Parisian djent rockers Outcast started for more than 20 years ago, and now they are ready to unleash yet another sonic attack, a new album entitled Awaken The Reason. It is due to get released through Listenable Records which also offered me the opportunity to talk to someone from the band. Despite of being the latest arrival to the line-up band’s guitarist Jean-François had many interesting things to tell. Here follows little conversation with him.


MR: Hey guys from Outcast. What is the latest news from your camp?
Jean-François: Hi. Things are going fast; we’re working on new material for a digital EP to come out just before the release of Awaken The Reason.

MR: Obviously you’re also busy promoting your new album Awaken The Reason which is about to get an official release in February, right?
JF: Yes, absolutely, there is some gigs to come but I can’t say anything yet except that I think it’s going to be nice!

MR: It is your third full-length record. How would you compare it with its predecessor? See a progress?
JF: Compared to the previous albums, this record is way much progressive and more personal; we all worked a lot all along the song writing to push further the boundaries of our music, so yes, I guess we progressed and our music as well.

MR: As musicians I guess you’ll always claim that your newest material is also your best. What if I tell you that I find Awaken The Reason to be your strongest and most solid recording so far? What would you say to convince the readers of this interview that it IS actually your best album so far?
JF: I joined the band at the very beginning of the song writing so; this is the main reason of the success of the album (Laughing). No, seriously, firstly this album comes with a massive production handled by Jochem Jacobs (Textures) at Split Second Sound Studio (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Alan Douches at West West Side Studio (USA). Furthermore, the song writing is way more achieved, powerful, melodic and complex, since we didn’t had any boundaries while writing, we managed to include all the elements we wanted, the result is for the songs to be more personal compared to our previous releases. Last but no least, we recorded everything at my very own The Office/The Artist Studio so we had all the time we needed to make new arrangements and corrections to the song along the recording for the album to be exactly as we wanted it to be.

MR: For someone who’s unfamiliar with your sound, how would you describe the sound on this latest offering?
JF: For who like comparisons, I guess it could be described as the meeting of Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, Textures, Opeth, Meshuggah and Jimi Hendrix. It ends as what I think to be a really fresh and good piece of progressive-metal music.

MR: Do you have a favourite track of the Awaken The Reason?
JF: I’m really proud of every single track of the album but my favourite one is “Awaken The Reason XI”, it’s to me the best resume (as well a the last song written) of what have been Outcast during the last 5 years.

MR: Who’s came up with a title Awaken The Reason? Any deeper message behind it?
JF: We came to this title all together as a band, you can consider it as a friendly advice but everyone would understand it differently depending of his own life path.

MR: How long a deal have you signed with Listenable Records and are you guys pleased with the amount of support these guys are offering to you?
JF: Signing a deal with Listenable Records is one of the best thing that happened to the band, those guys are real professionals, working with them will really bring the band one step further. Moreover, most of the band we love (Gojira, Textures, Soilwork, Sybreed, Scarve…) worked or are still working with them so it’s like a dream coming true.

MR: You’ve shared the stage with some of the most established and big acts in the world of metal. Is there any specific show or a gig, which is the most memorable to you?
JF: We have great memories of shows with awesome bands but to me the most memorable is probably the gig we played with Hacride and Gojira in Dijon. Those bands are like a goal to reach for each French band.

MR: What are some of other metal bands and musicians that inspire you personally?
JF: We listen to al lot of music beside metal, like jazz, fusion or movie music, so yeah, we can name guys like Miles Davis, Guthrie Govan, Hans Zimmer or John Williams but we’re not good enough to include those influences to Outcast’s music yet.

MR: When writing lyrics, what is the main subject and where do you find the inspiration for them?
JF: Wilfried is the main person if charge of writing the lyrics, and it mainly talk about human comportment and deviances. We find the inspiration just looking around us the way people interacts with each other.

MR: Are they any goals left to achieve? How do you see the future of your mighty band and where do you see Outcast in let’s say five years from now?
JF: We have a lot of things left to do, but we want to concentrate on playing on stage a maximum, we really like being on the road see new landscapes, meet other cultures and share our music with people. I hope that in five years, we’ll be in a gigantic tour bus, playing our 5th album all around the globe… time will tell but we’ll work for it.

MR: It was nice talking to you. Hope to see you in Denmark soon.
JF: Thank you for your time, it might be classical but, I hope we’ll meet in Denmark during the tour.


Interview done by Bato