Alexis from Straight & Alert Records, HARM DONE and INSECURITY is one of our favorite in your face raw hardcore punk selectors from Europe and you can simply check out his catalogue to understand the appeal. The raging, unrelenting dose of sonic chaos produced by these acts is a thunderous reminder of DIY labels are important components of independent music landscapes and we’re spending so much much time writing about them and sharing the stuff they produce. All the praise aside, Alexis has just launched his new solo project called SCHIZOID, and we caught up with him to give you a proper information
Influenced by No Tolerance, Protester, Boston Strangler, Confront, Brotherhood, and The Flex the 5 track demo tape by SCHIZOID is called “You’re To Blame” and is available on professional tapes (50 black / 50 white). You can stream and download the demo on Bandcamp.
All songs written, performed, recorded, mixed and mastered by Alexis Gautier. Artwork & layout by Alexis Gautier.
Inspirations to start this band
I have always been fascinated by people who could play everything and write music all by themselves. I actually did a few interviews about that in my first and only issue of the STRAIGHT & ALERT fanzine. So, people like Tom from Violent Reaction, Brendan from The Rival Mob, Connor from Protester and many more really inspired me to start doing a band all by myself.
Also, I’m pretty hard to deal with in a band sometimes as I have a strong character and not really up to agree on compromises. So, I wanted to create something I could have full control over and make my own choices without having to argue with anyone else!
And I love challenges and learning new things, so this was a good way to learn about recording / mixing / mastering.
Last but not least, my previous Hardcore band, Raw Justice broke up a while ago and I was really missing playing straight forward / pissed off Hardcore.
Inspirations behind the content of SCHIZOID + track by track commentary
As usual with every band I write lyrics for, my texts are inspired by very precise situations that piss me off to the point I have to put it on paper to release my anger.
DEADBEAT: I wrote this song after a night we spent at a bar with friends after a show. I’ve noticed there was a group of 5/6 kids at the street corner staring at everyone passing by, bothering pedestrians and stuff. In a nutshell, they were just waiting for someone to fuck with. They decided to go with a friend of mine and wanted to fight him, too bad for them, we were about 30 friends at the bar and started to come over to see what was up. Hopefully the fight didn’t happen even though the tension was high and the group of kids eventually bounced.
This song talks about all the lame guys who’re trying to fuck other person’s life because they can’t do nothing good with theirs.
WHO’S TO BLAME / NOT SORRY: These two songs are actually dealing with the fact I have had a few people around me all over the years that were just complaining about everything in their life but without trying to make a change. These persons were blaming everyone but themselves for the poor choices they’ve made and where it led them in their life.
SCHIZOID: This one is 100% about myself and how I feel about people in general. The fact I really have a hard time to give my trust to people, especially when I ask / expect them to do something and they usually either:
a) don’t do it at all
b) not as fast as I would like to
c) not the way I would like toAnd so, the conflicting situations and tension it could lead to. The older I get, the more I tend to do everything by myself not to have to deal with this anymore. If I don’t have time, I make some. If I don’t know how to something, I learn to. I assume that band is a good example of this.
There are also a few lines about those persons everyone has to deal with, who are always nice and cool when they are trying to get something from you, but just disappear when it’s the other way around.
The line from Schizoid that could sum up my general way of thinking is “Trust no one not to be let down”
WHITE LINE: I assume this one is pretty self-explanatory. It talks about drugs / alcohol / addiction in general. And especially my close / best friends who are affected by this and how tired I am of this shit. I wrote this one after one of my best friend’s birthday where everyone was just wasted and doing coke / pills without even looking like they were enjoying it. This night was just the straw that has broken the camel’s back, but I’ve been confronted with friends getting into hard drugs / alcohol and trying to find release in this (that they never found) since my teenage years. I’m also pissed at all their so-called “friends” around them who just close their eyes and let it go, or worse, get them more into this shit, rather than take a step back and try to help them get back on their feet by other means.
“There’s no fun at all it’s only pain and suffering / Your empty words, your fake smiles, your fake laughs won’t fool me / I look into your eyes You’re fucking dead inside”
Commentary on the cover art
I actually had a completely different artwork at first, something more “arty” and weird. Until one day I came across this etching somewhere only and loved it at first sight. I got rid of the old design immediately and started working something out with that skeleton. I’ve been doing a lot of designs with etchings for my other band Harm Done and I really like this kind of graphics.
About this one in particular, I loved the harsh / hard feeling that was coming out of that etching and the way the skeleton was punishing these two persons who were guilty / to blame. Plus, the fact it has a double face matches pretty well with my personality. Not that I am bipolar but I know that I can be very nice just as much as I can be very cold and harsh sometimes.
Here are a few lines from the website I got the original etching from :
“This etching represents death in the form of a crowned skeleton, having a double face, a javelin in each hand, it strikes the duke on one side, the cardinal on the other. It’s called “Tombeau sur le trespas et assassinat commis aux personnes de Messeigneurs de Guise”. The Latin inscription, taken from Psalm V, VI, means: “God abominates the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”
Plans for the future, live dates?
I just released the demo so I’ll try to have Schizoid play a bunch of shows to promote it. So far, we only have two shows in Paris / Nantes in March and a tour coming up in April, both alongside Insecurity, the Youth Crew band I play bass for. But I assume more shows will follow, as people are just getting aware of this new band!
I am already starting to write new songs for a debut 7” I would love to have ready to release in 2020, on another label this time. I’m not sure I’ll be into putting it out myself on Straight & Alert records as it’s a lot of work I can’t really handle anymore since I’m now a full-time web developer, but we’ll see.
And I just want to play as much as I can and everywhere people want me / Schizoid to. I currently have two live line ups to play shows, one in Paris and one in Nantes my hometown, but I’m down to have people from other places to play with me too! When I ask someone if he / she’d be up to play in Schizoid, I make it perfectly clear that line up can change and nothing is set in stone. So, I’m really thinking about asking some friends in the US at some point to be able to tour there as well or stuff like that.
