SOURCE – The seventh studio album Antidote comes 4 years after Radiation.
Did you have any apprehensions about making the new record this many years away from the scene, and at what point in the process did you know everything was going to be just fine for Impure Wilhelmina?
Michael Schindl (Guitar, Vocals) – For us, 4 years doesn’t seem that long, especially since we’ve been preparing this album for 2 years. The process itself was just a little bit longer than we expected, let’s say that given the situation, we were not in a hurry to release it. But there was no apprehension, just a bit of impatience of course. We never know if it’s going to be “just fine”, but we prepare ourselves to get in the studio with solid songs, and we try to anticipate as many difficulties as possible. Of course there are unforeseen and unexpected things, and new questions emerging until the end of the process.
SOURCE – What do you feel Antidote does best for Impure Wilhelmina?
Sébastien Dutruel (Bass) – Composing, rehearsing and recording this album with my bandmates is a kind of antidote in itself. I mean, for a lot of people, if not all, any kind of arts acts as an antidote helping them to feel good or being in a good mood to solve problems. It works like a catharsis. It is not different for musicians. We play music, because we need to do it. This is the meaning of that name and what this seventh album brings us.
SOURCE – How do you feel so far about the worldwide response to this record? Have there been any surprises in terms of appeal, and how do you handle any criticism if it’s given?
Michael Schindl (Guitar, Vocals) – The responses are mostly excellent, we are very satisfied. Some people tell us that they were apprehensive about this new album because they liked “Radiation” a lot, and were afraid to be disappointed. But in the end they are not.
We don’t care about the sometimes more mixed reviews, especially since so far there has been nothing malicious.
The feedback we are most pleased with is from listeners who tell us that our music really helps them.
SOURCE – Nowadays in every album the person responsible for the sound production is strongly mentioned especially when he is a known one. How important do you think is the producer to the sound of a band?
Michael Schindl (Guitar, Vocals) – It depends on the relationship between the producer and the band. Do you hire a producer because you want a particular sound or because you think he can get the best out of your music?
In our case, we called Yvan Bing to get the best out of us. We knew him for a long time, and “Antidote” was the first time we worked with him. We wanted to make a break with “Radiation”, involving new people. He really followed the process from the beginning, coming to see us in rehearsals, listening to our demos to make suggestions for arrangements. We also talked a lot about sound, etc. In short, he was really the fifth member of the band during all this time.
SOURCE – Your video for Gravel has received great views through YouTube – what can you tell us surrounding the video shoot?
Michael Schindl (Guitar, Vocals) – The idea was to play with blurs, close-ups, contrasts, black and white, day and night, and most of all not to show a rock band playing in a gravel pit. The video was directed by Steven Blatter, videographer and friend of the band, who also worked on the video for “Midlife Hollow”.
SOURCE – What are your thoughts on the ever-evolving music industry – do you find that people still appreciate physical mediums like vinyl, CD’s, etc. or have you adapted to the consumption model where digital and streaming platforms reign supreme?
Michael Schindl (Guitar, Vocals) – Nowadays, it is increasingly difficult to sell physical medium. We’ve seen the situation change over the last 25 years, since the days when CDs reigned supreme. Now vinyl is making a comeback, but it’s the Spotify playlist that seems to be getting more and more important. All this is changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Our label Season of Mist does an excellent job and knows how to use all these new platforms. That said, the metal audience, which by the way is the coolest audience in the world, is still quite attached to physical media, so we keep looking after it.
SOURCE – Are you surprised by the power of social media today as far as influencing people in the world? How does Impure Wilhelmina approach their own social media content?
Michael Schindl (Guitar, Vocals) – As for all bands, social media forces us to take care of our communication, which we tended to neglect in the past. We communicate mainly through Facebook and Instagram, in addition to our official website www.impurenet.com and through Season of Mist, who knows the job. But it’s something we have to constantly readjust.
I always feel that there are bands that communicate much better than us, some even give me the impression that this is all they know how to do! Naively, we care more about our music than our communication, but if I had a bit of cynical advice to give to a young band, it would be “Put 20% of your energy into the music and 80% into the communication”.
SOURCE – What’s planned following the release of Antidote?
Michael Schindl (Guitar, Vocals) – Back on stage… starting in October…
The situation is still difficult. We’ve been more or less spared by the pandemic until now because we didn’t have any gigs planned during the recording anyway, but now we want to play this album live and it’s very tough because all the bands want to get back on stage, a lot of tours have been postponed, etc. It’s hard to find a place, but we’re looking forward to hit the stage again! This fall in Switzerland, and later through Europe.
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