Double spread
(Nb. Another interview that I ran sometime late 2017. Rodolphe has had a new release since, Skelethal's excellent 'Antropomorphia' demo)
Northern France’s notorious kvlt warrior, jetsetter extraordinaire / world adventurer and all-around great guy Rodolphe Fénart has agreed to answer my questions on his label La Gueule du Ciel. His first and only release so far has been a long overdue super deluxe posthumous 2xLP vinyl edition of SUPER TIMOR’s unreleased album “Double Impact”. If you’ve never heard of the band (don’t worry, you’re not alone: I’d never heard their name either when they were active or later!), all you need to know is that they came from Marseilles in the south of France, featured a drummer called ‘Vinnie Smegma’ in their ranks, played some freaky sludge with weird, powerful electronic surges and based their album on Jean-Claude Van Damme. Yes, sludge, dick cheese and full frontal splits are on today’s menu, my friends, courtesy of SUPER TIMOR and this spotlight on La Gueule du Ciel Records. Rodolphe was also kind enough to share some of his vast knowledge of worldwide unknown micro-underground bands with us... always a plus in my book! Please note that, just like Luc's, this interview was done in 2017.
Hi Rod! A question for French speakers first that may be of interest to non-French readers too: what’s behind the name of your label, “La Gueule du ciel”? What does it mean? (1)
It’s a saying I have when I see very cloudy or dark skies, just before the storm comes or rain or snow… “Yeah, the clouds are about to burst!” It’s both menacing and exciting at the same time… Boyhood memories, also: when someone died you’d hear the elderly say that person had “gone to heaven”... I would get pictures in my head of this giant mouth in the sky swallowing people up. Scary! It’s a label’s name to release scary records to. Also very easy to pronounce for the american or japanese market...
Why SUPER TIMOR for your first release? Can you tell us more about the band?
I learned about SUPER TIMOR through Julien “Nagawika” Le Guennec who did the artwork for Double Impact. We used to bump into each other in Paris, like at La Miroiterie (2). I really enjoyed our conversations on Metal, Punk, everything… I like his art, his wittiness, his sense of humour… “SUPER TIMOR” was his answer when one night I asked him what his favourite french band was at the time. I instantly fell in love and became fascinated with Double Impact. I knew it was one of those records I’d keep listening to over and over without getting bored. A collection of long, super fat, sludgy, heavy songs that reach a sweat-infused, spit-drenched crescendo along with unexpected sounds. “Congo drums meet french doom.” Among all the darkness and tension there’s even a “massilian touch”-style sense of humour, you can’t understand all the lyrics. Also, it’s a concept album based on Jean-Claude Van Damme. In my opinion, it’s a great psychedelic record. SUPER TIMOR was a trio from Marseilles: S.A.S. de Belzemouk (guitars, vox, keyboards), Guignol (bass) and Vinnie Smegma (drums, keyboards). Their first demo "Tout le monde aime Super Timor" (3) was released in 2004 followed by Cauchemar d’Esque, their first album, in 2007. When I found out about Double Impact, their last recording from 2008, about 5 years later, they’d put up this message on their website, something like “SUPER TIMOR is over, download for free this unreleased album, bye…” I thought it was a shame! I’d been toying with the idea of doing a label for a while, saving up some money on the side, so I said to myself: “The time is right! Let’s do this!”
What did the band think when they saw the record?
When I got in touch with JB S.A.S. de B. for my project, his first answer was: “Hi. The band has split up and we’ve drifted apart. Spending so much on this record would be financial suicide. Thanks for writing us.” I bet they must have felt something stir in their stomach when they got the double LP in their hands one year later… They thanked me many times over. Vinnie told me they thought the LP was a thing of beauty. I think they were really happy with it, which made me happy in return. We got together with JB one summer night in Marseilles so we did have a release party of sorts and I have fuzzy memories of that night!
How many copies did you press? What pressing plant did you choose?
I did 200 copies at M Com’ Musique, a pressing plant near Rennes. I was happy to work with them.
