Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode - 961 - Sam Huge of ULTRA SUNN on "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" and Touring The USA

Transcript

PODCAST: Episode - 961 - Sam Huge of ULTRA SUNN on "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" and Touring The USA · Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast

• 0:00
  I'm happy that that I see that new people are maybe more the
• 0:04
  playlist generation and they like to mix a lot of different
• 0:08
  kind of music and they're more open to, to listen to whatever
• 0:12
  they want. And I'm, I mean, when I was a
• 0:16
  teenager, you had to choose like one specific genre of music.
• 0:21
  So you, you, I, I was into the rock scene, but sometimes I, I
• 0:27
  liked hip hop, for example, but it was a completely in secret
• 0:30
  because you, you don't have to break your character somehow.
• 0:33
  And this is completely disappeared.
• 0:35
  And even in the goth scene, it was very yeah.
• 0:42
  Now it's, it's better. Everybody likes a lot of
• 0:45
  different kind of stuff and I'm happy about that too.
• 0:55
  What's up everybodyitskefi@ghostcultmag.com
• 0:58
  I am super stoked today to be joined by Sam of Ultra Sun.
• 1:01
  How are you? Hi, I'm fine.
• 1:03
  How are you? I am so good.
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  I've been looking forward to this interview for a long time
• 1:07
  and I've been just such a huge fan of the of you guys and you.
• 1:12
  Thank you SO. Much for your music and thank
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  you. It just means a lot to me to get
• 1:16
  to Finally Talk Talk Shop. I know that Ghost Cult is mostly
• 1:19
  known for just rock and metal, but because we don't have rock
• 1:22
  and metal in our name, we can be whatever want us to be.
• 1:25
  So, you know, if I want to talk to your label mates, Kylin
• 1:29
  Mikla, because we love artifact records and everything they do,
• 1:32
  or if we want to talk to Amigo the devil, we can do that as
• 1:35
  well as be heavy. So, you know, and, and there's
• 1:39
  heavy that's emotional, which is what I feel like your music is
• 1:42
  heavy emotionally, not just beats and, and, and stuff, but
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  like, you know, it's such a such a vibe that really takes me
• 1:50
  back. I'm I'm engaged to get married
• 1:52
  to a goth. I was never like a club goth
• 1:55
  person, but I used to go to the goth clubs when I grew up in New
• 1:58
  York City with friends and we'd kind of watch their drinks while
• 2:01
  they danced. And so, you know, this music
• 2:04
  imprints on you, right? Like in my long hair patch vest
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  metal as youngest guy also playing in bands a lot.
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  I would go to all these places, Limelight, the Bat Cave, the
• 2:16
  Bank in the Pyramid Club in New York City that were like
• 2:19
  legendary, you know, dance music, but heavy like they
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  always, you know, like so before Snails was big and before
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  Ministry was super popular on MTV.
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  And so this stuff stayed with me my whole life because good music
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  is good music. A good song is a good song.
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  And I'm just really, I'm so pleased for all your successes.
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  And you know, shout out to James Steers and Artifact for putting
• 2:42
  us together and just supporting you.
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  That's what I'm really passionate about.
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  Love to hear that. And yeah, finally, we are also
• 2:50
  metal and rock enthusiasts. So it fits somehow.
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  Yeah, I grew up. I grew up with metal and and
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  rock and I played in a lot of rock bands when I was younger.
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  So somehow it it's, it's left a mark on my heart too.
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  So yeah, we we meet here. Yes, it all we all it all kind
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  of crosses over in a big Venn diagram of goodness.
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  In my opinion. I you know, some of my friends
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  that are like into like extremely underground death
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  metal and black metal. Love the dancy horny music,
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  which is, you know, dancing music for angry horny people.
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  It doesn't. At all.
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  And goth and post punk and new wave and all these things, you
• 3:31
  know, they're just good music stays with you.
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  Doesn't matter about your age. But so stoked, so stoked for you
• 3:36
  guys. Definitely the beast in you.
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  Factored in our albums of the year list last year and really
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  love the new single and video for Keep Your Eyes Peeled.
• 3:46
  There's a lot of fun helping with that and sharing that news.
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  But you know, you guys are about to kick off a tour as we record
• 3:52
  this this weekend. Yes, and hopefully we will.
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  Hopefully I will get to see you in San Francisco in a few weeks
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  at The Chapel. Great little venue.
