Drowning mixes death metal with hardcore obtaining a really powerful music. They are from France and after being released by RPP Productions their name has been growing in the underground due mostly to the intensity of their live act. We talked with Reggie guitarist from this great french band.

Did you intended to mix that hardcore attitude along with a more death
metal sound or was it something that came out naturally?
Almost everybody in the band grew up with metal, all their previous bands
were metal bands. The only HC bands tolerated are the most extreme ones. It
was just natural for us to write metal music. About that attitude it's not HC
or not HC, let's say that we support the underground no matter the kind of
music you play. It's more against the mainstream than some close minded
fights about musical genres.

What can you tell me about your first MCD called "Drowning"?
It was so fuckin hard to put it out as we had so many problems trying to
prepare then record it. We can't really say that now it's easy for us as we
got a bad luck curse upon us. We did our very best to spread it all over the
planet. It put us on the map.

How different are Ridwan and Julien from the previous members musically?
Do you think they have added a new edge to your music?
Sorry no Julien ever been in Drowning our bassist is Stephane and he played
with Ridwan for ever. He got much more technique, motivation and also the
same idea than the other members about how we want Drowning to sound
like. They gave a good kick in our ass and made us improve.

Why was the first demo recorded live?
We always had shows to plan and not much time to practice with our old
drummer. We didn't have many songs and barely no time to record them. When
after a show we heard that it was recorded we thought it was a good idea to
put this out. We made it cheaper than a regular demo, and gave away most of
them. That's about it.

How did you got the deal with RPP Records? DO you think that they are
your best option to release your music?
Alain always helped us out, we played in Bxl our second show thanx to him, and
many more afterwards. He always had an eye on us then when he thought we were
good enough he proposed us something. We made him wait more than a year but we gave him something better than we would have done then. He was the best
deal and mostly the only one wanting to put a MCD out. Despite a lotta rumors and line up changes, he always kept his word and did it, thanx for that, man. I dunno if it's still the best deal for us today time will tell. He'll listen to our new songs then we'll see.

You told me in your mail that you were going to record something this
weekend (beginning of March)...Are the new songs similar to those in the MCD?
Yeah we are going to the studio very soon. It'll probably be done by the time your
news comes out. It's always Drowning but more mature and with a wider range
of tempos. I'll say it's more brutal too. Like "Downfall" or Tempter's
crowning" with the 2 years of playing and practicing.

How has Ridwan changed his singing style to fit Drowning compared to the way he did in Garden of Silence or Weld?
Ridwan had a Death metal band at first so vocals were low, he did Garden of Silence then with a melodic voice, in Weld he had different voices, melodic, high pitched and medium. He knows only screams from low to
high in Drowning. U can listen to the evolution during the years but you recognize the voice.

Your songs seem to be more technical than those of most hardcore
bands...are the songs composed mixing different parts or after rehearsing a
lot, more things start to develope on each song?
Thanx but I don't think we play technical music. We feel it's straight to the
point but it's true we try to improve our skills in order to play
better. Earth Crisis, Integrity, A.F("one voice" album), Overcast, God Forbid
play more technical stuff for example.
We practice some riffs at home then at practice we just throw them out and
we decide if they sound good then we try to make a song out of them. We're
pretty slow to write songs cuz we wanna be sure that it's the right riff at
the right place and we try different beats and all too. Our new stuff is a
bit more technical than the previous stuff it brings more brutality into it.

How has the metal scene received your music up to now?
We played several metal shows. The crowd was suspicious as we don't have the cliché metal look. I'm happy to say that we convinved most of them as they
grunted, clapped and moved to our stuff each time. We might not change the die
hard ones but some guys came to us and talked after the show. In the states
they don't focus on our look and respect our music as far as I know.

Are there any influences in your music that you will like to mention?
We don't have just some bands we like also movies, paintings, daily life and
books. Can't name all but we just have more than sounds in mind when we think
of what we're doing.

69 rue M.Berthelot

94140 Alfortville, France.

Stay brutal, support the underground.

Interviewed by Federico Marongiu

 Drowning - MCD (1999)

 Ridwan - vocals

Stephane - bass

Regis -guitar

Georges - guitar, backing vocals

Doumé - drums