Ahead of their upcoming UK tour with Cacodaemonic (you can find out more here) we caught up with L’Hiver en Deuil to find out a little more. See what happened below…
Could you introduce yourself and tell me a bit about the band? How did you get started?
L’Hed grew out of the ashes of our former bands, about five years ago. We were disappointed how these bands abruptly ended for us, but we managed to find strength and common ground (shared goals) out of the splits. It was just three of us jamming, trying out new tunes and feeding ours souls and hearts in- and outside the rehearsal room.
At first, because of our past experience, we had no interest in forming a proper band which would do gigs or release anything. We preferred the isolation and the peace to keep everything within the walls of the rehearsal room. But as things gradually developed we invited a close friend to join us for second guitar and a few months later we ran into Boris, who completed the missing piece of the puzzle.
At a certain point people got curious about our music and somehow we were asked to play as support for a gig with Vex and Forgotten Tomb. From that point the we gradually evolved to the band we are today.
What has been your best experience in the business?
This word has an ugly sound and hopefully should not affect or restrict an artist’s creativity/genuineness at any stage in his career. L’Hed has got little to do with business, we play music from the heart and we aim to keep it pure on all levels. Of course we’re a small band and we are not on a label so it is still relatively easy at this stage to manage most things by ourselves or by our close entourage.
Best experiences with L’Hed, it would be foremost about the guys in the band, their friendship and warm hearts and some of the spontaneous activities, (we call these our Matteketse rituals, Matteketse being the name of our rehearsal place) we sometimes have next to rehearsals. These have often proven to be very valuable for the creative process and add to strengthen this special bound of friends which is L’Hed.
And what is the hardest thing about the current business?
Well, we had a few issues with the release of the EP. Nothing major really but we faced some production errors and significant delay of the release. Typically things that happen to every band one day. Thankfully the guys from Consouling were very supportive and offered their help to solve the issues. So far the scene in Belgium and promoters has been very supportive towards the band and we have humble appreciation for everyone who has shown upright interest in our band.
On a personal level I would say the hardest thing can be the ‘marketing’ of the band; especially social media promotion seems to play an important role these days. We tend to forget that part sometimes as it doesn’t feel like a natural part of the band’s activities (being to write and perform music).
What inspires you?
Musically, I believe I can answer on behalf of Stijn (the main song writer in the band with whom I have been playing together now for about eight years) that inspiration comes mostly from the desolate state of mind, sorrowful landscapes, a rainy day, the natural surroundings of our rehearsal place. Stijn hasn’t kept in touch with the BM scene so much the past years so his vision of the style remained genuine and pure. On top we still have this very organic process of creating the base of our songs in the rehearsal room which adds to the warm spontaneous intensity of our creations.
The foundation of the songs helps me to filter down the words I often already have in the back of my mind. There is little I can detail about the feelings during the writing process as it happens often in a very dreary state of mind. The meaning of the words are often even too hard to grasp for myself at the time of creation but they do feed from the same soil; life and how it gradually and gently squeezes the air from our throats. This band, L’Hed is a constant depiction of the journey we walk, a quest for a deeper truth within, the dark essence beyond everything.
It is about the ups and downs, the ruins of our bodies and minds, and the serpent that stirs within us. We all wear our cross during this life, sometimes we gain but often we lose….
What can fans expect from a L’Hiver en Deuil show?
They should expect a lot. Honestly, I hope they expect a lot…and I hope they aim to expect something different because this band will never be about a wall of sound or the stereotype superficial occult imagery that is now really over hyped by too many bands for the wrong reasons. I would say we are about an intangible explosion of genuine emotions on stage. As opposed to many bands, we take off our mask on stage, let our guards down, show our fears and weaknesses because we prefer to be true to ourselves. The journey is always inwards and downwards and should serve a deeper purpose, we want to capture people’s hearts with our songs and help them and ourselves to cleanse our souls and free our minds.
What are you most looking forward to with regards to the tour?
Being on the road for a few days with the guys really, because I know it will bring us again closer to each other. We’ll be able to take this back home to the rehearsal room and it will shine through in our new creations.
Really curious about the adventures which we will stumble in, because as serious we can be with L’Hed, we do have lots of fun as well. When we are together we are not a bunch of depressed ones as one might expect us to be.
Another thing that I look forward to is the perspective of playing Deernis. live. I have seen the impact on the faces of the audience when we played the song live for the very first time at a gig a few weeks back in Belgium. The audience could read the emotion contained in the song. I have performed so many songs live already in different bands but no song has ever given me so much shivers performing it live. We will definitely close our live sets with this song. After this one, darkness is imminent…
And what are your future plans following the upcoming tour?
Hopefully we can fully focus on writing the full album. We have three songs finished of which we play already two live, the aforementioned Deernis. and Ochtendrood. We do not want to pressure a new release, we’ll get there in time. We’re thinking of recording and releasing some old stuff as well but nothing concrete. The first focus will be on the new album.
L’Hiver en Deuil: Facebook
