---
title: "Episode 10 – Creative Freedom and Inclusivity In America – Sofiane and Peter of The Blackmordia"
url: https://altwire.net/podcast/episode-10-creative-freedom-and-inclusivity-in-america-the-blackmordia/
published: 2023-08-08T20:35:14+00:00
updated: 2025-08-21T00:40:55+00:00
tags: ["lgbt", "Season 2", "The Blackmordia"]
source: "AltWire (altwire.net)"
---

# Episode 10 – Creative Freedom and Inclusivity In America – Sofiane and Peter of The Blackmordia

Transcript

Automatic transcript: names and words may be misheard. Press a time to play from there.

**Speaker 1** Guests of the AltWire podcast are recorded remotely. Due to the nature of remote recording, certain issues such as reverb or background noise may exist in some of these interviews. Although we will always try our best to clean up the audio in post, please be advised that certain issues may still remain. We appreciate your understanding, and we hope you enjoy the show.

**Speaker 2** You are listening to the AltWire podcast where we feature candid interviews with some of the hottest names in the entertainment industry. Get ready for your host, Derek Oswald.

**Speaker 1** Hello, everyone, and welcome to the AltWire podcast. Really pleased to be joined by these two extraordinary gentlemen, Peter Moissan and Sofiane Sadiki from the French electoral group, Blackmordia. Sofia and Peter, just wanna start off by asking you guys, what did the beginnings of the band look like? I was wondering if you might be able to kinda expand on that a little bit. Of course. So

**Speaker 3** story is as big music fans that that we are, we all had that dream to, you know, be in a band, go on tour and stuff. So I decided to start the band quite a few years ago and Peter came a little later. But what's funny about the beginning of our band is, you know, we are from France. Okay? France has a pretty small rock and roll scene. So it was quite unusual for young kids to wanna be like rock stars or something. So we had to face like lots of funny rejection. Let's say fighting shows, we had to pretend that we were a pop band when we started just to be able to have shows booked and stuff. It was quite funny, but then we decided to make the project quite serious. And at that moment, Peter came because he was and he he is the front man that we needed. And yeah, a few weeks after he joined the band, we were on tour and we were opening the Downloads Festival in Paris.

**Speaker 1** What did that do for your mental state? Like, how did that feel to suddenly be in front of all those people? To be honest, there was... I mean,

**Speaker 2** on my side, everything happened really quickly so I didn't have the time to process the idea that I was actually in a band with somebody, with some people that were actually convinced that they were doing something right and that they deserved attention and they were really hard workers and they were crossing boundaries that many, you know, you have this kind of feeling in France that you kinda go against the flow and against the weight, so you have to fight, like, twice harder. So that was that was a moment. Yeah. Yeah. You know, like, just being in the band. I I just came back from London, was having like a really tough situation, like everybody, everything was like really precipitated and it happened like that, so it was a great moment.

**Speaker 1** What about you, Sofian?

**Speaker 3** Mentally, it wasn't shocking to be honest because when I started The Bet, it was a part of the plan to open the download festival one day. So we were proud to be able to do it, but at some point we we felt that we deserved to be there and we wanted to prove ourselves and work hard and get inspired because that year of the festival, Lincoln Park was the headliner. And and I know for a fact that you like that band. For us, being able to be on a festival where Lincoln Park is headlining was amazing. I remember we we kind of started to really know each other, Peter and I, at that festival during the backstage because we spent hours watching the dressing rooms that that big truck is arriving with that band name on it. You know, we were, you know, very fascinated by everything that was going on on that festival and I think in some way it convinced us that it was the thing that we wanted to do for real.

**Speaker 1** So just to make sure, that was the time that they performed Hybrid Theory from front to back. Right? That was the one. Right? I think that was the one. Yeah. Oh my goodness. What a legendary download to be a part of. You couldn't have picked a better year to be a part of it, man. It was a lot. Blink Blink one eighty two was there too. Korn was there. I think Ramstone was there.

**Speaker 3** Not sure. But, you know, was crazy.

**Speaker 1** All the good bands. All the good bands. So I know that a big part of the push to get successful and get to the point that you guys were at, you made this decision, Sofiend, to become a promoter and create a label, which I think was a really brave thing to do, especially as an independent Absolutely brave.

**Speaker 3** She just did not say crazy.

**Speaker 1** Yeah. Can you talk about some of the difficulties you faced in the beginning having to become not only your own promoter, but also start that label?

**Speaker 3** To be honest, you're facing every issue that you can imagine, but it makes you learn the music business, you know, because I was around bands all all around. I was watching upcoming bands who were doing their first shows in Europe, in France, so as understanding what was behind Because, you know, when you're looking at this business from the other side, it looks very cool and very chill. But, you know, when you're looking at the other side, you know, it's all about timing, scheduling, budget, and all those type of things that I was fortunate to learn pretty early on. So so I guess it was hard, but makes it easier for us now to navigate and to know what we want.

