Simeria: Metal Band from toulouse

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Simeria- Melodic Progressive Metal

Interview conductedon Feb. 29, 2020

by Dan Locke

Simeria is a metal band from Toulouse, with progressive, symphonic & melodic influences. We are currently working on the production of our first album. See you on stage !

Band Members
Cécilia: Lead Vocals,
Mickaël: Drums,
Julien: Keyboard & Backing Vocals,
Mathieu: Bass & Backing Vocals,
Allan: Rythm Guitar
Stéphane: Lead Guitar

Dan Locke: You are a band from Toulouse France. Tell me about your part of the world?

We live in the southwest part of France, a region famous for its fat but excellent duck food and red wines, its Pyrénées mountains where we go skiing, and its direct access to America via the Atlantic Ocean :). The people are very welcoming and like to party a lot.

How is live music there?

Very alive! We are lucky, to have most of the big metal bands coming to Toulouse when they tour in France (and not only Paris), lots of local metal bands to support them, and many venues & pubs of different size to welcome shows at least twice a week. And not just metal bands, we also have many artists playing other genres like folk, jazz & classical music.

How did your band get its name?

A little before our first show. The band was 3 months old; we were so focused on playing music and covering songs that we never took time to think about a name. And the organizer was like “I need to promote the event; you have until tomorrow to find yourselves a band name”. So, we started thinking about our favorite bands/movies/themes and we were like “ok, we love heroic fantasy stuff like Conan the Cimmerian, can it be an inspiration? If he’s called the Cimmerian, he must come from somewhere called Cimmeria, right?”. We liked the sound of that, but we did not want to become a Conan tribute band, so we kept the reference and changed the spelling a bit and “ta-da”, Simeria was born!

How did the band form in its present lineup?

Mickael (drums), Julien (keys) and Mathieu (bass) founded the band in 2008 (although Mathieu was playing the flute in the original line-up). Stephane & Allan (lead & rhythm guitars) joined the band two years later to record our first EP. Then Stephane left the band for a couple of years but joined us again in 2018. As for the singer position, we had difficulty finding the right voice for our music, so we tried 3 different singers between 2010 & 2012, then we considered going instrumental, and finally, Cecilia showed up and never left 🙂

Why did it take 3 years from 2016 to 2019 to get up in front of a crowd again?

Our former lead guitarist left the end of 2016, and it took us more than a year to find somebody else (until Stephane joined again in 2018). So, we decided to focus more on studio work meanwhile (songwriting, arrangements, recordings). But at some point, we missed live shows too much so we took a break from the studio and hit the stage again!

What was MBC?

Metal Band Cover is (was?) a project created by Jordan (Mickael’s brother), involving musicians from all over the world in collaborative covers. We contributed to the recording, mixing & mastering of a couple of songs, along with other musicians from Toulouse. The project is in standby due to Jordan’s involvement in Deathawaits (French death metal band), but you should definitely check out the Metal Band Cover Youtube channel, there are some awesome performances out there.

Cecilia why are you a Johnny Cash fan?

Old American country music is my (not so) guilty pleasure. And Johnny Cash was a raw genius, a wonderful storyteller and one of the most beautiful voices of the 21st century.

Julien- If you could have been any other band which would that be?

Either Equilibrium, to have the chance to perform the 16 minutes symphonic masterpiece “Mana” on stage with an orchestra (ok they never did it, but they would have if I was in the band :)). Or the Black Mages, because I love video game music and their metal version of the final fantasy songs.

Mathieu- What is your favorite rock and roll movie?

I don’t really know what a Rock ‘n Roll movie is but the first thing coming to my mind is Forrest Gump, with a great rock and rock song list from Sweet home Alabama to Hound dog.

Mickael- What did you think of Neil Pearl (Rush) who just died?

I didn’t know him at all, even his band Rush was just a name I heard as a reference of more recent bands (Dream Theater, Symphony X, …). I guess it’s not my generation. I took a look at some of his performances since everyone was talking about him, and it seems he was indeed an awesome drummer. It’s always sad to see those beloved musicians pass away, but there are a lot of new talented drummers to follow his footsteps!

Stephane- Who would you love to have taken learns from while learning to play guitar?

From Jason Becker (Cacophony) for his incredible technique and melodicity, from Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) because his musical inspiration is limitless, from Hank Van Der Laars (Elegy) for the richness of his harmonic ideas in his riffs and solos, and finally from Guthrie Govan for his impressive & wonderful touch & phrasing.

How long before your next cd?

A little less than 10 years :D. Honestly, we do not know, but late 2021 would be great. We are in the process of recording demos to finalize the orchestral arrangements, and we only did a third of the songs so far. There are also a couple of paragraphs left to write in the background story (yes, there’s a background story, told over at least 3 albums, like in all fantasy metal bands :)). And we did not start working on the artwork yet. Ok, maybe early 2022 😉

You just finished some live show at the end of last year. Any plans for touring next year?

No plan so far, as our main focus is the album preparation. But we will try to play a couple of gigs to show the new version of our old songs (like Guardians). And we are open to suggestions if you want to invite us :).

How do you see your band in 5 years?