Interview: Henric de la Cour
From his start with cult favorite mid-90s indie/goth act Yvonne through his time with the bigger, brassier Strip Music, Henric de la Cour has long been a compelling fixture in the Swedish music, both for his distinctive voice and physical presence. Now, after 17 years in music, Mr. de la Cour is back as a solo artist with his self-titled debut album on the way via (due out October 19). It's a Trap! seized the opportunity to learn more about how he got to where he is today.
Why go solo? What made you decide to go it alone as opposed to starting a new band?
I've always thought that being in a band is much cooler than being a solo act. But after having been in two six-piece bands, who made four and two records respectively, it was time to do something less complicated, just me and my producer in our own studio, just recording music. No politics. Just good fun and good music. But sure, I can miss being in a band, especially the first couple of months, it's like being in love.
You've long been associated with making music that doesn't shy away from grand gestures, yet your solo album finds you paring the instrumentation down more than ever before. Was that a conscious decision? What led you away from guitars?
With Strip Music our motto was "more is more". We never held anything back, the bigger sounds the better we thought. This time I wanted to make something more bare, more electronic, but still dark as fucking midnight. I gave the guitars a smaller part to play this time mostly because neither me and Rikard (Rikard Lindh, also ex-Yvonne), who produced, can really play that well. But there is of course some guitars on the album.
The various live videos I've seen on YouTube show you and your band adopting an almost-black metal look with corpse paint makeup -- what made you decide to go that route? How important of a role does the theatrical/visual element play in your musical vision?
I think that the visual element is very important, especially when it comes to more electronic music performed live. When it came to the make-up I thought that "yeah, maybe this could look cool with the right light setting" and just went for it. I borrowed ideas from the black metal scene and sad clowns. Looks better on photos as well. The live concept I am aiming for is of course KISS Love Gun Tour of '77.
There appears to be a bit of a recent resurgence in goth and other dark music these days and it even seems to be creeping a bit into the mainstream. Would you agree?
I don't really care. I don't listen to music that way.
So how do you listen to music then? Do you keep up with new releases at all? Any recent favorites that may surprise us?
I'm terrible at finding new music, it is always by chance I run into something I like, perhaps a friend shows me something new, or that I happen to be in a record shop and the staff put something on. I'm just not that interested in the hunt for new music, or old music for that matter. But WU LIF's "Go tell fire to the mountain" floored me. Other recent stuff I've liked is I Break Horses debut album and Agent Side Grinder, both Swedish acts.
Lastly, what does Henric de la Cour do for fun these days?
Getting lost in the annals of horror.