**Speaker 1** Now that you know what you want, you guys have actually made it abundantly clear that you want zero interference and wish to do everything yourself. I found that many modern artists actually have favored that DIY approach, even recording songs in bedrooms or home studios. Billie Eilish's first record was actually famous for that. Yeah. What do you feel is behind this modern surge towards artists doing everything independently? Do you feel like major labels are kinda going the way of the dinosaur?

**Speaker 3** That's a cool question. From my point of view, I would say artists wants more today, so they want more control, they want more everything basically. But it doesn't mean you don't need record people to guide you because some people still need A and R to figure out what they wanna do. I think there is two types of artists in bands. Some artists needs those A and R and and co songwriters and those type of things to get started. Some others have their own vision and it's very specific and they wanna pursue that and in in in our case, it's it's that. How about you, Peter? Because I know something that's very infamous

**Speaker 1** in the rock music world. You think of any band that's made it big within the last couple of years, every one of those bands has a horror story about somebody from ANR or somebody from the label coming in and attempting to completely change things. Great example, evanescence, bring me to life was never supposed to have a rap act in it. But unfortunately, label seeing how big rap rock was suddenly becoming again, pushed them to have someone on there and it actually made them end up for a while actually hating that song. So since you guys kinda do everything on your own, do you feel like that is a blessing being able to bring your own ideas in the band without having a a third party influence come in and try to change everything?

**Speaker 2** Of course. Because mainly, like, the first thing that comes to my mind when you ask me this question is that, obviously, we are five in the band and it's already sometimes complicated like to... It's probably a lot. Yeah, because we all have things that we love and we'd like to express this way or this way with this influence, all this and that and this instrument and blah blah blah. And regarding, like, the artistic directions, it can be already tough to do that as a band. And so we are, like, five creatives that have big ideas that we'd like to defend and we'd like to hold it until we have the final product and we're satisfied, so we couldn't add artificial noise that's gonna tell us it has to sound like that when we think that it actually has to sound like we decide to. Exactly. And part of it is there is no, to my knowledge,

**Speaker 3** great record people these days in the rock area. And if it was, you know, the rock scene will be different than than it is. You know? If we had, let's say, Jimmy Iovine or Clive Davis close to us and giving us advice, think we would be happy to have those advice. But those days, all the ANR are only talking about numbers and TikTok stats, which is good, but we don't want, as Peter say, to have any type of interference in the creative process.

**Speaker 1** And TikTok is really, really having an impact on the music industry. You know, much of your early career as a band was spent performing hundreds of small gigs to get your own fan base organically. However, in the modern world, do you feel more artists are getting noticed because of their online presence, or do you feel it is still vital to perform those live shows in order to find success in the industry? It's vital. Yeah. It is because

**Speaker 3** having a TikTok moment doesn't mean you're gonna have a career, you know, and doesn't mean you're great either.

**Speaker 2** The live shows are the truth if you wanna be a true artist. It's funny because I saw something that Tom Lee from Motley Crue posted today and he said being famous in Instagram is like being rich at monopoly. It's like, it doesn't mean that in real life you're gonna kick in on stage. You know what I mean? So I I see it I see it more like a booster that actually can help you, like, hook some more people and even more, like, younger audience. But deep down as an artist to be legit, you have to do the work.

**Speaker 3** They definitely have to do the work and I think we can definitely hear that some people need to concentrate on the songs because at the end of the day, it's all about the songs. You're a big fan of Linkin Park. Yeah. It's one of the biggest bands ever. They had songs. Yeah. It's not about TikTok or YouTube or CDs or Vinyl, it's about songs and they had incredible songs. And and I think people have to focus on that, and that's what we try to focus. And maybe we're not focusing enough on the TikTok thing, but that's something we try to work on. What is the biggest challenge

**Speaker 1** when you're taking all these incredibly diverse genres that all of you are into? What is the biggest challenge of figuring out which one of those elements make its way into the sound? How do you guys decide to formulate the sound that you are making?

**Speaker 2** To be fair, like, regarding the instrumental, we found our natural sound by doing more demos, working together, even maybe doing shows, seeing what it looks like when you have the pictures of the lives and how it's edited and the color, like, the colors and everything. And when you go in the studios and we we we add, like, synthesizers and the nice, like, heavy, aggressive guitar sounds that we love so much in bands as Death Leopard, for example. When you mix all of that in a pot, we could hear something different and that we felt that it was belonging to what our You sound was know, like, it's by doing it and, you know, like, individually, like, working, you know, in a home studios and everything and and and we could feel like we had something and we went to this direction and we didn't even really process the idea, just the journey that, you know, the path that we went through and that's it.

**Speaker 3** Yeah, true. Because to be fair, you ask what was the most difficult thing but for us it's not difficult because it makes sense. Because we listen to Daft Pug and Daft Leopard and for us it's just great music and if you really think about it, all of those bands from the eighties have influenced a lot of the electro artists themselves, So it's not that different. Maybe it's different if you're in the record store and the rock sector is here and the funk one is there, but at the end of the day, some of the biggest rock songs are disco rock songs and that's it, you know. It's just great music.

