Little Angus of Frances Electric Shock delivers some high voltage words in this new exclusive interview!

TheNwothm: Hey there Electric shock, it is a pleasure to be conducting this interview with you! Can you please our readers who is in the band and where you are from?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : Hi there ! It’s a pleasure for me too ! We are a Hard Rock / Heavy Metal band from Grenoble, France. The members are VolHard on vocals, Charly Chainsaw on rhythm guitar, Dödeströyer on bass guitar, Nicko Jr on the drums and myself on lead guitar.

TheNwothm: Can you give us an insight into how you guys formed?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : Well, it started back in 2010 when I met VolHard, we used to party a lot, going to gigs and jamming music together so it’s been natural to form a band because we also have a lot of influences in common. We looked for guys to play with us, through our friends or offers on musicians network. We recorded three EP’s and one album, and then we are coming back with our new album ‘Blow It Off’ released on September 2023.

TheNwothm: From the get go, did you have an idea for your sound as band and how you wanted to present yourselves to the world?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : Absolutely yes ! I always had this idea of mixing Hard Rock and Heavy Metal in an old school style, something that could been there back in the end 70’s or early 80’s, with its own universe and the themes we discuss. We have clearly assumed influences like AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, Judas Priest, Saxon, Bullet, Accept or Krokus…

TheNwothm: I would love to know more about where you guys are from and what the metal scene is like in France? 

Little Angus (lead guitar) : We all come from Grenoble, a medium-sized city surrounded by mountains. There’s not a lot of bands coming from our town but we can mention Star Rider, Blackowl, Sacral Night or Lonewolf who are doing very good job in their style. We also have talented bands in the rest of the country like Hexecutor, Overdrivers, Herzel, Tentation, Sortilège, Mobütu, Animalize, and many more !

TheNwothm: So why the name Electric Shock? Where did that band name come from?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : When I found the name, I was searching for something related to the power of electricity and danger at the same time. Then, I remembered some lyrics in AC/DC’s track ‘Hard As A Rock’ on Ballbreaker album and I’ve decided to name the band ‘Electric Shock’. I think it’s a good description about the feeling I have when I’m listening to my favorite bands. Someway, it’s my way to thank them for their music.

TheNwothm: You guys formed in 2011 and your first release “Burn Out” was not released till 2016! What did you focus on in those years prior to your debut album?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : The only reason is that we haven’t regular line-up at the time, we were always changing the guitar players or the drummers, because they couldn’t devote as much time as we wanted, or they were not interested in doing a lot of gigs. It took the first three years to find a guitarist, a bass player and a drummer who were on the same point as VolHard and myself. At this moment, we really worked hard to write some satisfying songs and record it.

TheNwothm: And when “Burn Out” was unleashed on the world how did that feel? Did the album come together quite quickly or did take a while?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : It was incredible ! The EP’s was sold out in less than six months, as a first release that was a pride to know our music touched so many people in such a short time.

TheNwothm: Do you have any favourite tracks from that album?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : Most of people think ‘Scream My Name’ is the highlight but personally, I like a lot tracks like ‘Dressed To Kill’ or ‘Heavy Metal Resistance’, it stays in mind and it tells a lot about our lifestyle. I love playing it on stage.

TheNwothm: Excluding your new album, could you tell our readers a little bit about the music you have put out over the years. If someone was listening to you for the first time, which tracks would you point listeners too?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : As I mentioned it before, these tracks from ‘Burn Out’ are good to introduce people to our music. We also have some speedy tracks like ‘Wild Bastards’, ‘One Night Stand’ or ‘Beer Ritual’ that could please thrashers or punks in the scene. We made a tribute to Lemmy with the title ‘Motörbreaker’. And, as an AC/DC fan, we can recognize their style with tracks like ‘Snake Boots’, ‘Play It Rock N’ Roll’ or ‘Judas Children’. 