What about sales? I heard you dropped off a few copies over at Amoeba in San Francisco. One of my fondest memories of Roadburn was of you, street peddling your LPs outside 013…
Haha, I hope they’ve sold the two copies I left at Amoeba’s, it’s been a while since I’ve been there. It’s a slow seller, I still have half of the print run left, a hundred records roughly. Friends bought it when it came out. Some record stores are carrying it in France (Gibert Saint-Michel in Paris, Besides Records and Quelque Part Records in Lille, Emanes Records’ Crypt Of Eternity in Roubaix, Lollipop and Trendkill in Marseilles.) I hardly sell them directly from the label. I’ve sold most of the records while travelling abroad, mostly in the U.S. Stores often buy a few copies from me when I’m shopping the record around. This is why you can find it in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Montreal, Tokyo… This record travels a lot! I can't remember selling records in the street like I did at Roadburn, that was fun. I should do it again! Speaking of Roadburn, we should go to the next one, OCCULTA and MAGGOT HEART are playing!
Are you going to release other LPs? If you had carte blanche and could do anything you want, what would you pick?
At first, I just wanted to release Double Impact and then I thought that if I could sell a lot of records real quick, maybe I could also do SUPER TIMOR’s previous album. Naga did some fantastic artwork for it with a nod to Cabaret L’Enfer which was created in Paris in the late 19th century. “Be damned, ye who enter here”... To tell you the truth I could see myself putting out a lot of records in many different styles, as long as the music speaks to me. It has to be a record I won’t get tired of. I wish I could have helped ENOB or VATICAN a while back but I couldn’t afford it at the time and still can’t.
Carte blanche… I’do a tape of SUNN O))) live at Caves Lechapelais, a 7’’ EP with SKELETHAL doing VOID covers only, co-released with Triumph Ov Death...
I must switch to tapes, they’re cheaper than vinyl and you need less stamps!
Your day job in the airline industry allows you to travel all over the world. What are the greatest gigs you’ve seen recently? The coolest people you’ve met?
For a change, the last great concert I went to recently wasn’t connected with my job. It was the Southern Lord Special Showcase in Amsterdam last october… UNSANE, CIRCLE, MAGMA and SUNN O))) -- my personal Champions League!
As for people I’ve met, I spent an afternoon recently in Santiago drinking beers and chatting about South American and Chilean Metal with Moolyn (he’s the guy who’s doing vocals in COMMUNION and also Proselytism Records’ head honcho.) We talked about Chile as a very special country, a landlocked enclave which maybe gives the country a special state of mind, between a very dry desert up North, the Pacific Ocean running South-West and the Andes Cordillera on the East side... Recently, I also dropped by Temple of Mystery in Montreal, run by Annick Giroux, just before they moved… I left with a bunch of great records and a good thai restaurant recommendation!
What’s going on in Lille, on your home turf?
I still go to great gigs in the area, old or new bands, there’s a lot happening here. SKELETHAL, SEPULCHRAL who got back in the game recently, MORTAL SCEPTER (although they’re not from Lille but from the Carnival-infested city of Dunkerque), DEAR DEER, VATICAN, TOC, PHIL WAVE, DRIVE WITH A DEAD GIRL, VI! VI! VI!, SHORT DAYS, JODIE FASTER, OUI MAIS NON, TRAÎTRE who are no longer around although ANNEES ZERO have released a good demo. Wooaaah, I bet I’m forgetting a lot of people… We went to see TRISOMIE 21 play in the area some time ago, they were doing a sold out gig at L’Aéronef. The crowd was singing along to their songs like in a football stadium, people were throwing roses at the end… That was insane!
What music are you playing these days?