**Speaker 1** And there's so many good examples that I can think of with what you're saying there. For example, David Grohl, widely considered to be one of the best drummers of all time, has flat out said that his drumming is disco. That if you listen to... Smells Like Deen Spirit. Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah. This is what I'm talking about. Like, if you listen to nineteen seventies disco drumming, it is his style to a tee. Another great example, The Prodigy, r a p Keith, one of my all time favorite electronic acts. One of the favorite things that I do see on TikTok, there's this channel that does sample breakdowns, and they'll do it with Daft Punk or Prodigy, sometimes even of Kanye West. But then when you're listening to what they took those samples from, their disco records, their soul records, their rock and roll records, Even the bands that you use as influences, they learned from other artists before them. And so there's no such thing as one genre. That's true. There's no such thing as genre.... About that. Exactly. Exactly. Like, who cares?

**Speaker 3** Like, even Def Def Leppard in 1987 when when they did Hysteria, think about it. It's all electronic drums. Super pop. Like it's not looking like a heavy metal record. It's a pop record that was selling like a pop record because they were listening to new wave music, to Frankie Goes to Hollywood, to Depeche Mode, and and at the same time to Bon Jovi and those type of things, and they mixed it, and it sound like that. And I feel like electronic drums too,

**Speaker 1** it's getting to the point where they're sounding so good that you can't even tell that they're electronic. Great example, Filter. The short bus record. First record, completely using a drum machine. Drum machines have become so advanced

**Speaker 3** that, you know, it's no longer... That's crazy. Yeah. They don't even have a job anymore.

**Speaker 1** It's like the rise of AI. You put into a command on Google and you say, I want to have Bon Jovi style disco music. And in thirty seconds, it spouts out something that to me, as an amateur musician, you know, it would take me weeks because I'm a perfectionist. Like, what is your guys' thoughts on AI? Do you think it's dangerous to the music industry?

**Speaker 2** To to me, like, lately, you know, I... Anywhere I look at or any article I read or any video I look at, I'm like, wow. These post COVID years, something really happened, like, in every, you know, like, it'd be, like, health researchers, like technology in general, like, AI could be, like, a really, really nice tool. Concerning arts. To me, art is made not to be explained. Otherwise, it's not art. Art is meant to be like... To to denounce something or to explain something like a a feeling, an emotion, something, you know, as it has always been. It has to stay like that. I don't want to go to a gig with, like, artificial, you know, lights that that recreate, like, a person. I don't wanna see that. I don't know... I don't wanna hear either, like, lyrics of an AI, like it doesn't... I'm not interested in that, you know. So to me, you know, music business has no feel about that, you know, that's my opinion.

**Speaker 3** Yeah, I think you're right. And I think we should respect what the artists have made and not try to touch that. That's really important. Do you think we're gonna recreate a Picasso or something? Yeah. I don't think so. So I don't think we should try to recreate Michael Jackson record or a Prince record or something like that. We should try to respect that and,

**Speaker 1** you know, leave it there. You're exactly right. It's one of the things where no matter how intelligent and advanced it gets, I don't think AI is ever gonna be able to substitute human music because of the sheer fact that you need that human element in music. You need that imperfection. Great example is even in the nineteen eighties, they were starting to use drum machines and famous keyboards like the Yamaha d x seven. There was always... Even when it sounded more computerized, there was always that hint of humanity to it. I'm trying... I'm struggling to think right now. I don't know if it was a Human League song or if it was Manic Monday. It was one of the songs where the synthesizer was triggered at the wrong time.

**Speaker 3** But... I think it's Human League. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And

**Speaker 1** if it was a computer trying to do that, it would try to snap everything to the grid. It would get it absolutely perfect. And it wouldn't sound the way it does with things like that. You know, another great example of Roxanne. There's a famous error in the beginning of the song where Yeah. Sting falls backwards, sits on a piano, and he laughs. So, like, if you're listening in the beginning of it and you hear this plunk sound and hear the laughter,

**Speaker 2** that was him falling on a piano and they decided to keep it. You know, even more after the COVID era and everything, you know, I think that the more we witness progress in everything and the more people are are gonna need to escape to basic stuff, like living your fucking life. Like going to gigs, enjoying music, going in the nature, enjoying, like, the purest form of life. And music is one of, to me, is one of the seventh beauties of the world and humanity. And no robot is going to be taking this away from what people want to do. Now people want to go to a rock show and enjoy the experience and go nuts like people were going nuts. Tickets are selling that well, I guess. You know, that's... So... Yeah. No problem with the AI.

