Getting to Know… TRANK | Interview

In the 451^st Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from Michel regarding the French / Swiss heavy alt-rock band, TRANK.

“Areviewer recently described us as making songs that sound like widescreen films for your ears, and I think that captures it,” TRANK responds to our question regarding what makes them distinct or unique as a band.  They expound, “We like the idea of creating each song, album and performance the way an intelligent blockbuster movie would be made.” Notably, this marks the second Q&A with the French / Swiss heavy alt-rock band. TRANK first interviewed with The Musical Hype as our 226^th interviewee in November 2021. Michel (vocals, synths, and programming) gives us the inside scoop on the band’s genesis, goals, musical influences, and current and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into Getting to Know…TRANK: Interview No. 451!

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

Good question. A reviewer recently described us as making songs that sound like widescreen films for your ears, and I think that captures it. Most of us in the band are film fans, and we like the idea of creating each song, album and performance the way an intelligent blockbuster movie would be made – it has a truly unique idea at its core, and you bring that to life in a way that is layered and rich and immersive enough that it captures people’s imagination for however long it lasts. Sometimes, the idea might be about something rather dark, but you still present it in a way that everyone wants to lose themselves in the story for a few minutes or an hour. I just made us sound like we’re a prog band, but we’re not; there’s a prog influence in the arrangements and production maybe, a sense of richness and texture and not just raw power – although the power is definitely there. But they’re songs, idea and melody-based, rather than made to showcase anyone’s technical mastery of their instrument.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did TRANK form, and what were some of your goals or visions early?

Nothing particularly juicy, I’m afraid – although we’ve gone through a pretty major line-up change in the last couple of years, at the beginning of making The Maze – so it was close to not happening at all at some point. There were four of us when we made the first one. There’s five of us now, even six on stage with our manager, Emma, on live synths and backing vocals. Our lead guitarist and co-founding member, Julien, chose to leave the band early in the process of recording the new album because there was too much going on in his personal life to keep up with the work needed for us to sound the way we wanted to. David, our bass player, was, in fact, always a guitarist, and had gradually taken over much of the prep and performance work for the songs that ended up on the second album, so he naturally slipped into the role, and we made most of the album as a three piece with Johann, our drummer extraordinaire. David switching to guitar meant we had to find another great bass player, Arnaud, and another guitarist, Nico – because the new songs were clearly written and arranged to be performed on stage with two guitars. If you want a truly “widescreen” sound on stage, that’s the sort of line-up it takes. (That, or pre-recording everything on a backing track, which really isn’t our thing). We’re working on the live versions of the songs with the new line-up now, and they sound amazing.

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

I’m not sure we think about it in terms of goals. We make the music we want to hear. We hope others want to hear it too, and from what we see in the reviews and whenever we play live, those people do exist, which feels great. But in terms of ambitions – we’re a couple of decades too late for fame and fortune in rock, aren’t we? I think if there’s any ambition, it’s to create a body of work that we can look back and be proud of, because it’s the best realization of the ideas we had, the best encapsulation of who we were when we made it, and it gave not only us but other people a bunch of unforgettable moments of intense enjoyment. That last line does sound like an ad for a sex toy, but it’s true.

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

I think you’d get a very different reply from each of us. We’re all really passionate, to the point of obsessive, about music – and we’ve ALL got very eclectic tastes: TRANK’s music is born where those influences meet. I (Michel, vocals and programming) might be the most eclectic of the lot, but my center of gravity would be somewhere between Depeche Mode, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails and Massive Attack (although I’m back to my Beth Gibbons obsession of the 90’s these days; her new record is unbelievable). David’s would probably be around Soundgarden and G’n’R (although we share a love of Queen and A-Ha as well). Johann is a Toto and Dream Theater fan and loves Pink Floyd just as much as I do. Nico is into Foo Fighters and Rage Against the Machine as much as Porcupine Tree. Arnaud is the only other guy on the planet I can have conversations with about Doug Wimbish, who was in Tackhead, then Living Colour – and also played with Depeche Mode (on one track), which brings us back full circle. You’ll find those influences in our sound, some of them more easily than others.

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.

When we opened for Deep Purple (to a capacity crowd of 16,000 in Riga), we learned afterwards from their stage director that they were standing behind us all the way, hidden behind panels and props from their stage set, and that they had “loved it”. They exited a minute before we were done to go and change. Good thing we didn’t know – I don’t think we could have played a note. We asked if we could hide in the same places and watch them perform, and the guy said yes, so we did – a Deep Purple concert live from the stage is unbelievable. At some point, Don Airey went into a 5-minute keyboard solo piece, and Steve Morse came to us, drink in hand, to tell us how much he had loved our set. Unforgettable.

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

That would change day to day. Right now, for me, it’s a song called “Miracle Cure”, from our new album, The Maze. On paper, it’s the craziest thing because it has all those contrasts we love, pushed up all the way to 11. It’s dark but inviting, intimate but epic, intense but driving. It’s sort of a cross between the hugely atmospheric sound of later Pink Floyd records with massive stoner guitars and “Violator”-esque sequencers, the vocals go from soft empathy all the way to belt-it-out angst, and then there’s a quasi-rap bit before the most cosmic guitar solo we’ve ever put to tape. It takes a pretty dramatic subject and turns it into a self-contained cinematic piece of catharsis. Described like that, it sounds more like an explosion in a music store than a song, but it actually works – and it’s the most enjoyable vocal to sing live.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left-of-center we should know about TRANK? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

I still have a baby tooth. Does that count?

What is TRANK currently working on or promoting that you can share? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

Well, The Maze has just come out a couple of months ago, and the reviews are incredible, and the vinyl version is due in a few weeks. We’ve just played the test pressings, and they sound incredible, so we can’t wait for vinyl lovers to hear it. Sound matters to us, we spent a lot of time recording and producing the songs with our friend Yvan Barone, who’s a veteran of the Montreux Jazz Festival, mixing most of them with Brian Robbins in NYC (although Yvan mixed 2), and mastering them with Andy Van Dette also in NYC – who obviously created different masters for the CD, high rez, and LP versions. So, to finally hear the vinyl sounding as great as we hoped it would was quite a moment. Stay tuned for the release date.

Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

Thank you

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Getting to Know…TRANK: Interview No. 451 (2025) [: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; TRANK]