In the vibrant realm of alternative music, few artists have made a mark as deep as French producer Franck Hueso, the creative force behind the electrifying project Carpenter Brut. Since exploding onto the scene in 2012, he's gripped audiences with a fierce blend of darksynth, retrowave, and metal - fuelled by the chilling atmospheres of horror films, the pulse of 80s/90s electro, and the raw power of rock and metal. Carpenter Brut has become a staple at music festivals, where his performances fuse sound and visuals into a hypnotic spectacle that leaves fans awestruck. His discography continues to expand, with three full-length albums and a string of collaborations with standout artists. Leather Terror, released in 2022, delivers a relentless wall of retrowave-infused electro-metal, featuring guest appearances from Gunship, Greg Puciato, Ulver, Persha, Sylvaine, and Johannes "Jonka" Andersson. With the next instalment in the Leather series on the horizon, we caught up with Franck at this year's Castle Party Festival in Poland. In our conversation, he shared insights into his musical evolution, the inspirations that drive him, and what fans can look forward to from Carpenter Brut in the chapters ahead.

Interview with: Franck Hueso
Conducted by: Tomaz, Jerneja
Edited by: Jerneja

Tomaz: Hello, Franck! Nice to meet you. Your last album, Leather Terror, came out in 2022. When do you plan to release the next one? Are you working on it?
Franck: Yes, it's almost finished, we are at 80% of the writing process right now. Then comes the mixing and mastering phase, and I think that it should be available by the end of February or early March 2026. I don't know when exactly, but certainly not before 2026. We are not sure yet.

Jerneja: Will it follow the same style as Leather Terror?
Franck: It's not that different, but it's not the same either. The album will be completely instrumental, no singing, no guest vocalists - no vocals at all. It's going to be a short album of nine songs. It's going to be about 34 to 36 minutes long. It's a bit like my early days, more synthwave, instrumental, a kind of modern synthwave.

Jerneja: As far as I know, you’ve never sung on any of your tracks, have you?
Franck: You're right, I never sang vocals. I just had different guest vocalists.

Tomaz: Both of your full-lengths start with the word "Leather". Will the next one do the same?
Franck: Yes, the next one will also start with the word "Leather" and continue with a "T" letter word, but I can't tell you right now, you'll have to find it yourself. It's a secret for now.

Jerneja: Is it "Trauma"?
Franck: Haha, no. Leather Trauma, no. I can't say for now.

Tomaz: Does "Leather" in the titles carry any hidden meaning?
Franck:  It's just leather. There's nothing deeper to it. As always, it all started with a joke. I had a friend who had problems with his teeth because he drinks too much Coca-Cola, and when he brushes his teeth, he scratches the enamel. He was afraid he was going to lose his teeth and started wearing some kind of leather teeth. I thought that was a good idea for the title of the album, Leather Teeth. So, yeah, it all started with a friend's joke. Of course, leather is also connected to many things: heavy metal, sado-masochism,... There are many things connected to leather; it's a cool word, and I'm a Judas Priest fan. There's a lot of leather in Judas Priest, haha. There are Judas Priest songs with the word leather in them, "Leather Rebel" and "Hell Bent For Leather", so it's also kind of a tribute to them.

Tomaz: I read that before you formed Carpenter Brut, you wanted to start a heavy metal band but chose electronica instead...
Franck: Well, not really. I recorded with many heavy metal bands, and I thought of starting something on my own instead. I was a sound engineer, but I got tired of that and wanted to make my own music. I wanted to try something different from the heavy metal bands I was recording. A long time ago, I played drums in a rock band. It was just for fun, nothing serious. We spent more time drinking beer than practising. I'm not good at instruments either, you know. I don't play guitar, I don't play drums anymore, so the easiest way to start was with a computer and virtual synths. I was a fan of electronic bands like Justice, Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers and stuff like that. I like to mix heavy metal that I grew up with and electronic influences.

Tomaz: What about Kraftwerk and the electro scene from the 70s and 80s?
Franck: No, it's too old for me. I prefer music from the 90s. The Prodigy are a prime example of such a band from the 90s.

Tomaz: Your sound feels more rooted in the 80s than the 90s.
Franck: Yes, it's true. It is an influence, but it was not the sound I wanted to play. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like 80s sounds - certain rhythms, melodies, and atmospheres can be reminiscent of the 80s. If you add palm trees and a sunset to the T-shirt and the album cover, it also looks 80s. But overall, I think my music is a bit heavier and not a copy of the 80s sound.

Jerneja: You mentioned earlier that you were the drummer for a not-so-serious rock band. Considering that Carpenter Brut only came out in 2012, I was sure you were in a "serious" band before.
Franck: Not really. I was mostly a sound engineer. My guitarist and drummer were in a French band called Hacride, and I recorded an album for them. When I was 11, I learned to play the piano for a year, but I forgot everything. A piano teacher would come to our house to teach me to play, but I wasn't interested in learning music at the time. I didn't try hard enough to be a good musician. When I was younger, I was a bit lazy. Actually, I still am.

