FEBRUARY 23rd 2023
PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT EXCLUSIVE

We, at Metaltitans, our interviewer, MetalMom was given the opportunity to chat with a few of the members from Symphonic Power Metal band PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT, based in Paris, France. If you enjoy Nightwish, Epica, Within Temptation, Powerwolf, Cradle of Filth, then you will want to check this band out.

MT: How did you come up with the name Phoebus The Knight ?

Axel (vocals/story): Phoebus means solar god or bearer of light in Greek. A Frenchman, by becoming a knight, takes an oath to defend the dignity of the weakest. The name of the group represents these cardinal value !

MT: What made you choose to be a symphonic power metal band over all the other genres, although I have to say symphonic power is one of my favourites.

Axel: Symphonic metal is the kind of metal that gives the most musical freedom. The adventures of Phoebus and the Knights of Heliopolis take place all over the world at any time. It is the musical genre (with obviously classical music) that adapts to this constraint.

Adrien D. (guitar/composition): On my end, when Axel told me about the project, I was about to start a symphonic metal project and had already one song ready, the one I made Axel listen to the first time we talked for PTK : "The Queen of the Black Sun" !

MT: Your line-up, tell us how each of the members came to join?

Axel: The adventure started in June 2019 when I spoke to Adrien Djouadou about the project. We did ourrespective jobs of writing and composing the album in March 2020 and the other members joined us in the months that followed.

Adrien D.: I gathered musicians I believed would fit perfectly for the project and validated their presence in the band with Axel. The hardest to find was Guillaume! I typed "french metal drummer" on Youtube and ended on his Youtube channel. I was impressed by his playing and sent him a message !

Guillaume (drums): Honestly it is a pretty funny story. I was the last member of the band to join in 2020. I had never heard of the project and at that time I was doing drum covers of power metal and symphonic metal (a channel I still feed). And one day I received a message from a certain Adrien Djouadou who asked me if I was interested in joining a symphonic metal project whose first album would be mixed by
Joost Van Den Broek (no less!). Honestly I didn't believe in it and I let it go for a few days. I even thought that the link to listen to the album was a fraud to get money out of me. But after a while I decided to click, and what a slap !I immediately sent a message to Adrien to tell him that I was interested and what I had to do to join the band. They asked me to do the first part of the song "The Scarlet Dance" to see my technical level, and then we agreed on a meeting so I could meet all the band members. And here I am today!

MT: Was there anyone that was an inspiration that made you put together this band ?

Axel: Nightwish, Epica and Within Temptation are the three groups that have inspired me since I had my revelation for singing in 2012.

Adrien D.: However, for the proper music of the band, I chose Nightwish, Rhapsody, Cradle of Filth, Powerwolf and Epica as references. To that, I added my favorite classical composer from my operatic background as I am a professional opera singer. So the music of Bach, Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Rachmaninov, Fauré, Brahms and even Wagner are in my list for references and inspiration.

MT: What kind of music did you listen to as a teenager ? Did that inspire you to create this band or did it take some time?

Adrien D.: I was a big time fan of Rammstein, Iron Maiden, Rhapsody, Dream Theater, Opeth and Cradle of Filth.

Guillaume: I used to listen to a lot of Linkin Park and Bring Me The Horizon (and these 2 bands are still my favorite bands today!). These specific bands do not influence Phoebus directly, but myself as a musician; so in a way we can say that they influence Phoebus … Philosophical ! Right ? (laughs)

MT: Do you still listen to that music?

Adrien D.: Of course I do!

Guillaume: Of course YES!

MT: Were you in a band before this, and what type of music did they play?

Adrien D.: With Adrien Guingal, our fantastic other guitar player, we had several bands before. We had a gothic rock band called Frost and a progressive metal band called Nobelium and we did several records for
them as well as a good amount of live shows ! Both bands are still findable on the internet if you want to take a listen. I was the composer of both those bands. I was also a drummer in the heavy/trash metal band Sentinhell and the singer/guitar player of the gothic heavy/trash metal band Daria Van Tassel with Klem and Valentin Aubert!

Guillaume: Yes! I had a trash metal band, but nothing serious. Phoebus is the first band with professional ambitions that I met and I learned a lot from each member.

MT: Have you always known that you would be playing music?

Adrien D.: I wanted to play music since I was a child thanks to my parents. I started the violin at 7 and studied classical guitar for 10 years since the age of 10. I also studied electric guitar on my own and started to learn rock singing and opera singing at the age of respectively 15 and 20 years old. I compose music since I’m 10. I always wanted to be a composer.

Axel: I wanted to play music for the first time when I was seven years old. But having a father who didn't want a musician son, I had to wait until I was an adult to practice music.

Guillaume: Honestly not at all. I have a classic life path, I never repeated a year, I studied finance for 5 years, I had a very well paid job and I gave it all up to go to a big French music school. It was a dream tobecome a professional and now everything is coming true little by little. And I have absolutely no regrets!

MT: Who writes the lyrics and where do the ideas come from?

Axel: I write the story and the lyrics in the band. Adrien and I have a very good creative connection. Before writing the lyrics I offer him a summary of the general story of the album which we approve together, I write the lyrics and Adrien composes the music.

Guillaume (drums): Axel writes the lyrics and Adrien.D composes almost all the music. Honestly I don't know where Axel gets his ideas from, he has an overflowing imagination and it's quite impressive to see all that he has already planned for the continuation of Phoebus and our adventures. Every detail is important and nothing is left to chance. As for Adrien.D, he is a machine to produce music. Axel gives him an idea of inspiration, texts or a piece to
be inspired and BOOM! A new track to add to our playlist in less than 48 hours. It's pretty impressive to see how fast they work.

