![]() ![]() The result of this experiment became Zeal & Ardor and the forward motion and popularity of which has exploded beyond anything neither Manuel nor his online challengers could have ever predicted. There are lots of grains of salt in there.” I make pretty sounds and that’s not even factual, that’s something that can be debated. At the end of the day, I’m just a fucking musician and I don’t think I should be a political signpost for anyone. “Terms like cultural appropriation, where I’m not allowed to do or use something because I’m not this or that, or someone from Asia is not allowed to use the circle of fifths because that’s traditionally a western musical thing, is absolute bullshit and super-regressive. The idea gestated and instead of using blues, jazz, funk, hip-hop, world music, zydeco or any number of genres invented and associated with black folks, he gravitated towards the hymnals and chants used by American slaves. Instead of lashing out at the anonymous person – a person who, ironically enough, we’re thankful to for planting the seed for Zeal & Ardor – for obvious reasons, Manuel thought about it. One night, he was challenged to write an original song that combined “black metal with nigger music.” Being an old-school metalhead, Manuel understood that part of the equation. Here, where posters revel in anonymity to contribute unfettered content and commentary ranging from the compelling and interesting to the ridiculous and offensive, he began taking up combinatory musical challenges from fellow posters. Four or five years ago, Manuel was spending a fair amount of time on the unfiltered universe of imageboard website, 4Chan. Zeal & Ardor have a very different history than most other bands. There’s something to be said for having to wear so many gloves that you can’t actually touch anything anymore.”Ĭheck out the band’s video for the single “Gravedigger’s Chant” here. Maybe I’m not a social justice warrior, but I am slightly leftist tinged and think I have a little thicker skin than that. “In another way, wouldn’t that have been the reaction that that person was trying to incite? He wanted to offend, he wanted to be harsh and brash and I guess the bigger ‘fuck you’ would be to actually make the song and make it sound half-decent. “To be on 4Chan, that’s just what you get,” he says with a laugh. Hell, he might be skulking around the internet, engaging in never-ending battles with faceless online provocateurs. ![]() And after returning home from a soul-sucking day job, he’d only have a couple hours available to work on music in isolation before having to “hit the hay” in order to get up the next morning for another wade through the daily grind. In fact, if Manuel was at all concerned with political correctness, instead of relaxing at a café and being thrust under the PureGrainAudio microscope as the hustle and bustle of Basel, Switzerland’s rush hour clang around him, chances are he’d be mired in the midst of that hustle and bustle. He wouldn’t be in the midst of rehearsals for the summer festival season, including scheduled appearances at Download, the Grasspop Metal Meeting and the prestigious Montreaux Jazz Festival. He wouldn’t be chatting up his third album ( a review of which you can read here). If he was a so-called social justice warrior-type obsessed with current hot-button topics pertaining to injustice and calling out every instance of such instead of getting on with it, Zeal & Ardor, the avant-garde metal project he masterminds, would never have happened. If he was easily riled up by other people’s ignorance and their attempts at being shocking or provocative, then none of this would exist. If Manuel Gagneux was a more overly and overtly sensitive person, we wouldn’t be here.
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