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PALEFACE SWISS: From DIY Beginnings To Global Metal Domination · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up. I'm you Onic from Paleface, Swiss and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I'm super happy to be here with Angelo. Thanks for
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: having me.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much anytime. Congrats on Cursed hitting
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: number seven on the Spotify Global charts. What does that
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: kind of success mean to you personally?
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It's unbelievable crazy, I cannot believe that. So yeah, I
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: barely find any words to that and super super crazy,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: just wow. And we achieved it by ourselves, So I mean,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you knew that, but we are DIY.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: We have no label, we have, we have nothing we like.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: We're working hard on that and to see that success
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: is just mind blowing.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, as you said, to be a DIY band,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: it's incredible crazy And Switzerland is known for peace and neutrality, neutrality.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: How does it feel knowing Pale Faced Swiss has completely
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: shattered that reputation?
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: It's good. I think we love what we do and
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: we love to represent Switzerland as the hardest band from
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: that that country. So yeah, super nice, I'd say, yeah.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: It's awesome. It's so cool. And from supporting Hearts in
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Hart's Way to headlining sold out shows globally, did you
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: ever imagine things would escalate this fast.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Nope, not at all, because I mean we started in
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen as a local band and when Sally asked
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: asked me to to like record some guitars for him,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, but I don't know if I
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: want to be like part of that because I have
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: another band. I had another band going still, so I
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: joined pay Face as a studio guitarist and now we're
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: here headlining Australia in September and lowse my mind blows
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: my mind.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and did what was the music sort of scene
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: like for you guys starting out in Switzerland? I can't imagine.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Is there a big metal sort of genre there?
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: There there is a very big metal scene, but it's
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: it's it's it's very local. So there are not many
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: bands who who blow up, I'd say, because like Switzerland
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: has no because it's so small. We don't have really
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the capacity. We don't have the capacity too to make
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: make a band big. You know, everything is super expensive.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: You have to work hard to live there. And yeah,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: and music or general like culture stuff it doesn't have
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: like it has space of course, don't get me wrong,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: but but just for just besides you know, yeah, was.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: The huge support for you guys starting out or not really.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Like in the scene in the in the in the scene.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, like pre pre COVID when we started,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the beatdown scene was was really like blowing up, like
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the hardcore beatdowns slam scene was really blowing up. So
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: we played super sick, sold out like basement shows and
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: then COVID came and destroyed everything. But during that time,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: we we we wrote two albums, like posted shitty videos
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: with like song song teasers on the internet, and the
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: people seem to love to love it, to like it.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: And when we announced like first shows, first tour, of
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the people actually came to shows and wanted to see
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: us live. So I think that's the that's the good
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: part of COVID for us.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, the yeah, despite it being a shitty time, you
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: guys may not work in a way.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we we just tried to have a good time
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: in this shit in those ship times and yeah, people
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: seem to like it and here we.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Are, yeah, and there's so much raw anger and intensity
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: in Cursed. Was this record cathartic for you guys or
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: something else?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: So when we write music, we try to have the
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: best time of our lives and we had we had
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: that time during during the song like writing process from Cursed.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: So we wrote the album on Canary Islands in Spain.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: We had super nice weather like this. We had the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: scene in front of us, We had some palm trees,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: we had a pool next to the studio. We watched,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: we watched every night, we watched the Dart championship.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, had some beers and yeah, we had the time
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: of our lives and created that album. And I think
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: that's the that's how do I say that, that's the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: thing when we write when we had, when we had,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: when we would have a time writing Curse, it wouldn't
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: be that good.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: I'd say, yeah, yeah, yeah, so nothing was. It wasn't crap.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: It was a good recording.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Experience, yes, definitely.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's awesome. It must have been so beautiful.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, it was very nice. Also was it was December,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: and December in Europe is like it's winter, so we
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: had like, yeah, twenty twenty two, twenty twenty five degrees
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: and yeah, little summer vibes and in winter you know.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm so jealous. And do you guys write with
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: the live show in mind? Because Curse does feel like
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: it's designed for a live show?
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Big, yes, big, Yes, we write music. Who how do
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I say that? When we write music, we write it
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: to play live. Yeah, so no, no, no big production,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: no no, like you know what I mean, Like they
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: see just yeah, just raw as raw as possible. Of
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: course some some nice effects, but we tried to write
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: right as raw as possible.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Awesome. And does that mean that you guys get
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: through laying down the tracks pretty quickly or does it
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: take quite a few goals to get everything sounding right?
