DUR DABLA interview

I interviewed Marc'h from DUR DABLA. Enjoy! 

01. Hello Marc'h! First of all, why have you chosen that bandname ?

Hello Krissy, we have chosen this name because we are - especially me - really fascinated about north european mythology. Dur Dabla is the name of Dagda's magic harp, one of the main god in the irish mythology. He can make his harp plays by itself, and it has of course magical powers : it can make people cry, laugh or sleep. When we founded our band during the year 2007 it appeared that Dur Dabla suited us well. We were looking for a name which could render well the band's spirit, that is to say folk metal, but celtic folk metal as we always wanted to do. The only trouble we have encountered is the fact that we haven't any harp player in the band, and sometimes, people ask us if we have some harp in our compositions... We didn't think about that !

02. Last year, you changed the logo for the better, can you describe us that bandlogo ?

We are really proud of that logo ! Before saying anything else, I have first to thank Nolly Mite for his whole work. I couldn't have hoped a better logo for our band. The logo is a kind of tree made with interlacing, interlacing like the ones you can find out in the celtic arts. I like the logo, especially in black and white, because it is really sober, no frills at all, and eventhough you have this celtic spirit emanating from it. Simple, but powerful in my opinion. You can also find in it a reference to the black metal, a metal genre we are related.

03. Some cool folk instruments are in the demo like Mountain Dulcimer, do you think to record new songs with it in the future since not much bands use to it ?

Unfortunately, the mountain dulcimer we used in our first demo belonged to our former flutist who left the band in 2011. That's why I have to tell you the ugly truth.. We won't use it again in Dur Dabla. However, we are frequently thinking about adding some new instruments in our compositions, especially for the next album. We already put some ukulele and bombard in Dur Dabla. You can listen to it in our EP "Spered ar Broioù Kozh". We will add some bombard again in the future, i think, maybe mandolin as well, and we're planning to add some harp in our next CD.

04. Do you plan to add some harp in DUR DABLA, later ?

Oops.. It seems that i have already answered this question. So, it is true, we are planning to add some harp in our next CD. We are planning to call a harp player as a guest – i can't give you a name for the moment – and we would like to make him or her plays harp for the outro of the album, which will probably be entitled “Dur Dabla” if we manage to do it.

05. Early this year was released your new EP entitled " Spered ar Broioù Kozh" (Spirit of the old land). Can you tell us about the content ? 

“Spered ar Broioù Kozh” has been expected for two years. It is our first CD since the Demo made in 2010 and we are really proud of it. We wanted to show there our new compositions, our new instruments (especially the accordion) and even if it's not perfect i have the feeling that you can't find in it something you never heard before. We really wanted to make folk metal in our way, folk metal made in Brittany that would be original in its tunes and lyrics. I think we managed to reach that goal, because even if you have a lot of celtic folk metal bands, you don't have many ones doing celtic music from Brittany. In this genre, Irish music is overrepresented, but you know, breton folk fits also very well with metal music!

06. What are the songs about ?

The songs are about celtic legends and history. Especially about Brittany – but not only – That is our first inspiring influence. For example, “Dancing with korrigans” is a story about the beliefs related with the korrigans, these fantastic creatures you might find in Brittany.

07. Looking at the Breton title of the EP, are the lyrics sung in Breton ? 

The lyrics are mainly written in english, and just one of them has been written in breton. Personally, i would have liked to put more of breton language in the EP. Our guitarist Elli Meunier is the main lyricist of the band, he's deep into english litterature and fantasy like Tolkien, and he proved that he was able to write nice lyrics, with rhymes and old-english terms which suit the band well enough.

08. What are your next plans with DUR DABLA ?

For this year, we're planning to do a lot of gigs, because we have been missing from concerts during the whole year of 2012, and we have to make up for lost time. Our first gig of the year in Paris was pretty awesome and we feel ourselves ready now. We have a lot of contacts in the french folk metal world, and we are discussing about numerous gigs in Brittany before this summer. And for this summer, we are also planning to record our first album, with a real studio quality which have lacked in the EP, i have to admit it.

09. How’s DUR DABLA seen by the Bretons? And by the French ?

We can say that Breton people give us a friendly look. We use to listen to breton music mixed with other type of music, such as rock, punk or even jazz. So, people here are not that startled by our music style, and i am always surprised when i see people – no metalheads at all – becoming fans of Dur Dabla. I think we have this advantage to please to both metalheads and other folks. With french people, it depends. With other folk metal bands it's ok, they often like our way doing folk metal and folk metal people are very open-minded, but with other people who do not know a lot about breton folk and metal music, they can be a little bit confused or on the contrary immediately be fond of it.

10. Some words to say to the readers of this page ?

First, you have to listen Dur Dabla's free tracks on youtube to make your own opinion about us. If you like it, join our facebook page and don't hesitate to ask us an EP, we can send it abroad and you can pay it by Paypal, that's very convenient! Then, i will also be very pleased if I can make some people be interested about Brittany, its folklore and music. People often know a lot about Ireland but if you like celtic countries, you should have a look about Brittany, and even come, if you're not afraid of rainy weather!