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  It's an old, it's an old church, probably one of the best
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  sounding little rooms in all of San Francisco.
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  And it's like the perfect vibe. It's got a very long bar,
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  several bars, actually a nice little nook for your merch and
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  then like a beautiful high ceilings, great sounding room.
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  So I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
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  That's great. Yeah.
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  We are very excited also to be back in San Francisco.
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  We had a great time last time and hopefully the weather is
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  going to be OK too. Last time it was super sunny, so
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  we had, we were, we were very, very lucky that day.
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  Right. Oh yeah, you know, our rainy
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  season is the winter and you know the early months of the
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  year for when our winter and the December in jet.
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  And we just recently had a heat wave for us that was like 85°.
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  And people were freaking out like, oh.
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  Yeah, I saw. That it's so hot I can't take
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  it, but I think it's back to normal now.
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  So 60s, OK. And with, you know, always have
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  a hoodie or your track jacket, long sleeves, have a hoodie,
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  have a hat, a beanie. People, I'd say this, I've lived
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  here for five years and this is the first year where we had a
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  winter, a real winter cold season or unhinged about it,
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  like winter coats and scarves and butt and gloves.
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  I was like, I've never seen it because California and
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  especially in Northern California, it's cool, but it's
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  never cold and it's been very cold for people.
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  So I think we'll be okay. I think you'll be OK.
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  So we are, we are from Belgium and it is pretty, it is pretty
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  cold and rainy. We are now in Seattle and it
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  feels like Belgium. The weather is, is, yeah.
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  Belgium, Amsterdam, NY. Same latitude.
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  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Seattle, Portland, etcetera.
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  But yeah, between keep your eyes peeled for the video and the
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  flirt with death single. Also like just really, I'm so
• 5:44
  stoked that the you guys continue to just kind of push,
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  push new music, push different expressions.
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  You know, you could have just the the beast in you is such a
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  strong record. You could have just said, OK,
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  that's it for now. But I feel like you're, are you
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  always creating and working on new stuff or is there just you
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  have stuff kind of saved up that's ready to come out at
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  certain points? We like to, to write and compose
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  a lot of music on tour. So when we come back in our
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  studio, we like to put everything together, the,
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  everything we collected like, yeah, small, small lyrics or, or
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  sometimes full, full, full lyrics.
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  I, I like to, to write poetry also.
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  And yeah, and, and I compose on, on a little device called the OP
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  one for the, for the geeks. And I like that.
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  And yeah, when we come back in the studio, we we collect all
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  these impressions. So we kind of always working
• 6:44
  somehow, yeah. Definitely don't lose your phone
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  if you have your ideas on your phone, your tablet, keep your
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  stuff with you, keep somebody with the van, be safe on tour.
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  We've heard so many. Thank you.
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  And I use a lot of clouds and stuff.
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  I'm very paranoid about that. So, so I have a lot of B plan
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  CD, a lot of no, no worries about that.
• 7:06
  Good, good, good. I recommend that everybody get
• 7:08
  everybody coming on tour right now, wherever you are in the
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  world. Get air tags or something like
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  it, right? So you can track your stuff in
• 7:14
  case anything happens. Because it's always, yeah, it's
• 7:17
  always a fear. But I'm really glad to hear that
• 7:19
  you're constantly working on stuff.
• 7:20
  It's not. It felt like that to me.
• 7:22
  I suppose that was the case. So I love that you, you know,
• 7:26
  continue to push things out and your visual.
• 7:28
  There's so few bands have a really great visual style.
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  And one of the things I love about the band is that the
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  visual style matches the music. So I don't know if that's
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  something that's just natural to you or if it's spoken and
• 7:39
  planned about, but it feels like very few bands, very few artists
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  today really have like a very tight visual style that matches
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  the music and Ultra Sun does, and I'm really thrilled about
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  it. It is it is pretty important for
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  us. We need to somehow to translate
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  the music in, in visual because it's our first sense.
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  You see first and then you have other senses to to yeah, to feel
• 8:07
  the world, the universe. So yeah, it is pretty important
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  for for this record, we wanted to work with with an artist and
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  to illustrate every tracks though.
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  So there's an artwork for every tracks and it's everything is,
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  it's is matching. And yeah, we are very happy with
• 8:27
  the results, Yeah. Amazing, and also the physical
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  product is also something I'm a huge fan of, so I'm lucky to.
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  Yeah, me too. Some records.