MT: “Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror” was just released, and it looks like you have some positive feedback, what do you think makes it so great?

Axel: This positive feedback warms our hearts and pushes us to work even harder to offer you even better creations than the previous ones.

Guillaume: We have everything to stand out, starting with the voice. Symphonic metal and power metal are often associated with female or tenor singers. And we take the complete opposite! We have a bass singer! Just for this aspect the band stands out. Then the composition is quite unique. The orchestration is very well researched and it is very well done. Adrien.D has a great knowledge of the musical world and a great culture. He knows how to stand out and
how to make our music original for his style. And finally the story. Some bands have already made concept albums from time to time. But for us it's our thread. The whole story connects the whole band. In terms of lyrics, character and music. We have aunique concept and universe that very few bands can compete with.

MT: Who designed the cover for it? Did you give some of your own ideas or you worked together to create?

Axel: We had the chance to work with the extraordinary Mohamed Aouamri who drew 13 illustrations for the album. One for the cover and one per piece. It was a long work of exchange between Mohamed and me to best illustrate the atmosphere of each piece. Each illustration is drawn first with pencils and then with India ink.

MT: You have 12 tracks on the album, do you personally have a favourite, and why that one?

TRACKS:

01. Ante Lux
02. The Beast Within
03. The Iron Queen
04. The Scarlet Dance
05. Semen Pessimorum
06. Darkness Will Prevail
07. Children Of The Night
08. The Queen Of The Black Sun
09. Para Bellum
10. Massacres De Septembre
11. Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror
12. The Sword Of Justice

Guillaume: So hard to say... I love the whole album and I don't like to do rankings haha. 2 songs really give me goosebumps every time I listen to them, they are "Para Bellum" and "Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror". The first one because it makes me want to fight. It gives you a kind of power that makes you want to lift mountains to achieve your goals. And the second one because it's literally an anthem for our band, it
represents perfectly what Phoebus is all about. In terms of history, writing, composition, technique, melody... This song is just perfect.

Adrien D.: I love them all. They all have something special for me.

Axel : It's as if you asked me which of my children (that I don't have) I prefer. It’s impossible to answer this question ! (laughs)

MT: Will you be doing a tour to support the album? If so where, and where would you like to tour? Sadly it is getting expensive for some bands to tour these days.

Guillaume: I don't think we can afford to go on tour for this first album. We have a few shows planned for this year and we are looking forward to it ! But as long as our fanbase doesn't grow more, we won't have the means or the notoriety to be able to afford opening acts. So we're going to give it our all at our shows this year and show the world with our second album what we're really made of.

Axel: We are going to play in Paris on April 13th. Nancy on May 20 and in Clisson at Hellfest on June 14. Other dates are currently being prepared.

MT: Do you have music or a band that you listen to, that no one would expect ? I think we all have a few of those ;)

Guillaume: It's so complicated to answer... I play metal but I don't listen to much, the nuance is very complicated to understand haha. I'm a huge fan of Bruno Mars, I love Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Clara Luciani (French singer)... And to stay in the metal universe, the band I'm listening to the most at the moment is Ten56, a French metal band composed by the former singer of Betraying the Martyrs

Adrien D.: I am a big fan of Dir en Grey. It’s one of the most special bands out there for me. They have a unique sound and a unique way to write. The singer, Kyo, is also one of a kind vocally ! I also love music from animes !

MT: If you couldn't be in a band, what do you think you might be doing instead?

Guillaume: Probably doing the job I did before: banker. At least I'll have a more stable future haha.

Adrien D.: I would work in something linked to imaginary worlds like video games, card games, books, be an author maybe ?

MT: The best part of being in Phoebus The Knight?

Axel: To be surrounded by exceptional artists with whom we are building an incredible universe. I am very lucky to have them.

Guillaume: To play with all the members! The atmosphere of the band is so great that it is a pleasure to meet everyone. We all live in different places in France and Switzerland. And we only get together to rehearse and do our concerts. So when we see each other we try to enjoy it as much as possible ! And playing with these people is probably one of my favorite things about this band !

Adrien D.: Being a part of this collective adventure with close friends and my loved one is certainly the best of it all !

MT: Is there a worst part?

Guillaume: Today we can no longer afford to talk about the band as a band that plays from time to time on Sunday afternoons... We have professional ambitions and plans for the future. And we are doing everythingpossible to get there. This means that we are no longer a band but a company. We have to bring in money, release albums, play gigs, meet deadlines and distinguish between private and professional. It's my job so I don't mind doing all that at all, but I think it's not for everyone.

Adrien D.: Honestly, most of the things that are not linked directly to making music.

Axel: As in everything, the administration. There are two things you can't escape in life : death and administration ! (laughs)s a huge job.

MT: Is there anything you might like to add to this interview that I might have missed?

Guillaume: We're just at the beginning and I'm not allowed to talk about what's next (and our first album has only just been released). But I can guarantee you that what's next is going to be amazing! You haven't heard anything yet...

Adrien D.: Thank you very much for this interview ! We wish you all the best !

Axel: Yes! Thank you very much !

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview with us here at Metaltitans, we appreciate it. We also wish you all the success with “Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror”.

Words, views and opinions expressed in answers are those of the authors and do not reflect necessarily the official position, attitude or position of 𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗠𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗔𝗚𝗘 ᴳᴸᴼᴮᴬᴸ