All Interviews
Mumakil
Jéjé of Mumakil
Posted on Nov 10, 2005
by Johell
To have a talk with Jéjé (Jérome) is always a lot of fun and interesting as well. A few days before Mumakil was ready to hit the road, I met him at a Pub here in Geneva and after a couple of beers, we went down to their very own lair where they recorded their first demo to talk about Mumakil's future and so on. This band is incredible, full of grinding power and they are all cool guys ready to make your ears bleed... so beware out there... Enjoy!
Ok, Jéjé can you introduce the band to us?
We're all from Geneva, though our drummer comes from Nyon (30 km from Geneva). Our bassist Taverne who also plays in Knut and me, Jérome (Ex-Nostromo) are old crabs over 30 years old. We are now playing with younger musicians, who show us how to play rock n' roll, haha. Those 2 are Thomas, who also sings in Stump Fucking and Sebastien (Seb), who also drums in Deceit.
So, you told me that you're now into progressive grind, what is that?
Yes, we play progressive grind, and have done that on 4-5 tracks now, because we have decided to make songs longer than a minute, that's from where it comes. Actually, it seems like we play grindcore, when you listen to it, but we have decided not to be stuck on any kind of fast music. If we want to play something completely different, we don't care, we will just do it.
Can you tell where and when you recorded your demo?
Right here in my studio, I don't even remember when. It was during last summer, in a weekend. We have a rehearsal place and my studio is right next to it. From there we can record our rehearsals and work on them afterwards, that are how we make our demos.
Is Mumakil a serious project or just a band that you are having fun with?
Hmm, what can to say…? In the beginning the spirit was that we did it for fun. I believe that everybody in the band still want to have it like that. We are aware of, that we in less than a year made a demo and released it, and now we are having a tour coming up. We didn't do much, it more or less just fell into our arms. If we look at these elements it's a bit less for fun, than what we were thinking of making it in the start. This said, if we can keep the same spirit and stay as dumb as we are, our goal is reached. (noise in the background)… That was a shit coming down from the 4th floor, haha…
Stump Fucking and Knut will release new albums, I believe Deceit as well?
Yes, they will be out later this year. I recorded a 4 track demo with Deceit, which should be out, I don't really know when, but they should get it out soon because what they've recorded is damn good.
How do you manage to get everything coordinated, thinking of you all being a part of other bands, that all are touring and recording?
I haven't thought about that question. To me, a band has not to be a handicap or a source of mind-blowing troubles, it has to be rock n' roll. If it works like that it's great and if it doesn't, well, it's not that important. If it works better for our side projects, fair enough.
And what about Nostromo? Have the band reached its final point?
Oh yes, yes. Not only for me, we haven't done anything in a while now. We acted a bit like teenagers when Nostromo ended. Maybe it was our destiny. Maybe it will change in a not too distant future, I hope. We'll see…
You are now ready for your first Mumakil tour. Fifteen dates around Europe.
14 gigs in 15 days.
So, where will you play? Just to make us salivate.
Mainly in France, at Le Mans, St-Etienne… well just drop by our website, it's written there. We will hit France, Switzerland and England, so we can drink good beers over there. It's going to be a lot of fun and we will be on the road with our friends of Lost Sphere Project. They booked all dates and have used much time to organize it all, they've put a lot of energy to give birth to this tour. Thanks to them, thanks dear colleagues. And by the way, we have absolutely no money so everybody will have to participate financially, because it costs very much to be out on tour. We're also thinking about a post tour support night, so we can get some cash back, because everybody knows that you can't live on rock n' roll.
What about Lost Sphere Project, will they release something new?
They will have a new release soon, though I think they only have to record the vocals or something like that. They will have an older demo with them on tour.
In Mumakil you have really funny titles and unusual ones as well. Are the lyrics in a way related to them?
No, because we have no lyrics at all. We are lucky to have a singer who is a rhythmic beast and he does what he wants when he wants. He gets new ideas all the time. Usually, once we have recorded the songs, we discover the lyrics and that's from where we entitles our tracks. We always have a good laugh at them.
So as Thomas told me once, you have yoghurt lyrics?