**Speaker 1** I love it when there's so much emotion refined. A vocal performance, for example, where you can just feel the pain that person has gone through, the experience that that person has gone through. And that's why music such as rock music, for example, that normally has a lot of emotion in it, why it resonates

**Speaker 2** so well with listeners. I don't know I don't know I don't know, Socie Sociem, did you hear when you said pay? Strange love. That's so fascinating. Because we had a thing with

**Speaker 3** Strange Love, the song of Takesh Mode, and when he say pain, I was like, oh, wow. That type of pain.

**Speaker 2** And the fun things, like, I don't listen to it every day and I I just listen to it, like, today.

**Speaker 1** It's so funny. Sorry. No. No. No. Actually, it's funny because I was actually trying to figure out a way to insert that into the podcast. Defesh Mode, great example here. They loved to explore the more provocative topics in sexuality such as BDSM and songs as Strange Love or Master and Servant, themes that you guys were keen to explore and exposed. What is it about that scene, that world that captivates you guys to the point where you wanna do your own exploration of it in your lyrics. Funny you asked though because the apeche mode actually, like,

**Speaker 2** even from the the name of the band or the visuals and in the music video of Strange Love, makes references to Harry's and and and France, like, in general. The scene, as you say, you know, in the new wave ish scene and visuals has always been here, you know, like from... Could be from Susie and the Banshees, Billie Idol, Judas Priest, The Smiths, and this this kind of entity which drives you, like, it's, like, mysterious and and curious about everything and, you you know, like, there's a there's a song from minor threats that says good guys don't wear white, and I've always loved this one because I've always dressed black. I've always dyed my hair black when I was younger, it's in Asia. I was putting eyeliner on in my small, you know, the small school I was going to. People were, like, looking at me like I was provocative. And at this period of my life, I was just saying out loud, this is who I am and I was, like, not looking like anybody around me, in my family, in my personal environment, in my friends, in the streets, anywhere I could go. I was looking just like a depressive goth that likes going out at night and Yeah. Maybe party too much and and taking drugs, you know, like, I remember once I was, like, going in... I was 19, I was driving in the South Of France, and I just... I was... I pick up some gas at a station, and I I don't know why I did that. I put my wallet on the top of the car, and I left for... Forgetting that it was on top of the car. So it it fell straight away, you know, and in my wallet, I had, like, a really, like, tiny piece of paper, and it was almost gone the way it was written with a pen, and it was saying mom and then phone number of my mom, you know, I don't know why I had that at the time. And the police officer called my mom saying, your son is mister Morrison, and I think we do have his wallet and ID and everything. So I had to take the car and go back to the police station, and when I arrived, he looked at the picture that was taken from, like, the driving license license moment, and a few years later, I had, like, long hair black, like, eyeliner and everything, nose green and everything, and he said straight away, he said, like, wow, you must have taken many drugs to The this first moment he just saw me, the second, he told me that and like laughing a lot and I was like confused because I was going to the police, you know? Yeah, not going to the judge, right? Yeah. So that tells you like every day, like, and that's part of the identity and we all share that. And it's also, like, something that some people don't really know and think that is a bit weird and they don't understand. And it's not more because we don't like that more because it's provocative, it's just I could dress like that, taking my coffee in the morning and look like that, I mean, that's what I like to see in the mirror.

**Speaker 3** Yeah, true friends, we like that, you know. We we spend a lot of time rehearsing in Berlin, and they're famous for having crazy clubs over there in the BDSM type of of scene. And let's say that when we are there, it's like home for us. Sounds crazy, but that's true. Because people are not judging each other. They're just themselves. Some of them are in normal suits. Some of them are wearing leather and stuff, but it doesn't matter. People are themselves and that's what we want, that's what we are, and that's what we fight for.

**Speaker 1** And I feel as a whole, the BDSM scene is widely misunderstood. Like, for example, I think one of the most damaging things that happened to the BDSM scene was 50 Shades of Grey because it completely portrayed that scene in the wrong light. Because let's just be honest, I don't care how people try to romanticize that movie. The guy was abusive. The guy was an asshole. And it started making think that, you know, this is all a sudden, all these guys go and they're like, oh, this is what women want. And you got a whole bunch of horrible men that suddenly flooded into the scene and gave the scene a bad name. But everyone just thinks, you know, it's all about, you know, the power dynamics or, you know, they and... Do you know... Do you wanna know what? Like,

**Speaker 2** I completely refuse to watch that movie because it's too... As you said, it's romantized and, you know, it's polished as people want to see it on Netflix or I don't know what. But the truth is that it's not inclusive. Nope. It's... There's no diversity. People cannot reflect themselves and see themselves through that except one guy that may be an asshole that knows he is good looking and just wanna have one or two women sometimes and and just take him to his bat caves that turns out is a cave that you you don't wanna spend the night in. You know what? So I'm not really, you know, surprised that you talk about this one because, like, I just heard about it, like, even not even, like, like, five days ago and someone told me, oh, have you have you seen it? And I'm like, no. It's just shit. I mean, like, if you if you go out and live the life, do the same and you're just gonna see that it's just the the only common thing and it's just, like, the tools they play with, that's it. That world is the only world that I feel

**Speaker 1** that you can be whoever you wanna be in that world, that you can feel Exactly. To be as open as you wanna be, like, you can have, you know, cisgender people, transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, two spirit. That is the one community where you're gonna see people from all different walks of life. You know, it's not gonna matter what skin color they are. It's not gonna matter what their preferences are. That's one community, and I think this is what made it so so prevalent within the eighties and the punk scene and people like Billy Idol and everything. The

