Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

Have any of you played in other bands?

Tony: In the past, I’ve played in Now Lëdge (some kind of early version of Qantice), Mindrage (heavy/trash), Tornaod (Celtic Rock), and I’m still a member of Naheulband (parodic medieval/fantasy folk) and Belyscendre (medieval renaissance folk)

Yosh: I’m also playing in a string quartet and two orchestras.

Aurélien: Yes, many past projects in various styles! Right now, I am also helping out Gorgon (Symphonic Death Metal) for their upcoming shows.

David: I sang in Moonlight Agony many years ago. I also do live vocals for Celestial Decay and contribute vocals for other projects, like the Aldaria Metal Opera.

Christine : Yes!  I'm also part of Brain Collapse (tech death metal), I've been working on stage or recording for  solo guitarists (Jean Fontanille, Hans Van Even, Romain Berger) . I'm also currently playing in an obscure black metal band ...

How is it that you started playing music?

Yosh: My father made me start violin lessons when I was three years old.

Tony: Around eighteen, I was offered an acoustic guitar, and I immediately wanted to do Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Malmsteen covers, and I soon started to compose my own songs.

Aurélien: Musical family and a primordial urge to bang on stuff!

David: I started out on the trumpet in public music school when I was nine, then I started to play bass and piano at 11-12 and started to sing when I was about 15. I started my first band with my friend when I was 13.

Christine : I started to play the classical guitar when I was seven, my parents are both classical guitar teachers so there's nothing exceptional, I'm just following the path! (going further I hope hehe)

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?

Aurélien: I play the drums and I am 28.

David: I sing and I'm 30.

Christine : I play the bass and I'm 34

Yosh: I play violin and I’m 36

Tony: I’m Tony Beaufils and I play electric+acoustic guitar and banjo. And I’m too old to say. Ahah.

Have you had other previous members? Tony: Yes, there’s been the drummer Ephrem Charmois, a long time ago, a bass player named Fred Charpentier for a short time, and two singers: Vince and PelleK.

Did you make music even when you were young?

David: A lot of punk/rock n roll/metal songs with the bands I was in.

Christine : A lot of classical guitar

Tony: No. I only enjoyed whistling random melodies, but I don’t think that counts.

Where are you from? Tony: All of us are from France, except David, who’s from Sweden

What year did the band form? Qantice started to really exist in 2009, when our first album “The Cosmocinesy” was released.

What's your style of genre? Tony: We like call our style “Movie Metal”, which is a mash up of progressive symphonic power metal with lots of movie track influences

What inspires you? Tony: all kind of metal melodic bands, like Rhapsody, Angra, Malmsteen, Iron Maiden, Stratovarius, but also classical and traditional music, and movie score composers like Ennio Morricone, John Williams, Danny Elfman, to only name a few.

How often and where do you rehearse? Tony: We only rehearse when we have a concert or a tour to prepare. And when it’s the case, let’s say we rehearse two full days once a month.

How have you developed since you started with the music?

David: On so many levels. Playing with different people always makes me develop. Many of my steps forward in learning music has come from when my mouth was faster than my brain, accepting jobs and gigs before I thought it through, and then having to deal with that through rehearsing, hehe.

Christine : I've had pretty much the same experience as David.

Tony: I started as amateur/self-taught musician till I reached a professional level. From the beginning, my goal was to create Qantice and gradually give it the biggest place possible in the prog/symphonic metal world. Today, Qantice is being taken seriously by its peers, which is one step, but not the last, of course.

Do you have other interests of work outside the band?

David: I do a lot of cover gigs and concerts, but mostly my interests involve my wife and kids, cooking, watching movies and reading.

Christine: I also love trekking, art, reading and all that catches my curiosity:  way too many things.

Tony: Besides Qantice, I play in two acoustic bands (Naheulband and Belyscendre), and I occasionally work on other people’s projects and give guitar lessons. My main hobbies are cooking, watching series, reading novels, science.

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Tony: At this point, Qantice can still manage its own booking, but we’re always open to collaborations with booking agencies, yes.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Tony: We already have two labels: Brennus Music in Europe, and Radtone Music, in Japan. We also have distribution deal with Nightmare Records in America. These labels aren’t the biggest, but they do a very good job, and we’re happy to work with them.

What are your songs about? Tony: The songs are talking of events and characters from an original science/fantasy saga taking place in a world named Qantice.

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Tony: It’s me, and then the others bring their personal touch, of course.

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Tony: I always start with the music, but most of the time, I have some images and moods in mind, that will later guide me to do the lyrics accordingly.

Do you compose in a certain environment? Tony: Not really. Most of the time, I only need to be alone in a room, with a guitar on my knees and a computer to build the orchestrations. When I’m concentrated on a song, the environment ceases to exist, as long it isn’t noisy, of course. Ah ah.

Have you done any covers live? Tony: Around 2010/2011, we covered Nothing To Say, by Angra, twice. That’s all.

What language do you sing in? Tony: Lyrics are in English.