Yes, it's pure yoghurt, 100% pure fat.
From where do you get inspiration?
I don't know? Taverne and me have wanted to grind for a long time now, it happened when Nostromo was a bit down. So we played together and then joined Seb and Thomas. We played more and more and it came about to be a real blasting thing without thinking too much. As our other bands have many difficult parts of this and that, it's the opposite with Mumakil, we don't give shit and just play A-B-A-B and we end our tracks with full speed. There is a very exultant feeling in Mumakil, much more than in our respective bands… well, I talk for myself now.
I don't think that I need inspiration to play music. Music is another alphabet. It's a language where I can say things that I can't express myself with in French. I don't even play to create. I play because I want to say things. Sometimes it sounds like shit and other times it comes out as cool tracks. Of course some of the things that happen in life, will influence the way of composing, but I don't think it's conscious or something intellectual. Music is a re-transcription of words in a more intelligent way.
During this tour, will you record the shows for a future DVD release?
We have already recorded some things. Seb our drummer is some kind of, how to say, an obsessesive compulsive data archiver… I see it like that, because he's always with his camera. We already have some cool things archived which means, that we might put them out on our website one day.
Will it be published on your website or as a bonus CD one day?
Oh , no, no, first we have to lay out an album and we're still far from that. I really want to play rock n' roll music and then we might think about the rest someday.
Will you have 29 tracks on your setlist?
Yep, we have 29 tracks, we do have more tracks though, but we feel that they are weaker in a way or do not fit on stage or even pisses us off, due to us having played them too many times. So, we have a 45 minutes set with 29 tracks.
A good grindcore set, even if it's not 72 songs...
72, that would mean to play shorter tracks. We play progressive-grind. I think that the people, or even me, wouldn't have a need for more than 45 minutes of grind straight to the face, after that a pause is needed.
You recorded the entire demo by yourself, will you continue that way?
Oh yes, we will do everything by ourselves. We have started in the spirit "do-it-yourself", and we'll continue in that direction. We have made our demo, we do our t-Shirts and we sort out things by ourselves.
At the first gig you played, when you opened for Nasum, was it Rodrigue that played some movie samples?
No, it was Didier who was Mr. Sampler.
Was it a one time thing for that gig only?
No, actually we had talked about it before. Didier would come and throw some samples. We did that for some times, then we thought that we had too many samples in between each 3-4 tracks, it just broke the thing too much. We'll have to work this out later. I liked that idea, but I think we can do it better.
As we mentioned before, you also have a really cool website...
Yes, www.mumakil.ch. It's Jean-Louis, the singer of Deceit who did it, it's real class. He came one day and said: "Hello guys, I've made a website for you, feel free to check it out”. And we checked. Have you seen that fucking site? It's terribly good! Haha.
Do you often go on the site?
No, personally, internet scares me. I don't communicate by e-mail, but when I go and check the site, I'm glad because I see that many people use it and leave us incredible and funny things, which always make me laugh. It's also very aesthetic, I really enjoy the flame that walks along the cursor. It's killer.
Go and b…
Go and don't buy our demo… you can download it for free! Haha.
Are you soon going to make t-shirts?
Yes, the t-Shirts… I will iron them in half an hour so we'll have some on tour with us. If we sell them all we might do new ones. They might be on our website sooner or later as well.
After the tour, I believe you will record something?
That's right. After this tour we'll have to finish some tracks and lay down new ones, then go through them and pick the ones that will end on the album. I really would like 45 minutes of pure blasting. I'm not sure if we'll put all the tracks from our demo on our next release, maybe 1 or 2 that we'll rework a bit so they will sound fresher, that could be nice. We can't fool people out there.
And you told me that next year you're planning a Scandinavian tour?
Yes, it seems that we have a plan for next spring with our good old mates of Blockheads. A french grind band which will come out with a new album soon. I just heard it and it's simply war, a great album. We are lucky to come with them because we're good friends and they also like what we do. So, we will come up to Scandinavia with them and Sayadinaa, the project of the bass player in Nasum. I really hope it will go through so we can come and blast in the north.
Ok, just for fun… Can you give me 3 Danish bands?