**Speaker 2** The the most amazing thing is like that visually, like, because of vinyl and leather and chains and and everything, it's straight away linked to the rock and roll identity Yeah. The punk identity, to the metal identity, and, you know, like, seeing these styles being lately in the rave Berlin kind of scene and fashion brands and everything and Balenciaga and everything, it gives this feeling that, you know, finally, you like what we we like from the beginning. Do you know what I mean? True. Like... True. It became mainstream. You didn't you didn't invent anything. You're just, like, taking it, but that's fine. We can have fun together. We can have fun together. True. And it's good and bad because it makes it more accessible

**Speaker 1** and it welcomes more people into the scene because it's one of those things, like I said, it doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what you identify as, who you're into, how you dress. You're gonna find someone who's gonna be there with open arms. But I feel I'm from The States. I don't need to tell you what's going on in The United States right now. I feel like too many people do not know how to mind their own fucking business. We literally have states within The United States right now that is making it illegal to be transgender. Florida just signed a bill where they actually... You don't even... Florida? Yeah. Florida. You don't even have to have a child that is actually transgender anymore or identifying as. If they feel that you are suspected of wanting to give gender affirming care to that child, doesn't matter if that child is actually identified as transgender, if they suspect that you're doing that, the government has signed a bill where they now can legally take away your child. Crazy man. And it's sad

**Speaker 3** to hear that for us, you know, as French people because we definitely love The United States and it used to be a place of freedom, especially Florida, you know, in the eighties was known for being, you know, quite a freedom space. For us to hear that, it's it's quite shocking.

**Speaker 2** I saw that this beer brand, what's it called again? Bud Light. Bud Light that just because a transgender woman has been advertising the fact that you you can actually personalize your can and she she did a short video and just for that people ended up stopping by this brand. So it's... The fun thing is like they... Let's say they... I saw a video that, like, many people were going to an event in a stadium or whatever. I don't know if it was a concert or a sport event. And so there's the Bud Lights queue, which is empty, and another brand, which is Budvisor or something just just closed. And, like, people are waiting just to get this one. But the thing is, like, I heard that they might belong to the same company and the money goes to the same people. It's

**Speaker 1** like they think that they're sticking it to Bud Light by no longer purchasing from it, but they're giving their money to a brand that actually is owned by Anheuser Busch.

**Speaker 2** Oh, so in like... I don't know. What what... It was not Walmart or something something close like similar that we don't have here. Some people did like fake videos, you know, was t shirts and everything for the pride everything and they mixed it to the kids area to take a video and saying like, you know, like they are saying that to our kids, they're just trying to make up something make people think against, you know, that's awful, it's everything, you know, Yeah, I feel it's it's... One step further and one step back at the same time, you know, it's crazy.

**Speaker 3** But it's sad for that country that we love, that we really love, moved in in in New York for, you know, what The United States used to be. Exactly. And it's super sad to hear stuff like that, for real. It is. Super sad. Because it's the biggest free nation in the world, Used to be that.

**Speaker 1** Yeah. I hope it's gonna say that. The only thing I can say that is refreshing is Gen z gives me hope for the future because Gen z is They're not afraid. They're not afraid.... Anymore. Yeah. And the thing is is they're the next voting block. A lot of Gen Z people have recently turned 18. So when the twenty twenty four election comes and they have the opportunity not only to, you know, elect the next president, but they also have an opportunity to replace some people in our congress. They are the next voting block. And what only thing I can hope personally, Gen Z starts voting in some more progressive people. You said it perfectly, Peter. All it was was a single can, a single can that was personalized

**Speaker 2** to have Dylan's face on it. That's the same thing as, you know, back in the seventies and the eighties when they were playing the records backwards and saying, like, we could hear, like, the demon saying that to our kids and blah blah blah blah blah blah. This is the devil. This is... That's the same thing, you know? Yeah. Maybe they think that if they drink this fucking beer, their son's gonna, like, immediately, like... Become transgender.

**Speaker 1** Yeah. Yeah. It's really sad. Dylan actually had to leave the country and go on a trip away from the country until she felt safe enough to return to The United States because of how many death threats she received just for being herself. I do believe in the freedom of America. I do believe that we are going to find our soul and our identity again. It's just we need to start voting out these idiots who think it's okay to discriminate against people who are just trying to be their true authentic self. It's disgusting. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, love the fact that we're talking about real stuff because, you know, at the end of the day,

**Speaker 3** talking about your single and stuff, that's that's cool. But what people need to hear, it's it's the real stuff.

