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Strasbourg (France) based modern metallers Dust In Mind were formed in 2013 by guitarist/vocalist Damien Dausch and vocalist Jennifer Gervais. The band has, so far, released four full-lengths, the latest, a masterpiece CTRL, in November 2021 via darkTunes Music Group. The band debuted in 2013 with the eponymous EP and released the debut album Never Look Back in 2015. The sophomore album, Oblivion, followed in 2017, and in 2018 the acclaimed From Ashes To Flames. CTRL is, without any doubt, the band's most mature and captivating release, featuring ten songs filled with passion, fire and thunder. An album about courage, surrendering and the intimate process of learning about oneself whilst having to face the overwhelming pressure and torrents of feelings that seem uncontrollable and incomprehensible. The band has already reached over 10 million streams and gained an enviable fan base. Dust In Mind does things professionally. Not only regarding its rich and powerful dark music but also regarding videos and live shows, which are a top-notch experience. We had a chance to talk to Jennifer and Damien while they stopped in the Orto Bar venue in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on 13 March for a show that was a part of their tour CTRL Over Europe. The band delivered an outstanding performance, although the audience was small-numbered, what's a shame because this band is not to be missed. Nevertheless, Dust In Mind gave its maximum, and nobody left the show cold-hearted, that's for sure. We talked about many things before the show started - about the band, its latest album, videos, influences, inspiration, live shows, plans, and more.
Interview with: Damien Dausch and Jennifer Gervais
Conducted by: Tomaz and Jerneja
Edited by: Jerneja
Tomaz: Hello Jennifer and Damien, and thank you for taking the time for this interview. So, let's start with the obvious first question. Last year, you released your fourth full-length, CTRL. How are you satisfied with it now, almost exactly four months since its release?
Damien: In general? Yeah, we took time with this one. Because, of course, of this Covid shit. We've lost two or three years of life; everybody in this world, what made us decide to take time to release it. And we wanted to put all the energy we could into it. Yeah, that's the main thing.
Jennifer: It was supposed to be released one year before. Yeah. But because of the Covid, we decided to postpone it and maybe go more into details. We also decided to adopt the strategy of the singles. So instead of release, let's say one or two singles, and then the album, we decided to release, like, I don't even know almost the whole album. We also focused on a lot of music videos. So singles with music videos, and I think it was like six music videos and singles out before the album was released. So it was, kind of, an untypical journey, but in the end, we are really happy that we had all this time for producing this album.
Damien: Yeah, we just decided to change the strategy and be on the good page regarding the circumstances, you know? Because people are changing the way to consume music, like Spotify and so on. So it's more digital now. And yeah, they're not really into full album now; it's like they want new things all the time. So it's not just one huge thing per year, you know, it's like all the time they want something.
Tomaz: You must be present...
Damien: Exactly. So we tried to go in this direction.
Tomaz: The album's title is interesting - CTRL instead of "control"... What did you mean by it?
Jennifer: Actually, when we released the song "Lost Control", we realized that it could be the album's title because the album is based on control, that we have or not over our emotions. Almost the whole album is focused on how we deal with all these feelings that can be overwhelming sometimes. And so we wanted to have this "control approach"; something we also wanted to talk about is that for example, with nowadays technology is etc. for behind the screen you can control or not what you want to show to the world regarding your emotions or not. You can pretend or not, you know, you can lose control or not at all. And for us, we decided to go with this keyboard Ctrl because it was just perfect. We see it as a good symbol of do we lose control or not?
Damien: It's the best way to picture it. Yeah, exactly.
Tomaz: How did the man nick-named Freaky Hoody end up on your album cover?
Jennifer: In France, he is really famous, and there is a story behind it. He is a teacher in an elementary school, and there was a parent who was a bit shocked about his appearance. Then many people began defending him, in a way that there should be more tolerance and that just because he was tattooed it doesn't mean he was not a good teacher and, blah, blah. In the end, many people were talking about him and took position for him. We really liked this message and we too wanted to spread tolerance. So, it was a good idea to have him and since we already did a music video for "Take Me Away" with him...
Damien: That was the first. Yeah, the plan was to just do a music video. But then we just got a good feeling about him. He's a very nice person really, deeply nice. And the connection was good, there were good vibes with him. And we just decided, hey, can we do some photo shooting, just in case? So we just did this, and yeah, so we got this one. When we first saw it, it was like, yeah, it's pretty, I don't know how to say this. But it was just logic; it was what we needed. It was like, yeah, fate or I don't know.
Jennifer: And it was also that I didn't want to be on the album cover again. I was, I was so tired of it. Damien and the label would like me to be on the cover, but I was, kind of, tired of it. And so I really insisted, as you know, can we find someone else? And we had this opportunity that made sense. And we combined the control and team to have a kind of, strong message and everything.
Damien: The circle was completed with him. That's it. It was like the last, the last piece of the puzzle.
Tomaz: You put a lot of effort into shooting videos; all of them professionally made... Do you always have the same director?
Damien: I produce everything; it's my job, basically. I do video and music production. We use the same studio for all the videos.
Tomaz: Though nowhere is written...
Damien: Yeah, that's true, but I don't care...
Tomaz: It's a great job... I especially like the videos for "Lost Control" and "Synapses". And, I think you were the first band that shoot a video on Eiffel Tower...
Damien: Yeah, the first band, though there have been some solo musicians, as a cello player, shooting there.
Jennifer: It was interesting since Damien had to be in front and behind the camera, and we only had one hour to shoot everything. Within this hour, we had to bring all the equipment upstairs, plugged it in, shoot a video and bring all the equipment back down. There was actually only 14 minutes of shooting, almost all in one shoot. We had a friend who helped us shoot when Damien was playing, and then when it was my turn to be filmed he put off his guitar and grabbed a camera.