Illdisposed? oh fuck, Danish bands… shit, I don't have any right now. I will pass for an idiot. Thomas, he knows it all, but me?! I'm a real shit in that. I don't know anything, haha.
Well, we already know that… 3 Swedish bands then?
Nasum, Abba, Meshuggah, Burst, Sayadinaa, voilà !
That's cool… and 3 Norwegian ones?
Norwegian, what's that? Is Mayhem Norwegian?
Yes, they are Norwegian…Do you like them?
Yes, it blasts to death. Then to know what they think, I really don't care. Otherwise, other Norwegian bands, well, I'm sure I know many of them but I don't know if the ones I'm thinking of really are from there.
Give some names…
The 2 ones there, haha… Immortal, are they Norwegian?
Yep, but they have split up for the moment, haha…
Hmmm. Norwegian, fuck. I know Kent as well, but that's Swedish, it's funny fresh-pop.
And Finland then?
I'm even worse there…I can't tell you.
Rotten Sound for example…
Rotten Sound are they from Finland??? (Demon Laugh) Oh shit, I'm really sorry.
There are so many bands with corpse paint and heavy weights on their back as well, but I can't give you any names. I don't know.
Yes, plenty of groups that's true… maybe Finntroll rings a bell?
I've seen those losers. They made me die laughing, it's real killer!
If you had to be alone on an Island which 5 albums would you take with you?
Morbid Angel "Domination", Meshuggah "Destroy Erase Improve", Mastodon "Leviathan", Brutal Truth "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" and Carcass "Reek Of Putrefaction", because this one is an obligatory one!
True that's a killer one. Good list you have!
Only fast blasting albums.
Do you listen to other things?
Fresh things, some pop, some stupid electronics or things like Scorn or Massive Attack and Mad Professor.
What's the last album you liked?
Oh shit, I don't listen to music… The last one I liked? I don't know. It's been a long time since I've heard something that really kicks ass… I always listen to the same old tracks. Ah yes, I'm really looking forward the next KNUT! That's the last one I listened to.
Have you seen a cool film lately?
A cool film? Don't know… the last one was "Hellboy". For a Marvel Comic trip, it was damn cool. I liked the part when the demon was grating down his horns so he could integrate well into the society… so cool, haha.
It was cool doing this interview with you, thank you very much Jéjé!
Thanks to you dude!
We're all from Geneva, though our drummer comes from Nyon (30 km from Geneva). Our bassist Taverne who also plays in Knut and me, Jérome (Ex-Nostromo) are old crabs over 30 years old. We are now playing with younger musicians, who show us how to play rock n' roll, haha. Those 2 are Thomas, who also sings in Stump Fucking and Sebastien (Seb), who also drums in Deceit.
So, you told me that you're now into progressive grind, what is that?
Yes, we play progressive grind, and have done that on 4-5 tracks now, because we have decided to make songs longer than a minute, that's from where it comes. Actually, it seems like we play grindcore, when you listen to it, but we have decided not to be stuck on any kind of fast music. If we want to play something completely different, we don't care, we will just do it.
Can you tell where and when you recorded your demo?
Right here in my studio, I don't even remember when. It was during last summer, in a weekend. We have a rehearsal place and my studio is right next to it. From there we can record our rehearsals and work on them afterwards, that are how we make our demos.
Is Mumakil a serious project or just a band that you are having fun with?
Hmm, what can to say…? In the beginning the spirit was that we did it for fun. I believe that everybody in the band still want to have it like that. We are aware of, that we in less than a year made a demo and released it, and now we are having a tour coming up. We didn't do much, it more or less just fell into our arms. If we look at these elements it's a bit less for fun, than what we were thinking of making it in the start. This said, if we can keep the same spirit and stay as dumb as we are, our goal is reached. (noise in the background)… That was a shit coming down from the 4th floor, haha…
Stump Fucking and Knut will release new albums, I believe Deceit as well?
Yes, they will be out later this year. I recorded a 4 track demo with Deceit, which should be out, I don't really know when, but they should get it out soon because what they've recorded is damn good.
How do you manage to get everything coordinated, thinking of you all being a part of other bands, that all are touring and recording?