**Speaker 1** That's what I'm trying to start leaning towards in my podcast. The fact of the matter is there's a lot of real life emotions, real life experiences, issues that are behind that music. It's what influences the music. A great example is I'm going to be talking to somebody eventually, I think it's next month, where their entire recent album was about them contemplating suicide. And that's going to be probably a very dark, very difficult conversation, but it needs to be said because somebody listening to that person's music might be going through a worse time than that person's going now. That person saw what they were going through, they came out the other side and are doing better. There might be somebody right now who's not doing okay. I don't wanna listen to a podcast where it sounds like it's been pre rehearsed. I wanna be able to hear real life stories, to learn the stories and the identities behind the songs. Because there's an image that you project to the world. There's an image that people see in promotional photos and music videos. A lot of artists have their interview identity, and then they have their identity when the cameras are off. I wanna try to show people more of the identity when those cameras are off. I wanna people to learn who's really behind the music that they're listening to. Because I feel like sometimes when you really find out, you know, when you find out that personal side to these artists that you've fallen in love with, it makes you appreciate their music more. Given that you guys are so dedicated to being your authentic selves and never having to half ass or compromise on anything, how do you hope that your music will influence listeners in their own exploration of expression and self identity?

**Speaker 2** You know, I think that half of the job, if I can say that Mhmm. Comes from the music, comes from the atmosphere. The visuals are quite important as well because it sets the backgrounds and and and what's your, you know, your identity and your values and everything that you share with people. You know, when... If you hear just an instrumental of Depeche Mode or Judas Priest or Death Llipper, you can fluctuate or travel in the music history's map and grab a moment and an era that belongs to it and what people used to think and say and and and do and wear and acts and everything interacts with people. If if I said you David Bowie, maybe you're gonna think of three things that he said, maybe you're gonna think about the city, where he's from, what people do there and etcetera. And regarding the Blackmordia, we can straight away link to Paris, to the culture we had around haute couture, you know, like the fashion atmosphere and everything. Maybe people's gonna... They're gonna hear one of a song and by just hearing the lyrics, like, see themselves struggling with something or whatever, you know, like, the past experiences to me made who I am today. To be honest, I've been struggling most of my life since a very young age as in Asia for many reasons. Could be family, could be feeling that you don't belong to any place or or any style or anything. And then you grow up building this and keeping this in your head and you're just like trying to escape from the society and and and the boundaries and, you know, like, life has to be like this and as to like that, you you cannot make a living with music. I I could hear with art in general when I was younger as a kid. All these past experiences and struggling with drugs and addictions and everything are gonna talk easily to someone who's struggling with any kind of addiction. And in 2023, as we said earlier, music is gonna be very important to people as an escape. Because, you know, if you're not stable enough, we have too many tools that, you know, humanity cannot. Everything is too easy and you want everything like this and without any talent and without working and without feeling the pain and, you know, there's a there's a drug to cure any pain so people can just, you know, take your headphones, take a seat, you know, enjoy the songs, enjoy the lyrics, enjoy the atmosphere, and try to escape.

**Speaker 3** All of sudden, it's it's just about escape and being proud of who you are because that's what we do and that's what we want people to to feel, basically.

**Speaker 1** Something that I always remind myself and I feel like anybody should remind is that they're one of a kind. There is only one you. Yes. Every person has their own identity. And if you're ever feeling like you don't belong or that you aren't welcome in a certain subculture, don't use that as an excuse to crap on yourself, to think that you are less because of that. Celebrate your individuality.

**Speaker 3** Recognize the fact... You're probably more because of your your own self.

**Speaker 1** Exactly.... More. You're because of your own self. And that's been a journey that I've been on myself. It's funny when you talk about when you were, like, in your late teens, early twenties that you had long hair and the and eyeliner and the piercings and everything else. I had a a moment when I was, you know, maybe 15, 16 where I didn't exactly know what subset of culture I wanted to belong to. I didn't know who I was. So, you know, one moment I had fire engine red hair, you know. You're looking at me now. I look kinda normal, you know, kinda curly hair. No, mom. This is not a phase. Yeah. No, mom. It's not a phase. Exactly. You know, I have curly hair now and a beard and everything else. But, you know, for a while there, I had bright fire engine red hair. Another moment. I had... I was wearing a freaking sergeant pepper like jacket around the time the Black Parade came out because I thought that was so freaking cool. I was, like, half inspired by the Beatles, half inspired by My Chemical Romance. So I'm walking out in public with a freaking band jacket on and people are looking at me, turning their heads, maybe some old lady's passed in judgment.

**Speaker 2** But you know what? You you know that... How it feels.

**Speaker 1** It is so important in a time when everybody is trying to condemn you for being your true authentic self that you use that opportunity to gravitate to who you are even more. Hold on to your ideals. Don't let society force you with the way they're looking at you or the way they're judging you to be somebody different. The world has not exactly been the best place and the most welcoming place past COVID. It was almost like we went in a parallel dimension the moment COVID hit where everything past that point, the world's getting uglier, All these laws are popping up trying to prevent people from being who they really are. And it's more important now than ever to use music as an escape, to find your true identity

**Speaker 3** Temper true. And to hold on to. Why artists needs to be themselves too. Yes. They need to celebrate their difference in their sound and their image. Everyone is telling us every day, you're not rocking off, you're not blah blah blah, you're not this, you're not that. And we're fighting every single day to you know, all the DSP, the press agents, the whoever, to tell them that we wanna be ourselves and that's who we are. Yes, we have a lot of influences. Yes, we like to have a particular sound to mix this with that, and we're proud of that. It's so easy to, you know, kinda have a fear for your career and be like, okay, you know, I'm gonna sound like other bands, I'm gonna look like other bands, I don't wanna... But that's not who we are. We just don't care. If it's about doing the same thing than anybody else, I don't think we'll do it because we're not interested in that. We're different and we fight for our differences all the time.

