Headline c/o On Stage 7 rue de la Grande Falaise
F-28100 Dreux (France) Tel +33 2 37 42 92 25 - Fax +33 2 37 42 97 24
http://www.club-internet.fr/perso/onstag/escape.html
- onstag@club-internet.fr
Label : Brennus records
&
NTS
Contact : Alain ricard / 5 rue de Lixy / 89140 Villethierry - France
tel / Fax : 33 3 86 66 51 41
Web site : http://www.infomusique.com/brennus
- http://www.musearecords.com/
- )http ://www.id-net.fr/musea
E Mail : Brennus.hardrock@wanadoo.fr
BIO + GALLERY + ALBUMS
+ INTERVIEW # 1 + INTERVIEW
#2 - INTERVIEW #3 -
Headline Biography :
In October 93 is formed Headline with Sylvie Grare, Didier Chesneau
(who have already worked together in the band Escape), Frédéric
Moreau, Frédéric and Sébastien Roland. Quickly they
put together some songs that they bring to the Midem '94. The project,
even missing maturity, is welcome; a CD single (2 songs) for promotion
is recorded the same year, and the band goes touring during the Summer
(20 dates). After a change of the bass player in September, the band wins
not only the Special Jury Award at the Tremplin Music Expo, but also the
Best Vocalist Award.
The years 95 and 96 are devoted to concerts with several tours and gigs
to La Locomotive (Paris) and Festival Musique Passion (Cannes), Salon de
la Musique, etc., and little by little the band makes up his style and
takes self-confidence. Some of the band members participate to the tribute
and CD album " Shooting Star' (CNR-Arcade, May 95). Then Christophe Babin
(bass) joins the band after his participation to the FNAC festival " Metal
Escale " beside Patrick Rondat, Pascal Mulot, Hoax, etc. Sébastien
Roland leaves the band at that time.
In January 97, Phil Woindrich (keyboards) joins the band for the recording
of the album " Escape " mixed in July and co-produced by Robert Kohlmeyer
(Superior, Vanden Plas) . The album comes out end November; the audience
and press greatly welcome him. Headline is ranked " French Revelation and
5th International Hope " between Max Cavalera and Vanden Plas by the Hard
Rock Magazine lectors.
Spring 98 is devoted to concerts with an acoustic tour in FNAC and electric
gigs which are, for some of them, in very good company (Angra, Vanden Plas).
Following the great demand of the audience and after the end of the tour,
in June Headline records the acoustic versions played in FNAC for the realisation
of an album coming out on October 9th. The songs are once again " lifted
" adding an oriental orchestra, celtic musicians and a classic quatuor.
This fall, Headline is again on stage in Paris with Dio at the Elysée
Montmartre (October 19th) and together with Superior at La Locomotive (November
24th). This winter should be devoted to the recording of the second album,
appearing in 99.
Album : Escape
This album is totally impressive of mastery & ability. Headline
is a band that since the beginning works professionaly, the musical way
of ths musicians proves it. Headline is a meeting of passionned & musically
gifted musicians. The band gives itself all it needs to satisfy its ambitions.
& it seems that their ambitions are very large. Those who appreciated
Vandenplas's album & especially the last one will sure be pleased of
this one. But be careful, Headline is really not a copy of the german band.
They get their own personality. But as Vandenplas, the result is fantastic
: an overall impressive production & inspired songs & perfectly
played. During the whole album, Headline shows its trumps that are all
proofs of their maturity & rareness talent. Leaded by a charismatic
& impressive female singer, the band differs from the main metal bands
& prog metal ones by the quality of their stuctures in songs. They
never falls into demonstrative parts. It's really easy to remain songs
& to make a difference between each one. Regarding to the vocals, the
singer works a lot to keep a powerful aspect to songs. She enriches songs
with clever arrangements & there's tons of subtleties that often give
different dimensions to songs. it's often hard to describe this kind of
album because there absolutly no weakness & each elements put there
is quite perfect, musicians are really clever . All these qualities for
a young band & for a first album has not often seen.
