Winding their way through and illuminating the belly of the underground Parisian music scene over the last few years have been three natives to the city, Storm Orchestra. Now, newly signed to Mascot Records, they have issued their latest single, and their first collaboration, with ‘Crush The Mirrors’.
‘Crush The Mirrors’ sees the band harvest the heavier side of their arsenal whilst still retaining their ability to craft a stadium-filling chorus. On the song, they are joined by Bertrand Poncet from French hardcore-pop-punk crossover heroes Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! who lends his guttural vocals to the anthemic track.
“This song really departs from what we’ve been doing the last few years. The tone, theme and overall vibe is way darker; I’d even say there is an inner violence to it,” said singer/guitarist Maxime Goudard. “We can feel that it’s harder to play at the energy level it requires, physically speaking. Guitars are tricky; the main drumbeat is a bit odd, and there are lots of different emotions, especially on the bridge. Lyrics are the most introspective we’ve written as a band. The first few parts were written at the end of 2022, and it was a challenging period for some of us.”
It’s the first time the band have collaborated with another artist. “We are so happy and proud that this song features Bert as producer, co-writer and performer. What he achieved with C!NCC! has been massively inspirational for many bands, including us, in the French alternative scene.”
Regarding the collaboration, Poncet – who has also been producing the band from their early days – said, “We knew we wanted to do a song together, so it’s no surprise it finally happened. This song was the perfect occasion. This is a peculiar song on this album. I felt they were trying to get out of their comfort zone, and I thought there was something to play to “shock” the audience even more, and that’s how I approached it here. At first, we thought it would be more of a filler song, but it seemed more special than that. There’s a very interesting progression. Notably, it becomes very melodic and airy on the bridge. I felt transported and thought the next part should be the opposite. That’s where we did this stuff to grab the audience by the throat and bring them six (or a thousand) feet underground. I like to see a song as a voyage, and this one is exactly that.”
Available digitally here, you can check out the video here at RAMzine. It was shot with Julien Metternich, who captured them in a raw and back-to-the-basics environment. Filmed as a one-sequence shot, entirely unedited, surrounded by amps and a few lights. “We had to do it several times to get the perfect shot. It turns out the last one of the day was the right one: you can witness tiredness and suffering, and I can tell you Julien and the crew were feeling exactly the same,” recalled Goudard.
‘Crush The Mirrors’ follows previous single ‘Drummer‘, that picked up an incredible amount of playlisting across Amazon, Deezer, Tidal and Spotify, including bagging New Music Friday’s Global as well as NMF USA, UK, Australia/New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Mexico and Egypt as well as playlisting in Spain and Japan.
The song has connected with fans across the globe. Talking about the song Goudard said, “This song is a fun one that we wrote a few years ago. It’s inspired by some antics, stories from friends, and our very own drummer.
“This song is a fun one that we wrote a few years ago. It’s inspired by some antics and stories from friends, and our very own drummer as well. The chorus really sticks in your head, even our friends from other bands sing it to us! The drum parts especially were written with a simple take: we want this song to be the first one you want to learn on drums. It’s really fun to play with a bit of challenge on the bridge though!”
Goudard melancholically sings: “Have you ever, felt so much in pain, that you gotta, dig inside your brain, have you ever exploded like champagne, that you gotta be a drummer,” offering some depth to the song before it grabs you by the neck and whips you into the uncontrollably infectious chorus.
The music video features a revolving line-up of drummers to which Goudard added, “We wanted to do something around drums that shows the more fun aspect of our music and our personalities. It’s a way to pay tribute to some of the greatest rock drummers that influenced us, and above all the best excuse to have Loïc wearing wigs! We took it serious though, Loïc tried to mimic the playing style of his favourite drummers.”
The single is available here and you can check out the video here at RAMzine.
‘Drummer’ followed the previous single, the metallic alt-rock ‘Bright Soul‘, in which Goudard opens up about his fear of letting his dark side take over the person he wants to be. His determination to fight for the best in himself being symbolised by the powerful riff that opens and closes the track. The track picked up multiple playlists across Amazon, Deezer and Spotify. His determination to fight for the best in himself being symbolised by the powerful riff that opens and closes the track.
‘Bright Soul’ was mixed by Grammy-winning Adrian Bushby (Muse, Foo Fighters) and produced by Poncet The song’s been described as evoking human beings’ perpetual inner struggle. “Each of us has a dark side, crystallizing our fears, wounds, and traumas that can extinguish our inner flame at any moment,” they explained.
Music has the power to unite and rejoice in the moment, creating moments of real beauty. Having known each other since childhood, Goudard alongside Adrien Richard (bass) and Loïc Fouquet (drums) are bound together by the struggles and triumphs that have taken them to this moment, “First and foremost, we stand for packing people in a room and make them have the best time altogether with loud music. We also have social concerns, and we stand for equality, environment and the voices of the people,” said the band.
They explored these themes on their debut album, What A Time To Be Alive, that last year caught the attention of Mascot Records—home to Black Stone Cherry, P.O.D and Oxymorrons.
Storm Orchestra’s metallic alt-rock are said to set them apart from their contemporaries, albeit some might reference the likes of Nothing But Thieves, Royal Blood, and Muse in the blending of the material.
As a then-unsigned band, they picked up an impressive combined 4 million streams, ending the year in a triumphant fashion as the Artist to Watch in 2024 by Spotify France and celebrities in the Top of the Rock: Best of 2023 and Deezer’s 2023 Rock playlists.
They’re seizing a moment, and all of this is driven by high-intensity mosh-pit-inducing live shows. They’ve captured lightning in a bottle and are selling out clubs across France. It’s live where they feel they truly get to express themselves, “It’s really emotional to play to a full house of people—our fans, friends and family, celebrating our music! The party goes on all night.”
As their profile has been building, they’ve begun infiltrating festival stages and have not held back in taking them by storm. “Last Summer, we played our biggest show to date, a festival in front of 10,000 people who probably didn’t know us at first. We had to get them to realize what Storm Orchestra is about, and before long, they were all singing along to our songs. It was challenging and intense, but we connected with a lot of new fans.
We always come to a show with the biggest smile and a crazy load of energy. We want people to get energised, to let off steam, and leave wanting more. We are always exhausted right after the set; if not, it means something went wrong!”
Talking about signing to Mascot Records they added, “Signing to Mascot is the biggest opportunity in Storm Orchestra‘s career. Making music professionally has been a dream and a goal for many years. In the last few months, Mascot has been an incredible supportive force to help us make new music and reach new goals.”.
