Ind: The first time I heard about INHUMATE was three or so years ago thanks to the NECROZOOPHILIC video vol. 3 from Rest In Peace Production. Have you had more contacts with the ex-USSR underground, and how do you judge those contacts — useless or not? Does russian (and CIS) extreme music activity differ much from the rest of the world's, from your point of view?
Fred Anton: Yes, I do have many contacts with people from the ex-USSR, and I think they are interesting people — most of them are really involved in the underground. Some serious people I know are, for example, Andy and BLACKSMITH (I've been in contact with him for some years now), Andrey and BLUES OF THE FROZEN SOULS, Ruslan and CHAOTIC DESINTEGRATION, Denis and COLD FOREST (Belarus), Sergei and DISFIGURMENT, etc. I think the biggest difference is that this part of the world has problems due to the economic crisis, so things aren't as easy as they are on our side of Europe or in America (North and South).
Ind: Tell us briefly how your band started. If I'm not mistaken, INHUMATE went through a "from death to grind" development?
Fred Anton: INHUMATE started at the end of 1990 as a pure death metal band. Then we had 2 lineup changes over the years, and now, since 1994, the lineup has been the same and INHUMATE's way of playing and feeling of music has changed. We are all into brutality now, and we prefer grindcore to death metal. You can feel this development through our releases — it always pushes toward something stronger and more brutal. As for our discography, we did 2 demos (now sold out): "Abstract Suffering" (1993) and "Grind Your Soul" (1996), and 3 CDs: "Internal Life" (1996, sold out), "Ex-Pulsion" (1997), and "Growth" (2000). All of this is 100% underground and self-produced on our own label Grind Your Soul.
Ind: Do you agree with people who say that grind and death are quite different musical styles and you should never mix them? Grind should be more freaky while death tends toward complicated structures... Is it a good thing to mix grind with death or any other styles?
Fred Anton: I think you should mix different kinds of music — it makes for richer music. But I'm also OK with the idea that pure grindcore should have very short tracks with simple structures, and pure death metal should be a bit more complicated. I think this is really easy to understand if you compare some of the cult albums in each genre — like "Scum" by NAPALM DEATH and "Tomb of the Mutilated" by CANNIBAL CORPSE. But while that was fine in the past, I think the mix works now and can produce interesting things. INHUMATE is a mix of those styles. And it's partly about the music, but also about the state of mind. We think that too many death metal bands are posing guys who think they're stars because they're on stage and don't give a fuck about the people down below. We don't like this attitude. We always try to get people up on stage because we think that everybody at a concert is there for the same reason: the music!!! This is a grindcore attitude, and we follow this idea!!!
Ind: Do you appreciate crust and noise? Pornogrind?
Fred Anton: Yes, sometimes I listen to those kinds of music, but it's not really my cup of tea. I prefer pure grindcore, especially bands coming from the Czech Republic like ALIENATION MENTAL, INGROWING, CEREBRAL TURBULENCY, etc. I think those bands represent the future of grindcore in its purest form! I think crust is usually too politically oriented. Noise quickly bores me because I think it's fucking hard to make interesting noise! And pornogrind is OK when the music and artwork are original — for example, CBT is really good in that regard.
Ind: Let's talk about your lyrical side. What are your lyrics basically about? Blood, destruction, politics? How serious are you about your lyrics?
Fred Anton: There have been several changes in INHUMATE's lyrics. A few years ago, we had some funny lyrics, some serious ones, etc. Nowadays, I think Christophe writes only serious things dealing with life, philosophy, art, the music we play, why we do it, etc. We also have many tracks dealing with our concept... So now I have to explain it. Be ready for a long (I hope not boring) explanation. Through our concept, we're trying to create a heptalogy (a 7-CD concept). These 7 albums will represent 7 stages of a human life and will try to show that life never ends. So if life never ends, then there is no time left, and we arrive at what we call the abolition of time. Some people will tell me that life ends when a person dies. To that I answer: in the normal course of life, every person should give birth to a child. In that case, life goes on through the child, right? So when the parents die, life won't end because the child will carry it. And when that child dies (at a normal age, I mean), it should have been the same — that child, when he becomes an adult, should have given life to his own child! So when you try to understand what life is for all of humanity, you can't figure out when it begins or when it will end, can you? And time cannot be measured within such a vast span. Is there then a real time? Can't it be abolished? I think so, because the human brain isn't strong enough to understand all these things. So, that's the whole concept. And we try to express and explain this through our cover artwork (and a little bit through the lyrics). Our first CD "Internal Life" dealt with the life before life — life inside the mother. The second one, "Ex-Pulsion" — which means the moment of birth in French — is about that moment. When you've got the whole complete CD, you can see the images of that moment, maybe the biggest trauma that every human being has to experience in their life. The current third CD, "Growth," deals with the young years, the teenage years. Then there will be "Maturity" (that name might change). We're already talking a lot together about that next CD, and we have some very good ideas for it. We want to make something special because it will be the exact middle CD of the whole heptalogy!!! But I can't say anything for now — things are still secret. Then the fifth one will be named "The Fifth Season," the sixth "Death," and the last one "Eternal Life." With this last CD, we close the concept, and in the same way that its name echoes the first CD, the story begins again and never ends — as long as there are human beings on Earth. Now the only thing we hope is to be able to finish this long concept...
Ind: To my mind, INHUMATE is one of the leading French extreme bands. I also know that you've got plenty of labels and production companies in your country. Why do you remain unsigned and keep promoting everything yourselves?
