Gerad Fois Eternal Flight
Interview January 2008

by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

Hardrock Haven: Thanks for taking the time to talk with Hardrock Haven today Gerard. To start with, you have a brand new disc out called Under the Sign of Will. What does that mean to you, “under the sign of will,” and why did you choose that as the title for the album?

Gérard: This title means that we never give up and that we are back! As you can see on the artwork cover, there are 13 signs and the EF sign represented by our mascot, the Morphoenix is the more important; it’s the sign of willingness over destiny.

HRH: For those who haven’t heard Eternal Flight yet, how would you describe the band’s sound? Is it Progressive Metal, Power Metal, Heavy Metal, Symphonic Metal etc.? Or is it all of the above?

Gérard: Kind of a mix of everything. It’s melodic Metal for sure, most of the time we tag it melodic Power Prog’ Metal. It’s like in the early ’70s when Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were called Heavy Metal or Hard Rock bands, that was their main source of inspiration, but they didn’t fear to write also progressive, folk, medieval, epic songs! That’s that kind of spirit we want to keep in a modern way.

HRH: It seems like many of the songs on the new CD are about war, religion, and/or death. But the new CD isn’t a concept album, correct? It’s just that many of the songs have similar themes?

Gérard: No it’s not a concept album. “Edge of Fire,” “The Curse,” “Miracle Man,” “Ghost,” “The Forgotten Side,” aren’t about these subjects. I would say that “Dark Society,” “Under the Sign …” and “Deaf, Dumb, Blind” are linked by these subjects.

HRH: The new CD has been out since October in parts of the world, with later release dates in other countries. How have the reviews been so far?

Gérard: The reviews in the USA are great! In Europe, overall they are good, or really good and sometimes we have a few bad ones! Shit happens!

HRH: Let’s get into some of the songs. Exactly who or what is the “Dark Society?”

Gérard: The Dark Society is a secret alliance between politics, different religious, and industrial leaders who plot to rule the world. They make believe that they are enemies but secretly they are planning to bring their real master from another dimension so it can destroy the human race. The Morphoenix (our mascot) acts as savior of the human race and teaches the humans to fight ‘til victory, as explained in song “Under the Sign of Will.”

HRH: The lyrics are fairly intense the whole CD, and poetic, but I think my favorite line is from “Deaf, Dumb and Blind,” with the words, “If God created man on the 6th day, he should have been more inspired to wait … a few hundred years!” That’s a great line.

Gérard: Thank you a lot! You’re right and it’s one of my favorites too! I hesitated a bit to put it ‘cause it’s really controversial and for some it’s blasphemy! But what I want to say is that if God exists and created everything, why didn’t he create a man without faults? OK, we are intelligent enough to travel the stars, invent weird stuff, but why do we need wars, greed and why do we destroy our planet? Religions will argue that it’s because of the devil, ah ah! Humans always want scapegoats while they have enough intelligence to solve all the problems.

HRH: Interesting take on that lyric! Another wicked song is “The Curse,” and for me, it’s the lyrics that pull me into the story. Who is this character, and what is this curse?

Gérard: It’s not me! I like to surround the characters with a bit of mystery sometimes! It’s about someone who imagines events in his head that happen simultaneously in reality and he can do nothing about it! And most of these events are tragedies! I was inspired by these lyrics when sometimes I have intuition about some things, I say “well, no, that just an impression I have,” and after I found out that the intuition I had was right and I say “shit, I should have listened to my intuition”! But that’s nothing compared to what is described on “The Curse.”

HRH: Has Eternal Flight been able to tour in support of the new album? And what do your upcoming tour plans look like?

Gérard: We make some concerts here and there. We don’t have the status to make a real headliner tour and to tour as “guests” is very expensive because of the tour support (the headliners make bands pay a fee to be the opener). We are planning to make a few concerts in the USA, but the visas, travel cost are high! Anyway, some people showed interest.

HRH: I went on to YouTube and watched a bunch of clips of your stellar guitarist, Christophe Offredi. That guy is a huge talent. How did you hook up with Christophe?

Gérard: I saw him on a jam a few years before. In 2001, I contacted him to see if he was interested for a cover band but I found out he liked Progressive Metal and offered him to join EF. At the time, he didn’t have enough experience but I saw a big potential and I knew he was working hard on his instrument! He’s the kind of guitarist that loves the technical aspect but at the same time melody on an equal level. He likes to experiment too, like he did on the solo of “edge of fire” done with a thimble! Brilliant! Now he’s proud to be endorsed by Vigier guitars, a famous French guitar company and he awaits a new 7-string from them!

HRH: Has the band made any plans to shoot a video for the new CD? If so, which song?

Gérard: We normally should have already shot one but for some reason we couldn’t! I think a short one like “Edge of Fire” would work fine!

HRH: I’ve been asking bands in many of my recent interviews about “illegal downloading.” How much do you think it’s hurting the industry at large, how much does it affect Eternal Flight, and is there any way to stop it?

Gérard: The problem is that youth don’t buy enough, they are now used to downloading; it’s easy for them and free! It affects our labels and us ‘cause the sales are going down and there is less and less money to reinvest. Sure I know some people who bought albums after listening to downloaded stuff but in comparison to how sales are going down that’s not enough! There should be a system that allows people to download but the files would disappear after listening and the files would be impossible to burn on CD! But I don’t like repression that much! At the same time, downloading make us more known, it would be fine if sales were growing up for everybody, but so far it’s not the case. For example, the market has lost 17% in France in 2007!

HRH: Thanks for your time, Gerard, and is there anything I left out that you’d like to leave with our Hardrock Haven faithful?

Gérard: Thanx a lot for the interview, support us, buy our album after downloading it lol! Reach us at: www.myspace.com/eternalflight