French coldwave metal band Black Juju Inc recently released their new album “Crosses and Crossroads” which reveal to listeners the discovery of alchemy, the universe that is Black Juju Inc. Combining sludge and doom elements with a raw and gutteral sound, the band have been working hard at a sound that borrows influences from such acts as Fear Factory, Pantera and Prong but with a heavy rock edge along the lines of Alice In Chains. We grabbed a few words from guitarist Yannis Geenens to find out more on the new songs and the band themselves.
How did the new songs on Crosses and Crossroads come together?
Most of the songs were written in the first part of 2016 exept for “Love”, “Green”, “Outside” and “Satan Claus” which were written a long time before. We went at Psykron studio directed by Phil Reinalter, he’s a long time musician who played in different famous metal bands north of France. He decided to build his own studio and we were the first band who recorded there. He is like the 6th member of the Black Juju family! Phil told us to record one by one and not to be together in the studio at the same time, we have a lot of different characters [laughs]. He didn’t just record and mix this album, we asked him to produce it too and after long discussions and tests, he proved to us that we could change our music to pass it to another level. His friend Frederic Motte was the guy who had to master all of this and he did great from his studio in Bordeaux, south of France.
What were some of the things you wanted to achieve with this release?
Try to give a chance to the oldest songs to have the quality they deserve. As I told you, some of the songs are old , they appeared on the EP “Cannibal Fest” but the sound wasn’t so good. We wanted to make a real album that sounds as good as the bands that we’re fans of [laughs].
Also Black Juju inc was a different band 2 years ago, but Gus, the other guitarist, wrote most of the time with 2 guitarist songs and when I came in the band, I definitely wasn’t in the same style , my preferred style is thrash and death metal. This album proved to us that we can mix all of our different influences to make our own music, to me we can hear more unity in the music and in us, the musicians, than the other records before.
Do you enjoy the process of creating? Are you someone who continually writes or does the best come out under a little gentle pressure?
I need a lot of pressure [laughs]. Well I can write a lot of songs in little laps of time but most of the time I just play what I want, sometimes I don’t play our music at all [laughs]. Most of the time Gus (the other guitarist) starts a riff and we follow him, I prefer listening to them and add my ideas, change a chorus or something like that. I’m not very good at starting a composition. We have the chance to have Gus who’s writes a lot of melody and he does it all day of the week and after that the instrumentals are close to being done , Yoyo (our singer) can then start to write his lyrics inspired by the ambience of the songs.
What does it feel like as an artist waiting for the songs you’ve lived with for some time to get released to the fans? Is there a sense of excitement or a little panic in there too?
A lot of excitement! We don’t want to show some things that we’re not proud. If we choose to release a song to people , it’s because we trust it, we love it and we’re sure that is a good thing. To me there isn’t any “fill in song”, we think all of them are the best that we should play for this album. That’s why there is only 8 or 9 songs, we prefer playing 9 good songs than play 15 songs with 5 or 6 medium songs.
How would you compare it to your previous releases?
The sound of this record is a lot better compared to the previous album and EP. We also have more experience than before and you can hear it. We’ve signed with a music label which help us a lot for the distribution, they find us interviews, concerts etc. We also made some video clips for “Gone” and “Dead” and other videos are coming over the next months. Everything is here to make this album more popular than the previous and we hope the next one will be even better!
What were the lyrical themes of the songs?
Yoyo wrote all the lyrics, and all of them were inspired by his own life, his hobby, his experiences etc. “Gone” talks about American football , “Green” his about…well the green plant that a lot of people like [laughs]. “Attractive” have very good lyrics, that talks about his past and his present, the mistakes, the lessons of life and the fact he just wants to be attractive as he says! Everything is a little bit fictionalized to play the “emotion card” but if you listen and try to read behind the lines, the lyrics of this album are very personal.
What were the main inspirations for Crosses and Crossroads?
It was the different favourite bands of every members. We all listen to different things. Jazzy (the drummer) listens to a lot of different music but he likes playing tribal rhythm, Jeff (the bassist) likes the 80’s and 90’s cold wave, but he also likes the heavy industrial music like Rammstein, Yoyo likes metal AND cold wave like Jeff, Gus and me like French hip hop but he likes a lot of the ambiant music of Alice in Chains and Pink Floyd wheras I prefer metal like Yoyo. it’s a real mess! A lot of people say that we sound a bit like Prong, even if some members of Black Juju are fans but I’m not sure if it’s just because of this. Prong have a lot of influences, and maybe we sound like them because we also have lot of influences. Maybe [laughs], I try to create hypothesis when I can [laughs].
Is there a particular favorite track or moment on the album?
It’s very hard to choose ’cause we love all of it. Personally I should say the chorus of “Attractive” ’cause you start from a soft cold wave guitar and suddenly you can hear strong guitars coming from far away until they take most of the place! You can also add the 2 voices singing different melody and the ambience is just fantastic!
Did you imagine how these songs would play out in a live situation?
Yes we wanted to played the songs the most close to a live version, but Phil our producer taught us that the quality of a studio recording is also to search for a good mix to have the greatest sound as possible, with a lot of different guitar tracks. For example, he added some violin in “Outside” to put the melody as deep as possible. Him and us made a good balance because we want to sound natural as possible and don’t go everywhere, keep the direction of the songs, but it’s true that an album has to be worked and perfected!
What can people expect at a live Black Juju Inc show?
Energy! Haha it’s a very basic answer but it’s true, who want to make the people feel our excitment , our joys and all the feelings that we pour out during the show. We want to be more close to the public than to be impressive or distant. We run in the pit with our guitar and we run on the stage under a a dominant green light. That’s how we like to play for the people!
How do you pick out a setlist and is that a difficult process?
Well, the difficulty was to insert some songs of the first album, there is a lot of very good songs that we don’t want to put away. And we try to put the slow songs at different places in the setlist to follow the tempo of the show and not just break it. Also we start the show with the songs that starts the new album, I think it’s the most obvious thing.
What is your favorite song to play live?
I love to play “Dead”! It’s so powerful, I love the way that Gus and me are moving together during this song! And during the chorus I’m always like, wait it sounds like an orchestra and we’re just playing guitar, so cool! I also like to play “Love” for the same reasons .
Who are some of your main influences?
We all have different influences, Jazzy loves Portishead and Judas Priest, Jeff loves Rammstein and the cold wave , Yoyo loves Kiss, Alice Cooper, Korn, Prong. Gus loves Alice In Chains, Pink Floyd and I love Megadeth, Metallica and Suicidal Tendencies. And some members don’t at all like some bands that other members love [laughs], but we try to mix our influences and make a good vibe with this.
If you could be a fly on the wall for the recording of any album in history, what album would it be?
Personally, definitely “Master Of Puppets”. I love Metallica and this album is just amazing! “Kill’ Em all” was recorded by youngs guys who wanted to record an album, even if it was a revolution in the music, that was just the fact. “Ride the Lightning” was recorded in a strange way , particularly “Escape” and “Trapped Under Ice”. “Master Of Puppets” is a masterpiece, in the room you’ve got 4 youngs guuys but who already have experiences. It’s not there first shot and they play very difficult music, I think it should be a big lesson of music.
The new album “Crosses and Crossroads” is available on all major digital platforms and on the webstore of Music-Records.