Fred Anton: Great to hear that you think we're one of the leading French extreme bands! It proves that our promotion isn't so bad! About labels — yes, we have many over here (OSMOSE, SEASON OF MIST, HOLY, ADIPOCERE, LISTENABLE, etc.), but most of them try to do things professionally and don't really care what the dark side of the scene looks like. All they want is to sign big bands and make money through them. On our side, we think we're not a professional band (we all have jobs outside of music and don't want to be professional — we play because we fucking love and need it!) and all we want is to have fun. So by promoting INHUMATE ourselves, we get more than what those labels could offer us as long as we're an underground band. And I take pleasure in contacting people, writing letters, sending CDs, etc. Of course it's a lot of work, but on the other hand, we also know exactly what's happening with our stuff! I know many people who had problems with their labels because the sales figures were secret or unclear, because they lost money, etc. And the last thing is that a label promotes a CD, and if it doesn't sell enough at first, they move on to promote the next one. We have just one thing to promote, and it can take years — "Growth" has been out for more than a year now and I'm still promoting it!!!!
Ind: I also know that you support unsigned bands and even organize festivals...
Fred Anton: Yes, supporting unsigned bands is very important to me. I know that some people consider us a kind of "important" or "well known" band. INHUMATE is what it is without any help! No label ever helped us, and we did everything by ourselves. Now I don't want other bands to work that hard, so I try to help them the best I can! The only thing I ask is that those bands work on their side too! I don't want to take a lazy band and push it to its best!!! But if I see bands that are working hard and don't get the recognition they deserve, then I try to do everything I can to help them! In my opinion, many labels sign bands because they've heard of them and think they'll sell a lot — not often because they genuinely think the music is good! And I want to fight against that. If I help unsigned bands and organize festivals (where I try to feature only unsigned bands or bands on small labels), it's to push those bands forward. All the bands I book are interesting bands — bands that try to promote themselves the best they can, bands that labels don't look at! But if many people see a band and a buzz starts building around them, it'll be easier for that band to find a deal with a label, and that's what I want. Just helping others, just keeping this fucking scene alive!
Ind: How often do you play gigs? Do you earn any money, or is it mainly a hobby?
Fred Anton: We've done about 60 gigs in the last 7 years in several countries — France (of course), Belgium, Holland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Austria. And as I said, we don't do this professionally, so we don't get any fucking money. When we go to a gig, we just ask for gas money for the cars, evening food, and a place to sleep if it's too far away — and that's all. But we usually also bring our distro (Grind Your Soul Distro) and make some money from that. This money is our way to stay self-produced.
Ind: What would you say to those bands who have been playing for several years without any tangible success — no money, no contracts, just a couple of decent albums and reviews in fanzines? They might lose hope and disband.
Fred Anton: Ah, ah, ah!!! That's exactly what INHUMATE is. We've been standing as an underground band for more than 10 years now, playing underground gigs, and having no real recognition. But we don't care, because we don't want to sell our soul to the "devil." We prefer to have the reputation of an honest underground band than to appear in all the magazines in long interviews paid for by a label, always saying the same stupid shit: "Our best album ever is our last one," "We were born to play this music," "We're the best band in the world"... And all that fucking crap!!!!!! You know, we still have the faith, and I think that's the most important thing. If the band were to end now, I think these 7 years would have been incredible years — difficult to understand for people who didn't live them!!!!
Ind: What music is popular with young people in France now? Are there many young metalheads?
Fred Anton: Right now, we're in a nu-metal generation. Well-known French bands include PLEYMO, for example. I really don't know if they're well known abroad. But all those bands are followers of bands like SEPULTURA. I'm absolutely not into this trend because I think it's not "metal" enough... Too close to hip-hop stuff. That was for the very commercial side of the scene. On a less mainstream, more metal level, we still have a huge black metal wave in France. About them, I don't know anything because I don't like them — too many fascists and racists in that kind of music.
Ind: Your interests besides music?
Fred Anton: A few years ago, I was interested in French classical literature and modern art. Nowadays, since I manage INHUMATE really seriously, I don't have any free time left. That doesn't mean I do INHUMATE stuff all the time, but my life is in 3 parts: my family (girlfriend and daughter), INHUMATE (and everything that goes with music), and my job. Not much time for anything besides that.
Ind: Is the world facing the beginning of World War III now?
Fred Anton: No, I don't think so. Yes, there's a world crisis, but I don't think we'll have to face World War III! I hope not!!!!
Ind: What does it mean to live a life?
Fred Anton: The most important thing is: have fun! I'm against all the people who consider metal a negative thing — "we are puking against society," etc. If things are so bad, what are they waiting for — to kill themselves? I have a lot of pleasure in my life! I love my little family, I believe in INHUMATE, and I like my job too. And when I don't want to do something anymore or when things aren't satisfying me, I change them. A few years ago I had a NAPALM DEATH t-shirt with this sentence: "Do you possess the strength to change your own life?" And I think it's a very interesting question. I've already changed my life completely 2 times (I mean that I moved to another town, changed my friends, job, etc.), and of course things were hard. But after that, I can say I appreciate the life I live because I chose everything by myself and I'm not a follower of anybody!!! Life's nice.
Ind: Your final words and wishes! And welcome to russia!!!
Fred Anton: Thanks 1000 times for this REALLY interesting interview, and of course we'd like to come to russia!!!! All the people who want to contact me — just feel free to write (paper mail or e-mail), everyone will get an answer for sure: INHUMATE c/o Fred ANTON 1 rue du college 67170 BRUMATH FRANCE