JAILBIRD, INSIDE NONSENSE official album of JAILBIRD. Lyrics, credits, design, downloading of photos and bootlegs, promotion, reviews, interviews, press release and contacts. New members, new samplers, NRP, Tin.RP, Compilations, Moonlight Corporation, D-Side magazine, Elegy magazine, Zillo Magazine. New line up : Franck Ackermann, Francois Flinois, Fabien Chiloup, Florian Lefebvre, Eddy ... Guitar, lead guitar, experimental guitar, voice, drums and sampler ... JAILBIRD - Epithet : JAILBIRD Location : Calais, France Members : Franck Ackermann (instruments, vocals, sampler,...) and Erwin Ackermann (guitar) Chronicle : In 1996, Franck Ackermann and his brother Erwin recycled their popular Rock'n'Roll band to introduce a revised version. JAILBIRD was created. For this French group, a new era was born with the addition of machines and samplers. A few demo-tapes and numerous concerts later (with hits such as MASS HYSTERIA, DAS ICH, COLLAPSE, GODFLESH, FEAR FACTORY, to name a few) the two protagonists recorded their first album. For various reasons it would never reach the outside world. In December 1999, Erwin is involved in a car crash making him quadriplegic. Without his brother, Franck decides to suspend the project for a while. In July 2001, Franck makes arrangements with Oktobar Productions to promote the surviving JAILBIRD. A few months later, the band signs a contract with GESKA RECORDS. Their first album, Inside Nonsense, is released in a special collector's limited edition (May 2002) to please all the waiting fans. Today, JAILBIRD is renowned for its Romantic combination of Spiritual Rock, Poetry, and Machines. The JAILBIRD sound is a profound articulation of guitars and electronic frameworks. The presence of an effective rhythmic base with powerful vocals and guitars actively support the blows of a sonic crossover delivering the essential of Industrial Rock. What to expect next: Jailbird is working on its next album... Cerebral Distorsion... as Franck is presently recruting new musicians to promote the release of the first album. Remixes and special collaborations, such as The Brainfog Project, are on the schedule as well ... JAILBIRD emerges from a very particular musical tradition, and from a world penetrated by sonic invasions, as well as the emotional cascades of the millennium. In creating a slow, sad, and tortured sphere, the musicians of this French group translate the anguish of an old continent submerged by new technologies, while letting a glimmer of hope reflect for all those still able to believe in the wealth of our human heritage. Once again, the work exceeds the understanding of their creators by depicting a world transfigured by the dawns and the meanders of human sordidness... It will be listened to again and again. Their latest album, INSIDE NONSENSE, bequeaths a positive memory, giving new listeners the opportunity to experience a musical heritage multiplied tenfold and for genre lovers to discover what the future may bring. Today and What to expect next: Jailbird is now working on a remix-album "SCAR ME" for the end of Spring 2003... with very special guests, while preparing its next album.... Cerebral Distorsion... as Franck is presently recruting new musicians to promote its release. Remixes and special collaborations, such as The Brainfog Project (www.brainfogproject.free.fr) are on the schedule as well... Press : D-Side 11 (Review + CD Sampler as one of the 12 most promising French new comers) Elegy 22 (Review + CD Sampler) Zillo Oct. 2002 (Review + CD Sampler) Outburn 19 (Review) Jailbird is a French industrial rock band that has just released their debut album, Inside Nonsense. Already they are working on a follow-up. The band started when two brothers wanted to bring their ideas out in a musical form. Since then a lot has changed and we asked about past, present and future. Darker Than The Bat Peter-Jan PJ Jailbird Franck Ackermann F PJ : Tell us some more about the past, present and future of Jailbird. F : Jailbird was initially a marvellous adventure created by two brothers who carried the essence of the same passion in their veins. The past and the present of the group are comprised of love and cohesion, a perfect symbiosis between the members, the music, and the spirit. Jailbird's past is nothing but a succession of nasty surprises, disappointments and bad karma. Nonetheless it is also keen work in search of perfection. The present is marked by the appearance of a producer and friend, bringing courage and serenity .... so the future will depend only on what one does with the present. PJ : What is today's line-up? F : The new line up is composed of Franck Ackermann on vocals (composition/arrangement/ orchestration), Fabien with the rhythm guitar, Eddy with the experimental guitar, François on drums, Florian with the samplers, and François on bass... plus 5 other performers who deal with the visual show, and the technical staff. PJ : In what sense did the accident of Erwin influence the band? F : Erwin's accident did not, in any case, influence Jailbird. .. tout au contraire. I would even say that I had stopped everything when my brother was hospitalized, but destiny had other designs --to his great pleasure Jailbird will again go on stage. On the other hand, one thing frightens me: that one day, during a concert, I will look for my brother at my side and I will realize that he is not there anymore. It is simply my greatest fear. PJ : Where did you get the name of the band? F : It is an absurd story, but mostly related to marketing issues. We wanted, my brother and I, to find a name that sounded good, was easy to pronounce, and consisted of two syllables that people can retain quickly … with a subtle reference to our existence... But in fact, the name Jailbird is not very appropriate for our style because it evokes rockabilly, or even country music, but it still sounds good after all these years. PJ : Why was the first recording never released? F : A French label was supposed to take us under its wing in 1998. Appointments, meetings, negotiations, led us to a studio recording of our 11 album titles in August 1998. During this recording, we learned that the label (Thunder Prod) was closing their doors, and we had to finance the recording session ourselves ... a thing which was not even conceivable at that time. Suddenly we found ourselves with a master ... not really knowing what to do with it. Having spent all of our money in this studio, none was left for the duplication/pressing or to take care of the release and the promotion. Then, the sending to labels