interview with Gévaudan

What´s the name of your band? Gévaudan.

How was the band formed? The band was formed on 2013 out of a mutual desire to write heavy music.  Bruce and Andy started jamming together in the early days and it was the pretty un-enigmatic approach of putting ads out to find Dave and Adam to complete the lineup.

Can you tell about your band?

We formed through 2013 with a desire to write heavy original music. Our sound blends the heavy riffs and feel of traditional doom with a more modern metal edge.

Gévaudan’s name stems from the French folklore - La Bête du Gévaudan. Like the fearsome historical tale, the band’s set ravages, combining heavy riffage with a ranging vocal style to bring a unique doom experience to their audiences.

We deliver a thundering, high energy live set that gets the most rigid of audiences moving to our heavy groove.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?

Based in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, UK, the lineup is:

Vocals - Adam Pirmohamed

Guitar – Bruce Hamilton

Drums – Dave Himbury

Bass – Andy Salt

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? We just wanted to write bludgeoning, heavy music whilst delivering a solid groove.   Playing  live and recording was always on the agenda but nothing other than enjoying the delivery of our music.

Where was your first gig? The Bear, Bedford – a small alternative type pub that hosts a lot of local live bands.

Where was the latest gig? Our latest gig was Castlefest – The Castle Tavern, Luton.  A day long celebration of heavy music from a plethora of local bands. 

Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? Bruce writes the majority of the riffs in the band, and once the songs are kicked around and structured; Adam will put the lyrics and harmony to them.  Normally we work pretty efficiently from start to finish to carve out something we’re happy with.

What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? We sit firmly in Doom metal, but you can hear stoner and sludge influences in what we do.

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? It’s as simple as we all love Doom.  We also wanted to deliver as crushingly loud and heavy sets as possible. You can only do that with doom. No other genre takes its pound of flesh by the time you reach the end of a set and that’s exactly what we look to do. 

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? All our own material.  We jam the odd cover from time to time but its all about making our own music.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? We are releasing our debut EP on 13 December at Surya, London.  Titled ‘Message for the Damned’ it is reflective of where we are to date stylistically. So far its been met with good feedback which is always really good to hear.

Do you have any clips on YouTube? We  have the one video up presently, the title track to the EP – Message for the Damned - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZFQrwIgqTc

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? We’ve all played in bands previously so are used to treading the stage – mainly as teenagers in various other projects.

What year was the band started? We formed through 2013 and started gigging December that year.

Best/worst gig you've played? We’ve had a lot of good gigs. We played the second biggest free outdoor festival over the summer, at Bedford River Festival.  Before the gig, there’s always an element of trepidation about how you’re going to be received at an event like that.  We were very well received and got quite a lot of good feedback following it. 

What places will you be playing in the imidate future? Our next gigs lined up are Surya, London – 13th December where our EP will be released. There’s some great bands on the bill so well worth checking out.  We then have Club 85, Hitchin in January and the Unicorn, Camden in early February.

Is it always the same songs live? Our EP forms the core of our set over the last 12 months, but in this time we have been writing so it does change.  We have 3 in progress at the moment so expect to be mixing it up a lot more come the new year.

What has been the best/most promising gig so far? We were London Metal to the Masses – road to Bloodstock semi finalists in 2014.  We started the competition with it being our third gig as a band (the second gig was the night before!).

How big crowds do you usually play for? We normally have crowds of around 50 or so.

What are the plans for the rest of the year? Rest of the year will focus on the release of the EP, then what everyone’s having for Christmas dinner.

Where do you usually play? Our most frequented venues are Club 85 in Hitchin, which is a cracking live venue, and Purple Turtle, London. We’re always on the look out for new venues that support local metal and have a few new places in London to play in the new year.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Its good to take influence form across the board.  Much of where doom stems from is Sabbath led, but more modern metal interpretation is key to evolving a sound and aiming to carve out our own unique spot in the industry.

What's the first step when making a new song? The Riff.  Bruce writes the majority of the riffs in the band and its always the starting place.  If it’s a riff that bludgeons or grooves, we’ll use it.  Vocals follow once the structur is set and Adam writes around the mood of the music.

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? A bit sad. Whilst it’s great to have the immediateness of downloads, it’s nice to have an asset when you by music. Understanding the band and album can be a little lost through download, but there are so many channels for bands to communicate that I guess it’s less important these days.  We all enjoy vinyl in the band though – Adam hosts a vinyl review site – and even more so with vinyl is the artwork element associated with the music.  Having a sleeve laid out on the table with some awesome artwork whilst listening to the music is all part of the experience.

What would be your dreams for the band? Currently our goal is to fully establish ourselves in the local metal scene and to then contribute our set to some major UK or European festivals.  Ultimately it would be great to make a living  from our music.

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Our main influences are the likes of Black Sabbath, Goatsnake, Electric Wizard, Eyehategod and Cult of Luna.  We listen  to a broad range of music as a group though from Hendrix, to Emperor, Between the Buried and Me to Saxon. 

What songs and what years were they released?

Message for the Damned is our Debut release.  It’s a three track offering:

1. The Cursed Undead

2. Lament of the North

3. Message for the Damned

Have you been part of any other projects? We’ve all been involved in other projects at some point in our careers and its always been an understood arrangement that anyone in this band is free to participate in side projects etc. 

What would you do if there was no music? Probably just air guitar…..or stare at a wall….

How important are your fans? Hugely important.  We have some great fans who really support the band – just turning up to gigs to support us is amazing, but many of them go above and beyond – helping to set up and pack down, drinks runners, video production, hired goons, band bitch, they’re a great bunch.

How often do you rehearse? We aim to rehearse weekly – whether its writing or rehearsing, we love to play.

Where do you rehearse? We rehearse at Soundarc Studios in Shefford. We also record their, which is where Message for the Damned was recorded and mastered. It’s a really friendly place, and they very much support the local live music scene.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? We’re really enjoying all our material at the moment – if we didn’t, we’d drop it.  The three tracks on the EP are particularly strong and it’s a body of work that we’;re all really proud of.  Limiting it to only two?  Probably  The Cursed Undead and Message for the Damned….. Lament of the North and Burning of the Black Sun are close though.

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Because we love to play music. We enjoy the music we’ve written.  Its always a great night out going to entertain and deliver what we’ve created.  So just for the love of it.

Do you have any webpages? You can find our website at www.gevaudandoom.co.uk.  We’re on most social media sites as well – www.facebook.com/gevaudandoom, www.twitter.com/gevaudandoom, and www.soundcloud.com/gevaudandoom

Describe your show, visually and musically We aim to deliver our music live with conviction and the energy with which we feel from it.  We deliver a heavy, bludgeoning set, with intermittent reprieves of stoner influenced passages.

Tell us about upcoming gigs and why we should be at them? You need to be at our next gig in London as it’s the first opportunity to get your hands on our debut EP.  Its also one hell of a line up I don’t think anyone will be able to walk away without seeing at least two bands they don’t enjoy.  That’s great value for a fiver!

How would you describe your sound in one sentence Heavy riffs and feel of traditional doom with a modern edge to bring a unique doom experience to our audiences.

What is your favorite crappy instrument? Stylophone – its not crappy, it rocks!

Whats your Pre-show ritual? Pre-show rituals vary venue to venue.  There’s normally a bit of warm up time before hand, but mainly we’ll just hang out and watch the other bands on the bill whilst ripping the piss out of each other.  Pretty standard stuff.

Do you have anything to add? Get hold of our EP and play it LOUD!!!!!

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