Damien: We needed to have a very small crew since there are many restrictions on Eiffel Tower. We needed to be well-organised and smart to manage everything. So, it was like a big struggle, but I believe we did it well.
Jerneja: So, fans of her?
Damien: Definitely. She is iconic, a very strong person and one of the first women in this business.
Jennifer: Although her musical style has nothing to do with ours, she is most inspiring.
Jerneja: Your lyrics deal with human emotions, darker human emotions - to be precise. What inspired you?
Jennifer: We are kind of emotional persons, and we just like to speak openly about our emotions. Basically, putting in light what we feel inside. It's all about introspection regarding the lyrics.
Damien: It's not like we prepare things before, like let's write about this or that. We want to let things go spontaneously. We want to be rough and to let things out from inside.
Jennifer: It's important to me, when I'm on a stage, to really feel what I'm saying, to know what I'm talking about. I couldn't talk about space, for example, because I have no emotions about that. For me, it must come from the guts. That's what you, when on stage, deliver to people.
Tomaz: Your music is quite difficult to categorize. How would you define it?
Jennifer: I would just say metal. If we like had to categorize it, we shall probably call it a mix of nu metal and industrial metal. Definitely something modern. But it's just hard for us to define it.
Tomaz: Some compare it with Jinjer, Pain, Within Temptation, Infected Rain, Lacuna Coil... In a way, it's all that but nothing of that...
Damien: Yeah, exactly.
Jennifer: But that's what we want.
Jerneja: When I first heard of Dust In Mind, I somehow, regarding the name, I guess, associated it with post-punk...
Damien: Oh, interesting. Maybe that's good.
Jennifer: Yeah, especially, because we do have many different influences, and we do want to explore different styles. We just play music.
Damien: Yeah, we do what we like, and we don't want to be put in a box.
Tomaz: Dust In Mind was formed in 2013, and it has had quite some line-up changes; you two are the only ones from the first line-up...
Jennifer: The two of us want to devote everything to this band, and sometimes it was just too hard for some of the past members to sacrifice that much.
Damien: It was too much for them. But not in a bad way; they just couldn't stand the rhythm. We put a lot of effort and money into this, and since we are not rich, we must struggle a lot. You have to find the right person, which takes time.
Jennifer: Interestingly, the guitar player who is playing with us tonight is also a former member of the band.
Tomaz: It's not Philippe?
Jennifer: Phil was a great band member, and he will still play with us sometimes, but since he has a family, he just wasn't ready to devote that much to the band.
Tomaz: So, the former member Jack Ruetsch, who was in the band between 2013 and 2018, is now a new member?
Damien: In a way. We agreed with him to be our session guitar player.
Jerneja: There are many songs on this album I like, but my favourite is "Break". Currently, one of my favourite songs in general, not only of Dust In Mind. Therefore I hope you're going to play it tonight... Do you have your favourites?
Jennifer: Yeah, "Break" is such a groovy song; it's a pleasure to perform it. There is a lot of Korn influences in this song... I really like "Freefall" because it begins instrumentally and ends epic. And it's a bit of a challenge for my voice also. And I also like "Empty" because Damien sings the chorus too, which is somehow different. But on stage, my favourite to perform is "Break".
Damien: It's difficult to make a choice. I really love "Empty" because this is the only song I wrote lyrics for. "Freefall" is new; we've never done something like that before, so that makes it interesting. But otherwise, there is almost everything that I love.
Tomaz: About your shows, what can people expect when seeing you live?
Jennifer: A lot of energy. People usually say we give a positive message and that it's felt that we are happy to be there since we have this smile on our faces. It doesn't matter if we play for five, 15 or 200 people, we always spread the same energy. We spread rough, true and honest feelings. When we perform, we are one with the crowd. Again, it's all about emotions.
Damien: If there is only one person happy tonight for one hour, we are happy because it means it worked. You know, it's our role to spread good vibes and happiness because life is mostly a struggle.
Jerneja: Well, you got that one - me... Do you think it is more important to deliver good shows or shoot good videos?
Damien: Both. You must be on top of everything. We try to have a good balance in everything. We really try to have something efficient, strong; you'll see tonight.
Tomaz: You do most things on your own, but you have quite a big management and quite an established label darkTunes Music Group behind you. How do these collaborations work for you?
Jennifer: darkTunes was created about the same time as Dust In Mind, so we, kind of, grew up together. There is a relation of trust between us. We are aware that we are lucky for that. And regarding the management, we've never had any till now. We are now signed to Go Down Believing Management, the same as Jinjer. And this tour is for the first time we didn't take care of booking, which is really great. It's good to be surrounded by efficient people who work hard. We are really grateful to have this team around us.
Damien: For this tour, we even have a sound guy, light guy, tour-man, like a multitask guy, doing everything and doing it great. We are building a strong team to break all the walls in front of us. We have a goal and a strong team to reach it. So, we are ready to go.
Jerneja: What other interests do you have besides music?
Jennifer: I like hiking in the mountains. Nature is very important to me. When I'm not on stage, I'm on tour with other bands doing merchandising or tour management. So, more or less, it's all related to music.
Damien: I really love my job, so I'm pretty lucky. I don't have many hobbies, but I like motorcycling.
Tomaz: Is there anything you would like to say to your fans and Terra Relicta readers?
Jennifer: We hope that they will now, more than ever, enjoy and cherish what we have. We also hope we'll meet very soon.
Damien: Share good vibes and good energy and have a good time. We appreciate your support!
Dust In Mind links: Official website, Facebook, Bandcamp, Instagram
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