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: It depends. Like Cursed was was very like we just
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: like had like part of the part of the part
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: and it felt like very natural. Yeah. But but then
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: as an example, I am a Cursed one, our latest single.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: We wrote that track over like four or five months. Yeah,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: so we like, well we're always like changed a bit
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: like and tried that out, try that out, and yeah,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: so it depends. It really depends.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And you've toured Europe and the US. How
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: does an Aussie crowd compare when it comes to bring
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: madness over here?
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: I'd say an Aussie crowd, as you mentioned that it's
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: comparable to to a US crowd. Super sick energy, super
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: crazy people, super nice people, and yeah, we love it.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: We absolutely love the Australian fans.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Oh beautiful. So also this is more of a personal
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: question from me, but my great grandma was born in
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Grenoble in France, near the Swiss Alps. If there's anywhere
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: in Switzerland that I must go and say, where is it?
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, Luthern I have heard, Yeah, I've heard of it. Yes,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I think it's the most beautiful city in Switzerland. So
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: try that out. And of course Durich, of course Durc
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: because it's our home. It's our hometown. If I had
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: to to choose between Syric and Lucerna, I'd say might
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: go with lucern because it's very beautiful, especially on a
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: nice day.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Lovely. I can't wait. I hope I get over there soon.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: And what's the pre show ritual for you guys?
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Like?
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Is it calm and focused or are you punching wolves backstage?
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. We we're we're warming up pretty basic, like
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: we do some stretchees. We do some vocal warm ups.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Of course, I I warm up my fingers playing some guitar,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and yeah, we just sometimes we listen to some like
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: techno techno music to hype ourselves up, and we try
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: to dance a little bit and just try to have
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: a good time.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you guys party and what kind of techno what
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: kind of techno artists do you listen to?
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Oh? Like various artists, just some playlists, press play and
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: here we go.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and how about after a show, do you guys
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: like to rest and recover or do you just keep
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: the party going?
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Mostly it's rest and recover because we were like, we
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: just played like it feels like we just played headline
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: shows this year, So we just played. We always played
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: for an hour and and more so and like and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: like every day we played, like literally every day. So
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: we yeah, we try to rest and get some get
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: some sleep and stuff. Yes, that's right.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: And what's the wildest thing you've seen happen in a
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: pale face pit so far?
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Mm hmm mm hmm. The wildest thing there once was
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: a was a wheelchair crowdsurfing. It said this, this was
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: very sick.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's it. You're touring with Nasty another band known
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: for something brutality. How did that team up come about?
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Nasty is or was there since day won? For us?
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: We listened. We listened to them when when when we
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: were like kids or like, yeah, young younger people. So
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: they inspired us a lot. They inspired us. They also
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: inspired us to to to like form the band, and
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: they were the first band who took us out on
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: our actual tour, on actual tour. So because of Nasty,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: we're on the road. Because of Nasty, we are a band.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: So we're basically best friends. They're super nice, we're and
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: that's why we we took them out to the US
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: and also to Australia.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, isn't that crazy? So you guys like grew
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: up listening to them sort of thing, and then now
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: it's there you're taking them on tour. Crazy insane? Yeah,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: what about some of your other influences? What other bands
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: do you listen to, either at the moment or when
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: you guys first formed, for for.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Me personally or for the whole. Okay, So I'm I'm
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: a super I'm super metal head. So I listened to
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: all the old stuff. I love Juesus Priest, I love
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Iron Maiden, I love fucking Boulevard, Evalentine, Trivium Creator, Halloween,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: all the all the metal stuff, all the horns up stuff.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: You know, so I always try to to to bring
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: this influence into the into the payface with music. Yes,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: and when it comes to like bands who are like
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the same, I would say that who who who should
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: sound the same as we do, I'd say I listened
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: to like Slipknot or or or I think I just
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: lives with some basic hardcore bands that say hardcore beat down. Yeah. Yeah, generally,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: like basically we get inspired by every genre, like we
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: also got We also got inspired by like a like
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: a like a like a dop step track for one song,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: and of course like rap and hip hop artists and
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: soft rock and alternative rock, like everything, everything inspires us.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I can really hear it in this album too, because,
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: as you said, there's different genres in there. It's not
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: all just really heavy. There's certain parts that do you
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: have a more like electronic sort of sound as well.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Right, That's what we love, That's what we love. We
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: love to experiment, We love to bring genres together, and
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I think it works pretty well. But we always try
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: to stick to the route, you know, like to the
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: heaviness and like try to mix everything, and yeah, sometimes
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: it's it's very sometimes it's very hard to be honest,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: but yeah, we try our best. Nice, we do it well, well,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: thank you.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: We get six shows this run. Is there any chance
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: that you'll get off the plane and be able to
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: see some wildlife or is it straight to sound check?
