hARTboiled.net: Ok guys, first of all: thanks for your time. Who are we talking to?
Tristan: Hello everyone at Hartboiled. This is Tristan here, piano player from My Own Private Alaska, nice to meet you guys !

hARTboiled.net: MOPAs instrumentation and approach to songwriting is special. How did that all start out?
Tristan: We wanted to propose something different regarding all these rock/metal/screamo/hardcore/watheveryoucallit bands. The will of mixing piano and screams with no guitars or bass is a way to express our deep emotion and musical intension. The fact of not hiding ourselves behind a loud wall of guitars for doing violent and emotional music takes a big part of this project.

hARTboiled.net: Your new album AMEN just got released tell us about it.
Tristan: Amen is our first album. We recorded it in Los Angeles with Ross Robinson (Korn, Slipknot, At The Drive In,…) after being contacted by him on myspace.
For this album we gave all our heart and soul. We spent the most wonderful two month of our lives doing what we love with and with one of the greatest producer of rock. The record is now available worldwide thru our executive producer Kertone Production at www.kertonestore.com, and Itunes. This album has been released on the Robinson label : I Am Recordings which allows us to choose any partner we want to work with in term of promo, touring, artwork, etc…

hARTboiled.net: It sure is different from your earlier EP. What do you think are the major differences and where do they come from?
Tristan: Ross showed us a way to break some mental barriers: Music is real life and it needs to be played without mask, cheat nor lies. The only way to be original, emotional, and “true” is to be yourself. That’s what many bands didn’t understand, with all their make-up, hair-dress, customs guitars, etc…So we opened our heart, plugged our brain off and play with the most sincerity possible. That’s why Milka the singer sometimes screams, sometimes talks, that’s why Yohan the drummer never played twice the same part, that’s why my piano parts evolved more intense.

hARTboiled.net: On "Amen" you worked with Ross Robinson, Ryan Boesch and Alan Douches. Those are some big names. How important is the production and overall sound of the finished record for you and how was the work with them.
Tristan: The production is big, of course, this is an American production !!! But, trust me when I say that the finished record reveals more the “mental surgeries” and the psychological involvement, than the means implemented. Ryan Boesh has perfectly mixed the record in order to make it sound loud, but the violence and darkness is a musician issue. We spent hours and hours to talk with Ross before any recording take (the famous “mental surgeries”). We talked about importance the music has in the world, the meaning of life thru the music and how we can change the world with it thanks bands like Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Beatles, Korn,...
Ross wanted us to be ourselves and to trust in our music and feelings in order to change the world, because music changes the world. It cires the youth in loss of reference , thanks to alternative way of think and live we can propose.
The technical considerations belong to professional, not to the band. They trusted our music and we trusted their work. We are really glad of the final sound.

hARTboiled.net: Describing your music is pretty hard. Influences seem to range from Screamo, Metal, classic and Jazz. What would you call your personal influences musically?
Tristan: Each one describes our music as he wants, once played the music doesn’t really belong to us anymore. To me, that’s definitively not Jazz unless if you consider Jazz as an anti-conformist music like was the punk movement in the late 70’s. Musically, we are influenced by many bands that were personally and unconditionally involved in their music till they died of it. Nirvana, Envy, Satie, Helmet, At The Drive In, … Its more a matter of thinking and living the music than the music itself. These bands/people could die on stage because for them, music and life was the same: human emotions with défauts et avantages.

hARTboiled.net: I personally see your album as pretty dark and well, let’s say desperate. What exactly do you want to transfer to the listener or is your music just a valve for personal emotion?
Tristan: Regarding the way of compose, I personally don’t know why I play such dark and romantic melodies. Child influences, for sure, but I don’t say to myself that it need to be played this or this way. It weirdly comes naturally. Then, we all talk about the way we want to give to the song. We play what we are, without thinking anything special to feel to the audience. But I think people understand this album because we recorded it totally naked, with all our good side and bad side without lies or tricks, and people can feel it. We think that sometimes, music must take place more on the side of real life than on the side of movies: the hero must die at the end.

