INHUMATE definitely isn’t the neophyte kind of band. Looking back at all those years spent in the underground, haven’t ever regretted starting INHUMATE?

- Regretted? No, never!!! And if I should have regretted to do this, the first thing I should have done is to stop!!! If I’m still here
it’s that I like how the things are going on!

Summarizing all you’ve done throughout these years, what would you name among most significant achievements?

- That’s a bit difficult to answer because as a band we did almost the same things that all the other bands... But I think that some of
our interesting things are the fact that we did 3 albums in a 100 % self produced way and that we wanna keep this way for the next albums. Either if this attitude may seem strange, it’s the way that we feel this kind of music and the whole underground scene.

Why did you choose grindcore as your leading star? What about adding any kind of “alien” elements borrowed from another genres (the ones within the bounds of metal, of course)?

- We didn’t choose anything. We play this music (you call it grind core and we usually say grind / death...) because we need that. You know I think that if we were loving jazz or blues we should play that music, we feel brutality in music and so we do it. And in that we don’t close ourselves. We’re no close minded people (or we try to not be it...) and we accept all influences. If we feel that in this or this track this neo metal sounding riff should be ok, we do it. And I think that we already did such things in tracks like “Mother Fuck Her” or “Grind To The Core”. That’s a freedom we have because we’re still unsigned, I think that many signed bands have to play what the label is waiting for and if they don’t their deal can stop really fast, in our position we do what we want and really don’t care about anybody!

You’re in your 30ties now… Aren’t you tired of playing the same old stuff over and over again?

- No, I’m not because we don’t play the old stuff over and over. We sometimes play old tracks during the rehearsals but we also make some new ones and that’s fucking exciting because each time you just wanna create the best track ever written!!! And being an underground band we don’t tour so we approximately play about 1 or 2 gigs every month and that’s not enough to be tired of the old tracks!

The rumors say that you’re a school teacher. Is that correct? Do your students know whom they’re talking to, at the lessons?

- Ha, ha, ha!!!!! The rumor is right!!!!! My students are from 14 to 18 years old and I think that it’s much better for me if they don’t know what my private life looks like.... So I don’t tell it and just hope that none of them will come to an INHUMATE concert one day! Ha, ha, ha!!!

Are you good in history? If the answer’s “yes”, whatta ‘bout telling us everything you know regarding Russia, it’s seemingly glorious past and modern day’s realities?

- I’m gonna tell you something: I really like and I’m really interested by all Eastern Europe countries! I can’t tell you why but I think the people over there are really interesting people and they are feeling life into another way than us! So, I already visited Hungary, Czech Republic (several times), Romania and a bit Poland. And I expect to go to Russia this summer (Moscow and St.Petersburg). So, about your country I know many things in its history from the Napoleon fights to the communistic period and what’s happening after it. I also read a bit around Catherine II and Peter (we say “the Big” in French...), they’re Tsars! All those things are really interesting I think but should be too long to explain here and maybe a bit difficult for me to translate in English what I can very easily say in French... There is just one question I ask myself: what is the real Russian people life nowadays? I ask that because the French media tell us that evrything is going very bad, etc... And in my opinion I don’t think things are going so bad, are they???? (media = piece of shit - ED)

All of your albums are based on a certain kind of heptalogy. What are you going to do once this cycle has been completed?

- When the cycle will be complete we gonna stop our activities under the name of INHUMATE. If we still have the feeling to play together maybe shall we put up another band, nothing is done until now.... But after thinking to suck things we have to write 4 full length CD !!!!! And that won't be done in a couple of days....

What are your feelings towards “Growth” now, when the CD has been out for some time? How many copies have you managed to sell?

- When we finished the “Growth” work and studio we were thinking that it was a good album, but not an incredible stuff. Now we think a bit different and when we compare it to all the stuffs that are getting out nowadays we think it’s a kind of original stuff, out of the cliches. Until today about 1000 copies of “Growth” are gone (and this in about 9 months!).

Are you familiar with the notion of “development”? Does it have anything in common with INHUMATE? Have you improved the sound of yours as time was passing by?

- Yes I think so because when I listen to the 1993 INHUMATE (with our “Abstract Suffering” demo), I can feel that we have the INHUMATE style and that this one has evoluted during the years from this demo to the last CD “Growth” (and you can do the same experience in downloading some MP3 on our website (www.inhumate.maxximum.org). And I think this is normal because if you don’t improve yourself nothing happens...

