interview with Warsenal
Have any of you played in other bands?
Vincent played in Open Your Mind and Drain Acid.
For Francis and I, Warsenal is our first and only band.
Vincent played in Open Your Mind and Drain Acid.
For Francis and I, Warsenal is our first and only band.
How is it that you started playing music? I don’t really know. I guess it all came naturally. I always wanted to play music and so I did. Nothing special to mention here.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?
Mathieu Rondeau, Guitar and Vocals, 23
Francis Labine, Bass Guitar, 23
Vincent Caron, Drums, 22
Mathieu Rondeau, Guitar and Vocals, 23
Francis Labine, Bass Guitar, 23
Vincent Caron, Drums, 22
Have you had other previous members? Yes, we had our former drummer, Antoine Turcotte, who left the band in 2015
Did you make music even when you were young?
Francis and I, we started doing music at the age of 13 I guess, playing some Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth covers.
Vincent started banging drums at 10.
Where are you from? We’re from Montreal, Canada.
What year did the band form? Warsenal was born in 2012
What's your style of genre? I don’t really know, nor really care. I’m guessing Excessive Speed Metal could do haha. You can name it whatever you like as soon as you wreck your neck to it.
What inspires you? All the music we listen to. It goes from Metal to Hard Rock, from Classical Music, to Jazz and Blues, etc.
How often and where do you rehearse? We all get things done alone on our sides on the week and we get together once a week at my place.
How have you developed since you started with the music? We started as a “Wanna recreate Old School Thrash band” and then went somewhere else. We felt kind of trapped into it, as there wasn’t much left to explore, so we developed our own sound of crazy riffs exploding everywhere all the time. We know we can’t reinvent “Speed Metal”, but we’re trying to push the boundaries into untamed lands.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? I love literature and cinema. As for Vincent and Francis, they are die-hard gamers.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We sure would love to land on a booking agency. It would definitely make things easier as they usually pick their rosters to go with bigger bands, which gives them more exposure.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We released our first album on Punishment 18 Records from Italy. For our upcoming album, we will try to get something bigger, because, I know that nowadays with Internet and Social Medias, if your music is good people will hear about you even if you don’t have any label attached to you, but let’s be honest, a label definitely helps getting in contacts with people that can help you get to the other level.
What made you decide to make this music? Our interest into that music and wanting to give the feeling that we’re having when we listen to a band we love. Also, Metal is really a good genre if you want to include some elements of other music genre into it.
What are your songs about? Most of the time it’s about our daily lives, stuff I see in movies, my opinion about certain stuff.
Did you make music even when you were young?
Francis and I, we started doing music at the age of 13 I guess, playing some Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth covers.
Vincent started banging drums at 10.
Where are you from? We’re from Montreal, Canada.
What year did the band form? Warsenal was born in 2012
What's your style of genre? I don’t really know, nor really care. I’m guessing Excessive Speed Metal could do haha. You can name it whatever you like as soon as you wreck your neck to it.
What inspires you? All the music we listen to. It goes from Metal to Hard Rock, from Classical Music, to Jazz and Blues, etc.
How often and where do you rehearse? We all get things done alone on our sides on the week and we get together once a week at my place.
How have you developed since you started with the music? We started as a “Wanna recreate Old School Thrash band” and then went somewhere else. We felt kind of trapped into it, as there wasn’t much left to explore, so we developed our own sound of crazy riffs exploding everywhere all the time. We know we can’t reinvent “Speed Metal”, but we’re trying to push the boundaries into untamed lands.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? I love literature and cinema. As for Vincent and Francis, they are die-hard gamers.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We sure would love to land on a booking agency. It would definitely make things easier as they usually pick their rosters to go with bigger bands, which gives them more exposure.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We released our first album on Punishment 18 Records from Italy. For our upcoming album, we will try to get something bigger, because, I know that nowadays with Internet and Social Medias, if your music is good people will hear about you even if you don’t have any label attached to you, but let’s be honest, a label definitely helps getting in contacts with people that can help you get to the other level.
What made you decide to make this music? Our interest into that music and wanting to give the feeling that we’re having when we listen to a band we love. Also, Metal is really a good genre if you want to include some elements of other music genre into it.
What are your songs about? Most of the time it’s about our daily lives, stuff I see in movies, my opinion about certain stuff.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Francis and I compose the riffs and I write the lyrics.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Always music first.
Do you compose in a certain environment? We don’t have a special environment, anywhere is good. Music comes from your heart and your head, the environment doesn’t really matter.