hARTboiled.net: Did you start the band with a certain vision for the sound or the emotion the band should transmit or did that come naturally?
MiLKa: From the start, we wanted to give something really emotionally extrem. Something rough and dark. It was even a bit misanthropic and quite nihilist. But with the work we did with Ross, with the live experiment, gigs after gigs, we change the feelings we were sending from pure hate to catharsis, from anger to forgiveness, from pure depression to salvation. It's still very dark and rough, but it's not just pure bad feelings, it's more human now.

hARTboiled.net: From what I heard, Toulouse has some great bands to offer. Please let us know some of them you personally like.
MiLKa: Yes ! In metal or hardcore or screamo bands, listen the newcomers SELENITES. Something reaaaaaally powerful. CONVERGE meets CULT OF LUNA. There is also our friends of MANIMAL with their experimental metal. CANNIBAL CORPSE meets FAITH NO MORE. In softer bands, there is the other band of Yohan, CATS ON TREES, more in the BAT FOR LASHES / DRESDEN DOLLS scene. And finally DONA CONFUSE, minimal electro rock band, between RADIOHEAD, "Kid A" period, and JOHN PARISH's universe.

hARTboiled.net: Amen is a pretty strong title for a record. Please tell us about the story behind the whole album and the particular songs.
MiLKa: While we were recording, we felt we were getting more and more undressed, more and more "human" I would say... We didn't hide anymore behind masks, technical tricks, musical habits, we gave something more personal. So, as for me, with vocals, I felt I was more and more talking and giving my inner feelings, than just singing. We felt that the record was the imprint of our souls. It was our truth. It was what must be said from us. Once done, we could only say "Amen" or "Insh Allah", or I don't know... all was said and given, we didn't have any more influence on the future. We just had to trust life.

hARTboiled.net: The vocals play a big part in your music so I assume the lyrics are important to you as well. Please tell us what influences make you write your lyrics and what are some of the songs on Amen about?
MiLKa: Most songs of Amen are about love. Nothing original... But sometimes it's linked to sex, to hate, to religion, to anger, to depression... Sometimes it's about the feeling of "My / Own / Private Alaska", the will of being apart of this society. I respect some writers of course. Thom Yorke, Nick Cave, Bertrand Cantat, James Maynard Keena, Simon & Garnfunkel... all the people who don't talk really directly, but whose lyrics talk to your unconscious during years.

hARTboiled.net: What does a MOPA live show look like? And what do you want the people visiting your shows to experience?
MiLKa: I don't know what it looks like cause I'm on stage during it ! ;-) I would say it's a kind of "experience" more than a usual live show. Cause we don't speak during it, just at the beginning to say "hello", "thanx", and to prove we're humans ! Then, we shut up to let the music talk, so it can generate instrospections and self-directed behaviours for the audience... We saw so many extrem attitudes during our shows among all the people who appreciated it. Some shout, some cry, some hide to cry, some don't, some bow to their knees to pray (!), some move and even jump ! That's excellent cause there is no "one-way attitude" to wait for. There is no code in our music, so I don't want the audience to follow any code listening to us. People do what they want. They're free to decide.

hARTboiled.net: There is at least one cover version on your album. Tell us what the original song means to you and why you chose to cover that.
MiLKa: The story is that we were invited on a "cover festival", and had to play 3 covers. Among the 3 covers which were kinda not too serious, we chose to play that one, which was really serious. It was even really "first degree" song, cause it was for me a really really really hard and dark period. I was waiting all night long for my girlfriend to come back home indeed, never knowing where she was, or what she was doing, with who, etc... I was becoming really crazy and jealous at a highest point... also : "My Girl, don't lie to me, tell me where did you sleep last night...é

hARTboiled.net: Thats it for now, thanks far taking the ttime, anything else you wanna say?
MiLKa: Thanx to all the people who continue to support the bands buying their record, paying for their place tickets. Till we don't find money on the trees, and till we don't shit money, it will be essential to have the audience giving money to artists, cause fuel is not free, printing CDs is not free, etc... and not only listening to stolen mp3s or deezer. Support the local scene you want, but support music and culture, wherever it comes from!

http://www.myspace.com/myownprivatealaska