Jerneja: So, how did Carpenter Brut begin? You're a one-man band, so I doubt the idea came from a night out at the pub with mates - though that's how many bands we've met got started...
Franck: I didn't want to play with my friends because I wanted to play synths and play alone. When you're in a band, you always have to wait for the other members or the management. Whether it's waiting for songs, lyrics or anything else. Every decision has to be made by all band members. Things like that bother me, so I want to play alone. I know what I want very quickly, and I don't have to ask anyone about it. My original idea was to play music by myself.

Tomaz: And how did you come up with the name Carpenter Brut?
Franck: It happened in a bar. We were looking at the menu in an à la carte restaurant, and there was a brand of champagne called Charpentier Brut. Carpenter is the English translation of the name Charpentier, so the name Carpenter Brut is the basic translation of the name of the champagne. However, the name can be associated with many different things.

Jerneja: What about the lyrics? Do you write those yourself?
Franck: No, no, as you can hear, my English is not very good. I can't write lyrics, so I ask the guest singer to write the lyrics too. You know, the flow and the rhythm, if you write lyrics for someone else, usually it's not very good. When someone else sings your lyrics, you look at the singer and think, "That's not really me". It wouldn't be personal, so I let them write the lyrics themselves.

Tomaz: Alongside the music you send them, do you also provide guidance regarding the lyrics?
Franck: Yeah, I send them the music and the theme of the song. I tell the guest singers to imagine they're..., I don't know where, it depends on the story. Otherwise, I don't put words in their mouths. I'm not a good lyricist. I don't read much, and I'm not good with words. I prefer to play synths. I'm also more interested in images than words.

Jerneja: And how do you choose your guest singers?
Franck: I have two prerequisites. The first is that I must like the singer, and the second is that they must be available. Sometimes I think how cool it would be to include a certain singer, like Maynard James Keenan from Tool, but he's too big for me, and I can't reach him. So, I choose people that I know I can reach, whether it's through their management or personally, if I know them through Instagram or any other social media.

Jerneja: By the way, who is Percha, the singer on "Lipstick Masquerade"? I hadn't heard of her before.
Franck: Me neither. One day, a girl emailed me and said she could sing in my song if I wanted her to. I listened to the demo she sent, and I heard she sang really well. Then I wrote a song for her. It was the perfect time in the Leather Terror story to introduce a new female character, and Percha could be it. It was like the planets had collided.

Tomaz: It's a brilliant synth-pop track...
Franck: Yeah, she really is. She's very talented. I thought it would be cool if I could do some kind of Madonna-ish song for the story of the album. It's like when you listen to the soundtrack for a movie, like Top Gun, where there are a lot of different songs. You know, there's a pop song, a ballad and so on, and I wanted to create a similar vibe with different songs. Something strong, something sad and something fun. It was perfect.

Tomaz: And in "Stabat Mater", which features Sylvaine, you added folk elements.
Franck: Yeah, you're right. She's performing here tonight, and the first time for us to meet in person; we've only talked via email. I've worked with her before, but I don't know when or what it was. I wanted to work with her again. She's a friend of my designers. You know, sometimes I choose guest vocalists that way, through people who know someone, who know the person, and so on. As for Greg Puciato - guest vocalist on "Imaginary Fire" - he was the singer for The Dillinger Escape Plan. I knew the drummer for Converge, and I asked him to ask Greg if he could sing on my song. Many times, my friends know singers I'd like to work with, and I ask them if they can work something out.

Tomaz: I was surprised to see the mighty Ulver featured on "...Good Night, Goodbye".
Franck: I have known them for ten years or more. I mixed an album for them, that Halloween one, Scary Muzak. Do you know that album? This one is more of a pop album. Each one of their albums is different. I have been listening to Ulver for a long time, starting a little after their black metal days, specifically since Themes From William Blake's The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell. We were still kids back then.

Tomaz: Carpenter Brut and Perturbator helped bring retrowave/synthwave to fans of metal, industrial, gothic, and other intense alternative genres. Why do you think it caught on so quickly?
Franck: Honestly, I still don't know. I get a lot of different people coming to my shows, even those who didn't grow up in the 80s. Maybe it's some kind of nostalgia for something they didn't know. I was born in 1977, and I grew up in the 80s. For those who didn't experience the 80s, it's something new. My music is a kind of mix of 80s influences and modern electronic music, and it seems to work. I don't know exactly why, but I'm happy with that.

Jerneja: You also play at a wide range of festivals - metal, gothic, alternative...
Franck: I'm not really sure what I'm doing here tonight, haha. I don't know what people are listening to. I think 90% of the people here listen to gothic music, and the program is mostly made up of gothic bands and artists. My music is more upbeat and more "tralala", so I guess goth people want to have fun sometimes too. I guess if your listening time is 99% dark, sad songs or evil black metal songs, sometimes you want 1% joy, and here I come.