Right now I’m listening to the complete GASMASK TERRÖR Volume 2. I’ve reverted to the old ways of playing music these days, which is listening to the same records on repeat, every day. This year, three records made the list: Prelude by WYTCH HAZEL, Of The Depths by SKELETHAL (killer band and they live next door), Pointe du Lac by POINTE DU LAC. CIRCLE and co. are also always nearby. I got into MAGMA big time recently… I Am The Center, a New Age sampler, LARAAJI, ALICE COLTRANE… TORMENTOR (Hungary), FUNERAL NATION, COMMUNION, UNDERGANG, the last BLOOD INCANTATION, lots of eighties Thrash, Mind Wars by HOLY TERROR… Some modern french Hard Rock bands like NECROWRETCH or TENTATION, DISFUNERAL or CADAVERIC FUMES among others… JESSAMINE, LABRADFORD, CHAOS ECHOES, FRANCE, the VOMIR/COLIQUE tape, TOILING MIDGETS, South American Black/Death Metal bands, PHURPA, Archiv4 on Raster-Noton, COIL (always!), FUSHITSHUSHA… SIEGE and VOID. Still eagerly waiting for the new KILL THE THRILL… I’ve always been loyal to some labels: Pandemonium Records, Ideologic Organ, Rune Grammofon, Ektro… I buy with closed eyes all tapes released by Ruton Music and Impious Desecration Records.
Thanks for the heads up, Rodolphe, and all the killer music recommendations. Le mot de la fin is yours my friend!
Thank you for thinking of La Gueule du ciel for your fanzine. I think your interview request surprised me as much as SUPER TIMOR were when I asked them if I could release Double Impact on vinyl. I’m really really happy to make it happen. Long live NO CLOUT and I can’t wait for your next podcast edition of Beats Killing People! Support your local beers, meditate & listen to BESTYMATOR!
Northern France’s notorious kvlt warrior, jetsetter extraordinaire / world adventurer and all-around great guy Rodolphe Fénart has agreed to answer my questions on his label La Gueule du Ciel. His first and only release so far has been a long overdue super deluxe posthumous 2xLP vinyl edition of SUPER TIMOR’s unreleased album “Double Impact”. If you’ve never heard of the band (don’t worry, you’re not alone: I’d never heard their name either when they were active or later!), all you need to know is that they came from Marseilles in the south of France, featured a drummer called ‘Vinnie Smegma’ in their ranks, played some freaky sludge with weird, powerful electronic surges and based their album on Jean-Claude Van Damme. Yes, sludge, dick cheese and full frontal splits are on today’s menu, my friends, courtesy of SUPER TIMOR and this spotlight on La Gueule du Ciel Records. Rodolphe was also kind enough to share some of his vast knowledge of worldwide unknown micro-underground bands with us... always a plus in my book! Please note that, just like Luc's, this interview was done in 2017.
Hi Rod! A question for French speakers first that may be of interest to non-French readers too: what’s behind the name of your label, “La Gueule du ciel”? What does it mean? (1)
It’s a saying I have when I see very cloudy or dark skies, just before the storm comes or rain or snow… “Yeah, the clouds are about to burst!” It’s both menacing and exciting at the same time… Boyhood memories, also: when someone died you’d hear the elderly say that person had “gone to heaven”... I would get pictures in my head of this giant mouth in the sky swallowing people up. Scary! It’s a label’s name to release scary records to. Also very easy to pronounce for the american or japanese market...
Why SUPER TIMOR for your first release? Can you tell us more about the band?
I learned about SUPER TIMOR through Julien “Nagawika” Le Guennec who did the artwork for Double Impact. We used to bump into each other in Paris, like at La Miroiterie (2). I really enjoyed our conversations on Metal, Punk, everything… I like his art, his wittiness, his sense of humour… “SUPER TIMOR” was his answer when one night I asked him what his favourite french band was at the time. I instantly fell in love and became fascinated with Double Impact. I knew it was one of those records I’d keep listening to over and over without getting bored. A collection of long, super fat, sludgy, heavy songs that reach a sweat-infused, spit-drenched crescendo along with unexpected sounds. “Congo drums meet french doom.” Among all the darkness and tension there’s even a “massilian touch”-style sense of humour, you can’t understand all the lyrics. Also, it’s a concept album based on Jean-Claude Van Damme. In my opinion, it’s a great psychedelic record. SUPER TIMOR was a trio from Marseilles: S.A.S. de Belzemouk (guitars, vox, keyboards), Guignol (bass) and Vinnie Smegma (drums, keyboards). Their first demo "Tout le monde aime Super Timor" (3) was released in 2004 followed by Cauchemar d’Esque, their first album, in 2007. When I found out about Double Impact, their last recording from 2008, about 5 years later, they’d put up this message on their website, something like “SUPER TIMOR is over, download for free this unreleased album, bye…” I thought it was a shame! I’d been toying with the idea of doing a label for a while, saving up some money on the side, so I said to myself: “The time is right! Let’s do this!”