I haven't thought about that question. To me, a band has not to be a handicap or a source of mind-blowing troubles, it has to be rock n' roll. If it works like that it's great and if it doesn't, well, it's not that important. If it works better for our side projects, fair enough.
And what about Nostromo? Have the band reached its final point?
Oh yes, yes. Not only for me, we haven't done anything in a while now. We acted a bit like teenagers when Nostromo ended. Maybe it was our destiny. Maybe it will change in a not too distant future, I hope. We'll see…
You are now ready for your first Mumakil tour. Fifteen dates around Europe.
14 gigs in 15 days.
So, where will you play? Just to make us salivate.
Mainly in France, at Le Mans, St-Etienne… well just drop by our website, it's written there. We will hit France, Switzerland and England, so we can drink good beers over there. It's going to be a lot of fun and we will be on the road with our friends of Lost Sphere Project. They booked all dates and have used much time to organize it all, they've put a lot of energy to give birth to this tour. Thanks to them, thanks dear colleagues. And by the way, we have absolutely no money so everybody will have to participate financially, because it costs very much to be out on tour. We're also thinking about a post tour support night, so we can get some cash back, because everybody knows that you can't live on rock n' roll.
What about Lost Sphere Project, will they release something new?
They will have a new release soon, though I think they only have to record the vocals or something like that. They will have an older demo with them on tour.
In Mumakil you have really funny titles and unusual ones as well. Are the lyrics in a way related to them?
No, because we have no lyrics at all. We are lucky to have a singer who is a rhythmic beast and he does what he wants when he wants. He gets new ideas all the time. Usually, once we have recorded the songs, we discover the lyrics and that's from where we entitles our tracks. We always have a good laugh at them.
So as Thomas told me once, you have yoghurt lyrics?
Yes, it's pure yoghurt, 100% pure fat.
From where do you get inspiration?
I don't know? Taverne and me have wanted to grind for a long time now, it happened when Nostromo was a bit down. So we played together and then joined Seb and Thomas. We played more and more and it came about to be a real blasting thing without thinking too much. As our other bands have many difficult parts of this and that, it's the opposite with Mumakil, we don't give shit and just play A-B-A-B and we end our tracks with full speed. There is a very exultant feeling in Mumakil, much more than in our respective bands… well, I talk for myself now.
I don't think that I need inspiration to play music. Music is another alphabet. It's a language where I can say things that I can't express myself with in French. I don't even play to create. I play because I want to say things. Sometimes it sounds like shit and other times it comes out as cool tracks. Of course some of the things that happen in life, will influence the way of composing, but I don't think it's conscious or something intellectual. Music is a re-transcription of words in a more intelligent way.
During this tour, will you record the shows for a future DVD release?
We have already recorded some things. Seb our drummer is some kind of, how to say, an obsessesive compulsive data archiver… I see it like that, because he's always with his camera. We already have some cool things archived which means, that we might put them out on our website one day.
Will it be published on your website or as a bonus CD one day?
Oh , no, no, first we have to lay out an album and we're still far from that. I really want to play rock n' roll music and then we might think about the rest someday.
Will you have 29 tracks on your setlist?
Yep, we have 29 tracks, we do have more tracks though, but we feel that they are weaker in a way or do not fit on stage or even pisses us off, due to us having played them too many times. So, we have a 45 minutes set with 29 tracks.
A good grindcore set, even if it's not 72 songs...
72, that would mean to play shorter tracks. We play progressive-grind. I think that the people, or even me, wouldn't have a need for more than 45 minutes of grind straight to the face, after that a pause is needed.
You recorded the entire demo by yourself, will you continue that way?
Oh yes, we will do everything by ourselves. We have started in the spirit "do-it-yourself", and we'll continue in that direction. We have made our demo, we do our t-Shirts and we sort out things by ourselves.
At the first gig you played, when you opened for Nasum, was it Rodrigue that played some movie samples?
No, it was Didier who was Mr. Sampler.
Was it a one time thing for that gig only?
No, actually we had talked about it before. Didier would come and throw some samples. We did that for some times, then we thought that we had too many samples in between each 3-4 tracks, it just broke the thing too much. We'll have to work this out later. I liked that idea, but I think we can do it better.