**Speaker 1** The moment you fold and give up and decide to be like everybody else is the moment where it's no longer fun. So you never... You're done. You're done. You've just become another product of the machine. You sound like the a 100,000 other rock bands that are out there. You're not having your true identity. So, yeah, I urge you guys. One of the reasons why despite at the time not knowing as much about you guys as most bands that I request to be on the podcast, The reason why when your publicist reached out, I said yes right away is because listening to your music, I already identified that there was something different there. You weren't trying to be this band. You weren't trying to be that band. You were just trying to do something that really wasn't out there because there really isn't a band like you out in the rock space right now. You're taking Def Leppard. You're taking Daft Punk. You're sprinkling your little Judas Priest influences in there. You're taking the French electro culture that you grew up in and you're putting that in there too. And what's coming out is something that would sound just as welcome at Studio fifty four as it would sound on Octane, which is one of the big rock stations here in The US. And I think it's really important that bands start to be authentic when you're not trying to sound like whatever band's number one right now, and you're just doing something authentic. You're authentic. You don't give a shit if some a and r person at some major label thinks you guys are the next big thing or not. You're doing what you want. And when you listen to music that feels like it came from the soul and didn't feel like it was just some industry plant or some rubber stamped band that sounds like every other freaking rock band that's playing on Octane right now, people gravitate to that. And that's why, you know, you're still a quote unquote younger band even though you really aren't because you've been around for a while. But the fact of the matter is, you're gonna probably have some pushback along the way.

**Speaker 3** Anybody doesn't like the way... We love that. We love that. That we're in the in the good direction because we don't wanna be like the other bands, like, scares me. Like, people don't even realize, like, the bands that they love were different. Just think about it, either Rolling Stones or Queen or Led Zeppelin or Lincoln Park or Muse or whoever, they cross genders all the time musically, all the time. And that's why they're special.

**Speaker 1** Imagine if Freddie Mercury wasn't the absolute icon of self expression that he was and he just decided to go, you know what? Maybe they're right. Maybe the world isn't ready for this. Imagine a music world without Bohemian Rhapsody. It'd be super sad how many bands were inspired just from that record. Identity in music is so important, and I am so glad there are bands like you guys that are pushing the needle and trying something different. I think it's the best thing we have right now. I'm sick and tired of opening emails and finding five bands that are indistinguishable from each other, And it's no fault on them. It's just some a and r guy along the way told them this is what you should sound. This is what's marketable. They didn't understand that if they had done exactly what they wanted to do and told that person to go pound sand, they'd be making music that identifies and has that soul that I feel is missing so much from music right now. Exactly.

**Speaker 3** And you know what the funny story is, when we first recorded the album that we are going to release this year, It has a lot of songs that are not going to be released because you know why? When the COVID hits, we had a moment to re listen to everything. Mhmm. We were like, something is wrong. The songs are good. Maybe we didn't found little thing that makes us stand out musically. Yeah. A few weeks before actually releasing the album, we decided to almost redo it from the beginning, and we added like six or seven songs. So it's actually quite a new album now because we needed that moment to realize that we needed to be ourselves. Sometimes you're so afraid of everything that you wanna sound and look like others, and don't get me wrong, when you don't know that's what you wanna do. We toured with lots of bands, so when you see those bands being successful at what they do, you think, okay, I'm I'm gonna do that and it's gonna work, but it doesn't until you found that specialness that makes you stand out.

**Speaker 1** Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And I'm glad that you guys had the opportunity to release a body of work that you guys can feel completely proud of because that's the most important thing. The moment you start mailing it in, it just doesn't feel authentic anymore. Yeah. So to help kinda, you know, start to wrap things up, actually, you know what? There is one question that I didn't ask you that I ask every band or artist that I ever had, and it would just feel like kind of a naked podcast if I didn't have it. So far in your journey together, what has been one of the most hilarious memories you've had so far?

**Speaker 3** One of the funniest thing that ever happened to us is, I think four four five years ago, we had a show in Poland, not gonna name which city, but we had a show in Poland, we had to I think drive maybe eleven or twelve hours to get there. So when we get to the show, we were a little late and we were actually opening to another band that night. Okay? And I don't know what happened that night, but we just decided to be complete rock stars and don't give a shit about anything. So we were late. We started to talk with the headliner's girlfriend, drinking the alcohol. And I think our stage time was like twenty five minutes. We decided to stay thirty five. It was all crazy. And the next day we received like an email from there, from the agent or whoever saying that we were never going to play another show in Europe, in in in Europe. And next thing you know, I think six, seven days later, we were opening for Gojira. Later that year, we we opened Five Finger Death Punch and Nickelback.

