Your Own Decay wants to trade with chocolate
Your Own Decay is a Death Metal band from Lausanne (Switzerland). The band was formed in 1998 by Philippe Güdemann, Jérôme Thomas and Laurent Bardy. In 1999 the band play their first few gigs. The first stable line-up consists of Jérôme Thomas (vocals), Sylvain Pelletier (Lead & rhythm guitars), Jérôme Lachenal (rhythm guitar), Laurent Bardy (bass) and Philippe Güdemann (drums). These gigs took place in the French-speaking, western part of Switzerland (Lausanne, Yverdon, Geneva, Monthey, Montreux), but quickly the band is asked to participate to several gigs and festivals in the German-speaking, eastern part of Switzerland (Basel, Zurich, Luzern, Brig, Solothurn, Zofingen). Your Own Decay had the pleasure to play in small, comfortable clubs, but also in bigger concert rooms like the Z7 (Pratteln) during the Metal Dayz Festival 2001. For this show the band played with prestigious bands like Napalm Death, Overkill, Nightwish, Behemoth, Immortal and others. In the beginning of summer 2001, Laurent Bardy (bass) is replaced by Loïc Loup (Soulless, another metal band from Lausanne) whose experience and motivation allow him to quickly find his place in the band. ’Never Enough’, the band's first effort, came out on June 30 th , 2001. The 4-track mini-CD was auto-produced by Your Own Decay. It was recorded in 4 days (April 6th-9 th , 2001) at Void Rexx studios (Lausanne) by Yvan Broccard (Favez, Unfold, Sludge) and mastered at Megaphone studios by Raphaël Bovey. This critically acclaimed mini-CD is available in many shops in Switzerland and through the band's official website. While working on a first Long Play album, the band although musically open-minded stay true to their Death Metal roots.
interview with Jerome Hell and Lord Pelthor on 08- 02-2003
Please give us a short introduction of yourself?
JH: I play rhythm guitar in Your Own Decay. I joined the band in 1999.
LP: I play lead guitar in the band and since Jerome Hell arrived, it gave me some rhythmic insurance and the possibility to have a better stage presence. I joined Your Own Decay in 1998, 6 months after the band was formed. The band had hired several guitarists before me and eventually I stayed.
Feel the urge to say something about your bandmembers?
JH: There is a great unity in the band, we are quite close to each other. I must say it's working pretty well.
LP: After many changes, we were able to find a stable line-up when Jerome Hell joined the band. We changed the bass player just after the recording of our ’Never Enough’ mini-CD and have kept the same configuration since then.
Why do you use a nickname? Afraid of the fanmail? Or are you actually a woman?
JH: Actually he WAS a woman. The surgery worked quite good I think.
LP: LOL... At the beginning, we all had nicknames, but some of us found it ridiculous. I got used to ’Pelthor’ and now everybody calls me that way...
Explain the bandname? Did you have other names in mind to use?
LP: Your Own Decay is a name we came with during our ’rebel’ period, when we were observing ’decaying’ people... we kept the name because we find it original and a bit aside of the death-metal mainstream.
With what kind of music did the band start before coming more brutal?
LP: When I started playing guitar at 15, I wanted to play Metallica or Megadeth solos... I was already listening to death and black metal but loved the melodies of ’classic’ metal. After playing alone for a long time on Dream Theater tablatures, I formed a melodic metal band in which I still play and I joined Your Own Decay for the headbanging!
What makes a brutal song to you? What items should be in a song to make it brutal?
JH: A lot depends on the vocals I think. Insane drumming is a must too.
LP: I think that the sound has also become an important element too. We can now make a difference between the ’American’ and the ’Swedish’ sound for example. For the song to be brutal, I think that you just need to find good riffs and a good rhythm that makes you want to move around!
Did you had other band experiences before YOD? Also playing this style?
LP: Like I said before, I have a side project with a melodic band called Blastage.
What is your musical training? DIY or had musical lesson?
JH: I learnt by myself, playing Death, Carcass or Cannibal Corpse tablatures I took off the Net.
LP: Me too... I spent a lot of time in the rehearsal room, studying tablatures... I never took a lesson but I had the chance to jam with good musicians who taught me a lot of great riffs.
Can you give an advise to people who want to pick up a guitar after hearing you play?
LP: Work, work, and more work! You must be stubborn and a perfectionist!
Switzerland is home of Toblerone. Do they still sell the white box flavor? Can you send me one because they don't sell them here!
LP: LOL... Switzerland is also the country of cows but I don't think that the mail system would agree with that... We can make a deal : we will send you some Toblerone and you send us Brutalism T-shirts, OK?
Why are the songs on Never Enough still actual when they are from 2000?
JH: We still play them because we like them! We have some older songs that we don't play because we just do not enjoy them anymore!
LP: We have already suppressed some songs and kept those of ’Never Enough’ for our shows because we still like them...
Can you tell something about the new songs? What can and can't we expect?
JH: We try to be more and more technical, but also to say true to our brutal roots. Anybody who liked the ’Never Enough’ mini-CD will be blown away by the album.
LP: As we all listen to different bands, we try to be influenced by a lot of various metal techniques. Of course, we always add the ’Your Own Decay topping’!
How big will be the release party of the new album? Who will you invite for sure?
JH: We absolutely have no plans yet. We will most probably set up a gig and invite all our metal friends. I think we'll have a good time, and a lot of beers.
LP: It is still a secret, but we may come to your place soon!
Do you have other activities beside the band? Tell us something more?
JH: We all have full time jobs. For hobbies, I personally enjoy movies and video games. Drinking and farting are fun too...
LP: Our jobs... It takes us a lot of time but every evening we work for Your Own Decay. Personaly, my activities are computers, my girlfriend (hello Rabbit!) and music of course.
Does it take a lot of free time? Can you compare it with your job? Family?
LP: When I was at school, I had a lot of time to drink beers in the pub and play guitar for hours. Now, I play music in the evening and do interviews during my lunch time!
Why is BRUTALISM the best site on the net?
LP: Because there is a cool review or Your Own Decay LOL! Seriously, we find lots of info about anything metal and the picture of Twan's son is funny! A future headbanger!
JH: I thought yourowndecay.com was the best site on the net... There must be a confusion somewhere.
You have played many shows till now. Easy to get them? Which gig will you never forget? And why?
JH: Every show is great. I enjoy meeting new, cool people. It makes us travel a lot too, and discover places where we've never been before. My favorite was at the Z7 in Pratteln. We had a really great time, especially after the show.
LP: I love to play when there's a lot of people. To see people headbanging with you when you play, it's just great! My best souvenir is maybe to have play the first show in a metal pub in our city with our friends. It was so crowed that there was people behind the bar!
You say you can play about 60 minutes every concert. Running out of songs or air?
JH: We usually play with other bands. Even if we headline, we must leave some time for the others and each band has around 45 minutes to play. For us it's OK because we are not quick composers so we do not have enough material to play for 2 hours!
LP: At the beginning, we only had 35 minutes of music and we played the same songs for the encores!!! Now, playing 45 intense minutes non-stop is perfect for death-metal!
How do you behave on stage? What can they do with you after a gig?
JH: People say we have a great stage presence. We try to move as much as we can and to communicate our energy to the public.
LP: Live performance is Your Own Decay's first quality for sure. We try to establish a communication with the public and I think that it is what real live concerts are about!
So make your statement why people should wait for your secret name album?
JH: It will kick some serious ass. It will really be a step above ’Never Enough’, in terms of brutality, complexity and production quality.
Last rites?
LP: Meditate to find some answers to BRUTALISM questions!
JH: Stay brutal and do not compromise.