As we mentioned before, you also have a really cool website...
Yes, www.mumakil.ch. It's Jean-Louis, the singer of Deceit who did it, it's real class. He came one day and said: "Hello guys, I've made a website for you, feel free to check it out”. And we checked. Have you seen that fucking site? It's terribly good! Haha.
Do you often go on the site?
No, personally, internet scares me. I don't communicate by e-mail, but when I go and check the site, I'm glad because I see that many people use it and leave us incredible and funny things, which always make me laugh. It's also very aesthetic, I really enjoy the flame that walks along the cursor. It's killer.
Go and b…
Go and don't buy our demo… you can download it for free! Haha.
Are you soon going to make t-shirts?
Yes, the t-Shirts… I will iron them in half an hour so we'll have some on tour with us. If we sell them all we might do new ones. They might be on our website sooner or later as well.
After the tour, I believe you will record something?
That's right. After this tour we'll have to finish some tracks and lay down new ones, then go through them and pick the ones that will end on the album. I really would like 45 minutes of pure blasting. I'm not sure if we'll put all the tracks from our demo on our next release, maybe 1 or 2 that we'll rework a bit so they will sound fresher, that could be nice. We can't fool people out there.
And you told me that next year you're planning a Scandinavian tour?
Yes, it seems that we have a plan for next spring with our good old mates of Blockheads. A french grind band which will come out with a new album soon. I just heard it and it's simply war, a great album. We are lucky to come with them because we're good friends and they also like what we do. So, we will come up to Scandinavia with them and Sayadinaa, the project of the bass player in Nasum. I really hope it will go through so we can come and blast in the north.
Ok, just for fun… Can you give me 3 Danish bands?
Illdisposed? oh fuck, Danish bands… shit, I don't have any right now. I will pass for an idiot. Thomas, he knows it all, but me?! I'm a real shit in that. I don't know anything, haha.
Well, we already know that… 3 Swedish bands then?
Nasum, Abba, Meshuggah, Burst, Sayadinaa, voilà !
That's cool… and 3 Norwegian ones?
Norwegian, what's that? Is Mayhem Norwegian?
Yes, they are Norwegian…Do you like them?
Yes, it blasts to death. Then to know what they think, I really don't care. Otherwise, other Norwegian bands, well, I'm sure I know many of them but I don't know if the ones I'm thinking of really are from there.
Give some names…
The 2 ones there, haha… Immortal, are they Norwegian?
Yep, but they have split up for the moment, haha…
Hmmm. Norwegian, fuck. I know Kent as well, but that's Swedish, it's funny fresh-pop.
And Finland then?
I'm even worse there…I can't tell you.
Rotten Sound for example…
Rotten Sound are they from Finland??? (Demon Laugh) Oh shit, I'm really sorry.
There are so many bands with corpse paint and heavy weights on their back as well, but I can't give you any names. I don't know.
Yes, plenty of groups that's true… maybe Finntroll rings a bell?
I've seen those losers. They made me die laughing, it's real killer!
If you had to be alone on an Island which 5 albums would you take with you?
Morbid Angel "Domination", Meshuggah "Destroy Erase Improve", Mastodon "Leviathan", Brutal Truth "Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses" and Carcass "Reek Of Putrefaction", because this one is an obligatory one!
True that's a killer one. Good list you have!
Only fast blasting albums.
Do you listen to other things?
Fresh things, some pop, some stupid electronics or things like Scorn or Massive Attack and Mad Professor.
What's the last album you liked?
Oh shit, I don't listen to music… The last one I liked? I don't know. It's been a long time since I've heard something that really kicks ass… I always listen to the same old tracks. Ah yes, I'm really looking forward the next KNUT! That's the last one I listened to.
Have you seen a cool film lately?
A cool film? Don't know… the last one was "Hellboy". For a Marvel Comic trip, it was damn cool. I liked the part when the demon was grating down his horns so he could integrate well into the society… so cool, haha.
It was cool doing this interview with you, thank you very much Jéjé!
Thanks to you dude!
Mumakil website
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