What about that “Karamazov” track? Seems like you’re getting high on Russia’s classic literature?

- Christophe wrote this track in thinking to Dostoievsky you’re right. He wrote it in comparing the Karamazov brothers with us. Interesting idea isn’t it? (more likely, depraved - ED) And when you listen to the beginning of the track you can hear several voices, each voice is one of the Karamazov brother. Back to Russian literature, I think that you have very very important authors in your country. Dostoievsky is great but also Tolstoi, Gogol and Tchekov. A few years ago, when I was still student, I went to the theater to watch “The Three Sisters” from Tchekov. I had already read it and really didn’t like it, but we I saw it it was fucking incredible and powerful (maybe one of my best theater remembering)!!!! And the most crazy thing is that it was played by Russian women in Russian language!!!!! So I didn’t understand a fucking word!!!

Why are you ignoring all the labels who propose you a record deal? Yes, I know that it’s thousand times better to stay unsigned if you’re craving for the ultimate freedom when it comes to creativity and stuff, but isn’t it too difficult to handle everything yourselves? F.ex., what about distribution and studio expenditures?

- I already answered a bit to this question before... I think that the underground is a kind of freedom place. When you’re an underground band you can do concerts, you can do CD and you can do everything the big bands can do but of course in a smaller way. And that’s the greatest thing of the underground. If you’re an underground signed band you are mike all the big bands butsmaller and that’s all.... Out of that I heard many, many bands who had problem with their label because they thought that the label was not making enough promotion or wasn’t giving them the money of their sales... All those things doesn’t exist for us. When we do a CD we promote it until the next CD, so we can promote a CD for 2 years and maybe more... The underground scene is large enough for that and also because I try to promote it in a world wide way. I have contacts in all over the 5 continents. And when you tell me about the distribution, we have now a distro (several hundred items) and we use it to trade out productions against some productions of other people so with that we spread the INHUMATE name all over the world and we get some money too to record the new CD!!! Of course all this is long, expensive, hard, etc... But it’s my hobby, I spend several hours a day making some mails and parcels for the post office!!! You know in INHUMATE everybody is involved in the band and we all work fucking hard for the band to be known for what it is and not through commercial acts!

How would you compare the death metal scene of late 80s / early 90s and the one we have now?

- It’s always difficult to compare such things... Because the first thing I wanna say is that scene is better than this one, but is it really? How can I say that? I think that it was simply two different way to feel metal in two different moments and that’s all.

France has never been known for it’s metal scene… Perhaps the situation went for better these days?

- Yes, I think so. Of course I can just speak about the brutal metal scene, the only I really know. But I think that things are getting better and better with the time! We got many good bands now like CEREBRAL COMMOTION, VORACIOUS GANGRENE, DEPRAVED, IMPERIAL SODOMY, GOTHIC, FATE, SOLDATBLEURKTHAL, TARTOPOIL, GRONIBAR, FLATULATION, BLOCKHEADS, SUBLIME CADAVERIC DECOMPOSITION, etc... and the most important thing is that all those bands try to promote themselves as much as they can and that what was missing in the French scene... People were making French music for French people only... And out of that we have now an interesting label that works hard for the brutal cause: BONES BRIGADE!!!

What kind of status do you (i.e. INHUMATE) have in France? Like “most notable death / grind act”, huh?

- Ha, ha, ha!!! Good question... I could answer if I wasn’t playing in INHUMATE... I already heard things like that, the last very good thing I heard was a guy telling me “there are bands and there is INHUMATE!”. Nice sentence isn’t it ? So, sorry but you should ask this question to a French fanzine or somathing like that, ok?

What’s your attitude to the black metal movement?

- We do absolutely don’t care about it. When I was 12 years old I was listening to KISS and they already had their faces painted and when I discovered BATHORY almost a decade ago, he was already sounding like a black metal bands... Personally there is just one thing I don’t like in black metal: that the guys are so much close minded, most of the time...

And lastly, what would you like to wish your fans in Russia?

- Feel free to write me, all letters will be answered: INHUMATE c/o Fred ANTON / 1 rue du college / 67170 BRUMATH / FRANCE.
Email: INHUMATE@ifrance.com
Website: http://www.inhumate.maxximum.org.
Our productions should be repressed on tape format through BLACKSMITH Prod. And keep the scene underground and true!!!! STAY SICK!!!