Dark Poetry is a French extreme metal band that has been around since 1997. They released a couple of demos and 2002 saw them release their debut full-length album "An Ugly Little Freak." This album was released by the band and is being distributed by www.alapage.com.

Here's an interview with band leader/ lyricist/guitarist Toto.

Hello Toto, many thanks for agreeing to this interview.

1. To start things off, can you tell us how Dark Poetry came into being and also introduce the band?

Dark Poetry was born in 1997 in Bergerac, a small town located in southwest of France. It is composed of 4 members: TOTO (that's me, guitars), KROMSTADT (vocals), KEUL (bass) and GASP (drumz). We used to play in a progressive metal band called DOM, but we were all in a need of heaviness, and much more brutal sound. We recorded our first demo WHAROL in 1998, then ONCE UPON A TIME in 2000… We wanted to combine all of our influences, to compose music we would love to hear, a music that you discover once to never forget it. We shared lots of concerts with famous and unfamous bands, such as PLEYMO, ZOMBIE EATERS, ZEBDA, INSIDE CONFLICT, DHAM, TRIPOD… and there we are with our First album called AN UGLY LITTLE FREAK this year, distributed in FRANCE by MUSICAST.

2. How would you describe the sound of the band?

Our music is based on death metal roots, with the addition of plenty of styles, from the most brutal trash or black metal, to the Swedish melodic death metal scene. We just mix elements from various influences, to create our own sound and expand our music. We don't want to compose songs that will all sound alike. "An Ugly Little Freak" song sounds very "Swedish", but "Fill it up" or "Soldier" sound more groovy and rock'n'roll "in your face", for example. We love to go on mid-tempos and suddently accelerate to become all the more brutal, or all the more melodic. Our singer Kromstadt can modulate his voice to get high screams and deep and cavernous yells, but can also be melodic when the song deserves it. We don't want to add frontiers to our music. And it's really fun to see young people headbanging with older people in our concerts. I think a wide part of metal freaks could enjoy what we try our best to do :

3. How did you come up with the name Dark Poetry for the band? What significance or meaning does the name have to you?

We decided to take this name for the band because of our first influences: when we decided to come up with this band, we wanted to play aggressive black metal. But time going on its way, we wanted to add other influences to our compositions, because this style didn't fulfill all of our ideas. But it still represents what we are and what we say: our lyrics are quite "dark' and describe the world as it has become… Soiled, raped, broken, tough metaphors, and ordinary stories. But we're no black metal band under the sign of Satan : We have no religion, we respect people who believe in something. We just want to warn people that if humanity goes on this way, it won't last… And it's still time to react :

4. You released a demo in 2000. How was the recording experience?

It was really fun, but quite oppressing. We located all the hardware we needed to record this cd, and were in a hurry to record and mix all down. We did all that (recording, mixing, mastering) in a single week ! But people around really appreciated this demo, that we self-released, and it gave us the opportunity to be forcasted, and get more concerts. But we were used to recording exeperience, thanks to our previous demos and bands… Some songs on "AN UGLY LITTLE FREAK" come from this demo, such as "SOLDIER" or "FISTFUK". It gave us the opportunity to work hard on the structures, the vocals, and be all the more prepared to jump in the studio for "AN UGLY LITTLE FREAK".

5. The demo has a 12 minute song ("New Idol"?). Do you set out to write long songs or is that something that comes about naturally?

It comes naturally. When a song is 5mn long, it could have been a 15 mn track ! Our songs were sometimes too long in the past, and we naturally compose shorter songs now. We understood what we want to say, and how to say it. "New Idol" was first written for a classical orchestra: a guy wanted to mix our metal to his classical parts. It finally didn't come up, because this man was quite timeless at this moment. But it should be released on our forthcoming album, and be lengthened to be a 25mn song, part of a long long chapter…

6. I've read that you are also influenced by ambient music. Is that correct and if so who are some of your favourite ambient music artistes?

We're no "atmospheric" metal band, but it's right to say that we love ambient music. We are all great fans of DEAD CAN DANCE, ELEND, and bands like that. Even if theses influences rarely come up in our compositions, it gives us another way of thinking our music. I think it's much more important to think about a song not as a "death metal song" or a "pop song" but as a single piece of music. It prevents from using usual schemas, and helps in the composition process.

7. 2002 sees the release of your full-length album "An Ugly Little Freak." Do you think you have progressed as a band and as musicians in the intervening 2 years between the demo and the album?