What did the band think when they saw the record?
When I got in touch with JB S.A.S. de B. for my project, his first answer was: “Hi. The band has split up and we’ve drifted apart. Spending so much on this record would be financial suicide. Thanks for writing us.” I bet they must have felt something stir in their stomach when they got the double LP in their hands one year later… They thanked me many times over. Vinnie told me they thought the LP was a thing of beauty. I think they were really happy with it, which made me happy in return. We got together with JB one summer night in Marseilles so we did have a release party of sorts and I have fuzzy memories of that night!
How many copies did you press? What pressing plant did you choose?
I did 200 copies at M Com’ Musique, a pressing plant near Rennes. I was happy to work with them.
What about sales? I heard you dropped off a few copies over at Amoeba in San Francisco. One of my fondest memories of Roadburn was of you, street peddling your LPs outside 013…
Haha, I hope they’ve sold the two copies I left at Amoeba’s, it’s been a while since I’ve been there. It’s a slow seller, I still have half of the print run left, a hundred records roughly. Friends bought it when it came out. Some record stores are carrying it in France (Gibert Saint-Michel in Paris, Besides Records and Quelque Part Records in Lille, Emanes Records’ Crypt Of Eternity in Roubaix, Lollipop and Trendkill in Marseilles.) I hardly sell them directly from the label. I’ve sold most of the records while travelling abroad, mostly in the U.S. Stores often buy a few copies from me when I’m shopping the record around. This is why you can find it in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Montreal, Tokyo… This record travels a lot! I can't remember selling records in the street like I did at Roadburn, that was fun. I should do it again! Speaking of Roadburn, we should go to the next one, OCCULTA and MAGGOT HEART are playing!
Are you going to release other LPs? If you had carte blanche and could do anything you want, what would you pick?
At first, I just wanted to release Double Impact and then I thought that if I could sell a lot of records real quick, maybe I could also do SUPER TIMOR’s previous album. Naga did some fantastic artwork for it with a nod to Cabaret L’Enfer which was created in Paris in the late 19th century. “Be damned, ye who enter here”... To tell you the truth I could see myself putting out a lot of records in many different styles, as long as the music speaks to me. It has to be a record I won’t get tired of. I wish I could have helped ENOB or VATICAN a while back but I couldn’t afford it at the time and still can’t.
Carte blanche… I’do a tape of SUNN O))) live at Caves Lechapelais, a 7’’ EP with SKELETHAL doing VOID covers only, co-released with Triumph Ov Death...
I must switch to tapes, they’re cheaper than vinyl and you need less stamps!
Your day job in the airline industry allows you to travel all over the world. What are the greatest gigs you’ve seen recently? The coolest people you’ve met?
For a change, the last great concert I went to recently wasn’t connected with my job. It was the Southern Lord Special Showcase in Amsterdam last october… UNSANE, CIRCLE, MAGMA and SUNN O))) -- my personal Champions League!
As for people I’ve met, I spent an afternoon recently in Santiago drinking beers and chatting about South American and Chilean Metal with Moolyn (he’s the guy who’s doing vocals in COMMUNION and also Proselytism Records’ head honcho.) We talked about Chile as a very special country, a landlocked enclave which maybe gives the country a special state of mind, between a very dry desert up North, the Pacific Ocean running South-West and the Andes Cordillera on the East side... Recently, I also dropped by Temple of Mystery in Montreal, run by Annick Giroux, just before they moved… I left with a bunch of great records and a good thai restaurant recommendation!
What’s going on in Lille, on your home turf?