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  I never thought vinyl was going to make a big comeback like it
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  has. I obviously get a pile of
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  records behind me on on my bed here and I have a vinyl podcast
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  on top of everything else. So I'm really stoked to, you
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  know, obviously, look, it's, you know, it's a luxury to be able
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  to collect music or anything because the world is on fire.
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  And I don't take it for granted that I'm very lucky that I can
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  spoil myself and some things get sent to me and other thing, you
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  know, things that I buy. Also, I try to like if I come to
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  the show, even if I get in on the list to review the show,
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  I'll buy a bunch of merch like I saw.
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  I support the artists. Hopefully the Chapel and other
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  venues on your tour do not have a merch cut.
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  Some do here in town, some don't.
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  We do have a lot of AEG and Live Nation buildings here,
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  unfortunately, that still do take a cut.
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  But yeah, and I feel like the live performance is also really
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  important to you. Not just this current music that
• 9:26
  you're promoting, but just in general.
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  I feel like, you know, it looked at your setlist.
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  I hope to see the band, like I said, in a few weeks and three
• 9:32
  weeks live, but haven't had the chance or the privilege yet.
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  But I feel like the setlist will probably be like some new
• 9:39
  material as well as like the stuff the fans have grown up on
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  with you. Absolutely, Yeah, Yeah, yeah,
• 9:44
  totally. Yeah.
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  Of course we we play our our favorite songs, but we share the
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  the favorites with with our fans.
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  So we are excited to to play the this this set list all the time.
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  And we have new materials, we have the new single also in the
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  in the set list. So yeah, it's going to be cool.
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  Amazing. Do you have a favorite song of
• 10:04
  the new material to to perform live yourself?
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  I mean, I, I love playing BC new.
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  This is the single of the record, but it, it's, it
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  something happens when I when when we start the song, people
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  are excited and everybody singing with us.
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  And so the, it's like the the magic happens when when we play
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  that song. So I'm always, yeah, very
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  excited to play this one. Right.
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  You can always tell by the audience reaction what they
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  look, what they looking for, right?
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  Yeah, yeah, it's it's the the best way to feel if your song is
• 10:38
  is on point or not. And it reminds me, we are very
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  inspired and very, I mean, yeah, by the Belgian electronic scene.
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  And in the late 80s, early 90's, the clubs were open like
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  nonstop. So you could go in the afternoon
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  or whatever. You could go for three days in a
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  row if you want. And I know the DJ's were testing
• 11:04
  new stuff. So they went back in, in their
• 11:07
  studios composing stuff and then back in the clubs to just to
• 11:12
  test on the audience and to and then go back in the studio to
• 11:16
  adjust if if needed, you know. So I like that.
• 11:20
  I like that. Yeah.
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  That way of creating something for the crowds and to to see how
• 11:26
  they reacting. Yeah.
• 11:27
  Nice. I feel like, I don't know if
• 11:30
  it's just a time in the in the world, but I feel like American
• 11:33
  audiences are catching up to you and your peers.
• 11:36
  And even if they're slight, you know, like a little different
• 11:39
  each artist. Thankfully, I feel like our
• 11:41
  tastes are now like sort of boomeranging back.
• 11:44
  I don't know if it's nostalgia. I don't know if it's the
• 11:46
  popularity of the biggest artists in the world kind of
• 11:49
  trickling down. But like I've had interviews
• 11:51
  recently with James Kent Pertubator and the new Carpenter
• 11:55
  Brute is wonderful and health has new music coming out all the
• 11:59
  time. And although all these artists
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  and yourselves are different, I find a common thread through all
• 12:04
  of them and I. Feel like fans?
• 12:06
  The fans are we're eating good as we say here too good though
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  and me but like we're eating very good in terms of new
• 12:13
  releases and tours and things for this electronic bass music
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  that and everybody in that little blurb I just mentioned
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  shares that you know that very influential Western Europe
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  dancing and underground. Music, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  We played with Cop Hunter Brute for 2/2 gigs.
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  It was great. We had a we had a great
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  experience with them. And yes, maybe, I don't know if
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  people are nostalgic. There are so, so many young
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  people, young, even younger than than us.
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  They, they like to see our our concerts.
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  So I don't know if it's, if it's nostalgia.
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  To me, it feels like we, we finally opened the window.
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  You know, it's, it's a fresh air now, so it doesn't feel dusty
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  or, or old to me. The new scene is, is refreshing.
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  So yeah. Well, young people that need
• 13:03
  some hope and they they're angry and they want to dance.
