1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
Alexandre: After a year of hiatus between april 2014 and march 2015, we decided to bring back Forsaken Peddlers to life, with a revamp line-up, with my brother Christophe on drums (ex FatumElisum), still Hugo on guitars and me on bass guitar and singer. Since that time, we worked hard on brand new songs, three of them are almost finished. This process was quite long, but we decided to take care on more details and atmospheres. We played our first gig in our home town, Rouen, with this new line-up last April with Hell and Deveikuth, and we played once again in Rouen in June. We are still focus on the writing process for the next album.
2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the album?
It’s always hard to explain thyself our music, but I’d rather present it as epic doom metal, mainly influenced by the references of that style of doom metal, with some influences coming from heavy metal and traditional doom metal.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
On Songs of Fate and Freedom, I decided to explore historical themes, the song “The Brave” is about William Wallace, and the song “The Conqueror” is about Guillaume le Conquérant. The idea was to have some epic themes on that record. But the others songs are focused on societal topics: for example, All Shall Fall is about the about the riot that happened in 2010 in London.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Forsaken Peddlers'?
Since the Middle Age to the nineteenth century, the peddlers were the men who wandered from villages to villages bringing some news about the world to the villagers and selling some stuff. They talked about some historical heroes, and, in France during the second leg of the eighteenth century, they spread the ideals of French philosophers in the countryside, which was an important fact for the rise of the French Revolution. That was the main idea when bringing this name for the band, dealing with topics about historical facts and describing nowadays society. That will be the main topics for the news songs.
5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We did not play so much gigs since the beginning of the band. But since our return on stage, I think the last two ones were the most enjoyable, because we played in front of friends, we played the new songs and to see the responses of the crowd was fine, and, we did a cover of Gates of Vallhala from Manowar, a song that is very fun to play. It’s hard to describe our stage performances, as its something very personal for the three of us. We try to enjoy our time on stage and to share our music with the crowd.
6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We haven’t yet any touring or show plans for the future; we are mostly focused on the writing process of the new songs. But we would like to play the more gigs we can.
7.Heathen Tribes are re-issuing your 2014 album on cassette, what are your thoughts on the final product?
As it is not released yet, I can’t tell you about the final product but I’m very confident about the result. Nicholas and Teo are very passionate and I’m sure they did the best for us. More over, HéloïseLaugier, a well talented person and a good friend of mine, did the artwork and her work was very good, as always.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of doom metal?
We have little feedback about our music from foreign fans of doom metal, but the few one were quite good. I think the release of the cassette will help spreading our music, as Heathen Tribes are doing a good promoting job.
9.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
Christophe, Hugo and I used to play in FatumElisum, but the band split up two years ago.
Hugo plays guitar in Ataraxie, a well-known Frenchdoom death metal band since two years.
Hugo and I play in Malemort, with Nemery from Sordide, a brand new extreme doom metal band, since a year, we will record our first demo during this summer.
Christophe and I play together in a rock band called Ormesis.
I play in Mhönos, we’ve just recorded our second album, LXXXVII.
10.When can we expect new music and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
As said before, we worked on new songs since a year. Three songs are mostly finished, “The Rearguard of the Deposed”, “Ode to the Blind Citizens” and “Peerless”, and we have some new materials for more songs. We would like to take our time to be well satisfied with our work. I hope it will not take many years to record something new. It’s hard to describe something new, but you could expect something more epic and more powerful. You have to be patient.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
The main goal when founding the band six years ago was to play epic doom metal to play tribute to the old ones like Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Solstice, Warning and Griftegard, to name a few, and also epic metal bands like Manowar (Ross the Boss era), Manilla Road, Primordial and Bathory. These are the main influences, and perhaps some Original Soundtrack like Basil Pouledoris’s Conan OST. As the years passed, we are proud to still play that kind of doom metal, heavily rooted in heavy metal, as it is not so well appreciated since many years.
In Forsaken Peddlers, we listen to many things from metal, to rock and classical music. So it will be endless giving you a list of what we listen to. But I would notice that the demo “To Sol a Thane“from Solstice and the demo from Dautha, the new project Ola Blomkvist from Griftegard, are on heavy rotations since a month and are solid epic doom metal releases.
12.What are some of your non musical interests?
I ‘m very found of literature, history and society’s topics. Watching the decay of post modern and neo liberal society is my main inspiration for Forsaken Peddlers.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I would like to thank you for this interview.
Doom or be doomed!