Have you done any covers live? Since Warsenal really started, only once. We did Cross Me Fool by Razor, in Toronto, with Rider Johnson, the actual Razor drummer.
What language do you sing in? English
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? 0 and a couple hundreds.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Around 30 I guess.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? There are some popular ones that we have to play each gig, but we try to vary.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? We play where the gigs are booked at, so we don’t have a “regular place”, but we do have played Montreal’s Katacombes, a lot.
What was your first gig like? It was an outside summer gig in a field with a hundred high school friends. A kind of backyard fest. That time we played with Open Your Mind, Vincent’s previous band. Good times!
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Always music first.
Do you compose in a certain environment? We don’t have a special environment, anywhere is good. Music comes from your heart and your head, the environment doesn’t really matter.
Have you done any covers live? Since Warsenal really started, only once. We did Cross Me Fool by Razor, in Toronto, with Rider Johnson, the actual Razor drummer.
What language do you sing in? English
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? 0 and a couple hundreds.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Around 30 I guess.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? There are some popular ones that we have to play each gig, but we try to vary.
Do you have a regular place you play live often? We play where the gigs are booked at, so we don’t have a “regular place”, but we do have played Montreal’s Katacombes, a lot.
What was your first gig like? It was an outside summer gig in a field with a hundred high school friends. A kind of backyard fest. That time we played with Open Your Mind, Vincent’s previous band. Good times!
What was your latest gig? We played in Toronto with Droid for their album release. If you’re a fan of Vektor and Voivod, you should really check them out.
Have you had to cancel a gig? Only once due to a mechanical problem with our van.
Have you had to cancel a gig? Only once due to a mechanical problem with our van.
Where have you played live this year? We played in a couple Canadian cities and we played on the Full Terror Assault Festival in the USA, with Overkill, Venom Inc., Toxic Holocaust, etc. This year was pretty smooth, but the next one is gonna be another story.
Where do you plan to gig the coming year?
If everything goes as planned:
North America, South America and Europe.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Pretty much since we started playing live. CDs, shirts, patches, hats, pins.
Where can people buy your merchandise? At a live concert or online, on our Big Cartel: http://warsenal.bigcartel.com/
Where do you plan to gig the coming year?
If everything goes as planned:
North America, South America and Europe.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Pretty much since we started playing live. CDs, shirts, patches, hats, pins.
Where can people buy your merchandise? At a live concert or online, on our Big Cartel: http://warsenal.bigcartel.com/
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? Well, I’m not gonna judge how people spend their money, but I will never understand how someone will prefer to own some lower quality digital files, instead of a physical piece of art.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? I don’t know, nor care. I’m just doing my music and I’m going with the flow.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? I don’t know, nor care. I’m just doing my music and I’m going with the flow.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? Well, if it can get more people to give us a listen, it will be a good thing.
Do you have any role models or idols? I can’t speak for the others, but for me, Dave Mustaine, is the reason why I’m playing guitar the way I do. I’m picking some other inspirations from a bunch of other musicians or artists, but Mustaine would be the main one.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? I would say from older bands, but there are some newer bands that have inspired me a lot, bands like: Enforcer, Antichrist, Mastodon and Barn Burner, for example.
What have been your biggest obstacles? Not being born in Europe haha. Oh and money as well.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Get out of our way.
Do you have any new material? We have a new album composed and we’re hitting the studio in December.
What are your web sites?
www.WarsenalBand.com
www.Facebook.com/WarsenalOfficial
www.YouTube.com/WarsenalOfficial
www.Warsenal.bandcamp.com/releases
How can people reach you? Via our Facebook page or via our email: [email protected]
What are your plans for the future? Release our new album and take over the world.
Do you have something to add? Keep it fast and raw.
Do you have any role models or idols? I can’t speak for the others, but for me, Dave Mustaine, is the reason why I’m playing guitar the way I do. I’m picking some other inspirations from a bunch of other musicians or artists, but Mustaine would be the main one.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? I would say from older bands, but there are some newer bands that have inspired me a lot, bands like: Enforcer, Antichrist, Mastodon and Barn Burner, for example.
What have been your biggest obstacles? Not being born in Europe haha. Oh and money as well.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Get out of our way.
Do you have any new material? We have a new album composed and we’re hitting the studio in December.
What are your web sites?
www.WarsenalBand.com
www.Facebook.com/WarsenalOfficial
www.YouTube.com/WarsenalOfficial
www.Warsenal.bandcamp.com/releases
How can people reach you? Via our Facebook page or via our email: [email protected]
What are your plans for the future? Release our new album and take over the world.
Do you have something to add? Keep it fast and raw.