Magma - Disc Instruments International n ° 111 / February 1989

From our friend Akoustikus. Google translation below.

OF LOVE AND MUSIC

A video, a tour for January-February, and finally the release of his new and surprising album "To Love", Christian Vander start year 89 on wheel covers, much water has flowed under the bridge since the output of "Magma", but the fire that burns in the heart of Vander remained intact, and "To Love" is proof.

Let's talk about the release of your new LP "To Love". There are pieces in the simplest form, that is to say, piano / voice.
CV: In reality, all the music of Magma was made from piano and voice. Except that some arrangements were made in groups I sang each of the games played. But this time I sang when it suited me, in the sense that I was composing at the piano and sang, but I never really assumed the function of singing on stage for 2 or 3 hours, n ' is not quite the same.

Throughout your career, we could see you move progressively from the battery to the piano and singing, is what this disc is in this as an achievement for you?
CV: For me, I would say it's probably one of the few discs that I listen. This is the first time that I can be expressive in terms of what I wanted to convey. I think people who have listened to the disc, generally received what I wanted to. This is what's important to be interpreted correctly.

The disc was made very simply. It was recorded live since I recorded piano and voice simultaneously. But the level of achievement, it should not be like before, that is, compose a melody that you find in a certain state, arrived in the studio and simply return the notes, but there is no more life.

In fact, I think in the studio, he must put the same thing until you've made, plus the fact that the song has certainly matured, so you get the best plan. But there is still much risk that I took singing. There was the adventure possible. I restored the melody but sometimes I could not say this note here because I thought it was and whether it? I kept opening, so that sometimes, you know, it's on a tightrope! That's life too!

"To Love" bears a dedication to a lost friend?
CV : Yes it is a very dear friend who disappeared last year, Jean-Paul Fennetau. He had done many covers for Magma. I wrote all these songs for him, and even if I did certain things before, I believe there is not a note that I sang without really thinking to him. The album is dedicated to him, but to all people at heart.

A videotape which bears the title "One man, one farm" should be out soon, can you enlighten us about its contents?
CV : I tried that this is not a demo tape and put the heart. Today, the drummers were often a big technique, but things are flat with a rather closed I found, which corresponds to music that is requested but especially by the studios in fact. A drummer who has touched a real acoustic drums, he did not want to caulk. I therefore appeal to people who already know how to make a choice. You're not going to ask me to play on a drum machine, even if it can playfully me to extend, in the background, I chose the skin you see, this is not the same. There is an initial choice.

Is this a video designed for school use?
CV : To me, this is not an instructional tape. The battery was a kind of excuse to talk about music. I think a saxophonist, a pianist, trumpeter, any musician should pass through the rhythm before playing a note.

You'll start a tour in early January which must pass through England, although you walk there?
CV : Certainly, there was unfortunately no opportunity to go often to play in England.

Have you felt a difference between public French and English public?
CV : In general the French public is less spontaneous, he too intellectualizing things even music. This is serious. It's hard to feel directly, he said, "that must be it" but he looks forward to speak. The spontaneous reactions are exceedingly rare.

That too in the head.
CV : Yes, each note is really bad for a musician. You can not even take a walk without getting very bad stomach pains! The rest is not music. Each note should be taken with pain. Here, you can burn.

How do you work in rehearsal?
CV : We work together as much as possible, to be as close as possible to each other. At that time, more people are close, the more we can afford improvisation. It is when people do not know enough. Both in life in music that one is obliged to prepare things that are sometimes too personal. What I want to leave, it is both an element of freedom and openness.

And specifically, how does it work?
CV : There is a theme I explain the mood harmonic patterns on which I work, I try to keep the chosen color, and then mixes these notes, they sing.

Are you still loyal to Gretsch?
CV : I never touched by Stradivarius, but for me Gretsch is the Stradivarius of the battery

It is important to you the stage?
CV : We need to "expose". This is not in line with the public is to "expose themselves living," offering something immediately, whether music or something else, everyone has their area. But it must be true as soon as possible.

For the moment what matters the most is to win as quickly as possible.

You're racing with time then?
CV : Absolutely, because I am still at odds with past mistakes that I've been committed to music, performances, and now I want to tighten it to just be here today.

Further welcome the timely initiative of Seventh Records has decided to reveal all the discs in Magma CD, "Magma", "1001 degrees centigrade," Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh "and" Köhntarkösz "are already available.

Interview by Jacky Harrar
Disc Instruments International n ° 111 / February 1989