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Shredder 1984, drops a brand new album, Resistance
Release date: December 13, 2019
Resistance opens with a short track entitled “This is a Call To Arms”. It features an instant melodic hook in the bass and a sample from the movie Terminator Salvation. John Connor (Christian Bale) whispers into the microphone, “If you’re listening to this, you ARE the resistance.”
What I enjoy about Resistance is the respect it commands without begging the listener to like it. Outwardly, Shredder 1984 has crafted an album that looks, feels and sounds like any other in the synthwave (darksynth) genre. Yet, there is a subtlety to the album that makes it unique and at the same time very easy and satisfying to listening to “cover-to-cover”.
Most of the tracks average around three minutes in length, with the finalé, “Dissident”, going beyond six minutes. Fans of epic, snarling, sine waves and bit crushed bass lines will fall in love with this album. There is also plenty of skillfully programmed drum beats and synth pads.
Synthwave albums frequently employ a written statement that envelopes the music with a text-based background story. Resistance’s accompanying storyline, or lore, strikes a chord with a modern audience. This is similar to what was once called “liner notes” in albums.) Shredder 1984’s statement on Resistance has the resonance that may be easily mistaken for a modern newspaper headline:
“We sit in 2019. We sit on our hands in a world ruled by a handful of self-proclaimed privileged individuals who look down from their perches, for we are their playthings and toying with us is so much fun.
Society is torn apart by the tensions between leaders we do see, leaders of industry and governments, and the oppressed population, of which are forced to endlessly work harder to survive. How long must we ignore the ones who truly hold all the aces?
Election Day is due, and it is being handled with all the usual manner of our maniacal tyrants, acting with impunity to serve their own interests… Their so called democracy.“
Slickster: Thanks for the advance copy of Resistance. It rocks! We predict you’re going to have quite a successful album on your hands when it comes out in December. 2019 was busy year touring for you, and it looks like 2020 is going to repeat that pattern. How have your live performances in Europe been and what is scheduled for your North American tour in 2020?
Shredder 1984: Thank you for your support! That’s true, 2019 has been a crazy year for me. I was on the road and flying to places in the USA and Europe to play shows until around July. It’s always a pleasure for me to perform; actually that’s why I keep making music, it’s like the finality of all the work and effort put into the project. I was very glad to see the scene is getting bigger in Europe and people actually attend more shows and also support the artists by buying their music and merch. So that was a great experience, and I’m looking forward to playing again in European cities.
I’ve kinda been taking a break since July as touring can be a bit exhausting and I had this album Resistance in my head for some time so I went back to my studio to produce it. Now I’m glad it’s finally out and soon to be released. Yes, I’m gonna come back in the US in 2020 but it still a bit early to announce anything.
Slickster: While performing live, what is the composition of the crowds in attendance at the shows? Is it mostly guys or has there been more females attending the concerts?
Shredder 1984: I’m not sure if there are more guys than girls but this synthwave/darksynth scene has a pretty mixed up crowd, there are metalheads with battle jackets who usually listen to extreme metal, geeks nostalgic of the 80s/90s, anime and manga lovers, electronic music fans, musicians… I feel like people are really curious about this genre you know.
Slickster: We have interviewed many musicians from France. Specifically, we’ve interview French electronic musicians, and we ask them a similar question: Why do you feel that France is frequently found at the vanguard of electronic music?
Shredder 1984: I come from a metal background so I have no idea about who is at the vanguard or not haha. I heard that the French artist Kavinsky is supposed to be one of the first acts in the scene, but ironically I discovered him through the American movie Drive. On the other side, I think Jean-Michel Jarre was definitely at the vanguard of electronic music, did you know his live in Moscow in 1997 set the world record for the biggest gig ever?
Slickster: Your written statement for Resistance draws heavily on post-apocalyptic fiction as well as current social-political events. Can you discuss this and what motives you to do so?
Shredder 1984: The motivation is the fact that post-apocalyptic fiction is no longer a fiction. We don’t have yet cool stuff like flying cars or cyborgs (we’re almost there), but we have almost all the bad sides if you look carefully (meaning not through mainstream medias). 1984 is now closer than ever to our reality.
Slickster: For better or worse, France and the Yellow Vest Riots have been in the international headlines. Have you been personally affected by these protests?
Shredder 1984: I’m not sure I understand the meaning behind this question, as we probably didn’t see these events the same way. But I can say in France, we’re always up for putting tyrants’ heads on the guillotine haha…
Slickster: Synthwave (Darksynth, outrun, vaporwave… etc) has matured stylistically over the past five years. Do you feel the genre has run its course, or it is still developing? Where do you predict the future of the synthwave genre to go?
Shredder 1984: Well, even though there’s always a way to experiment new things, it looks like you still have to match certain codes to fit with the genre. Personally, I definitely try to make each one of my albums different from another, which I feel is a respect due to the listener.
About this new album “Resistance”, I don’t know if you agree but I do think it’s pretty unusual to try to match a dystopian future theme with the present reality of 2019, as long as matching it with past events (such as the French revolution of 1789). So we have the past, the present and the future in the same piece of art. Now, ironically, in astronomy, the word “revolution” means “a celestial object that comes full circle”. Maybe we have already reached the full circle…
Slickster: Do you have a favorite track on Resistance? If so, can you please briefly tell us how you composed it?
Shredder 1984: I don’t know, maybe the track Insurrection. I hope this one triggers the rebel side of the listener. For the writing process, I mainly compose on the guitar and piano before turning on the computer.
Slickster: What advice would you give to your younger self for being creative?
Shredder 1984: Honestly I never had any troubles regarding inspiration and the creating process. Finding time on the schedule for everything that goes after the creative part is more an issue to me.
Slickster: Thanks again for sharing your awesome new music on Resistance, and letting us have a sneak peak. Is there anything we didn’t mention or bring up during the interview that you’d like to talk about now?
Shredder 1984: I’d like to thank everyone who supports me in this project, friends and listeners. And thank my wife who managed to put all my ideas in every artwork. I hope you’ll enjoy this new album, and one last word, don’t forget, you are the Resistance!
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