The man who thought to mix black metal and delta blues in Zeal & Ardor, perhaps it isn't surprising that Manuel Gagneux is a man of diverse tastes. While his band have since expanded to incorporate everything from industrial to desert rock, Gagneux's genre-blending efforts have remained a constant in Z&A's evolution.
But where did they come from? Hammer caught up with the metal maverick to unpick some of the records that shaped him into who he is today. These are the 10 songs that changed Manuel Gagneux's life.
1. Hot Head Show - Bummer (The Lemon, 2011)
“As a teenager, being really obscure and mysterious was appealing to me, but I’m thankful because that douchebaggedness granted me a weird library of music. I saw Hot Head Show opening for Les Claypool around 15 years ago, and they just blew my mind and bestowed on me this fervour of wanting to do music.
Their song Bummer is such a wacky track, and it doesn’t care about genre or if something is weird. I found that infectious enough to want to be that and take that on myself. I am just a fraud, a copy and a scam artist!"
2. The Book Of Knots - Planemo (Garden Of Fainting Stars, 2011)
“Planemo by The Book Of Knots has Mike Patton on it, one of his 18,000 projects, and it’s a slow build that explodes into this eerie, heavy catharsis, with this inhumane vocal line that is really, really good.
It’s such a heavy track and I really love the pathos of it all, where a song can transport you to a different place. I heard that right around writing [second Zeal & Ardor album, 2018’s] Stranger Fruit, and it made me consider digging more into that aspect of songwriting."
3. Nine Inch Nails - Every Day Is Exactly The Same (With Teeth, 2005)
“A not-so-fun one is Every Day Is Exactly The Same by Nine Inch Nails. That song actually made me quit my day job. I was working doing shitty SQL data entry stuff, which I sucked at, and on the commute I was listening to With Teeth when that song came on.
Literally the next day I quit the fucking job, because that [title] line just hit me. I think Trent Reznor did a lot for the job market that year!"
4. Soulive - One In Seven (Doin' Something, 2001)
“There is a funk instrumental song, One In Seven by Soulive, which is in a seven time signature. You think it’s gonna be a douchey musician song and have a cumbersome count for the track that doesn’t flow, but that one really does.
It’s rare to have odd meters in music where it’s not a stunt based around that musical athleticism, but this is in service to the song, and that one made me love odd meters and trying to make them not a stunt but something you can enjoy."
5. Igor Stravinsky - The Rites Of Spring (The Rites Of Spring, 1913)
“I was about 12 years old when The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky was being played in my hometown, and I was made to go. I wanted to kill myself over the idea of going to the theatre and listening to classical music, but it ripped.
You can hear the beginnings of a rock’n’roll attitude in that music, because at the time it was the heaviest shit, and it still has that heft to it. Every instrument has 50 people on it aggressively hitting one note at the same time, and that’s fucking cool. Stravinsky was a weird, weird fellow who reminds me of James Joyce, in that he just did whatever he wanted to."
6. SebastiAn - Doggg (Total, 2011)
“I got into Doggg by Sebastian 10-ish years ago, when he joined onto the same label, Ed Banger Records, as Justice and artists from that French house scene. This track in particular integrates metalcore music a bit though, and I adored the combination of metal elements and electronica.
He did that quite a while ago, and as we all know, that’s taking off quite well now, with stuff like Perturbator and Carpenter Brut. It tries to integrate a metalcore breakdown with maybe varying success, but I commend the effort. If you ever DJ and want to vacate the premises, this is a very efficient choice. It happened to me… twice."
The Bird And The Bee - My Fair Lady (The Bird And The Bee, 2007)
“My Fair Lady by The Bird And The Bee is a soft, poppy number, but the two artists who make up this band are into this 1960s tropicana from people like Henry Mancini, who did The Pink Panther music, where it’s essentially like a fantasy of what tropical music is.
My Fair Lady has this champagne chic air to it that I adore, but The Bird And The Bee combined it with a pop element with these intricate vocal harmonies – that’s a really ethereal sound, that I haven’t heard much ever since."
8. Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger (Transilvanian Hunger, 1994)
“[When it comes to the black metal side of Zeal & Ardor], of course there’s Darkthrone, a small indie thing that no one really knows. Transilvanian Hunger was a huge part of getting me into that music."
9. Naglfar - I Am Vengeance (Sheol, 2003)
"There’s also the Swedish band Naglfar, and opening their album Sheol there’s a track called I Am Vengeance, which was my teen-era anthem. I love that track to bits, and can still listen to it now and get ridiculously pumped. Their melodic writing has this faux orientalism to it – if I write black metal parts, I can’t shake that inkling, and that is 100% them."
10. Opeth - Blackwater Park (Blackwater Park, 2001)
“We were on tour with Opeth when they played Blackwater Park for the first time since I don’t know when. That was insane! I know Mikael Åkerfeldt just said that it’s one of the more overrated Opeth songs, but it’s like Uno correcting people on social media that you can’t stack +4 cards. OK, that’s your opinion, but just make the cards and let us play!
It keeps happening that I’ve been able to tour with bands where I am so excited to see them play a particular song every night, like Mastodon or Meshuggah, and not only do we have the coolest job in the world where we get to yell at strangers and they like it, but we also get to experience formative music like that live. There’s something sacred in that.”
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