Interview to Jean Philippe of Chabtan

Interview by Luis Landeo
HAILS Jean Philippe nice to meet you, man, welcome to arsenal del metalero, but how are you?
Nice to meet you too man, Chabtan is fine, happy and proud to answer yours questions.

Well Jp, i had the chance to listen the trailer of Chabtan and i have to say: guys you are making a good job the sound of: "eleven" ep sounds so aggressive, really a good job but tell me how born the idea of write lyrics about mesoamerican myths? 
Well, if we want to do some metal deathcore / hardcore music, we mainly want to have a concept around of our music. We know that mesoamerican mythology is a very rich and an interesting culture. But above all, death is very present in this culture. So it was perfect for our project! In European cultures, death is feared and is a taboo. That's why metal music is apart of our society and so close to the mesoamerican culture which faces to the death and inclued it in its cultural landscape.

The sound of the band is a mixture of things, like a mix between deathcore, groove metal, and also metalcore, I can say is like mix: chimaira, carnifex and DAGOBA but how do you define the metal style of chabtan? 
As you said CHABTAN is a mix of several influences: death, hardcore, deathcore, metalcore, heavy, melodic death and black metal sometimes, influences of all the bands we like since forever. And we don't want to be put into a specific category, we just want to play our own and modern music.

By the way what mean chabtan? and why this name for the band? 
CHABTAN, as you know, is the name of violent death and sacrifice God. We like the sense. It's violent, agressive and very mystical for us. And CHABTAN illustrates perfectly the contrast between our european society and the mesoamerican culture, concerning sense of death, as mentioned before.

How many tracks will have eleven ep? and why this name of eleven? and are you working with a recorder producer? 
Eleven is composed of 8 tracks. Eleven is the number of death in the mesoamerican myths and is associated with Buluc Chabtan representations, so for a first EP, it seems to us evidential. For the moment we work alone, everything is auto-producted and recorded at home, but we hope a recorder producer for the next album!

Well is interesting a french band like american mythology, but what myths of aztecs and Popul VUH are your favorites? and why? about me I like the myth of hunahpu e ixbalanque cuz 2 brothers won a fight againts the gods of death, and that is a legend of corauge. Yes this EP, lyrics and graphisms are based on aztecs and Popol Vuh myths. 
Our favorites myths are the myth on Thatecuhtli, a Aztec Godess, who has an appearance of crocodile and who was dismembered by Quetzalcoalt and Tezcatlipoca for faconner the ground and celestial strata. We like too for our lyrics names of Gods Maya, Aztecs, and their signification, like the Aztec God Xipe Totec who carried masks and clothes of human skin, or the Lords of Death in Xiabalba in Maya mythology, the myth of Vucubcaquix, the monstrous bird with wings in the shape of mouth of snake. There is so many themes, myths and stories and these mythologies are so rich to write for our next albums.

Well if we talk about southamerican myths and history in peru you will find the most brutal legends and cultures, like the muchicks history and their bloody legends about the god: AIAPAEC, and Naylamp, and the same for Inkas. 
 The name of CHABTAN for our band is imposed on us for its straightforward representation of the death which is more accessible to the uninitiated. It is undeniable that the Andean landscape, especially peru, features a variety of significant violent legends in various cultures as the Moche or Inca you mentioned. It's not impossible that this legends and its mythic characters appear in our future songs and albums.

Who was the artist for this album? 
Every songs and lyrics are composed and written by the two guitarists, Jean-Philippe PORTEUX and Dimitri MERLY. We have a good balance between us to write, our futur next album is already written!

Do you have in mind a tour after the release of this EP? 
To defend this first album on stage, we would like to play everywhere in France, and open shows for great metal bands! In a second time, we want to play in Europe; Belgium, Poland, Germany, some countries which appreciate metal music, and we hope one day we will come to Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Argentina!!!!!!

By the way how goes the french metal scene? 
I know a few french bands like: dagoba, Furia and massacra There are a lot of good bands in France and a lot of shows. I advise you to listen GOJIRA, BLACK BOMB A, THE ARRS, AS THEY BURN, DEEP IN HATE ... But a fiew bands have the chance to play beyond Europe. But we are proud to have a good metal fest named the "HELLFEST"!

Do you have a last message for arsenal del metalero readers in southamerica and the rest of the world?
Today CHABTAN is not only a God but a metal band and we hope one day we will meet you in the pit, where metal music and ancestral traditions will come to life.

To know more about Chabtan:
http://www.facebook.com/officialchabtan