Getting to Know… CKRAFT | Interview 🎤

In the 308^th Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from the instrumental jazz-metal band, CKRAFT.

“We’re a five-piece, instrumental jazz-metal band, heavily influenced by melodies from Middle Ages.”  That deserves a mic drop on its own, wouldn’t you agree! 🎙 CKRAFT is comprised of 🎙 Charles, 🎙 Théo Nguyen Duc Long, 🎙 Antoine Morisot, 🎙 Marc Karapetian, and 🎙 William Bur. Like other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on the collective: their genesis, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… CKRAFT: Interview No. 308!

For those who may not be familiar with CKRAFT, what would you say makes you distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 Charles (the bandleader): Hi there, thanks a lot for having us today! We’re CKRAFT, a five-piece,  instrumental jazz-metal band, heavily influenced by melodies from Middle Ages. CKRAFT is 🎙 Théo Nguyen Duc Long on tenor saxophone, 🎙 Antoine Morisot on guitar, 🎙 Marc Karapetian on bass, 🎙 William Bur on drums. I play an augmented accordion, which is an accordion with electronic sensors, allowing me to play synths directly on it! I call it “augmented accordion.”

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did CKRAFT form and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

🎤 Charles: I met most of these lovely people in Paris’ national conservatory of music where we were studying at the same time, except William, our drummer, who was at Berklee. I had met him earlier in my formative years, in a conservatoire in Metz (eastern France), and, already back then, he struck me as someone who could just play anything. Combining him with my Conservatoire friends created the magic that I was looking for to execute this music!

I grew up listening to metal, it was the only music that would really make sense to me as a teenager. I’d spend hours listening to Korn, Slipknot, and especially Gojira. Their album, The Link,  really changed my perception of music and I still listen to it as an adult with the same passion and awe. Later in my formative years, I saw a jazz big band play live and I was blown away by the exuberant freedom that this music was projecting from the stage. Sooner or later, I had to blend these genres!

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 Charles: My goal is to keep this band together as long as possible. If it can be a forever thing, I’ll be more than happy! The idea is to develop our jazz-metal vocabulary together throughout the years, grow old and experienced together, just like the bands we admire that have more than 20 years of career together with the same lineup!

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 Charles: I already mentioned how Gojira’s The Link blew my mind as a kid, so I’ll quote another record that I discovered a bit later, but that is probably one of the CDs that I listened to the most in my entire life – Mr. Bungle’s California. The compositions, the arrangements, the production, and the sound design were just incredible at that time, and are still incredible today. The way Mike Patton and his friends squash and mix together different genres of music with abrupt but brilliant transitions made so much sense to me, and I think really encouraged me to do my very own thing.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 Charles: Nothing too wacky, but since we play music that is between jazz and metal, we sometimes end up playing in unexpected contexts! Last year, we played in front of about 1,000 people, they were here to see the artists we were supporting: Roberto Fonseca and Makaya McCraven, that are both big names on the jazz side. But our music sounds like… let’s say… 80% metal, at least! The festival was Nancy Jazz Pulsations and the (seated!) audience wasn’t expecting to listen to heavy riffs at all, so we were really anxious about their reaction! In the end, it turns out that despite a few grannies covering their ears, most of the audience was standing, shouting, and applauding us. An unforgettable memory.

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?  

🎤 Charles: the whole CKRAFT album actually! Impossible for me to pick one song out. Releasing this album is the first time in my life that I’m 100% happy artistically about one of my productions, without having to compromise whatsoever.

Our purpose was to make something that, in a fully instrumental setup, is looking to be as heavy as possible, while using these epic Gregorian melodies, and jazz-influenced harmonies, and create a space of discordant improvised sections for the “augmented accordion” and the saxophone.

I love all the tracks on Epic Discordant Vision (https://bfan.link/epic-discordant-vision-1) but I’d say the first one, called 🎵 “The Loudest Victim” means a lot to me because it’s the first jazz-metal composition that I ever wrote.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

🎤 Charles: I can probably talk about another – non-musical – source of inspiration that I have: I think musicians and composers are very similar to craftsmen, in the sense that we all use noble material – for us, the culture of jazz and that of metal for example – just like craftsmen would use different varieties of wood, minerals, etc. and create something unprecedented directly from these materials, combined with their art, their expertise, and experience. That’s why I named this band CKRAFT, along with the fact that “Kraft” in German, means strength/energy/force! And there you have it, a mixture of “craft” and “Kraft.”

Other than that, I’d say my bandmates are really awesome and versatile artists: some things worth noticing would be that Marc (our bassist) is playing and recording with Tigran Hamasyan, one of the most renowned nowadays jazz pianists, and Antoine (our guitarist) is also playing French horn in France’s National Orchestra (very high-end classical music)!

Closing out, what is CKRAFT currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.   

🎤 We’re on the road as we speak! Check out our tour dates on our socials! We’re also working on new tunes and plan to record new music, probably sometime next year. Our first album is available on streaming platforms, on BandCamp, as well as on CDs and the best way to stay connected with us would be to follow us on Facebook and/or Instagram. In any case, we’re always keeping the following link updated with all the latest releases and events to come (https://linktr.ee/ckraft.music). Again, thanks a lot for having us today!

Getting to Know… CKRAFT: Interview No. 308 [📷: Brent Faulkner, CKRAFT, Darkmoon_Art, luis2500gx, The Musical Hype, Pixabay, OpenClipart-Vectors]