CIRCLES’ Members Discuss Debut Full-length Album still. (The Witzard Interview)
CIRCLES somewhere in Basque Country, Spain (CREDIT: -EYEMEAN-, @eyemean.video)
CIRCLES is a Punk/Melodic Hardcore band hailing from Nantes, France—a city on the Loire River in the Upper Brittany region of Western France. We’ve been listening to CIRCLES (not to brag!) since their earliest recordings with Demo 2017 and Resonant (2019) and through their collaborative work with graphic designer and artist Joey Goergen. CIRCLES have a sound that in our mind, falls somewhere sonically in-between Dischord Records/Revolution Summer era bands and Jane’s Addiction. Fittingly and, albeit, briefly described on Bandcamp as “discordant guitars and rolling basslines fill this release along with layers of melody that leave you with an emotional inclination for more. Taking sway from bands like One Last Wish and Dag Nasty, CIRCLES deliver 12 songs of well-crafted melodic-infused Hardcore,” CIRCLES shared their proper full-length debut, still., back in mid-February. CIRCLES jointly co-released still. following a couple months of light build-up on Extinction Burst! (US) and Shield Recordings (The Netherlands.) We’ve been emailing back-and-forth with CIRCLES’ vocals, guitarist, keyboards/melodica player Guillaume Salort for quite some time now. Salort sent us a pre-release press advance stream of still., which we loved and jammed out to for days, on the D.L., of course! Anyways, this heavily inspired us and kinda speedballed into the idea of doing an emailed interview with involvement throughout from all five of CIRCLES’ members/guitarists. So, here you have it: a long-form interview with CIRCLES’ Guillaume Salort, Mathias Péronne, Antoine Boisset, Guillaume Martin & Julian Normand discussing their latest album with me, The Witzard. Check out our interview below, which has bene lightly edited for general clarity. CIRCLES’ still. is now available in both digital and physical formats directly from Extinction Burst! and/or Shield Recordings.
I. Who are the members of CIRCLES and what is each member's role within the band?
Guillaume Salort: CIRCLES is Guillaume Martin: guitar, vocals, Julien Normand: bass, vocals, Antoine Boisset: drums, Mathias Péronne: guitar, and myself [Guillaume Salort:] vocals. We all play guitar in the studio and do some vocal parts from time to time.
II. What does your band name, CIRCLES, mean and what is the intended meaning or significance behind your latest album title, still. with specific emphasis on the lowercase letter and period at the end?
Salort: To be honest, the answer is as obvious and simple as you think. We looked on the back of some of our favorite records and picked up some names, then, voted to choose one. We thought that we would have the time to find some deeper explanation and meaning before someone asks us why this name —you're the first one in six years and it looks like we have nothing more to say! Concerning the album title, it's from the eponymous song on the A-side; it sums up pretty well the intention behind the lyrics. To seize back the more time possible to the Capitalist values, I borrowed the idea [from] Alex Ratcharge's novel, Raccourci vers nul part, where the main [character explains] that he takes the longest ever toilet breaks at his sh*tty job. Seems funny like this, but I guess we [have] all [don] this and it has a very strong political meaning that I tried to develop on the song and that's [coming] back in a lot of CIRCLES themes. For the lowercase, it's purely aesthetic; it worked better when I worked on the layout. The period at the end is here to mark the stillness, like, “OK, we mean it. We're going to stop as long as needed.”
III. Who or what would you readily cite as some of your greatest sources of personal inspiration and influence while creating CIRCLES' still.?
Salort: Well, I think we could namedrop some obvious influences here, but let's say that the main source of inspiration for CIRCLES and this still. LP is the freedom mid-80's Hardcore bands embraced while [questioning] their Hardcore habits in introducing more sensibility and all kind of other influences, like Pop, Post-punk, New Wave, Dub, etc. I think we all listen to some very various kind of music and this formula seems to be the one where we can all enjoy ourselves and the band. It's, also, a way to question Hardcore itself and all the postures we can adopt when discovering this scene making it, sometimes, more enclosing than freeing. Also, even if some bands do it pretty well, I don't think we'd be able to write the same song [12 times] and [make] it interesting. I grew up with Pop music and it's still the main genre I listen to and I always loved the openness and diversity in Pop records and I'm happy that we found this in our music. Plus, it leaves some place to express all [kinds] of different feelings, from anger to sensibility, from introspection to political claim. Life makes us [go] through all [kinds] of contradictory and complementary emotions and states of mind and I think it's good to be able to express all of this through CIRCLES. Lyrics-wise my influences are not [particularly] rooted in music even if Hardcore has, once again, [opened] the doors to feel legitimate to express anything, the main influences will be in philosophy, politic essays, [literature], poetry, endless discussions with friends and, of course, daily life experiences,
IV. What did the typical writing, recording, production, creation, etc. process behind the making-of CIRCLES' still. generally entail?
