Interviews: DISLIMN

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Progressive Doomgaze band DISLIMN from France. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, did you plan it or came out just like that?

We wanted to find a word that represents the fact of hiding behind a mask, to create a new personality, a curtain behind which we conceal our uneasiness, a pain that’s eating us. We’ve tried several names and ended up discussing it with an American choreographer, a friend of ours, who heard our music and our story, and almost spontaneously came up with the word “DISLIMN”.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

The band was originally created by Florent (Guitar) and Basile (Drums), and our intention was to create a two-piece stoner rock band. When we decided to hire a singer, we contacted Alix who’s influenced by Scandinavian music such as Heilung and Kalandra. From this point forward, our music genre was created. There weren’t any real intentions of playing prog doomgaze with nordic influences, it just naturally came up by crossing each of our influences

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Yes! Alix and Basile have known each other since high school, and they’ve been part of a few school bands, but never something really professional. Florent and Basile met each other in late 2021 and quickly started playing together. Other than that, Florent and Alix didn’t know each other until the creation of DISLIMN. 

4. Each band member's favorite band?

Alix’s heart falls for Kalandra, while Basile is actually obsessed with The Ocean. Florent is still passionate about AC/DC. Those 3 are also big influences of ours in our compositions.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

We’d say that Florent is the main composer of the band. He usually comes with an idea that we develop in the studio by improvising around it. Usually, we try to record a demo version, and we export an instrumental version so that Alix can really focus on the vocal line. We often arrange the songs together, settling for a structure. When it comes to inspiration, we try to listen to as many of our influences as possible prior to composing. If we had to name bands, it would be Mars Red Sky, Danheim and Kalandra, and so many others.

6. Where was your last gig?

The 28th of March, in Clichy, France! It was great, a lot of people enjoying our music for the first time, it felt awesome.

7. Where would you like to act?

In so many places... It would be easier to name places where we wouldn’t want to act! We’d say that our dream venues would be the Bataclan in Paris, or the Olympia maybe. About festivals, we’d love so much to play at the Graspop, in Belgium, or at the Download Festival.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Same thing, it’s so hard to tell! I think we all have people in our mind that we’d love to see featured on our future projects. That being said, I’m sure collaborating with Kalandra would result in an amazing song.

9. Whom not?

Anyone truly. The whole EP is the result of many collaborations, and we believe that collaborations are opportunities to come up with ideas that we wouldn’t have thought of at the beginning.

10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

We’ve all had it! But Alix, our singer, is the one who’s truly struggling with it. Sometimes she can’t get sick and can’t think positively about the concerts coming. Nevertheless, once she gets on stage, everything disappears, and she delivers an amazing performance. The first advice that we can give is to communicate with the bands, tell each other stories or fun facts just before the gig, share good vibes, and cheer everyone up! A band is like having a family at the end of the day. Another advice is to be confident with your surroundings, to pay extra attention to the soundcheck, to make sure that you hear everything correctly according to your taste. The purpose is to eliminate any kind of friction that could occur during the performance. Finally, every musician and band should practice as much as possible prior to a gig. Enough is never enough, and there is always room for improvement, so we advise to rehearse as much as possible, going really deep into the details of each song of the set. This way, performing these will only be a matter of muscle memory, and you’ll be able to concentrate on performing live. Let’s never forget that a show is about performing live music, sharing emotions, and living the moment, so we make sure to eliminate as many frictions as possible.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

We’re inspired by some of the local French rock bands, in terms of career development particularly. We’re thinking of Mars Red Sky, a French stoner band that we’ve been following for a long time, we hope to share a stage with them one day. Last train too, they are a great example of getting emotionally involved in their music, and that’s something that we try to replicate. Finally, we can say that KO KO MO inspired us to create a band with only two instruments, and their compositions also greatly influenced us.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

One day a fan came to our singer and told her that she’s had a “hearing orgasm”! So we assumed that it was a compliment, but we didn’t really know how to react to this ahah.

13. What do you think of your fans?

So far we love their engagement! Even the people who discover us for the first time get easily carried away by our music, it’s amazing to see. When it comes to those who know us, they participate actively in each of our concerts, and that’s what we want! At the end of the day, those shows are a moment that we must all spend together. It’s never only about us, it’s about everyone who’s in the room. 

14. What do you think of our site?

We love it, it’s clear and we’ve already discovered a few bands and music genres thanks to you. We also like the aesthetic, and it’s a very nice play for us, extreme music lovers, to find new music to listen to. We truly appreciate being featured on it, thank you!

15. Something to add?

We wanna thank you for that interview, and we advise everyone reading it to follow our activities on our socials because we might be announcing some new gigs, and we are already working on our future projects, so stay tuned!