What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences and are they the same as when you started out?
How do you approach songwriting?
Charles: I literally write everything down on paper, even the drums parts. Sometimes the idea starts from a riff or a rhythmic pattern that is looping in my head for too long, sometimes it’s a melodic fragment from a medieval melody, and then it’s all about developing and varying these elements.
When everything is written down and I’m sure of the tune’s structure and intention, I bring it in rehearsal to my fellow band members and we craft the sound all together: they sometimes have suggestions to make some parts sound heavier. We spend a lot of time in the rehearsal room until we’re happy to play a new tune on stage.
How do you approach songwriting?
Charles: I literally write everything down on paper, even the drums parts. Sometimes the idea starts from a riff or a rhythmic pattern that is looping in my head for too long, sometimes it’s a melodic fragment from a medieval melody, and then it’s all about developing and varying these elements.
When everything is written down and I’m sure of the tune’s structure and intention, I bring it in rehearsal to my fellow band members and we craft the sound all together: they sometimes have suggestions to make some parts sound heavier. We spend a lot of time in the rehearsal room until we’re happy to play a new tune on stage.
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
Charles: It has a lot to do with growing up listening to it I think! I already mentioned Gojira’s “The Link” that blew my mind as a kid, so I’ll quote another record that I discovered a bit later but that is probably one of the CDs that I listened to the most in my entire life, that’s Mr.Bungle’s “California”. The compositions, the arrangements, the production and the sound design were just incredible at that time, and are still incredible today. The way Mike Patton and his friends squash and mix together different genres of music with abrupt but brilliant transitions made so much sense to me, and really encouraged me to do my very own thing. if you ask me, I feel like it’s a necessity to write this music, I really need to break boundaries and expectations, because I know how great I feel when a music manages to impress of surprise me as a listener.
How do you decide what songs to perform live?
Charles: Excellent question! We actually play everything live. CKRAFT is a live band, we played the same thing in the studio than what we play on stage, so there’s no “transposition” per say : what you hear on the album is what you’ll hear live, but with the added energy of the moment, an enormous sound system, and with different improvisations on the improvised sections of course!
How do you decide what songs to perform live?
Charles: Excellent question! We actually play everything live. CKRAFT is a live band, we played the same thing in the studio than what we play on stage, so there’s no “transposition” per say : what you hear on the album is what you’ll hear live, but with the added energy of the moment, an enormous sound system, and with different improvisations on the improvised sections of course!