AMEN : CHAOS A.D...

-CC : It was pretty dark, yes, a lot of betrayal, and pretty interesting to see how much people can change over just about the fact whether a band were signed or not !

-You’ve been signed on EatUr Music, the Daron Malakian label : I guess you two have a lot of things in common ?

CC : Yes, I guess we do, actually. It’s cool that he was so supportive of the band and wanted us to be his first signing to the label...

-He signed Satyricon afterwards...

CC : Yeah ! He signed them as well !

-But is Daron playing or appearing on your record ?

CC : No, he’s not. He came in basically when the record was done, he was just supporting, and he was there like a guidance near the end, just being...supportive !

-Some members left the band in the meantime : who is in Amen today ?

CC : They are all new members, except Rich (Jones, guitar) who has been in Amen for like three years. Then you have Luke Johnson, the new drummer, Scott Sorry on bass and Matt Montgomery on second guitar.

-Today you have finally a new album, ‘Death before musick’ issued : what has been the main inspiration for it ? Your own anger ? And the US politics, the situation of the world ?

CC : Yes, but I’m always pretty aware, to a certain degree, of what’s going on around me, it particularly deals with the whole American infrastructure, and the world. It’s always been something that kind of motivates me, because I’ve never liked American society and it's something I have mixed feelings about I guess.

-I suppose the song ‘California bleeding’ is a joke about ‘California dreaming’, but what do you think about the election of Arnold Schwarzenneger as governor of California ?

CC (laughs) : I think he’s the perfect governor for L.A, I don’t think they could find a more perfect governor : it’s a joke, him as a governor, it’s pretty perfect ! I mean, you need to take a look at that, and you can see a really good example of how ridiculous Los Angeles is.

-I’ve heard that many actors and people from cinema industry were angry at him, when recently he didn’t pardon a guy who was in death row and has been then executed...

CC : I couldn’t imagine him being a very loyal person on a human level, maybe as a politician, it makes better boots for him but I can see why people have been upset and I’m sure he let a lot of people down.

-Let’s go back to your record : who produced it and why?

CC : I did. I was just recording the whole time after we left Virgin, and I was going in and out of studios and shit like that. I produced the Virgin record as well... What would happen is I would do the drum tracks with Larkin about noon, and then I would do all the guitars, then I would lay over the bass tracks and then I would do the third guitar and the piano and some noises and at about nine o’clock I was starting to do vocals, so I would do a song a day, and at nine o’clock, Ross would show up and would be there when I did the vocals, but Darren was more involved as a producer than Ross was. Ross was someone that helped facilitate the band, because Ross was always going: "Well, you don't need a producer, because you know exactly what you want, the sound that you want", because there were times on the first record when I was trying out something and Ross was like : ‘What are you doing ?" And I said: "It's my idea. I want to try it out." There would be a fight ! And then after I did it, he said ‘Oh, man, that’s so cool !’ And I said: "Don't give us such a hard time, let me try to express myself !"

-A few months ago, you toured with Killing Joke in the US : how was it ?

CC : It was like a dream come true : I think Killing Joke is probably one of the most influential bands of all time, and it doesn’t come to any surprise when you meet them because they’re so unique and intelligent and passionate, and it’s all those combinations that make their music so special I think.

-Were you a fan of KJ, what are your favorites songs or Lp they made ?

CC : I like every record they do, with the exception of ‘The America’ record (editor's note: "Outside the gate"), every record they’ve done I love, particularly the first one and I think the new record is probably the second best record, it’s incredible, and especially for the fact that they are a good example that age doesn’t mean shit ; they put out an album that is the album of the year by far, and it’s such a great record.

-I’ve heard that you’re planning to record an EP together in Prague...

