Time for the devil with John et Jehn

ARTROCKER: 'TIME FOR THE DEVIL' IS INSPIRED BY A PARABLE WHICH VIEWS THE DEVIL AS A DIONYSUS-STYLE LIBERATOR. WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS IDEA?

John: The short story is called "La hora del diablo" ("The Hour of the Devil") by Fernando Pessoa . It is a conversation between a woman and the Devil. The Devil explains that he is the source of all emotions, poetry, art, thoughts, ego, etc... Certain people will choose to canalise and work on those feelings, leading to creation or love , others will be angry and scared and become slaved or their own emotions. In fact you still have the choice, you are your own demon.

Jehn: This short story inspired a lot of our lyrics on this album, not just the song 'Time For The Devil'. But we only realised that after the record was finished... We had a strong desire with our lyrics to study the 'bad' sides of things, that's how we got songs like 'Oh My Love', 'And We Run' and 'Love Is Not Enough'.

The book of Pessoa gives a very poetic view on the Devil who describes himself has someone who inspires you. Everything that is part of your imagination comes from the Devil. But why should we be afraid of our own thoughts? What interested us was the open mindedness the book offers, the Devil dwells in your best feelings, feelings of contempt, happiness, creativity… which is not where we're usually told he is.

ARTROCKER: DO YOU THINK CHRISTIAN GROUPS MIGHT MISINTERPRET THE MESSAGE?

John: We're not against religious people at all. Groups are more scary - religion should be a very personal thing and when you try to demonstrate your faith to the world then it becomes dangerous. Keep it inside!

Jehn: We didn't think about religion when we chose the title of the album. Because it was inspired by the book of Pessoa we never thought it had to do something with religion. Pessoa's book doesn't deal wit the Devil in a religious way, it is poetry. And from our point of view, 'Time For The Devil' gathers ideas and thoughts that are more humanists than religious definitely. Pessoa was a philosopher, not a preacher.

ARTROCKER: WAS IT A RELIEF TO RECORD IN SOUTH WEST FRANCE, AS OPPOSED TO WOOD GREEN WHERE THE FIRST ALBUM WAS MADE?

John: Yes indeed - we recorded in our family's barn. We loved each second of that process. Especially cause we do everything ourselves, there we got more space, more gear and we feel creative every time we go there. We are quite lucky to have that.

Jehn: What was really important for us when we started recording the new album was that we didn't want to repeat ourselves. So to change our environment was exactly what we needed. We knew that whatever the problem, music is always the solution. So we didn't want to rush into things, we wanted to allow ourselves to have time to record the album we wanted. A luxury really.

ARTROCKER: JOHN, YOU'RE WRITING SONGS PRIMARILY ON THE BASS WITH THE NEW RECORD. IS THAT EASY TO PULL OFF?

John: Yes indeed, I always did that. I think it comes from my old fascination for Peter Hook bass lines. You can easily sing on those basslines - they nearly do the job of backing vocals. Also I immediatly think of what the drums should sound like. To resume: with a good bass line, you have the basic melody and a strong rhythm all at the same time. It's the spine of the song.

ARTROCKER: THE ARTWORK ON YOUR NEW RELEASES USES STRAIGHTFORWARD PHOTOGRAPHY TO CREATE A SURREAL, ILLUSORY EFFECT. WAS THAT THE IDEA?

John: Yes! We did a lot of photographic research with Antoine Carlier, who's doing the artwork direction on this album. He directs all our new videos, everything makes sense with him. He is an old friend of mine and one of the best video directors in Paris. We can go deep with our ideas.

The photo on the cover nearly took 48 hours non stop of shooting. It was in his flat with just 2 old lamps and mirror paper. We scratched our heads for hours to find the good photo we tried everything, we even have naked versions... ha ha!

Jehn: what we love about working with someone like Antoine is that we can have a real collaboration. It makes things bigger when you have another creative mind in the team... For the pictures, it is true we looked at some surrealist work from the 20s, like the surrealists photos of Magritte and his wife - largely because we liked the aesthetic, but mainly also because we work with almost nothing, no light, no space... so it recalls the devices of the times.
But the process with Antoine is more experimental and empirical than intellectual. We lock ourselves in a room with very little equipment, just the 3 of us and try and try and try for hours until we find something.

ARTROCKER: YOU ALSO APPROACH THE IDEA OF FALLING IN LOVE WITH A VAMPIRE ON THE NEW RECORD. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE VAMPIRE MYTH WHICH IS SO ENDEARING?

John: A good friend of mine fell in love with a girl ... She is always on depression and takes all his energy and his creative side down. I saw him changing all over the years because of that fucked up relationship with her. So i decided to call her a vampire. But I do think they are both victims - the vampire is in fact the relationship.

ARTROCKER: FINALLY, YOU JUST RETURNED TO THE LONDON STAGE AT THE LEXINGTON. DID IT GO ALRIGHT ON THE NIGHT?

John: Fuck yeah! We loved each second of it! We love to play in good London venues, it was promoted by our good friend Andy Inglis form the Luminaire, and we had a good crowd down there at the Lexington. Thanks everyone! We're back!