Tomaz: Your albums come out under No Quarter Productions. Is that your own label?
Franck: It's a label that my wife runs. It's more convenient for us to work together, and I wasn't willing to spend a lot of time sending my demos to other labels and then waiting for answers, so I decided to create my own. I asked my wife if she wanted to run and manage it. We signed a distribution deal with Virgin. OK, when we signed it, it wasn't Virgin Music, it was a smaller label called Caroline, which then became a sub-label of Virgin Music, releasing indie stuff. I'm really happy with them. They're cool. Although Caroline's team changed when they became Virgin France, we're still with them; they're really nice. We can do whatever we want. I produce my own music and videos. The agreement with Virgin France is that they release my album on vinyl and CDs, and send them to Amazon and others.

Jerneja: Do you also release music by other artists?
Franck: No, just Carpenter Brut's. We don't have enough time to deal with other bands. We want to do things as well as we can. I don't think we could do much good if we shared time with other bands, you know, there are only 24 hours in a day. We have enough work with Carpenter Brut.

Tomaz: We've never seen you live - only watched a few clips on YouTube. What can people expect from your shows?
Franck: Well, haha, I make a lot of mistakes with my synths, so people can expect that. The guitarist and drummer are very good, so the audience can expect a good rhythm session and a good guitar, but not a good synth player, haha. It's fun and violent. Happy but strong songs.

Jerneja: Do you only play instrumental tracks live?
Franck: No, some songs have vocals. The vocals are recorded because we can't have the original singers at live concerts.

Jerneja: Well, you could perform "Stabat Mater", given Sylvaine is already here.
Franck: We don't play "Stabat Mater" live. But if you look at the setlist we had at Hellfest, we had six songs with original singers. We had Tribulation's singer, Johannes Andersson, Percha, Greg Puciato, Yann Ligner, Mat McNerney and Alex Westaway.

Tomaz: You also compose for video games and films. What do you enjoy more - writing for Carpenter Brut or for the screen?
Franck: It depends. You know, when I do something, I get bored quickly, and I want to do something else. So when I'm writing an album, I'd rather write music for a movie or a game, and when I'm writing music for a movie, I'd rather make an album. I'm always in the wrong place. Even tonight I'm here, but I want to be home, and when I'm home, I want to be on stage. It's always like that with me.

Jerneja: And what about live shows? Do you enjoy performing, or do you see it as a necessary evil?
Franck: No, it's not a necessary evil. I'm not really that confident when I'm on stage. I don't know exactly what to do. I'm not a frontman or a performer, I'm just a regular guy. I feel better when I'm at home and writing music. I've been performing for ten years, and I've only just started to like it now; until 2023, I hated being on stage. So, I've been touring since 2015 and ten years later I've started to enjoy it. One of the reasons is that back then we were driving around in a van and didn't sleep much, but now we're on a tour bus and have hotel rooms, so the conditions are much better. The band is bigger, and we get better deals.

Jerneja: But Carpenter Brut gained popularity very quickly...
Franck: You think? Carpenter Brut is now 13 years old. OK, I think there's some truth to that. The growth has been pretty fast, but at the same time, there's something invisible that's holding us back at this point. You can see through it, but something is blocking you, you know. Maybe I'm in that kind of place right now. Carpenter Brut was growing up fast, but now I'm stuck at this point. I don't know if it will continue to go up or start to go down.

Jerneja: I wouldn't worry about it. You make fantastic music, and I think we should enjoy life as much as we can - here and now - despite the madness around us.
Franck: Yeah, I agree with that.

Tomaz: Is there a singer or musician you'd love to work with but haven't had the chance yet?
Franck: Dead or alive? There are many people I would like to work with, but they are dead. There's Peter Steele from Type O Negative. I would love to collaborate with him, but it's a bit too late. Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode. He's still alive, so there's a chance. Do you know Jean-Michel Jarre? He's quite old, 77; we talk on the phone, and it seems that he would like to collaborate with me, too. The opportunity to do something with him is here, and this is not like a dream. I was listening to him when I was young, and you know, this guy called me on the phone and said that he would like to work with me. I was like, "What the fuck?" I wasn't chasing it, but when it happens... "What the fuck is happening!" So, I let life decide for me; I like surprises.

Tomaz: What else do you enjoy besides music? Any hobbies or interests?
Franck: Sleeping. I love to sleep. I actually spend 90% of my time on music. I don't do sports, I don't go on vacation like everyone else, I sometimes play video games on PS4 or PS5; I also like Cyberpunk 2077. I don't do much other thing because I have to manage my label and sales with my wife. I also have to prepare live shows and light shows. I don't listen to a lot of music; I only listen to it when I'm driving in the car. You know, I can't listen to music and make music at the same time. I don't know what's good in the music market right now; I'm completely lost about it.

Jerneja: Seems we've got a few things in common - like laziness and sleeping, haha. Thanks for the lovely chat. Is there anything you'd like to add before we wrap up?
Franck: I suck at answering questions like that. I don't know what to say. Thank you and good night. Maybe some people will read this interview and go to sleep after it, so I'll wish them "good night", haha.

Live photos by Tomaz

Carpenter Brut links: Official Website, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Bandcamp