TheNwothm: Looking back at your releases, how do you think the band has developed musically and as band?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : I think we gave up the reckless and punk side that was in ‘Burn Out’, of course this album sounds good but today, the songs are written with more thinking than before. The only thing that never changed is our passion for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

TheNwothm: All of your releases seem to have a similar theme between artworks. Can you tell our readers more about them and some of the artists behind the artworks?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : Our artworks always had this consistency between them. There is this Dodge Challenger 1970 RT that became the band’s mascot. And a regular gimmick like me from behind, it wasn’t intentional but the idea remained. The covers are all painted by the talented David Berbel, which used to be our bassist on every release and since then, he remained our illustrator.

TheNwothm: I really want to focus on the new album “Blow it off” which was released back in September. How would you describe the overall sound and musical direction of the new album, especially in comparison to your previous work? 

Little Angus (lead guitar) : The first particular thing in this album is that we focused more on the Hard Rock and bluesy style than before. Without rejecting our Heavy Metal side as well, but we wanted to explore something else on this album. We also worked hard on our sound, with more precision and better quality than the previous releases. We’ve been working with Hans Olsson and Pyramix Virtual Studio for the mastering and we are very glad of the final result.

TheNwothm: When did the the first ideas come together for the new album? Which was the first song of the new album that you wrote?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : Honestly, I can’t remember which track was written first between ‘Loser Of Love’ and ‘Night Rider’. The ideas came not so long before the first quarantine we had in France because of COVID epidemy and this whole period allowed us to write the rest of the album.

TheNwothm: Can you discuss any specific challenges or creative decisions that the band faced during the production of “Blow It Off”?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : Actually, some writing sessions were not so easy because it was a time when we couldn’t meet because of quarantine. It was like sending mails or phone callings to talk about how it could sound, all the time. And I realised people I used to play with since many years were not so motivated than I was. We had to find an agreement about some songs, we had to let down some riffs because it couldn’t match between us. It’s been kind of tricky. Now, except for VolHard (vocals), they left the band to devote themselves to other projects and I wish them the best !

TheNwothm: Let’s talk about the songs! Can you give us a run down of the tracks on the album and which are each of your favourites?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : The titles like ‘Blow It Off’ and ‘Overheat’ are very speedy with an Airbourne style, this kind of stuff sounds good for brawl. We have songs in AC/DC style, more bluesy like ‘Canyon’ or ‘HitchHiker Blues’, perfect for a road trip along the desert plains. We didn’t forget our Heavy Metal roots with the tracks ‘Gimme A Break’ or ‘Night Rider’ but we also added some KISS style with harmonized backing vocals on ‘Loser Of Love’ and ‘Lost Railroad’. I think my favorite tracks are ‘Canyon’ and ‘HitchHiker Blues’ but it’s probably because I talk as a guitarist, there’s a lot of solos in these songs.

TheNwothm: When you came to recording the album who were the people behind its production?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : We used to, and still work with the one and only Mederock who has his own studio recording. We started to record with him for the EP ‘Burn Out’ and he loved our songs, he knows how it has and how we want it to sound, he’s a very good friend and he made a lot for us. Eternal thanks to him !

TheNwothm: And what is the meaning behind the albums awesome artwork?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : There’s a lot of different meanings in this artwork. First, if you look at ‘Blow It Off’ lyrics, it tells about someone tired about his work, his life, frustrated at not rocking enough. So we can imagine this character takes his guitar to go far away, and burn the place he’s leaving. A certain way to piss off everything that repels him. I think we could see it as a hidden tribute to Ashbury’s album ‘Endless Skies’ that we love !

TheNwothm: Looking towards 2024 what are your plans? Will you be hitting the road?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : We already have some dates planned in France and some to be confirmed in Germany, Belgium and Italy. We hope to play as much as possible ! From anywhere you are coming, contact us and we will rock your town !

TheNwothm: Where can fans buy your music and merch?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : All our music and merchandising is available on our bandcamp site : bandcamp.com/electricshock, we have CD’s, vinyls, t-shirts and patches. We are also on YouTube, Spotify and Deezer for people more accustomed to streaming.

TheNwothm: Anything else you would like to mention?

Little Angus (lead guitar) : First, I would like to thank the other guys of the band, they are my family and I’m proud of them. I hope we’ll keep on rocking for a long time ! And I would like to thank our friends, our fans and the bands we played with. You know who you are and you are the bests ! Hard Rock à mort !