Brennus records finds with Headline one of the best band worldwide.
It belongs now to Headline to continue its work & it's sure that it'll
become a major band for the forthcoming year. It's a truly must have Cd
that this one. Headline could easily be compared to the best bands in Europe
& USA & it's only their first album. They reached a new step in
this area & it 'll be hard to overcome it, because "Escape" already
features as a classic Cd & a reference in the metal scene. Regency
had opened the way in France, Headline gives it its contents.
Album : Escape thru the lands
After a first album that was the french & prog revelation of 1998,
Headline has gone all the French territory to convert masses of the high
quality of its music. I saw them with Vandenplas & I can then assert
you that on stage, the band is in its element. So, after a overwhelming
year, Headline proposes us to await with an acoustic & live interlude.
This Cd contains 6 acoustic version & 2 lives ones. It begins with
Avalon, an instrumental tracks that also began their first album. Then
the henceforth classics songs are beginning. Between"Times of Lords", "the
night is over", "you’re what you’ve got", it ‘s impossible to make a choice
because this new versions are undeniably excellent. The main interest of
acoustic versions can sometimes be denied, but here force is to observe
that pieces are not misrepresented. Well on, the band is technically irreproachable
. Didier Chesneau asserts himself as one of the best French guitarists,
one of the most complete in his style, able to play in very varied registers,
Christophe Babin, the bass player blows a dynamics during all pieces and
the cohesion made with Frédéric Moreau, the drummer is excellent.
Contributions of the keyboard played by Phil Woindrich but equally by Christophe
are not negligible too. Sylvie Grare, confirms that she is one of the most
talented women singer & she makes a high level cover of Queensryche’s
"Silent lucidity";, which is a demonstration of both individual and collective
qualities of this now major act of the French scene. The other cover in
this album is a song from Yes & it’s called "Change". Then, to sum
up, Headline is one of the best French bands and one of the rare which
is able to compete on all plans with the most important acts evolving in
the melodic prog metal scene. Headline’s songs evolves between subtleties
& beauty. This miniCD contains about 52 minutes and I counsel you to
listen to it very attentively because many surprised are concealed there,
as well in the beginning as in the end. Headline has become in one &
half record one of the best. This band is probably the Sortilège
of the 90’s .
Album
: Voices of presence - interview
On s'y attendait un peu, il faut l'avouer. Headline
ne pouvait faire autrement. Après un "Escape" unanimement salué,
un petit tour acoustique et électrique, un mini acoustique ("escape
thru the lands"), le groupe est enfin de retour. Et il a mis les bouchées
doubles. Côté changement, le label tout d'abord. Headline
s'est assuré les services de NTS, et dispose donc de la force de
frappe promotionnelle des plus grands du moment (Stratovarius, Angra, et
consorts. Ensuite, exit Phil Woindrich (Rondat) qui honnête jusqu'au
bout a préféré se retirer sachant qu'il ne pourrait
être 100% disponible et exit Frédéric Moreau. Entrent
en piste le fougueux et talentueux Aymeric Ribot et le génial grindcoreux
fou Dirk Verbeuren aux baguettes (Scarve, Artsonic, Mortuary,). Ce nouveau
batteur apporte un côté plus thrashy et puissant à
Headline. Cela s'accommode fort bien avec les riffs foudroyants concoctés
par un Didier Chesneau plus inspiré que jamais. Certaines rythmiques
n'ont par ailleurs rien à envier aux groupes les plus puissants
du moment. Ensuite, il reste toujours la voix magique de Sylvie Grare.
