Empire Isis

Finally, on that same afternoon, I sat down with the band members of Empire Isis, Bassist David Masse, drummer Alex Grousset and DJ Bassil Silim-JonesCONFRONT: How did you guys get involved with Empire Isis; how did you guys get on board?

DAVID: I joined Empire Isis around April 2008 at a recording session. We were working on a French song, in order to infiltrate the French market. So it started just as a simple recording session. I showed up and played some bass and just built from there, and so here I am, today.

ALEX: I’m from France and I came to Montreal in 2004 and I went to the US to learn drums, and when I came back I joined Empire Isis with my friend who was the keyboard player.

BASSIL: Well I’m Empire Isis’ brother, so I’ve been in the project from Day One.

DAVID: Before he was born, actually.

BASSIL: Yeah; I was her music video director and I take care of all the audiovisual stuff. It came naturally, because I was always interested in deejaying, from my other brother and when it came time to start touring, I was like well, “let me perfect the craft and let’s do this Isis thing.” And then we just all joined together with the band, and created something massive.

CONFRONT: So, she’s a very philosophical, very spiritual person, a very strong personality. How is that to work with, and what is it like for you guys? Do you share her philosophies or do you just sit around at three o’clock in the morning and shoot the shit, just trying to come down and having these deep conversations?

DAVID: Actually I’m so not like that, that’s why I’m actually getting into it now.

CONFRONT: So, it’s a learning experience?

DAVID: Absolutely! She’s been around the world and I haven’t. She’s had so many experiences to share, and it’s, like, very deeply philosophical. And I’m kind of easygoing and I do what I have to do, so I’m just enjoying those conversations and it’s very, very…

ALEX: I think she inspires me and it’s the same for her, and she’s really the boss lady so she kicks our ass and this is cool.

CONFRONT: She IS the boss!

ALEX: She is a very strong-minded person, so this is very nice to work with her.

CONFRONT: And you, you’re RELATED to her! What’s that like?

BASSIL: Honestly, I have a lot of good things to say, for real. Maybe not all of them on the surface, but when you look at it deep down she’s not just so much my sister, she’s kind of like a soul mate-like I learn a lot from her and she has a lot of ideas and she teaches me a lot of stuff…but honestly the energy that she’s got, not a lot of people have that energy and that’s an inspiring aspect, and the drive; she’s got drive like I’ve never seen in anybody else…it’s really exceptional, and it’s really inspiring sometimes. In music it’s hard-

CONFRONT: It’s probably the hardest industry to make money in.

DAVID: Yeah, and as much as she’s super-artistic and creative, she also knows about the business as well, so when it’s time to crack the whip and put on the suit, she’ll do it.

CONFRONT: So, how, as a band, how have you come together? Tell me about the experience of recording and touring for this album?

BASSIL: Let me answer that by describing what the objective of the band is, and why we are a deejay, bass player and drummer. Really what it is, is about mixing the digital and analog aspects of music.

CONFRONT: Yeah, She mentioned that briefly, so tell us a little bit more of that.

BASSIL: For a long time it was just a deejay a singer and dancers…that was okay for a lot of club gigs, but when we really started doing the festivals and stuff we needed to upgrade. We tried the full band with keyboard, drummer and everything, and it was too analog; it wasn’t true to the record, which also has that futuristic, digital sound, that electronic feel, that pop feel, and it’s not very easy to get that aspect. So by having a deejay, a bass player and a drummer we’re able to have a band and have something interesting to look at, and at the same time we can keep true to the sound of the album…and have that extra energy.

DAVID: You get that natural drive from a rhythm section, and he has some electronic stuff on his drums, too, so you get that natural feel, and she’s so intense onstage-she’s a monster onstage-and she needed something to just push her even more.

CONFRONT: I read something about digital music, just a couple of days ago, that I found very interesting: and it’s that you cannot make digital music without analog equipment.

BASSIL: That’s true!

DAVID: And it’s the total, biggest contradiction ever!

CONFRONT: But you guys seem to be about breaking the rules and about breaking contradictions.

DAVID: Yes,

CONFRONT: So, how-honestly she’s very much part of your energy level, but do you ever get overwhelmed by it all? Do you ever just want to sit back and say, “I can’t”?

DAVID: Well you know, it has nothing to do with that project; it’s just music. Once I have my instrument in my hands, and playing with these guys that makes it so much fun and easier and there’s just that energy that we’ve been creating together. Even just me and Alex, the drummer and the bass player, it’s super important to be really tight and we just clicked right away. So, already for us the energy is circulating, and the family element with Base and Isis, they seem to make me and Alex a part of it as well.

ALEX: It’s a story of family and friends and music.

CONFRONT: Friends are the family you choose?

ALEX: Exactly.

DAVID: Exactly, yes.

CONFRONT: I saw you guys onstage at the launch, and it really did seem like you guys were having fun, that you were…alive…it was really nice to see.

DAVID: Thanks; that’s what it’s all about.

CONFRONT: What do you guys hope to bring to the message, to the music?

DAVID: Hmm…

BASSIL: Um…

CONFRONT: I ask the complicated questions.

DAVID: Really! Well you know what? For me it’s just about being involved with true people and real music, with no pretentions whatsoever. This is what we do, we believe in it, and there’s no reason for people not to dig it. You saw it: we’re onstage, we’re having a good time, we’re not trying to do something we don’t want to do. This is what it is, and it’s just a blast.

ALEX: To me, I like when people dance, so my role, my goal is to make people dance. So, with Dave and Bass, we try to have the best groove we can have. This is the first goal: to make people dance. Lyrics are one thing, but to make people dance…

DAVID: When people get together in a room, basically you just want to entertain them. And our role-we don’t write the lyrics, we don’t create these deep messages, that’s her job-our job is just to sit tight and groove and groove.

CONFRONT: I gave her a forum at the end of our interview to say whatever message she wanted to say to our readers and to everybody who’s going to read it after it’s posted by our readers all over the internet-that’s the beauty of being web-baseDAVID: we’re going to be read in Copenhagen a week after it’s put up online here in Montreal. So, what message-individually or as a band-would you like to say to everyone who’s going to read this?

DAVID: I’m going to say “Support”. I support all kinds of artists no matter what the genre of music is, because it doesn’t matter because good music is good music, and not to sound pretentious, but I know that we have something good here. People should just totally look into it, spread the word, everywhere.

ALEX: Same message, actually; I want to play music-it’s my goal, it’s my life…this is what I can do, what I’m supposed to do, actually: to always play music and to meet some nice people around the world.

CONFRONT: Awesome.

BASSIL: My message would be that this music is a brand new style of music; it’s the ‘Brand New Style’, I describe it as World Pop music because it has all these elements. Our music is really for people who listen to a little bit of rock, a little bit of punk, pop, Hip-Hop and Reggae also. So when you get Empire Isis, you get a little bit of everything. You get the energy from the Punk, the dancing from the Reggae, you get the Soul from R&B, so I’d say that our music is for the Masses.

CONFRONT: Awesome. Thank you guys very much for your time!

DAVID: Thank you!

So there you have it…  all 7,916 words of it.  Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed meeting with Empire Isis.

To read the article in last month’s issue go here: http://www.confrontmagazine.com/web/category/feature-presentation/

To learn more about the band visit: http://www.empireisis.com