Mathias Péronne: The main writer in CIRCLES is Guillaume [Salort]. He sends or shows us a song structure. Then, everyone [brings] back [their] own part to it. We all play guitar in the band, so aside [from] the [drums] and bass, we all participate to add some details to the basis. The lyrics are exclusively [written] by Guillaume, who put a lot of his sensibility into it, it wouldn't be a CIRCLES song without it.
Antoine Boisset: Both Guillaume [Martin] and I wrote two songs for the record. We, then, brought all special intentions to get the "CIRCLES sound" haha!
V. How did Piermo Broggi from Studio des Moulins, who recorded the album, and Brian McTeran at Salad Days Studio, who mixed and mastered the album, help make still. stand out and evolve from CIRCLES' last proper full-length release, 2019's Resonate EP?
Guillaume Martin: Piermo already recorded [a] couple of bands at Studio des Moulins, so he had a full vision of all gears available and how to record us the best possible way. We had access to different amps, guitars, drums, [and] a whole lot of extra accessories. We took time to test every option to get the sound that fits us the most for this record. We spent time with Piermo and Brian to explain the sound we wanted [and] our vision for the album and they respected every single aspect. Piermo recorded all takes as good as possible to send them to Brian, so he [could] incorporate some Salad Days Studio DNA [into] it for the mixing and the mastering.
VI. How did you initially end up meeting the good people at Extinction Burst! (US) and Shield Recordings (Netherlands) and what prompted you to decide to partner with these labels to help you release still.?
Salort: I met [Gert-Jan] & Fieke from Shield [Recordings] years ago when one of our previous [bands] (with Mathias on guitars, too,) opened for The Fake Boys and The Real Danger tour here [in France]. They [were] booking the tour and were here on the shows. Really great people. We ran into each other every couple years at some festival in Belgium and kept in touch. When we recorded our first demo, we sent it to a few contacts that might [have] liked it without nothing [particular] in mind and they offered to release it on vinyl. Since [then,] they, also, released our previous single, “Coruscation,” and it felt really natural that this LP would be on Shield, too. We wanted [a] US release, too, so we sent it to a few labels we [liked] and Raymon [Ruiz] from [Extinction] Burst! seemed to be really into it and offered to co-release the record. Didn't meet him yet, but I hope we'll be able to one day!
VII. Do you have any immediate plans to record and release a proper follow-up to your 2022 EP, The Covers, and if so, what sort of bands would you choose to cover and why for each?
Julien Normand: Actually, this “EP” is just a Bandcamp page [set up] to upload covers we recorded during rehearsals when we were working on the album. It will continue to evolve with other songs we might cover. [Our] next plan could be [to cover] “Police B*stard” by Doom, dedicated to the French Security Minister, Gerald Darmanin.
VIII. What were your first five favorite Punk, Hardcore, Post-hardcore, Melodic Hardcore, etc. albums or EP's and what sort of lasting impact does each release still have on you to this day?
Normand: The Offspring – Smash; the way I discovered that kind of music and makes me want to play it. Bad Brains - I Against I; classic, but this band created the sound I love and influenced all the Hardcore bands I listen to. They are on top on this album. [It’s the] perfect mix between raw sound and the rage they put in awesome execution. By the way, I love Reggae music, too!
Martin: [The] first album I “stole” [from] my brother was The Offspring’s Smash. Then, the same year in 1994, NOFX released Punk In Drublic. This was my starting point with Fat Mike’s basslines when I played in my college band! From a French point of view, I have to quote Uncommonmenfrommars, “they had a great impact, too, in terms of melody, energy on stage, and positive attitude.”
Péronne: At The Drive-In - Relationship of Command. That's kind of a cliché, but I can't think of a part of this record that I don't like. And it aged so well; even today it [sounds modern].
Boisset: Two are enough for me: Minor Threat’s Complete Discography and Burning Heads’ first album, [Burning Heads from 1992]. That's why [I’ve loved] playing drums in Punk bands [for so] many years.