On se demande encore comment mais la bougresse a encore progressé,
élargissant son spectre vocal, explorant tour à tour des
émotions différentes. Son chant a gagné en intensité
dramatique, en présence mais aussi en subtilité. Moins conventionnel,
son timbre de voix s'adapte aussi bien aux passages les plus extrêmes
qu'à ceux plus intimistes. A ce titre, Headline a diversifié
son schéma de composition. Entre des morceaux directement accessibles,
prévus pour passer l'épreuve de la scène et d'autres
plus complexes où la technique individuelle de chacun est mise en
valeur, nos français s'assurent les faveurs d'un public large. Incontournable,
le moment fort de l'album reste ce morceau épique de 15 minutes,
découpé en 3 phases distinctes. S'incrustant irrémédiablement
dans les esprits tant les mélodies y sont fortes, Headline réussit
le tour de force d'engendrer une violence musicale à base d'atmosphères,
où la guitare laisse la place à un chant. Un dernier mot
sur le discret Christophe Babin qui non content d'être un bassiste
au touché rare, s'avère être un modèle d'exemplarité.
Enfin, un bassiste dans un groupe prog qui sait où et quand placer
ses notes et arrangements. "Last but not least", la production assurée
par Didier et Roko (comme pour le premier) a gagné en force et en
profondeur. Autant dire qu'on tient là l'album de l'année
et le groupe français "number ouane".
The first album, « Escape » was
a revelation. After an acoustic miniCD, (« Escape thru the lands
»), which highly demonstrated the high potential of this band, Headline
is back on a new record company. The band quitted Brennus
& is now signed on NTS (Angra, Stratovarius, Vandenplas, ...to name
a few !) »Voices of Presence » is the new album & there
is some changes. I haven’t enough word in my english to tell you how much
indispensable, unbelievable this album is. My only message would be to
let you know that « voices of Presence » is maybe the best
album issued in this style of music. It’s a piece of music that have
to date.
But before talking about songs, here’s little
more infos about the band
There’s first a new drummer, a new keyboard
player. Dirk, the drummer is quite well known, because of his work in Scarve
(his own thrash project & in Artsonic (« Sonic Area »,
a fantastic power thrash album close to Machine head’s old stuff) ; Strange
choice isn’t it ! But the real good one. Dirk is maybe the most talented
drummer evolving in France now. He‘s able to play as well aggressive as
emotionnal. More discreet, Christophe Babin on bass gives the rythm. Christophe
always plays the right thing at the right time. No sterile demonstration,
just efficient.
So, musically speaking now, Headline
brings some changes into its music. It sounds more aggressive too. Some
guitar parts are really impressive with an amazing crushing sound. Didier
Chesneau reveals a complete range of play. Everybody knows Patrick
Rondat, the french guitar hero. Didier is maybe the only one able to «
compete » with Patrick ! Hiw work in the album is completly unbelievable.
Then, Sylvie Grare on vocals is the last
element in Headline. I must admit that I was astonished by her work on
« Voices of Presence ». It’s even better than all hse has ever
done in the past. I thought she was on the top in « Escape »,
the first album, but I was wrong. Sylvie gives a real life to lyrics.
Th ealbum starts with a high tempos songs
« the call ». Didier has found the ultimate riff. &
then, the pressure will never end. Melodies are really strong. &
all the following songs achieve to build a unity for this album.
From the most aggressive one to the quietest one, the large range of music
delivered here reveals a unique band.
But the piece of art in this album is the
Triology (the 3rd, 4th & 5th song). It’s a 15 minutes song, which shows
the genuine talent of composer & of musicians of Headline. This trilogy
is outbreathing. It starts slowly without any guitars. & desite there’s
no loud guitars , it’s very powerful maybe stronger than any guitar part
ever composed. There is a force, a dynamic side in this song. This 15 minute
song is heard like a 3 minute one. There is a kind of dramatic tune in
this song. It’s a magic piece of music.
So, believe in me, « voices of presence
» is undisputably a out of common album, released by one of
the most promising band in Europe. Headline has opened the way to a royal
carreer. When the intelligency of Queensryche meets the efficience of Stratovarius
!
PIC 1 - 2
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