CC : I hope ! But we’re a band that doesn’t have any fucking money, we live in a house together, we all share everything, and it’s quite hard with the record label, it’s hard for them because finances are so tough now, it’s hard for them to understand why we wanna do it. Jaz wanted us to go to Prague and to live in a railroad station that he owns and where he records all his music, he wanted us to film a DVD with all the stuff, but I don’t think the label really understands how cool it could be, they want us to focus on the record. But, obviously, I will do it, I really want to do it.

-We’ve seen it on the Killing Joke website...

CC : I hope it happens, maybe people know things I don’t know ! Maybe, if we have the opportunity to and everyone agrees, we’ll do it ...like that.

-What become of your own label, ‘Refuse music’ ?

CC : I found these bands and I had really bad management at the time, and I had several offers from labels wanting to do this imprint label, but once the Amen after the Virgin record fell apart, after that happened, everything started to become very shaky and I started to try to really focus on Amen, and put the label on the back, and the bands that I’d found eventually ended up signed to other labels : they were waiting for a while, and of course, as nothing came, they couldn’t sit around and wait. I told them: "Look, if you can find a deal, do it". I did some works with Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and some other bands that haven’t come out yet, but, maybe one day, I’d like to, but I’d like to do it when I can really focus my time on it too.

-Any chance to see your ‘special lp’ ‘Buy American’, properly released one day ?

CC : It was just available on the tour, and it was basically a bunch of songs that we played during that tour and we'll never play these songs again, and we specially released it for the tour. Maybe we’ll do ‘buy American II’ one day !

-Some time ago, you participated to the ‘rise above Lp’ : what have been the results of the trial ?

CC : I know Henry raised quite a bit of money for it, so I know that money was raised, he did some touring for it and it brought a lot of awareness to this cause. The fact that he did that, with the Black Flag logo and the Black Flag songs seemed to bring so much attention to it that many people became aware of the cause, and it was really a very good outcome. Then again, we’re talking about American society and the ridiculousness of the fucking system, and especially with that case in particular ; we’re talking about the judge and jury and all these people who are not even in power anymore, so it’s really hard to justify the situation. All I wanted to do is make people more aware and to try to get them a fair trial, which is yet to be seen.

-Did you participate to other records like that ?

CC : I don’t like singing, doing cameos on others people’s record, like many other bands like Slipknot or Queens of the stone age wanted me to sing, and I’m never big on cameos but the Rise above thing was so important to me, that’s why I did that. Except from that, I was Djeing on QOTSA album, and I did that because they are good friends of mine, that was fun, we were hanging out and all that !

-Ten years after, how do you judge your career in music : is it what you expected when you started a band ? Despite your problems with your previous labels, are you satisfied of the way things evolved ?

CC : I’m never satisfied, and I’ll never be ! The way I came into music is different to most people, because I came into music as a mistake really, it was an outlet for my anger, and when I was skateboarding, I would break a bone, I would then go make some noise my fellow skateboarders, and it wasn't really about music, it was just expression. And so it become serious as I broke more and more bones, so I had a hardcore band, a punk band, when I was thirteen, fourteen, and then I wanted to play with people who actually could play their instrument. Then, playing shows and sharing stages with bands I loved all my life, my expectations are far, far beyond what I’ve ever dreamed, beyond my wildest dreams : I’ve never thought that I would ever be able to be on a major label or anything like that, I’ve never thought that I would make music that Henry Rollins would love, and Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols and people like that, who all told me, sing my own lyrics to me, I feel like I’m dead, because it’s so surreal, so my expectations are far beyond my wildest dreams : I could die tomorrow and be grateful and happy, totally grateful for everything, even all the shit that happens with Virgin, because I’m here today, probably in a better situation, with better people, good people, and a better band, and I think that the pain I went through probably helped me get here.

-Next : tour in France ?

CC : Yes, in April, definitely

(La boule noire, Paris...)

Interview made by Jean Paul Coillard, February 27th 2004 in Paris.

Translation: JP / Marie Lecocq.

Pictures : JPCoillard.

Thanks to Guillaume and Donatien for their precious help!