Interview with Cyclefly
Interview with Cyclefly
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The two Frenchmen, two Irishmen and lone Italian that make up CYCLEFLY’s working parts have succeeded in creating a Rock and Roll locomotive steamed and ready to tear up some American track but is America ready for CYCLEFLY? After speaking with Jean Michel Cavallo, CYCLEFLY’s drummer, for a half hour it is hard to doubt that CYCLEFLY would fail at anything that they set their minds to. They have overcome restrictions of style, the almost non- existant Irish Rock scene and all forms of cultural barrier to produce music that transcends Pop, Metal, Hardcore, Folk and Industrial classifications. The group is currently in the studio preparing another record while their last, “GENERATION SAP” continues to grow in popularinty in America which basically answers the origional question with a very optimistic, Yes, America is ready for CYCLEFLY. DAVID LEE How did a couple of Frenchman and an Italian get to be in an Irish band? JEAN MICHEL CAVALLO Myself, Christian and Nono, the guitar player and the bass player, we left France in ’92 with a French band and a year and a half after that we split up and we were in Ireland and we said “O.K. what are we going to do?” We decided to stay in Ireland and to find an Irish singer and we found Declan (O’Shea) and Ciaran (O’Shea) and then CYCLEFLY was born. DL So, it was just a matter of luck that it happened in Ireland? JM Yes. DL Not only did you find a singer but you found a brother team with the other half being a guitar player? JM It is nice to have two brothers in the band because it was like two for the price of one! I must say that, maybe, on the start it was harder but only at the start because it is really hard to walk in on a family. Every bit of business that you want to do, if you walk with your family sometimes it is a little bit difficult but I think that it is just getting past that period and everyone in the band knows what they have to do. Today it is buoyant. DL Your former band was called SEVENTEEN? JM Yeah, the French band was called SEVENTEEN. DL What did they sound like? Was it completely different from CYCLEFLY? JM We were a rock and roll band doing stuff like LED ZEPPELIN and that kind of stuff. It was more seventies. DL That is a bit of a change from what you are doing with this band. JM Yes. First of all you have to change with the times. When we started CYCLEFLY it was ’93 and you have to go with the times so now we are saying “What is it going to be like in the future. We started to write lots of songs and everybody was putting in loads of ideas and in the end we just said, “This is it!” DL Though you have been together for years this is pretty much the first taste of CYCLEFLY for America? JM That is right. I think that it is great that we have known each other for years and now you will get to know us here in America. DL In all of that time that you were together was it Ireland that you toured mostly? JM Yeah, we only played in Ireland before. DL What is the rock scene in Ireland like? I have never heard of any rock scene at all in Ireland. JM It is really small so you can’t expect loads of things but people are into rock in Ireland. The Irish are a really good rock crowd but it is just because it is so small, it is a small country so you have to go away to America and to England and then come back. DL Are you planning to take the band to the continental countries in Europe? JM It is in the plans, of course. DL Did you make the conscious decision to come to America before Europe? JM It was just because we signed with an American record company so; we have to follow the record company. We wanted an American deal. DL How did an American record company come to find this French/Irish band in Ireland? JM We were looking for a deal in England and our manager put us on the road in England doing small clubs and we played, played, played and they used to call loads of people from the record companies and Radioactive came and said “We like the band and want to sign you.” (laughs) DL So everybody got their pens out and signed on the dotted line? JM Well, yeah. DL How old is the material that is on this record? Is it from all along the seven years that you have been together? JM It is not that old because in five years we wrote loads and loads and loads of songs and at the end we came on with, I don’t know, a hundred and fifty songs and we picked only eleven for the album. It is like, you can have an old song but it is completely new and redone and maybe the bridge has been changed or the end has been changed or things like that. DL Sylvia Massy (TOOL, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS) produced the record, how did that contribute to the overall sound? JM We did the pre-production and she was kind of like, “Let’s try this in place of that.” Some of the stuff was working perfect so we just kept it and put it on the album. DL Was it any different working with a woman as a producer? JM It was excellent. She is a great woman and I have a lot of respect for Sylvia. She is brilliant and I have learned a lot from her. I would love to do the second album with her. DL She has certainly amassed a lot of credits with working with TOOL and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS and other artists. . . JM Yes. DL Did that weigh heavily in her being chosen to produce the record or was it just her sound that you liked? JM We listened to what she was doing with TOOL and SKUNK ANANSIE and we always thought that she would be great for us. DL You are just getting this album out but you already mentioned a second album, is that something that you are working on already? JM No, I was just talking about wanting to work with Sylvia. I would love to work with her again but that is far off in the future. DL CYCLEFLY is a great name but I understand that you went through several others before you settled on this one, what were some of them? JM We had a few. It is really hard to remember them all but one day Declan came in and said “We are going to call it CYCLEFLY!” It was originally a title of a song and we said “O.K.” and now we are CYCLEFLY. I think that it is a great name. DL When I listened to the record I noticed a great deal of cyclical phrases and passages in the songs, was that an influence on the name? JM No, not at all but that is an interesting observation. DL The cover of the album is also one of the best that I have ever seen, who came up with that idea to represent the band on the first album? JM That was Declan’s idea. DL Do you know what inspired it? JM I just think that he was trying to be different. You should ask Declan when you see him. DL Have you been hearing yourself on the radio as you travel around? JM No, not really in America. DL In Ireland? JM In England, yeah. DL You decided to go out on this tour as a headliner in smaller clubs instead as another band’s special guest in bigger halls, why was that? JM Some of the halls we are headlining but we are playing second on some bigger bills. DL What is a live CYCLEFLY show like? JM Well, come and see!(laughs) DAVID LEE WILSON |