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Tony: I would say the minimum was 50, and the maximum around 500/600.

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? Tony: During our last tour, we almost always played the same seven songs, only switching with an eighth one from time to time.

Do you have a regular place you play live often? Tony: I could say Paris, because we played there three times, but it was never at the same venue.

What was your first gig like? Tony: very stressful, but also very happy because lots of fans showed up, and gave us an incredibly warm support.

Where have you played live this year? Tony: Well, we did a European tour with Luca Turilli’s Rhapsody and it brought us in Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, and France.

What was your latest gig? Tony: It was in Lyon, France, 16^th of February, at the end of the tour.

Where do you plan to gig the coming year? Tony: We’ll mostly try to play in France, especially festivals, but nothing is settled yet.

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Tony: We started in 2010, with our first concert. We have, Tshirts, Hoodies, and CDs, of course, but also a book (a novel telling the first episode of the Qantice saga), hats, badges, bags, posters, and even a Qantice USB drive.

Where can people buy your merchandise? Tony: On our website: www.qantice.com.

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Tony: I believe every interview is important, always allowing Qantice to get discovered by new people who can become new fans. And fans are what matters the most. Music business just follow where the fans go.

Do you have any role models or idols?

David: Many. Maybe to many to namedrop. There have been some singers and artists that where very important to me ten years ago that doesn't influence me at all now. But to name a few; Joey Tempest, Russel Allen, Cecilia Bartoli, Herman Saming, Phil Anselmo, Freddie Mercury, Hansi Kürsch, Peter Mattei, the list goes on and on.

Christine : I can't really say I have idols but  I love the music of Yes, Matthew Garrison, Intervals, Scale The Summit, Maurice Ravel, I also love the bass playing of Henrik Linder ... There are so many people playing great music out there.

Tony: Maybe not idols, but yes, many people have been my role models. As a composer, I could name Luca Turilli, Kay Hansen, Peavy Wagner, Andre Matos, Ennio Morricone, John Williams, and many more. I could also add Malmsteen as a guitar player.

Why do you think that they exist? Tony: I’m not convinced there’s a “why” for anything that exists in that universe, but, at least I can say those guys were twice useful in my life: first by giving me pleasure and dreams, and secondly by being an example of what I could do with my own life. And that’s already a lot.

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today?

Tony: To me it’s easier to get inspired by older bands because they’ve been part of my life for so long. But I also try to keep my mind open to the newest bands, because there’s always a little something you can learn from any talented band.

David: Not by default. It's more about that it's hard to find something "new" today. Not that I need to, but anyway. I might enjoy listening to 5FDP, but I still think that Pantera is better. But I don't sort bands out by naming them new/old, but it's always fun when you discover something unique, like I did with Qantice :)

Christine : You get inspired by the music you listen to, regardless the time and you add some of your own musical choices. The most important thing to my mind is to create music you believe in and work hard on it so it sounds like something you really love.

What have been your biggest obstacles? Tony: First, I would say that making our kind of symphonic metal isn’t easy in a time when the trend goes more towards extreme/brutal metal. Secondly, I could say that I still have things to learn about managing and marketing a band, because if you have big ambitions for your band, passion and sincerity aren’t enough.

What advice would you give other bands or artists?

Tony: Do your own stuff. Don’t try to copy anybody. Work hard. Don’t give up easily, because failures are also part of the game. Learn how the music business works, or at least, get help by people who do.

David: What Tony said, plus, take your craft seriously, try to learn as much as you can. Don't narrow yourself down, try out different kinds of music, and do everything you do with passion, or don't do it at all.

Christine : I'd say the same things as Tony & David and I'd add my hippie touch : be nice with people you meet doing this job, be a hard worker but don't take yourself too seriously,  have fun, that's also why music was created for!

How do you get psyched for a gig?

David: I tend to get a bit nervous, which I deal with by talking a lot to everyone around me, acting like a clown, telling jokes and stuff. After that I want to warm up on my own, and the minutes before the show I like to sit by myself, just relaxing and focusing on what lies ahead of me.

Christine: No matter how hard I try, I'm always nervous before going on stage. I have to focus on the show and keep my mind as clear as possible. I'm usually walking in the concert room, playing some bass. If my mind gets too far from what I have to do on stage, then I will not feel good when the show starts. I also listen to David's jokes.

Tony: I try to warm up my fingers a little, and the rest of the time, I do random things like eating, drinking, looking for a lost jacket, or listening to David’s jokes, because anyhow, no one can avoid it. Ah ah.

Do you have any new material? Tony: At the moment, we’re working on the new album, so the new material won’t be available before at least six months to a year.

What are your web sites? Tony: www.qantice.com , facebook: www.facebook.com/qanticeofficial , YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/Qantice

How can people reach you? Tony: They can email us from any of those pages.

What are your plans for the future? Tony: Releasing the third Qantice album, and touring again as soon as possible.

Do you have something to add? Tony: Only a big thank you to you, Robex, for showing interest in us!