BRÜLE - Embrace The Fire Within (France - Doom/Stoner - Interview with Arno).

- Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what attracted you, what fascinated you and what made you want to make music? Tell me about the band... How did you meet - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
Brüle is an occult stoner trio from the Perpignan region, made up of Arno (guitar/vocals), Juan (bass) and Carla (drums). As for Juan and I (Arno), we'd run into each other from time to time at gigs in the region, we each had our own musical projects and we got together to discuss the bands we liked and had in common. When one of my projects came to an end, I decided to take the time to think about a serious stoner/doom project with more ambitious goals than just playing local gigs. What's more, as I'm drawn to the occult, the esoteric and the mystical (as is Juan too), the idea was to use this project as a vessel for occult concepts close to my heart, the first one being alchemy.
I worked on an EP to lay the foundations of the style and find a drummer; Juan got behind the idea and with this EP we put an advert out and Carla was one of the few to reply saying she was interested, she was looking for a band in which she could “hit hard” on those drums, she didn't need to say any more! She comes from a jazz background, she's in her twenties and the musical universe in which Brüle evolves is very new to her, which means she has a fairly new groove and approach, and little by little she brings her ideas to the tracks.
So here we are, the three of us on the alchemical path of the Great Work that is Brüle, each track an essential element in our transmutation as musicians; this band is a journey in search of the philosophical-musical stone.

- Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all costs?
The funny thing about Brüle's sound is that we each came up with our own sound, and everything just clicked together perfectly. Bass and guitar mingle in a carpet of heaviness, fatness and warmth, while the crushing strike of the drums fiercely fans the flames of the athanor, melting the lead of the melodies into light, salvific psychedelic volutes.

- Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences? How important are lyrics to you? Are there any specific messages or thoughts that you try to develop and share through your lyrics?
As far as inspirations are concerned, I'm very fond of using myths, legends and allegorical figures to describe feelings and situations that can echo everyone's everyday life. Sometimes it's more trivial, and it's current political events that inspire the songs, but the meaning of the lyrics is always deliberately hidden (literally occult). There's talk of Hecate, Adès, witchcraft, demons, Faustian pacts, Lilith, Jungian principles... Many allegorical figures, but also horror films, books and, of course, alchemy.

- What about your latest album? Also, some things now in the making ?
Our first album was released on June 21, 2024 (the Sabbath of Litha), and we're about to celebrate its first anniversary. It's called “L'Oeuvre Au Noir”, which is the first stage of the "Grand Oeuvre Alchimique", the stage where you burn everything, reduce everything to ashes before rebuilding everything; so the idea of this album is to throw all our ideas into the crucible of creation. And by listening to it and playing the tracks live, the aim is to understand what essence to keep in order to create new tracks.
The cover was designed by Juan, who is responsible for all the visual aspects of the band's work, and it is him who gives the artistic direction and the graphic essence of the project. 100 copies are available on vinyl. A few are still available on Bandcamp and from us in concert.
The second half of 2025 will be dedicated to work on the second album. We've got around ten tracks ready, so we'll need to manipulate and dissect them before recording at the end of 2025 for release in the first half of 2026.

- What's your wildest dream for the band?
Like many bands, the project only makes sense when it's on stage. It's the very essence of music, playing in front of people. We've played around thirty dates in twenty months, and we'd like to continue and offer our show at the major festivals in our style (Westill, Grand Paris Sludge, Volcano Sessions...) and of course Hellfest. I don't really want to talk about a dream, which by its very nature seems unattainable, but more about a goal for Hellfest - that's what we're aiming for, it's attainable, it's just a question of staying focused long enough to achieve it.

- Your BEST & WORST gig - as a band - and why?
With experience, I've realized that there's never really a “worst” concert. It's always a good time to be on stage, even if sometimes you can't hear yourself sing or play, etc. The important thing is that the audience tells you it was good every time, and that's what's important. That said, there's one concert I remember, lost in the Jura, where we thought we were going to arrive in a seedy bar run by zombie-nazi-vampires (a bit like in "Green Room" or "From Dusk 'Till Dawn"); there was hardly anyone there to see the 3 bands present for the evening. But in the end, we had a great time with very welcoming people, and with the bands, we had to put on one of our best concerts to keep up with everyone, even though it was the last date of our tour. We've kept strong links with the bands from that night, especially Holls (from Besançon), and it'll stay with us for a long time.

- Next stage appearance(s)?
June 2025 will mark the end of a serie of concerts we started the previous year. We'll be back on stage in 2026, with a maximum number of festivals and concerts all over France. We've been able to make good contacts all over the place thanks to our first album.

- A few words about your local scene - the bands you're friends with and would like to name?
The stoner/doom scene in Perpignan is extremely small, but the French scene is full of talent to be discovered, followed and played on stage; most of it can be found in the “Lords Of The Valley” Facebook community, which is very active, with lots of brave people putting together bands, concerts and tours, so bravo and thank you to them.

- The last word is yours...
“What's above is like what's below” - Hermes Trismegistus.



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