Greetings from Metalheads Forever Magazine, I’m Keith Clement, the editorial head, how are you today?
Really fine, full of energy for next gigs, and happy to be hosted by you !
The Tower Below was released in 2020, can you tell me about the songwriting and production behind it?
It was a long process. We entered into its composition in 2016. It took time, because after our 1st album we wanted to develop our sound, in particular to allow evolutions towards prog, with longer, more complex songs. This was also a period of mutual taming with L4AZ, who produced the album. They took the time to get to know us, to fully enter our complex world, to understand our expectations. In particular, a lot of work was done by Maxime Fieux, our sound engineer who mixed and mastered the album. We are really happy with the result, and grateful for his patience !!
What is the concept set behind the album?
To understand this album, we have to repeat two words from our universe. Very inspired by dystopian sci-fi literature, we have created a sort of post-apocalyptic unhealthy tale. We imagine the world after The Great Cataclysm, the Third World War, which we situate in 2025. Our 1st album, “Massive Lies”, set the scene a few decades later, in 2130. With Massive Lies, we presented certain scenes of this world, like flashes. Our new album, “The Tower Below”, is a descent into the depths of Toxi Faktory, the laboratory that ensures the methodical coherence of the system. The Tower Below is a sort of huge library that holds all of the system’s information. We are staging a power that acts in concealment; in this new opus, we therefore find a lot the idea of seeking the truth, of digging, as in the title Diggin ’Through which opens the album.
Can you tell me a bit about the cover art of the album?
For this cover, we chose to work with the artist Mo is Red, whose work we admire quite a bit. We wanted to represent the tower below, which is the title of the album we talked about in the previous question. We wanted something quite underground, quite dark. This is also supported by the shooting carried out by Les Focus d’Émilie and Coulphil, thanks in particular to the work of urbex in the tradition of our clips. Thus, we have the pleasure of working and being supported by people, mostly close, with whom we are sure to go in the right direction.
What are the next plans or any plans to get back into studio again?
Even if we have already started to compose the first tracks of the third album, the idea is not to go back to the studio right away. Already, the lockdown means that we haven’t been able to play the new show much on stage, and we want to make up for that by playing as much as possible in the months to come. Then, we continue to work on new clips with L4AZ who has already produced two for us recently. Finally, we are also working on visuals and texts to continue to introduce our fans to the whole universe that we are building around our music, which is very important for us!
How did Toxi Faktory formed, can you tell me a bit about the band?
Toxi Faktory was created by Niko and Tom, who met in high school. Our first concert takes place at the “MJC Malartic” near Bordeaux, a place full of symbols for the group since it is the cradle of “Les Z’arpètes” festival, the first festival in which Toxi Faktory performed, and in which all members of the group are or have been involved. Years later, after a few changes, the band has evolved their sound and universe, and now, looking back, we’re proud of where we are. Two albums, dozens of dates, a great entourage with L4AZ and Ghost Record Label … And we hope that the best is in front of us!
A band with much energy, and it has a deep progressive elements and rawness to your music, makes it an outstanding one, can you tell me how the musical ideas worked for you?
We are some of the group who have quite prog influences, which have started to infuse over the years. It is a demanding style, which requires being at ease, having a solid foundation previously. Now that we know each other well, we have allowed ourselves longer, more complex songs, we do things today that we did not allow ourselves before: on this album, for example, you will find several guitar solos, long instrumental passages … It is a sign that over time, we trust each other more and more, we manage to bring out our desires. But all this also serves the purpose, of course. This allows us to explore different ways of getting the text across, beyond singing. For example, in the title New World [Dis]Order, we worked on a speech, with a radio effect on the voice, reminiscent of the dictators of the 20th century … We are quite happy with what it gives !
How has the musical journey been for you guys?
We didn’t particularly set a course for our new songs, it evolves quite naturally. As we said earlier, we allowed ourselves pieces that are more prog-oriented, both in length and in complexity. We finally have a fairly experimental approach to the studio, we guide each other to allow us some personal touches, which we then validate together. Since we are a rather cut out band for the stage, it seemed important to us to keep a “living” part in the studio work.
What would be some of the great moments?
We don’t have a particular moment in mind, but what we remember that was very cool is that we were very surrounded for this album. It’s great, and that’s also what we make music for; you come to the base to carry your project, but you realize along the way that it is above all an opportunity to make great human encounters. A lot of people who worked for us became friends, L4AZ in the lead. We also discover new ways of working. For example, we had the chance to go and record voice parts at the very famous Baco Studio, discovering these kinds of conditions is super motivating for an indie band.
Will your future music be oriented with concepts on Science Fiction and future dystopian era?
In fact, Toxi Faktory is entirely an unhealthy dystopian sci-fi tale. We develop the same story throughout our albums. For the third, we want to speak from the point of view of the people: describe what is happening in the street, how people live, how they perceive the system … These are our first ideas … Work in progress !
What would be some of the collaboration that you are planning to have in your mind?
We have thought a lot about different collaborations, and since we offer a complete universe, we want to allow ourselves collaborations beyond music, allowing us to develop our story. We can tell you that we are about to shoot a new clip with a dancer, we will unveil a few more in the coming weeks …
What would be the dream for you guys?
Now that we have toured in France, we really want to go and defend our music on stage abroad!
Finally what would be the message for the fans?
We want to tell something important to us, at the moment it is more than ever necessary to support the world of culture, and especially indie, DIY and local culture! Go buy merchandising online from small groups, go buy records from small record stores rather than supermarkets, see what is happening around your home at the moment with occupations of cultural places, how to support this little world… Because we do not intend to die right away, to be able to start again doing all together what sets us on fire: sweating in concert halls, discovering new groups, meeting again, sharing moments of ecstasy …
The Tower Below Tracklisting
- Begin Through
- Diggin’ Through
- Damnation
- Requiem For The Toxi Faktory
- Rise & March
- New World Order
- New World (Dis)Order
- Black Shell
- Clones Faktory
- Intox Corp
- Just Let Them Think (All)