were multiplied, but nobody wanted a master over which they had no total control. This was generating enormous expenses that we could not sustain. Then Erwin had the accident and I dropped the idea. Then, a completely unexpected event came along : a new label named Geska Records (from Québec, Canada) wanted to release our album and did so. I must say, Geska is much more than an ordinary label, it is also a kind of moral support ... something pretty rare in this world. Marc, the owner, became a friend, and we are now working hand in the hand on several projects. PJ : How would you describe your music? F : Currently, we try lots and lots of different things and approaches. We have this rock'n'roll-industrial base, and we add to it ... trip hop sonority, experimental ambiance ... I would say that with our new line up Jailbird is at the forefront of a style oscillating between Tool and NIN, with a great mixture of Pink Floyd, Vast, and Portishead. PJ : When and why did you change the style from rock'n'roll to industrial rock? F : At the beginning, we made rock'n'roll The Cult, Stooges, MC5 style. But a divergence of opinion resulted in our not having drummer, a bass player at some point. So, we ended up using machines instead, because we were not able to find any reliable musicians. The machines found their place in our Music and helped us created the style and sound we know today. PJ : What are your influences? F : We are influenced by all that surrounds us: fashion, life, publicity, television shit, good manners, and frenzied thoughts... Therefore, nobody can escape from it. At the musical level, we are all influenced by various and multiple currents but Jailbird is mostly inspired by leaders such as Nine Inch Nails, Muse, Portishead, Pink Floyd, Einsturtzenden Neubauten, Vast, The Young Gods, Tréponem Pal, Sin, Peace Love & Pitbulls, and the underground scene. PJ : Do you try to create a certain feeling with your music? F : Today, we experiment more and more in order to create a dimension different from "... inside nonsense ", something filled with feelings, sensual, and non conventional soundscapes. The environment of an album is very significant, and it is through various feelings and lyricisms that I will try to make the new album, a work which should bring the listener to tears--unless he prefers attacking his neighbor--because the ambiance will be a mixture of love and hatred, softness and violence. PJ : What is most important in your songs, the music or the lyrics? F : The most significant aspect of our music is the emotion. If it manages to create the proper feelings without any lyrics, the song will become or stay an instrumental piece. If it is the text that is stronger, so be it. But I would say in all simplicity that everything is significant in the songs ... the music, the choice of the sounds, the texts, the words, the sentences ... and the intonation. These are all important... in expressing what needs to be expressed. In general, I try to write lyrics without using any personal pronouns such as "I and you " to avoid targeting any people in particular... making it possible for the listener to include/understand the text as he will, thus leaving it up to the listener's dreams and phantasms (imagination) to bring some understanding ... as long as they want to play this game. PJ : Can you tell something more about Inside Nonsense? F : Inside nonsense is the fruit of a musical love that two brothers tried to put on a silver disc. But technology evolving/moving unceasingly, I realize that we were not far from the anticipated result, but still a little too minimalist. Concerning the overall ambiance of CD, I am rather happy with it, because it brings the listener various visions of things. However, on the next album, we will devote ourselves to obtaining a uniform set of themes through the CD. PJ : What's your favourite song on Inside Nonsense and why? F : I do not have a preference towards any one song as I prefer what we are currently doing, but if I were to choose, I would say....hummm...... Delirium Tremens, Last Pray, Red Light Vision, for the simple and good reason that these 3 titles are completely different, and best translate the emotions that we tried to communicate...and my final choice, Heaven Distortion, which announces the arrival of the next album. We wanted to record an industrial version of Pink Floyd, The Wall , but the problem was the royalties ... we have few others songs which did not take their place on this CD. In other words, we had titles (of which one will be on a compilation from Geska in 2003), and still lots of ideas that will be partially covered in the new titles. PJ : Are there songs that did not make it on the CD? F : Nothing is easy! But the choice of a language makes it possible to transcribe a certain emotion. English applies to all sauces, because it is a very flexible language, passing off everywhere, making it possible to Easily say what we want. German, on the other hand, is a very conceptual and a very hard/strong language. It is very good for expressing violence and anger. French is a language which ranges between the two, making it possible to produce alternations between soft and violent. Rare are the groups that knew how to generate texts of extreme softness using the German language (except Das Ich, Eisturtzenden Neubauten...). PJ : How is it to work on the same music as brothers? F : The work between brothers was pretty simple, in spite of our musical divergences.... so it did not pose any problem. PJ : Can you tell more about the working on the next album? F : All this will be revealed at the appropriate time, because for the moment, we work in secrecy. It will be the surprise, even if some people are already aware of the project. Work is, however, more complex with 6 players than with 2, but far more enriching. PJ : What do you think about the French alternative scene? F : The alternate scene is at its best in France. Even if the problems come mainly from the structures imposed by the majors companies who swear only by the Anglo-American groups. This said, certain groups that are able to disassociate themselves from the crowd, get signed abroad. We could talk about this for hours but it would not change this reality. What we need to accept (or retain.) from all this, is that if you are not the Rolling Stones or Ben Harper, France doesn't care about the musical culture around your activities. This is a problem which is again surfacing because the system is closing café-concerts, and other places.... for reasons we are still unaware of.