Interview: Mindwake

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What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

Hi, i am Charley, singer of Mindwake! I have always loved music since I was 7 years old!  I never imagined being a singer at the time haha!  then when I was 19, I made new friends who made me discover a new universe, music that spoke to me, talented and passionate people!  

One day I went to see a concert of Wings Of Despair the old project of my drummer Lou and they were 2 singers in this band (Greg and Antho), they released such a rage on stage and an incredible charisma, they immediately touched my heart and tonight I understood that i will be a singer, I discovered my greatest passion this evening!  if I hadn't made music, I think today that I would have tried to make cinema

What do you like to do when you're not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

I like to play video games, watch movies and manga, party with my friends, listen to music and compose songs with my drummer Lou! My creativity is influenced by what I live or what I have experienced, the discussions I have with people! It is greatly influenced by the mood I am in during the day. I am also very dreamy, I like to imagine stories in my head. My creativity comes a lot from the outside world which can give both something very beautiful and joyful and at the same time something very dark and completely chaotic.

How long has your band been around?

it's been a while ! to be honest the band has been around for about 7 years! so much has happened during these years …

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

we come from the south of france, basically we come from cagnes sur mer dude haha! our region has influenced our way of making music yes, me particularly because I arrived in this environment with bands like in other climes, wings of despair etc, making incredibly violent music and a strong taste for hard party haha

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you.

It's Lou and our former bassist Joffrey who found the name of the band by smoking a lot of weed haha! Mindwake inspires for me an openness to the world, humanity, music, we like a lot of different styles of music and we put a lot of these influences in our compositions.Mindwake is also for me a way to question yourself at every moment and to evolve to become better as a human and a musician

Tell me about the best and worst shows you have played.

One of the best moments on stage with Mindwake for me was I think our live in Geneva during our 1st tour, there were not many people, the room was small but the people were receptive and super cool and I really enjoying this moment, we had some great discussions and we made friends it was humanly really cool. The second moment that I loved was a date at our house in Cannes, we reformed and we hadn't played for a while, we played at the MJC picaud a cannes with the original line up, we were is found once again all 5 on the stage and this evening we set fire to the scene, people took a big slap, it was very cool! My worst moment on stage I think it was also in Cannes, it was the first time that we played on a big stage and when it was time to play I had a loss of voice ... I had a very bad life this moment, it was particularly frustrating to play in a professional venue and not be able to give 100% of yourself but i took my revenge haha

Tell me about your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you haven't already?

I particularly like playing at home, at altherax! it's a nice venue, the sound is really good and the friends are always present! There is plenty of scene that I would like to do, I don't know if there is a particular place, I want to play everywhere but I really want to play on big festival stages

If you could play any show with any lineup who would be on the ticket?

wow dude, you ask me a difficult question haha there are too many bands that I would like to play with haha, I don't know ... I will say Suicide Silence, Periphery, Korn, Emmure (but I put a reserve for them, I don't know if we'll have a good time or a very bad time), Veil Of Maya and our friends From Dismay for the giggles

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band?

I will tell to never give up, believe in your dreams, make your music the best you can, give it all you have and if you are a singer and you often get confused with your drummer know that it is normal haha

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

Less talk more work

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why? 

I'll say it's the song "Abstract War", I'm talking about myself and my demons in this song! If I get out of my way, I just have to listen to this song to remember why I'm doing all this and who I am

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

I love to play the songs "Reset" and "Concrete War", they are simple, violent, effective songs that touch the guts! It's usually the songs where people hit the pit the most so I guess they want them hahaha

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

Most of the time it's Lou who takes care of composing the songs. Sometimes we compose together and we put our ideas together, for the vocals, I said before it is an inspiration at the time or the song has an atmosphere that inspires me an emotion, an atmosphere, a story and then I write on it

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

Difficult for me to answer this question, there is a lot of different message in my songs dude, each song is a story and has its own universe, i can say this world stinks of shit and we are all going to die and that humanity is the cancer of this world and at the same time how to try to save what is most beautiful in the hearts of people, love, weed, but if I have to choose a word to describe our music in general it would be: Violence but violence in all its forms

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

yes there were a lot of them with the old line up, I will not dwell on the subject because it is in the past but I will say that to overcome these problems, act with heart to understand where the problem comes from but at some point if the person is toxic for you and your music you have to continue without him

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that's coming up?

We have just released our first album "B52", available on all streaming platforms! We are in the process of recording the vocals for our next Ep which will be released in 2021, we can't wait to present the new songs to you and above all we can't wait for the situation calm down with the Covid so that we can program tours