**Speaker 1** Basically, that person did not know what the fuck they were talking about then.

**Speaker 3** Yeah. I guess. You know? But but that's super funny now because I I I still see us being in the van, the tour van, looking at the email like it was death sentence. Some of the band members were really, really freaking out. Like, we're done. We were in the hospital, but the other ones were...

**Speaker 2** No. Because the thing is, like, I didn't want to harm anybody. I just wanted to, you know, that was that was a fun time, something, you know, that I wanted to just enjoy the moment and and and the day we received the email, I still had the taste of his Jack Daniel's in my mouth. So the thing is like, I felt even more guilty by, you know, and that was, you know, The Catcherring was in a... Stored in a small place. There was no names anywhere, and I was not used to separating things, and this belongs to this artist and this one's not. Was a pretty small band. Yeah. Everything was, you know, everything was displayed on the table. So I was like, I mean, there's no there's no point. Otherwise, it's not gonna be here. So I've been, you know, the stress went, you know, in the Jack Daniel's honey and the rest is history, you know, like, that was not it was not hilarious at this point, at this moment, but looking back right now, that that makes sense and we just moved on and... Yeah.

**Speaker 3** And just make us realize it's not because someone is telling you something that is true. Yeah. Because as a band, as a business, or as whatever, you're gonna make some mistakes, you're gonna learn, and some people are gonna blame you and make you think that it's it's the end, but it's not until you decide it's it is. Right? Right. Right. Well said. Well said.

**Speaker 1** Well, I just wanna say, hands down, of all the podcast episodes I've recorded, has to be my absolute favorite. You guys were unbelievable. So I just wanna close off. Oh, absolutely. You were so welcome. Given that you're about to release your album later this year and that you fought so hard to get to this point, What do you guys wanna see for the future?

**Speaker 3** I think at this point, we definitely wanna tour all around the world to defend that album because we miss touring and we're gonna make an an special announcement in in this podcast. We're going to play our first US show at The Roxy in Los Angeles on 02/16/2024. That's gonna be our our first headline show there, and we're so excited to play in The United States. So excited.

**Speaker 1** That is such an iconic venue to start your career off in The States. So many big bands have found their start there. Like, what an amazing opportunity. Definitely proud of you guys. You're definitely invited.

**Speaker 3** You're in all the crew of AltWire, of course. We're gonna hang out there, and we're so excited to finally

**Speaker 1** play The United States. That's a dream come true for us. On behalf of AltWire, I wanna thank you guys for joining today. Looking forward to putting this online and letting people see just what extraordinary gentleman you are. Can't wait till the world gets to hear this. Thank you so much. Thank

**Speaker 3** you Thank you. So had a lot of fun and and and I can tell you, it's gonna be tough for us to have more fun in another interview of our podcast,

**Speaker 2** that's for sure. Yeah. You know, just one word, you know, I kind of been waiting for a very long time to be able to have this mask off because all the time you just wanna please people, you just sometimes you just wanna, you know, you don't wanna say too much. You don't wanna say not enough. And there's some topics you you don't obviously can be allowed to talk about or or or whatever without any filters. And the way you you you ask your questions, it's a it's a pleasure for us to to be... To share that with you right now. Thank you so much for that. Absolutely. It's been a complete honor allowing you guys to do that. I appreciate you so much for bringing your authentic selves,

**Speaker 1** taking that mask off, not trying to be the the PR rehearsed version of yourselves and literally just showing me who you really are because that is what made this podcast episode so special. So I wanna let you guys finally get a chance to go to bed. I think it's about 02:00 in the morning almost where you guys are. Yeah. But, hey, thank you so much for joining me today, and I cannot wait to see you guys touring The United States. Yeah. Thank you so much. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Hey. Thank you so much. And that brings us to the end of this episode. I wanna thank you for listening to the AltWire podcast. If you like what you heard, please feel free to give us a review on your DSP of choice, and stay tuned for more episodes as they become available. My name is Derek Oswald, and I thank you for listening to the AltWire podcast.

The French have given us a lot of great music over the years. But for the most part, these names are more known to pop and dance music fans -- Jamiroquai, Daft Punk, Cassius, Dimitri from Paris -- than rock fans. That's made "making it" in France difficult for The Blackmordia, who once was described as ["a perfect convergence of Def Leppard and Daft Punk."](https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/blackmordia-on-the-rise)

That's some big shoes to fill! In this episode, we're excited to be joined by drummer and founding member Sofiane Seddiki and vocalist Peter Moisan to talk about their remarkable origin story, and their perspective on creative freedom.

But that's not all – this episode goes even deeper, delving into the inclusive nature of the BDSM scene and the crucial need for safe spaces within marginalized communities like the LGBTQ+ community. Brace yourself for an authentic and insightful discussion that seamlessly blends modern music and activism.

Don't miss out on this captivating conversation that will leave you inspired as they share their personal experiences and shed light on the importance of embracing diversity and fostering inclusivity both in society and in the creative world.

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From AltWire: https://altwire.net/podcast/episode-10-creative-freedom-and-inclusivity-in-america-the-blackmordia/