Wherever you read Press Gang Metropol, you can see "ex-Corpus Delicti" next to it. As most people know, only your drummer didn't come back, but why did you change the band's name because of only one person?
Sébastien: It has to be new if we wanted this to work. If we were called Corpus Delicti we would have to play lots of CD songs, and we don't feel like it. We prefer the other way, I mean, our band is Press Gang Metropol, and for our own pleasure and the audience, we play some Corpus songs we like. One more thing, the drummer was Roma, she was important in the band, and when people think of Corpus they often think of her. It wouldn't have been honest to keep the name without her behind the drums.
Franck: We are a new band ,with a new sound and we want to feel free into the music, we do actually .. we didn't want an extra pressure around the Corpus Delicti name .
Christophe: Musically and personally we are not the same, there has been an evolution. But there was alchemy between us 20 years ago and it's still there.
If you can trust the outdated German Wikipedia entry, after the split-up of Corpus Delicti you started several bands and projects. Are any of them still alive? What else (musically) did you do in the time between the split-up and the forming of Press Gang Metropol?
Sébastien: I made 3 albums with my solo project Kuta. I suppose there will be another one, but not now. I'm 100% into PGM musically. Apart from my albums, I've contributed a few times in other projects on vocals, sometimes for a song or a short guest contribution. In fact before PGM, I had the chance to work again with Franck on a song I had recorded for the last Curl album.
Franck: After CD, I created my own project Curl and released 3 albums... the band is still going. We’ll record the new album at the end of this year, the second on Dmonic We take more electronic sounds mixed with guitars, bass, guitars, vocals and we like it, with the different elements to create our own atmosphere.
Christophe: For me PGM is the one and only project. Kom Intern stopped in 2005, it's definitively over, and I don't like doing what I've already done. After Corpus I was really impressed by the industrial scene, but I've seen it all and going back to a guitar band was a real fountain of youth.
Your debut album is influenced by very different styles (compared with the Corpus Delicti stuff), such as indie and shoegaze and it's not as dark as the Corpus Delicti stuff was... What were your main influences, when you started writing these songs?
Sébastien: Thanks to bands such as Editors or Interpol, some people have re discovered this music but it's not new to us! We played that long before!
Franck: After years and years, I listened to a lot of different music like shoegaze, electronica as did the rest of the band... I think we have digested all that stuff, and all the songs came out naturally... Personallly my guitar sound is influenced by old bands like The Cure, Joy Division and especially The Chameleons and The Sound but also bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Radiohead.. Actually I love the guitar sound of Todd Howe from the Boxer Rebellion . To create "Checkpoint” we have just spent hours and hours rehearsing. Trying out and developing the good pieces we had ...things came out naturally and I think that's the best way of song writing, to increase the live energy.
Christophe: In a way, that was "back to basics" to us! Music we liked in the 80's: new wave, post punk, cold wave…but we also feel close to lots of bands from today that came back to that sound.
Press Gang Metropol already set a high standard in music and stage performance, especially at the WGT. You've received a lot of good feedback, not only because you played some Corpus Delicti songs, but also for the performance of your new stuff. Are you planning to get a bigger stage presence in future?
Sébastien: We hope to gig soon in great venues, we are excited to promote the new album. We are trying to plan a tour for the autumn.
Franck: Yes, the show in Leipzig was FANTASTIC ... we had a big warm welcome that put us on cloud nine!
Christophe: We hope so! We are definitively looking for gigs.
What are the future plans for Press Gang Metropol? Are you intending to surprise your fans with more albums than just this one? Are you already working on new songs or maybe some re-records of Corpus Delicti songs in the new Press Gang Metropol style?
Franck: Haha ...I don t think we will rerecord some CD's stuff... but yes . We are working on new songs and we are really excited about the upcoming album !
Christophe: We will certainly release the album on vinyl in September/October with bonus tracks and remixes. And yes, new songs are on the way.
If you'd have to name 3 bands, that influenced the musical style of Press Gang Metropol, which one would these be?
Sébastien: I would say Chameleons, Bowie and New Order..and maybe a hint of Corpus Delicti!
Franck: Joy Division, Clash, Chameleons ...
Christophe: New Order, Clash, Interpol, to me they sum up the sound I like!
Thanks a lot for answering the questions above! Now, the last words are up to you. Do you want to tell your fans and our readers any last words, for now?
Sébastien: Thanks for following us since Corpus, thanks to the new ones that discover us, and hope to come back soon to Germany!
Franck: I would thank all the fans in Leipzig and all the support we received. We need everyone of you to tour !!! xxx
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