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  That's and I want and I want to enjoy good music and and and
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  aesthetic that I think yeah, yeah, yeah, Ultra Sun helps
• 13:13
  bring, which I love and I'm happy.
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  I'm sorry. Oh no, you.
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  Go ahead. No, no, I just want to say I'm
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  happy that that's, I see that new people are maybe more the
• 13:22
  playlist generation and they like to mix a lot of different
• 13:26
  kind of music and they're more open to to listen to whatever
• 13:30
  they want. And I'm, I mean, when I was a
• 13:34
  teenager, you had to choose like one specific genre of music.
• 13:39
  So you, you, I, I was into the rock scene, but sometimes I, I
• 13:45
  liked hip hop, for example, but it was a completely in secret
• 13:48
  because you, you don't have to break your character somehow.
• 13:51
  And this is completely disappeared.
• 13:54
  And even in the goth scene, it was very yeah.
• 14:00
  Now it's, it's better. Everybody likes a lot of
• 14:03
  different kind of stuff and I'm happy about that too.
• 14:06
  Yeah, we need to all be less gate Kuberry and tribal.
• 14:09
  I think it's great to have different tastes and and be into
• 14:13
  different things and really just whatever you like is great that
• 14:16
  maybe that's the I'm not a big fan.
• 14:19
  You know, obviously we're working with technology a lot as
• 14:22
  we're talking through outer space a little bit.
• 14:24
  But you know, on one hand, like I love the availability of
• 14:27
  music, but I also want people to value the art and value the
• 14:31
  music and buy the merch and go to the concerts.
• 14:33
  There's nothing to me that is ever going to replace being in a
• 14:37
  club surrounded by light and sound with people.
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  Even if you don't like people, there's something about the live
• 14:43
  concert experience. Did you have like a favorite
• 14:46
  concert or your first concert that really made a mark on you
• 14:49
  that made you want to perform when you were younger and.
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  I tried to well, when I was a kid, very young, my, my father
• 14:56
  used to bring me to a lot of classical music.
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  So I was completely into that. And to be honest, when I was
• 15:03
  younger, I wanted to be, yeah, classical music performer.
• 15:08
  I wanted to learn that and to play Baroque music.
• 15:12
  And then, yeah, after that, I, I started to, to, yeah, buy myself
• 15:18
  a guitar and to learn the music and to see.
• 15:21
  Yeah, I saw so many great acts. I I, I remember Smashing
• 15:24
  Pumpkins, for example, or Sonic Youth, stuff like that.
• 15:29
  Yeah. I was completely, yeah, amazed
• 15:34
  by, by that. And I wanted to be in a band and
• 15:36
  I want to, I wanted to experience that.
• 15:38
  Yeah, I remember. But also, I mean, my very first,
• 15:44
  the very first physical record I ever own was a tape of Frank
• 15:49
  Sinatra because my, my father for my birthday gave me a
• 15:54
  Walkman, you know, the Sony Walkman, but it was empty.
• 15:58
  So for a few days I didn't have anything to listen.
• 16:03
  And then I asked, I asked him something to listen, you know,
• 16:07
  and, and just gave me this cassette, probably by completely
• 16:13
  not noticing what whatever is, is on this cassette.
• 16:15
  But it was the best of, of Frank Sinatra.
• 16:18
  And I, yeah, that was the only music I, I, I own that in that
• 16:22
  time. And it was pretty important for
• 16:26
  me because all the, the drama, this crooner, you know, all the,
• 16:31
  the, it's like a character also on stage.
• 16:34
  And it's like, beautiful. And I wanted to be something
• 16:38
  like Frank Sinatra when I was a kid, too.
• 16:40
  Yeah. Nice.
• 16:41
  I love Frank Sinatra. I'm the one person you will ever
• 16:43
  talk to in this business that I love Frank Sinatra as much as I
• 16:46
  love Slayer or, you know, 9 Inch Nails.
• 16:51
  I I. I love crooners, I love the
• 16:52
  drama. I love also I discover a little
• 16:55
  bit older Pedro Infante. He's a famous Mexican artist and
• 17:00
  I love this beautiful character. I love the the body language and
• 17:05
  he's very handsome. And yeah, I love that.
• 17:08
  Right on. Not.
• 17:09
  Not to mention difficult to sing with an orchestra backing you as
• 17:12
  one person without backup singers and you.