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Fingers crossed? And I would love to do that. We
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: we we went to a sanctuary the last time when
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: we were in Melbourne. That was really nice. But yeah,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: most of the time it's it's yeah, going to sound
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: check and like explore the the area from the city
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: where we are and on and on off days and
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: I think there are some off days on that tour.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: We try to like explore as much as possible.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, awesome. And from your last time, he was there
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: any memories that really sticked out to you.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I'd say like being being on the other side of
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: the world in general for me was very like and
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: also for for being in in Sydney, because Sydney is
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: is like a world city, you know what I mean.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: And when we when we are when we visited the opera,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: it was like, I I realized, I'm what I'm here?
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: What it's crazy?
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Oh that's lovely. Sydney is the best best city in
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: my opinion too, Okay, all right, nice, No, that's everywhere
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: is beautiful. But yeah, I'm from Sydney.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: So okay, all right, yeah.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: And the production on Curst is massive. Who did you
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: work with on it? And how important was capturing that
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: live energy in the studio?
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: So we always worked with Flow from Landmarks, the singer.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: He produces us since chapter two, so he he knows
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: her sounds super good and we know how how he works.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: So I think that's that came naturally that because the
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: collaboration was was there ever since? No? And yeah, he
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: just knows us.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh beautiful home About the exact moment when you realize, okay,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: this is no longer an underground band, We've really made it.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if there wasn't a moment, because it
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: came like sign yeah, because like, how do I say that?
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I can't find the words. So until twenty twenty five,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: we were we were still working normal day jobs beside
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: that project. And from twenty twenty five on we realized, so, hey,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: there's no longer time to like work as like as
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: for me as a carpenter for the others, as as
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: a as a plumber and stuff. So yeah, we were
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: always we are always we were always working so hard
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: for that band, and to say to now say I'm
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: I'm a full time musician is super crazy. So but
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I don't know if there was an exact moment, you know,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: because it came like silently yeah yeah.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: And how has your relationship with your fans evolved since
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: the early show is? Do you think they're getting more
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: intense or more loyal or both.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Or I think both. We we always try to have
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: like a very personal relationship to our fans, so we
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: and we don't want to be We don't want to
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: feel like rock stars. We want to be like the
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: We're just normal humans making some heavy music and have
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: then try to have a good time. So please just enjoy.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I think that's our that's our that's our goal with
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: our fans.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Beautiful. And what's the coolest or weirdest thing you've been
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: given to by a fan?
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: I got, I got a gifted and an alligator had
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: by two US fans, a real real alligator head. Oh,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: because crocodiles in general are my favorite animals. So oh
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: there you go.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh that's insane. Have you been in America? Did
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: you get to go on the tour down in Mississippi
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: and say that the alligators.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: We went to. I went in Florida. I went to
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: a big wildlife no to like a big like natural
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: like yeah, no, no, not really sential. It was just
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: like a nature park and there I saw some like
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: like wild white alligators. And we also get to visit
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: the Florida the Orlando Gator Land where all the gators are,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: so yeah, super super lovely awesome.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: And you've sorry, you've played huge festivals and small clubs.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Do you prefer the controlled chaos of tight sway venues
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: or the scale of a big stage.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Mm hmm, It depends. I think it's the best of
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: both worlds. Let's say yeah for me. For me personally,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: I love the big shows because there's we have space
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: on stage there, we can bring production, we can bring
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: a sick lide show, maybe some pyro, so yeah. But
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I mean the small club shows are also part of
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: the of the whole thing. So best of course words.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: I feel like it'd be like the smaller shows, the
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: more intimate, so you get to really feel the energy
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: of the crowd. But again with the big shows, you
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: get to feel that intensified as well. So yes, yeah,
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: and when this tour is done. What's next for payofface Swiss?
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: More recording or maybe a much needed nap hm hmm.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: There we never we never rest, so there's there's always
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: something to do. But of course the after September we
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: will we will try to write, We try to write music.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I have to go to military service because it's mandatory
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: in Switzerland. Oh so yeah, so just like a little bit,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a break, but not really, you.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: Know, straight to military service. Oh my goodness, how do
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: you feel.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: It's in November, so I have some some time in
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: October to to rest.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: Good good And how are you feeling about that? Alright?
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Or it's normal for a Swiss man, I'd say, because yeah,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: every everyone has to do it.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: So wow, interesting, beautiful all right, Yannick, thank you so much.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: We're so excited to see you guys here in September.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time, Thanks for having
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: me and see you and Sydney, I guess Sydney, thank
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: you