We all progressed a lot as musicians: we worked hard on our instruments; kromstadt made his voice evolve and discovered other possibilities. We also played our songs again and again live, and they just became all the more mature. We have now our own language, our own sound. We became also better friends, and there's a kind of osmosis that deeply pleases us all. Everything is easy now: we know where we're going, and we'll do everything to achieve this goal.

8. "An Ugly Little Freak" is also self-released. Any plans of shopping for a label?

This album is self-released because it was made for promotional use. We just wanted to tell people "hello we're dark poetry", and then go on and see what could be done. But our distributor thought this album had enough qualities to be released in the whole country. Great! We now work with MANITOU PROMOTION in France, and our future album will be released on a label, for sure, judging on the different proposals we receive. Any proposal must be read. We'll sign up with a label when we'll feel we need it for the band, to be all the more exposed.

9. Do you get to play live a lot? What was the craziest show you have played so far?

We play anywhere we can, at any time. But we used the last year to work on our songs, get in the studio and come up with a new album, so we didn't play a lot live. We'll now jump on any scene as soon as we can to share our maximum with people around !! But we're still a young band in France, and our style is no fashion music. French people love Neo Metal and HARDCORE, with bands like PLEYMO, WATCHA, so finding stages is not the easiest thing to do. But things are changing, for the better. We've booked several shows for the forthcoming months, and that's really cool. Now, the craziest show we played cool be the one we did with this band, PLEYMO : at this time, this band was absolutely unknown, and we gave the most brutal concert in our whole existence ! They were quite threatened by the music and the guys headbanging everywhere, that was really amusing…:

10. If you could open for any metal band in the world today, which band would it be and why?

They would be too many…I think if we could open for STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, SOILWORK, IN FLAMES… that would really be a great experience. We're all absolute fans of these bands… Devin townsend is the new Zappa, a monster in the nowadays musical scene, and meeting him must be a great experience. But opening for METALLICA, KORN, AC DC or BRITNEY SPEARS would be great too ! PANTERA, of course, too, but we fear for our alcoholic tolerance… :

11. What are the musical influences that drove you to play the music that you do?

Every musician has it's own influences. I mean, Kromstadt is fond of the most brutal death metal scene, I love Steve Vai and Devin Townsend, Keul (bass) is a Primus addict and Gasp (drums) would die for Iron Maiden and electonic jungle music... All of these bands and styles influenced us in a way : the song "ONCE", on AN UGLY LITTLE FREAK, is a great example : it starts with a slow death metal tempo, evolves to become all the more aggressive but in another way, and ends with the incursion of a melodic solo…We'are all open-minded, and love music in its global sense. Any sound, any song can inspire us.

12. What are your lyrical influences? What inspires you to write?

I write all the lyrics for the band, and my inspiration comes from ordinary stories: life is so full of beauty and despair that I could write lyrics for almost 50 years. I mean, the song "ANGEL" for example, is a true story : I had to participate in a funeral. The priest asked everyone to pray for the leaving. As an agnostic person, I just looked at him; to see how deep would go his prayer. A music floating in the air stopped: the priest thought the song had ended, and wanted to stop the tape player. But the song restarted, and he just jumped in his chair to simulate he was still praying. What could I think about that? I was shocked, because of my respect for the ones who truly believe. So I decided to write some lyrics about that. Inspiration comes from everywhere, from every exeperience I live.

13. How would you describe the French underground today?

French underground is growing really fast. I think we have to make up for lost time… There's a real potential for heavy metal records in France. Bands appear everywhere, and some play a very good music, with a huge majority of Hardcore and Nu Metal. I think it's really great, because our country seems to realize that it can record such good albums as the ones we listen everyday. More and more people come to concerts, buy merchandising (tee-shirts, cds…) and become true fans. I know lots of underground or famous bands and musicians, and we try to exchange every opportunity we find. France is in a great mood nowadays :

14. Which is your favourite French metal band?

I think my favourite French band is GOJIRA. Their music is fucking awesome !! They're all great musicians, and their sound is damn heavy. Then we all appreciate bands like PSYKUP, DAMN, CARNIVAL IN COAL… and the black metal scene with bands like ANOEREXIA NERVOSA…

15. Finally thanks for doing the interview and here's where you get to say anything you want to for the benefit off all who will read this.

Thanks a lot for these questions. Just check our website www.darkpoetry.fr.st , full of news about the band, goodies, mp3, wallpapers… And don't forget that our album is available through HOLY RECORDS, ADIPOCERE RECORDS, and the website www.alapage.com ! It is very cheap, so don't hesitate, we must refund a banking loan!!! And I hope to see ya on tour, when we'll jump close to your city. See ya and protect the earth: we're all coming from the same root.