Salort: The first Punk & Hardcore records I really loved and still listen to today are And Out Comes The Wolves... by Rancid. 19 songs, only [hits], no fillers and the Ska songs don't even s*ck ([which] made me dig Jamaican music later.) Descendents - Everything S*cks [for] how to mix 80's Black Flag-esque Hardcore urge with the most catchy Power-pop hooks. NRA - Leaded; bought it at the time only because there [were] 20 songs under 30 [minutes], pure Hardcore energy mixed with great melodies and great clean vocals. Minor Threat - Complete Discography, obviously, with a special mention for “Out of Step,” the song-writing is incredible for a Hardcore band and I think this topic is not enough discussed. It's a life goal to be able to write perfectly well-structured Hardcore songs like this. And Burning Heads - Be One with The Flames for the mix of Hardcore and melodies, too. It even has some good Reggae and Dub songs; the proof that a Hardcore record can be really diverse and still cohesive.
IX. Is there a scene of like-minded bands in the same vein of CIRCLES there in Nantes, France? If so, would you mind recommending some new (or at least "new" to us) bands to our readership here?
Boisset: There is a solid Indie/D.I.Y. scene here in Nantes. I don't know [any] bands in the same vein as ours, but let mention great bands I like both musically and [personally] (not [necessarily] Punk): Spelterini (Kraut-Rock,) Precipice (Hardcore,) Middle Child (Pop,) Jean-Paul (Synth-Wave,) Offensive (Hardcore,) Dawn Dealers (Post-punk,) Model Prisoners (Hardcore,) Watertank (Post-hardcore,) Vigilante (Hardcore,) FEU! (Punk,) Gravekult (Metal,) Trombe (Noise-Jazz,) Black Mantra (Hardcore with our lovely Julien [Normand] on guitar!,) [and] The Patriotic Sunday (Folk.) Sorry for the ones I forgot! And I’m still waiting for [a] Papier Tigre reunion, one of my favorite [bands] ever and close friends. Very influenced by Dischord [Records] bands, like Fugazi & Q and Not U, but with their proper energy and various influences. I’m a huge fan and always enjoyed them live so much!
Salort: I would add The Attendants, even if they are more Punk Rock in [their] sound than CIRCLES. You can find some strong Post-hardcore influences bringing to mind Fugazi or At The Drive-In. Great political lyrics, too, and good people.
X. What can you tell us about the floral photography seen across the still. album cover and "changes" and "split" single covers? Who photographed these floral arrangements and what were your intentions and/or inspirations behind attaching this tyle photography to the album roll-out and release?
Salort: I did the [photography]. Our friend, Charline [Bernard], is a florist and she made the floral composition. The idea was to have something beautiful first, to stay away from the Hardcore aesthetics, even if we love it and respect it, too, and to bring to mind something positive and soft. Flowers evoke life, blooming, and to fix it on a [photograph] sums up pretty well the main subjects discussed on the album. The will to keep this freshness and [not letting] the deadly [rhythm] of the Capitalist life fane us.
CIRCLES’ still. album cover and “split” and “changes” single covers (FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS: Charline Bernard / ART CREDIT: Guillaume Salort)
XI. What's planned next for CIRCLES?
Péronne: The plan now is to make some new songs. We [haven’t planned] too many gigs for the moment, so we can focus on that. We would like to compose a more fast Hardcore EP, yet still with the melodic elements that make our sound. The idea is to try to make it pretty quickly, so it [can] be as spontaneous as possible.
Salort: Some kind of antithesis of this LP! Also, a second LP without waiting five years or more will be nice.
XII. In addition to or aside from CIRCLES, do any of you have any additional projects currently in-the-works or in-process that you might like to mention within this space?
Boisset: I, also, play drums with [my] close friends in CREVECOEUR. [It’s] instrumental Emo/Post-hardcore, if you like 90's/00's Ebullition/Lovitt/Level Plane/Touch & Go [Records] kinda bands.
Normand: [I’ve played] bass since [I was] 12 years in a band called OMAHAS. [It’s] Alternative Rock with Melodic Hardcore/Math Rock and Post-hardcore influences and I play guitars in Black Mantra, Hardcore influenced by bands like Warzone, Vision, [and] Shelter.
Martin: I still play in a Punk Rock band we started in 2006 called Draw Me A Butt. Influences are No Use for A Name, Face to Face, [and] Sublime. We had our fast years during [the first] 10 years and even touring Canada and [the] US, but now it’s more one or two reunion shows every year! We may record some new material soon.
Salort: I'm trying to finish some solo songs in some kind of [The] Beatles or Oasis Pop vein. [I], also, have a few other projects [in-the-works], but let's finish it before talking about it.
