We are The Prestige, from Paris. France.
Paris has always been filled with clichés of romantic love and bright lights over the river Seine but those was has spent time in the French capital could speak a different portrait of the City of Lights. Filthy streets and the heady smell of piss in the metro corridors are the real face of Paris and this is what bred The Prestige upon writing their second album ‘Amer’.« Paris is the city we were born and grew up in. We love our city as much as we hate it. And it naturally became the background of this new record »explains Alex Diaz, singer and guitarist.
« Amer » draws a new face of the Parisian quartet and pushes even forward the boundaries set on critically acclaimed debut album Black Mouths. Darker and heavier, the band’s new effort is driven by raw bitterness. But bitterness is not anger. Bitterness is not hatred. Bitterness is not a revolution. Bitterness is the rotten fruit of haunted memories and aborted innocence. Bitterness is the familiar frustration and underlaying violence that one gets used to. It is the rage that was tamed. It is the golden hopes that don’t shine anymore. It is the mumbling of a disillusioned youth that grew up too fast. And that struggles to explode.
« An album is a photograph of a band at a particular moment », adds guitarist Raphael Jassin, « and bitterness is both the state of mind and the landscape of our personal lives today ». This new record is filled with passion and infatuated with shady melodies bearing an intimacy with the band throughout the tracklist. Following the uncompromising choices the band made since its debut album, they decided to lock themselves up to record Amer in 6 rainy December days in Laval (France) with internationally acclaimed producer Amaury Sauvé (Birds in Row, As We Draw, Comity,..) to capture the adrenaline fueled aggressiveness of the band, its emotional climaxes and haunting melodies.
« Amaury was the fifth member during the sessions » explains Julien Bouladoux, « he had as much importance as all of us during the recording and pushed us to give all we had for the very few takes we took of each song ». And, to enhance the artistic choices made during recording they decided to entrust the mastering of Amer to legendary producer Bob Weston (David Bowie, Nirvana, Shannon Wright, Shellac, Om, Ceremony,…).
Members of The Prestige wear their hearts firmly emblazoned on their chest. « This band is not simply a musical hobby we have on weekends. This band is our statement. » sums up drummer Thibaut Cavelier. In the past couple of years they dragged their passionate shows throughout Europe and UK, opening for The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, Stray From the Path, August Burns Red, The Secret, Hierophant, Raein, Liferuiner, Goodtime Boys. And, feeding their passion further, they decided to carry the torch to Cuba and played 8 shows in front of one of the most incredible crowds of 1000 people in La Habana. They encapsulated this life changing trip on their documentary « Dark Was The Night » directed and shot by Berzerker and to be released in September on Dillinger Escape Plan Ben Weinman’s new creative platform Party Smasher Inc..