Rio festival was a very special moment for every band. I remember Sagrado made a very good performance. We played in front of 3.000 people, with new drummer Didier Ottaviani, who replaced Charly who couldn't come and we had a second concert the next day in small town called Macaé. We received incredible response from the both audiences. People were very kind, grateful. A lot of them want to talk with us after the show, taking pictures of the band, or inviting us to their homes! It was very nice.
Talking about your extended live experiences. What kind of reactions did you receive from the audiences so far?
We never received bad reactions in concerts, because we often play in front of progressive fans. In every place, people are generally surprised and curious, specailly about our language. They hear their own words, their own story, listening to the lyrics: spanish people say "It's nice, you sing in spanish!", brazilian people say "Hey, it's great! You use portuguese in your vocals!", and others "Why do you sing in latin?" As you see, we are kind of universal band!
All in all, how important is it for you to play live?
It's vital for us! It keeps the band alive and strong. As a progressive band, we can't of course have as many dates as a commercial pop band. But we try to have 6 to 10 dates a year, in excellent conditions, e.g. stage, light, sound and so on.
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 1997