ANOZEL - We make music for people who wants to listen to music, not only hear it. Nevermind if we play in front of 3 people, if they care, we are happy

ANOZEL is a band formed in October 2017 on an empty and misty municipal campsite in the "Hauts", as they say in the Vosges.  With a do-it-yourself spirit, atmospheres with a sticky and enchanting ambition, and an irrational love for balloons, ANOZEL dives in, takes its time, melodic cloud spreading out, destroying every musical limitation, other than material, limply struggling in the exponential maramus of emotions and disappointments.  Behind ANOZEL are four personalities, as unique as they are different, as comfortable behind an instrument as they are when it comes to creating a human interaction. "The delicate charm of the misfits of today's world. The band will release a new EP 'Paddy's Club' next year. We quote: PADDY'S CLUB was logically supposed to be released in March 2020, just when that logic no longer made sense. As comes from limitation creativity, ANOZEL has taken the blow of the first incarceration to experiment with the creation of a remote album, isolated together, THE ETERNAL SUNDAY, released in October 2020, putting the release of PADDY'S CLUB in between the release of PADDY'S CLUB.  PADDY'S CLUB will be released on 17/01/2022, in Digipack and Digitally on Wild Bless You! Records, label of the FOUNDING Collective OUR OWN GLORIOUS CHAPELS.
On that occasion, and to get to know the band a little better, we had a nice chat with ANOZEL

Who is ANOZEL? How did everything start?
We were all friends, we had a metal band - called ANUNAKI - which was trapping us in the metal aesthetics. We decided to give it an end and restart everything over, with no limits. Anozel was born. The hardest part was to find a name, which was chosen among dozens of ideas. Anozel is the name of a little pass nearby our drummer's city, where the building on the cover is located.

It's hard to put a real style on your music, something I really love by the way, but how would you describe your own style of music?
Well, we were secretly hoping you won’t ask this question ahah! We are unable to describe it either. As said above, we have no limits so the music goes where it goes. Maybe the next release will be true black metal or jazz/funk/fusion, who knows? We all love and listen to different things, but we all agree on post-rock and ambiant things, with bands such as Cult of Luna or Sigur Ros for the most known of them.

In purely vocal terms, I make a link to Leonard Cohen to Nick Cave, which is a compliment, have they been an inspiration or am I wrong?
Thanks for the compliment, because yes Leonard Cohen, and especially nick cave are a huge source of inspiration for our singer Orlando. They are legends! Even if influences are involuntary for the recording of paddy's club, they are definitely there. We'd like to have that sense of poetry, but we think it's a miss. But thanks a lot by the way.

You have been on the road for a few years now. What are the highs and lows so far?
We have many times when seeing each other is difficult, or we also sometimes perform badly, but we usually record each gig in order to discuss how to improve and avoid making the same mistakes. And we are friends first, so it's easier to communicate frankly.
Each disk release is a high moment. But the moment when one of our best friends, Flo, asked us to join his independent label “Wild Bless You! Records” is maybe the strongest moment emotionally speaking. Finally someone who support our music for real.

I recognize something poetic, melancholic, until some songs burst into a whirlwind of emotions; is that the right description of how you want to sound?
A/Exactly. Despite claiming having no limits, one of our guidelines is to make people feel things. We achieve it by putting all of the bad aspects of our respective lives - mostly women issues or bad experiences - in our music. And you can feel it in the way we deal with the concerts. We always design our sets as a whole, a bubble, with no real borders between the song. We lock ourselves in our universe for 45 minutes, and we hope the audience will join us.

You released a record last year in the middle of this COVID pandemic, ''the eternal Sunday'' was this time an inspiration then?
We recorded Paddy's Club in the end of 2019, just before the beginning of this f***ing COVID-19 pandemic. The mastering was taking longer than expected. So, in the meantime we decided to record “The Eternal Sunday” (an unmastered record). We didn't see each other anymore, and we couldn't do anything together. We composed by sharing files. A baseline was set, and each one added a part, sometimes without having listened to the others. As the tracks are in chronological order, you can feel our state of mind changing as the weeks progress.

How did you get through these corona times as people (and musicians) anyway?
Apart of our respective jobs, this corona virus period was a lonely time for each of us, as well as most people. This record "The Eternal Sunday" was the only link we had.

Did you guys doing live streaming in those times? And what is your opinion about this?
We made a «false» one, recorded before release (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZAHLlEZi1Y&t=170s). We made it mostly because we had no really other choice. What we love above everything is to go to cities we don’t know, meet people. Covid changed a lot the way amateur bands work, but what we love above everything is smelling people’s tear and sweat. Livestream might stay a workaround.

Intimacy was a key word on that record ‘The Eternal Sunday’, is that the way you want to go on the record 'Paddy's Club', which comes out in January?
“The sad party” or “the party where none of your friends came” could be the correct definition of this record. The feeling of loneliness, while you can hear your neighbours partying through the wall.

Is there a personal story behind this record? Is it about a club you know?
The building on the picture is the one in which we made everything : composing, recording and mix (only mastering has been done elsewhere, by Antoine from Studio Pandore). At that time, there was not yet heating or running water. It’s a former pub, and there was a semi-legal hostess bar called « Paddy’s Club » inside. So, it was obvious for us to call this album like this.

What are the general expectations and what audience do you want to reach with this?
We make music for people who want to listen to music, not only hear it. Nevermind if we play in front of 3 people, if they cry, we are happy.

Next to recording this new album, what are the future plans? Going on tour?
So far, we have never really toured because every gig is different. There are always new songs or new arrangements, medleys, and it’s sometimes hard to build up because we live quite far from each other, and have busy professional and family lives.

What is your biggest ambition or ‘end goal’ as band and musicians?
Our biggest or ultimate ambition would be to make only music! To be able to support ourselves and the band. Composing, recording, playing, keeping the project alive. On the other hand, we are aware that it would lead us to poverty.

What you prefer,  big stadium, or become well known in a circuit of clubs and things?
We haven't had the chance to play in real big halls, but what we prefer are places with personality.  Playing in a private house, in a small theater, in the back of a garden...

Can our readers buy you cd’s and stuff from a website, ? please but all the information here?

You can support us on these websites:
http://www.welcometothechapel.com/?fbclid=IwAR05sNSMhuPyAz1KEByFwfPz-YtHpRS3vnL3c90wkSAmrZlHRyS00DmRuP0
https://anozel.bandcamp.com/

Thanks for this nice interview, hope to see you guys on stage next year, and that we get a little bit more ‘normal’ way of living in 2022. Stay safe!