CORPUS DELICTI: «All we wanted when we did this reunion is happening.»

Posted by Avatar on Feb 8, 2023 in English Version, Interviews

Corpus delicti was one of the most important gothic groups in the 90’s. Even though they were classics in all ways, they took apart that trend were people would sham the guitars and those deep voices that icons as The Sisters of Mercy had. They came back with a sound that was closer to other classics, as Bauhaus and to scenes such as the one that grew around the British Batcave. From France, they released three great albums (Twilight, Sylphes and Obsessions) which pitchforked to that Olympus where only the greatest can stand, smashing also the idea that the dark could only come from the United Kingdom and (by then not too often) from Germany. We already had the chance to interview them (in Archive’s magazine) with the celebration of that fantastic Mise Noir. A couple decades after they took a break, they’re back, at least live. As some of us are still around, fatter, with more grey hairs, older, and, without a doubt, not any wiser, we didn’t want to miss the occasion to interview them once again. Endemoniada and All Waves (who are the ones responsible of the fact that we can see them in Madrid again) have made it possible for us. Glory and praise for them. And thank you, of course.

 

After more than 20 years with no news of you (Even though you’ve still engaged with music projects as Kuta, Curl, Kom-Intern or Press Gang Metropol), what has led you to decide to reunite again?

Also, Franck, Chris and myself, who played for a couple of years in a band called Press Gang Metropol, in which we had recorded some songs and an album, what has led us to decide to reunite again. The first tip, was the signature is Cleopatra label because when they asked us if we were okay to make a deal with them, we had to all reunite and we chose to talk about it. So, I saw Roma, I saw Franck and I saw Chris, and Roma told me that she was wondering if she would be able to play drums again, so I told her you know many people is asking us if we want to give concerts, because since we had Facebook for example, and many promoters were asking for concerts. And I was telling Roma, every time I let these promoters know that this band doesn’t exist anymore and I told her if you want to try maybe we can try to play together again, so she told me okay talk with the others and we’re gonna try. So, we all meet, the four of us together, that was quite emotional because it has been really 20-25 years were the four of us hadn’t been all together in the same room, and that night was quite special. And we start to realize that we had the same emotions and feelings than what we used to have some years ago so we said okay let’s try to do this now.

 

Have you though about recording new songs or is this come-back just for concerts?

We haven’t really thought about recording new songs, when we played with Roma at the beginning of the reunion, we talked about maybe some directions, trying to find some new style, but not really, much more in the process of resource. And trying to play the songs of our three albums as close to the original as possible, so that’s really what we are into right now.

 

It’s known that Rome won’t be joining you on this tour. It’s a shame, she’s a great drummer.

Yes, unfortunately Roma has developed arthrosis on both hands, while she started to play again, so it became more and more difficult for her to play, so we first decided to add an additional musician, an additional drummer maybe to play with her, we thought that she could play some songs, he could play other songs, to make it easier for her, so that’s how we asked Laurent, who we knew for many years, and we knew that he was an excellent drummer, so we had rehearsals for a few months with Laurent and Roma, so that was really great because she was able to show him some particular stuff of playing, so that was cool, but really quickly Roma found out that it was too painful for her to play again so she decided that it was too much for her. It was really painful for her because she was really involved in the project, so that was not possible anymore, so we make this kind of reunion, and I decided to go on with Laurent, because we had such a great feeling playing together that we thought we have to do this we have to show this to the public even if Roma can’t play with us anymore.

 

According to the new lives, we imagine they will be as full of energy as the classics. Have you considered to add any new particular scenography?

No, we haven’t really considered to have any particular scenography because we find ourselves as a rock band. okay it’s a little bit dark, a little bit goth but our songs are like proper rock songs, what’s important for us on stage is the band and what comes from us when we are playing. We are really involved in our music when we are on stage so that’s what we want to show to people. And the energy we have, the connection we have with each other, that’s what we want to show to people on stage.

 

What memories do you have from that one concert in Madrid almost 30 Years ago?

We have wonderful memories of our concert in Madrid. Really, I’m not joking. The funniest, maybe one of the best memories I have of the concert in the 90’s because the audience was so into the show, so into the songs, clapping, screaming, dancing… So we are really looking forward to come back to Madrid and we are really excited to know that we will find some people that probably have seen us in the 90’s, but also new people because since we’ve started the tour, we are amazed to realize that many many young people are coming to our shows so it’s so wonderful to have both.

 

The dark scene has changed quite a lot this past few years. Nowadays, we live in a time where the revival post punk is on its peak, although the more orthodox gothic rock in more in the background. What are your thoughts on this? Has Corpus Delicti changed during this time? If so, how?

Yes, we can feel that there is a kind of revival of post punk bands, dark wave bands, and I suppose that’s why Corpus Delicti is still there 25 years after, because this revival seems to be quite huge at the moment, so I really think that that was a really perfect timing for us to come back, and we felt it, and the first concerts we have made so far are just prove us that we are right. Have we have changed since that time? Yes, we have changed, we are all 25 years older, so yeah, I suppose we have changed, but I think the main thing that has changed for us as a band is that this shows now are only for pleasure, our own pleasure and the pleasure we can give to the audience. Maybe in the 80’s, in the 90’s sorry, we were maybe more focused on trying to get success, trying to be more and more successful and recording more and more songs and nowadays the aim is different, we are there to give pleasure and to have pleasure with the audience, so that is really the most important thing right now and maybe the biggest change of what was Corpus Delicti in the 90’s and what is the band now.

 

With the recent pandemic, things have been forced to change not to say disappear… No need to look far away, your new tour has needed to be “postponed” because of this. How do you think this has affected overall in the actual setting or in the world in particular? Do you stand with those who say it’ll make us stronger?

Well, unfortunately, I don’t think the pandemic will make us stronger, maybe we had this kind of illusion just after the pandemic, but no, I think you see the world as it is, everything is returning to normal and unfortunately normal is not maybe what is the best solution for the world, but no, I don’t think anything has changed and I don’t think something will, will suddenly change.

 

 

To wrap it up, what are your plans for the future? It’d be awesome if this was a complete come-back, with more tours and new records…

Okay our plans for the future are to give more and more shows, we have specially some places in the world where we know that people want to see us. I’m thinking about for example Peru, Brazil, Santiago de Chile… Maybe the idea will be to try to come to this places, we also really want to do a us tour because we know we have many followers over there but it’s becoming more and more difficult to tour in the us nowadays because of visa and all administrative stuff that the us government is asking for to go to the USA, so we hope to be touring there, more and more tours, and the great thing is that really what, all we thought, all we wanted when we did this reunion is happening, because we wanted to do a few shows, not too many shows, we don’t want to go on into like a thirty gigs tour all over the world, that’s really not our plan. We want to do very few shows in for example some capitals, like we did in London, Rome, Paris, and trying to make it like kind of exceptional each time. So, the idea for the future is really to go on that direction. I would say that, new records, really? I don’t know, I don’t know, I won’t say yes, I won’t say no, but right now I can’t give you any straight answer about that, but more tours yes. Without any hesitation there will be more gigs, without any problems.

 

Thank you very very much! Can’t wait to see you next Saturday.

Thanks a lot for the interview and we are really looking forward for this Madrid show.