Heavy Psych/Prog Rockers MOUNDRAG released their stunning and beautifully different new album DEUX where they explore the different areas of Seventies Psych Rock, Prog Rock, Hard Rock, Proto-Doom and Classic Rock.
What makes the band standout is them being an Organ and Drums duo formed by Camille and Colin Goellaen Duvivier. With Camille on organ and Colin on drums though both sharing vocals for quite a highly original and brilliantly organic sound of their own making.
I was asked to do an interview with the band where I jumped at the chance. As they're great musicians forging their own identity within the world of Heavy Rock.
Here's what MOUNDRAG had to say.
Hi guys. Thanks for doing the interview. How are things with you today?
Hey, thanks for having us! Things are going great — we just launched the album and began the tour with two release parties in Brittany. It was amazing! We can’t wait to start the EU tour!
For folks not in the know, can you give a brief history of how the band came together and where it is today?
We’re brothers, and we’ve always listened to music at home because our parents are musicians. When we were teenagers, our Irish uncle bought us Made in Japan, and we’ve been playing rock ’n’ roll ever since! The band started in 2019, and now we’ve never felt more fired up — we’re ready to rock the world!
How would you describe your own sound?
We play the kind of music we want to hear — it’s proggy and sometimes heavy. We like to describe ourselves as a hard prog heavy psych band, haha.
Congrats on your excellent new album Deux. Love the album. What can people expect to hear from this album?
Thank you very much, it’s an honour! People can expect a lot of references to ’70s bands. They can lose themselves in the album and discover our homage to the classics. You’ll also hear some crazy drum playing, plenty of vocal melodies, and heavy organ riffs.
Completely enjoy the mix of Prog, Psych, Hard Rock, Doom, Sci-Fi and Fantasy set against a classic Rock & Roll setting. This still allows this to be quite a different record to your previous album. Was that your plan to create something different to what has came previously.?
On the previous album, our main idea was to do something very classic rock/classic prog, with a full 20-minute song on one side. For Deux, we wanted to change things up a bit — to create more songs than before, while keeping some long tracks and adding atmospheric transitions between them. It ended up being nine tracks full of different genre references.
When we finished the first album, we decided to move in the same direction but make it both brighter and gloomier. We’re human, so both we and our music are constantly evolving — and we always want to reach the unexplored. I think that’s why Deux feels different.
You’re quite unusual for playing your music through an Organ / Drums setup though still be being brilliantly heavy in places. How did that decision come about to play with that unfamiliar setup.
We started that setup because of our first band, Smooth Motion (which is still going — we’re actually working on a new album right now!). It’s a four-piece band with drums, organ, bass, and guitar. When the guitarist and singer left for a six-month trip around the world in 2018, we decided to create this rock brothers duo so we could keep playing together and experiment with new songs without guitar or bass. At that time, we weren’t singers at all — we learned little by little, and we’re still learning, ha ha!
Did you ever have any pressure to add guitars to the mix. Is this something you might add further down the line or in the near future.
Never, mate! The goal of the Moundrag project is to play rock without guitars — ever! On the album, we added some bass, piano, and percussion, but a guitar? Pfff, no way! We already have one band with a guitar player and another with three guitarists — that’s enough! (Check out Komodrag and the Mounodor, a fusion between us and Komodor — it’s like a Lynyrd/Allman/Purple band!)
What is the new album about and did your real-life experiences help make this record.
This album has a lot of themes about the human condition. Sometimes people are dying inside because they’re living a nightmare (Morning Epitaph, Black Flames, Limbo). Other times, they want to change the world (The Caveman, Changes, Take Me To The Stars).
I think we’re singing about our lives — or at least fragments of them. Most of the songs are a bit pessimistic about the world that surrounds us. We like to scream our bad vibes, our fears, and our sadness.
What bands and artists influenced you when recording this album.
A lot of new artists! That's our playslist for DEUX:
Birth Of Joy, Deep Purple, Genesis, ELP, Atomic Rooster, Temples, Uriah Heep, Kadavar, Motorpsycho...
What formats is the album being released upon?
The vinyls and CDs are already available!
You've teamed up with the awesome record labels to release the album (Spinda Records and Stolen Body Records). How did that come about.
They’re fantastic people, and they have some amazing bands! They loved the album right away — they were the first ones to show interest, so we wanted to work hand in hand with them. Support indie labels — they’re doing a great job!
What is the creative process or setup within the band? Do you all write the music together or do certain people within the band do that?
All the songs were composed in the basement at our parents’ home — it’s the place where we’ve always written everything down. The two of us handle the music, but some of the lyrics are written separately. When we run into issues with song structure or lyrics, we like to work with Goudzou for the music and AA Da Snake, the poet.
Who designed the excellent album cover. Really brings to light what the whole album is about. And reminds me of the legendary artwork of bands such as YES and ASIA by the amazing Roger Dean.
We were devastated while creating the album because we had no idea what the cover would be. But one morning, Justyna — a young surrealist Polish artist — reached out to us on Instagram, looking to collaborate with bands. We instantly fell in love with her art; it reminded us of those classic prog-rock covers. We’d always dreamed of having artwork like this cause we are huge fans of Roger Dean, and we’re so proud of how it turned out!
Can you advise if you’ve played or currently playing in other bands so folks can check out your other musical projects?
Please check our fellows Komodrag and the Mounodor and Smooth Motion, forever our brothers.
What is the current state of the local French Rock/Metal scene? Do you perform gigs on a regular basis and do you have a local scene that you're actively involved with?
The French rock scene is very active and massive! We’re right in the middle of it, with bands like Komodor, Howard, Grandma’s Ashes, Gravecult, Executor, Howlin’ Jaws, Decasia, and Red Sun Atacama and all the friends we've just forget here ha ha.
France might not be the easiest country for rock, but we’re fighting the best we can to shine a light on this scene!
Will you be performing any gigs to promote this album locally or further afield.
The tour has already begun in France, and we’ll be reaching Spain and Portugal in February, and the London Desertfest in May. We hope to play even more shows after that!
Before you go, do you have any words of wisdom for your new and potential fans out there.
We fought through dark days while creating this album. Sometimes we wanted to give up, but we never lowered our arms.
Keep on listening our music or any music in general, buying the records and going to the shows! The scene is nothing without you, so come see us live and keep on fighting, believe in your dreams.
Words by Steve Howe and MOUNDRAG
Thanks to Purple Sage PR for arranging the interview and to MOUNDRAG for doing this interview.
DEUX is available to buy now on CD, Digital and Vinyl from the links below:
Buying from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar? Please go to Spinda Records
Buying from UK? - Please go to Stolen Body Records
Buying from USA? Please go to Echodelick Records
Links
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