I still go to great gigs in the area, old or new bands, there’s a lot happening here. SKELETHAL, SEPULCHRAL who got back in the game recently, MORTAL SCEPTER (although they’re not from Lille but from the Carnival-infested city of Dunkerque), DEAR DEER, VATICAN, TOC, PHIL WAVE, DRIVE WITH A DEAD GIRL, VI! VI! VI!, SHORT DAYS, JODIE FASTER, OUI MAIS NON, TRAÎTRE who are no longer around although ANNEES ZERO have released a good demo. Wooaaah, I bet I’m forgetting a lot of people… We went to see TRISOMIE 21 play in the area some time ago, they were doing a sold out gig at L’Aéronef. The crowd was singing along to their songs like in a football stadium, people were throwing roses at the end… That was insane!
What music are you playing these days?
Right now I’m listening to the complete GASMASK TERRÖR Volume 2. I’ve reverted to the old ways of playing music these days, which is listening to the same records on repeat, every day. This year, three records made the list: Prelude by WYTCH HAZEL, Of The Depths by SKELETHAL (killer band and they live next door), Pointe du Lac by POINTE DU LAC. CIRCLE and co. are also always nearby. I got into MAGMA big time recently… I Am The Center, a New Age sampler, LARAAJI, ALICE COLTRANE… TORMENTOR (Hungary), FUNERAL NATION, COMMUNION, UNDERGANG, the last BLOOD INCANTATION, lots of eighties Thrash, Mind Wars by HOLY TERROR… Some modern french Hard Rock bands like NECROWRETCH or TENTATION, DISFUNERAL or CADAVERIC FUMES among others… JESSAMINE, LABRADFORD, CHAOS ECHOES, FRANCE, the VOMIR/COLIQUE tape, TOILING MIDGETS, South American Black/Death Metal bands, PHURPA, Archiv4 on Raster-Noton, COIL (always!), FUSHITSHUSHA… SIEGE and VOID. Still eagerly waiting for the new KILL THE THRILL… I’ve always been loyal to some labels: Pandemonium Records, Ideologic Organ, Rune Grammofon, Ektro… I buy with closed eyes all tapes released by Ruton Music and Impious Desecration Records.
Thanks for the heads up, Rodolphe, and all the killer music recommendations. Le mot de la fin is yours my friend!
Thank you for thinking of La Gueule du ciel for your fanzine. I think your interview request surprised me as much as SUPER TIMOR were when I asked them if I could release Double Impact on vinyl. I’m really really happy to make it happen. Long live NO CLOUT and I can’t wait for your next podcast edition of Beats Killing People! Support your local beers, meditate & listen to BESTYMATOR!
Notes
(1) La Gueule du ciel can literally be translated either as “The mouth in the sky” or “The sky’s appearance”, if it helps you understand Rodolphe’s answer. Why O why did I choose to do this in English again?
(2)
La Miroiterie was a now defunct famous squat in Paris which had to close when one of the outside walls collapsed. In a very ironic and twisted turn of events, it’s now been resurrected under the same name as an horrible, ultra-expensive place for hispters only. For more information straight from one of its founders, please refer to this article in French https://www.streetpress.com/sujet/1499181714-bellevilloise-pillage-miroiterie-punk, or this one from 2013, in the New York Times! http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/world/europe/la-miroiterie-parisian-artist-settlement-may-close.html]
(3)
"Everybody Loves Super Timor". Killer title!
(1) La Gueule du ciel can literally be translated either as “The mouth in the sky” or “The sky’s appearance”, if it helps you understand Rodolphe’s answer. Why O why did I choose to do this in English again?
(2)
La Miroiterie was a now defunct famous squat in Paris which had to close when one of the outside walls collapsed. In a very ironic and twisted turn of events, it’s now been resurrected under the same name as an horrible, ultra-expensive place for hispters only. For more information straight from one of its founders, please refer to this article in French https://www.streetpress.com/sujet/1499181714-bellevilloise-pillage-miroiterie-punk, or this one from 2013, in the New York Times! http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/world/europe/la-miroiterie-parisian-artist-settlement-may-close.html]
(3)
"Everybody Loves Super Timor". Killer title!