• 17:15
  It's a miracle. Yeah, I've seen some insane
• 17:19
  shows. We'll talk about it another time
• 17:21
  when I see you. Maybe here's a good one for you
• 17:24
  also that I had, which is obviously we've shared a lot
• 17:28
  about music and your upbringing in Frank Sinatra and metal.
• 17:31
  What's an influence on Ultra Sun that people would be surprised
• 17:35
  to learn about? That's not typical.
• 17:37
  Well, a lot of classical music we we like, we like baroque
• 17:43
  music. So it's something like Bajor,
• 17:46
  Vivaldi or Handel or maybe a lot of stuff like that.
• 17:50
  Yeah. GAIL is also a classical pianist
• 17:54
  player, so. So she learned, she learned to
• 17:57
  play her Chopin or France list. And a lot of, yeah.
• 18:03
  So maybe a lot of classical. We listen to a lot of French
• 18:06
  songs because we are French speakers.
• 18:09
  And we also have this culture. What what else?
• 18:15
  I'm a huge fan of punk rock, a lot of rock music, a lot of
• 18:20
  black metal. So I love Dark Dark Throne, for
• 18:23
  example, and Everything All Together.
• 18:26
  I am a huge fan of Motorheads or so.
• 18:30
  Yeah, Everything all together is making ultrasound somehow.
• 18:35
  Amazing. I love hearing it and that's
• 18:37
  great. Thank you for sharing all that
• 18:38
  with me. I just have a few more questions
• 18:40
  for you. You've been terrific, as I
• 18:42
  expected. Beside this U.S. tour, what else
• 18:45
  do you have on tap for the rest of the year?
• 18:46
  I imagine a lot more touring and festivals for the summer.
• 18:49
  Yes, when this tour is over, we go back in Europe for touring
• 18:54
  also a lot and we'll have a second leg of the the US tour,
• 18:59
  so we go back in the US for for another big one.
• 19:04
  So yeah, we have a lot of gigs planned now.
• 19:08
  Right on, I love it. Keep promoting the record.
• 19:10
  I hope people keep discovering you and sharing with your
• 19:14
  friends. If you find a cool band, don't
• 19:15
  keep it to yourself. Tell everybody else.
• 19:17
  Ghost Cult will also help you tell people and Ghost
• 19:21
  cultman.com as always. And just for a last question,
• 19:24
  I'd love to ask a wild card question.
• 19:26
  So for you Sam, I want to know what is your favorite movie of
• 19:29
  all time? Wow, probably it's Eternal
• 19:33
  Sunshine of a Spotless Mind by by Michel Grande.
• 19:37
  This is a movie that completely transported me.
• 19:41
  I need to cry all the time when when I see the movie.
• 19:47
  Yeah, probably. It's this, this very one, yeah.
• 19:49
  Right on I'm I'm going to lose all my all my tough guy
• 19:52
  credibility to admit that I also cried watching it because we.
• 19:55
  It's relatable. It's relatable.
• 19:57
  It is and it feels, feels good. Crying is me, you need that.
• 20:02
  Yes, we can't all be stoic and tough all the time with the the
• 20:05
  world is insane and and we never no one was ever like.
• 20:09
  I wish that school taught like how to grow, how to be a grown
• 20:11
  up. Like I, I resisted growing up by
• 20:14
  playing music most of my youth. And then I was like, oh, now I'm
• 20:17
  grown up and I don't know what to do with myself.
• 20:18
  I only know how to yell into a microphone and play bass.
• 20:21
  So this is, you know. Yeah, I don't feel very adult
• 20:25
  myself. I mean, I'm just a kid with I'm
• 20:27
  a big kid trying to do something new.
• 20:31
  You know what, though? That'll keep you young and keep
• 20:33
  you happy. And I think that's as the world
• 20:35
  gets weirder, and not in a good way.
• 20:38
  I'm trying to hold on to my joy, and that's what I'm trying to
• 20:41
  share with everybody else. Hold on.
• 20:42
  Whatever makes you happy to do it.
• 20:44
  Don't hurt anybody else while you do it.
• 20:46
  And and live your life Sam from ultrasound, really just an
• 20:50
  absolute pleasure to talk to you today.
• 20:51
  Good luck on the tour. Be safe.
• 20:53
  I will hopefully see you at the Chapel in San Francisco on April
• 20:56
  24th. As anywhere else on the tour,
• 20:59
  Sam, thank you. Thank you for.
• 21:00
  Having us.