Introduction: band’s official bio
Banner photo by: Guillaume Bideau Photography
One-Way Mirror is a rock metal band on the verge of triggering a revolution in the world of music. The band was created when 5 close friends decided to join forces to create the ultimate rock metal band:
- Guillaume Bideau (Mnemic),
– David Potvin (Lyzanxia, Phaze I)
– Franck Potvin (Lyzanxia, Phaze I)
– Clement Rouxel (T.A.N.K)
– Vincent Perdicaro (General Lee)
These buddies were used to sharing the stage with their respective bands and as they got closer throughout the years, they started working on more and more projects together and eventually they came up with the idea of creating a band in the rock metal genre, in which they would include all their influences to bring out a unique style boasting the most powerful and melodic hard-hitting rock anthems of today.
They got together for two weeks in studio to party and to work on some tunes just to see how things could develop. In the end, the alchemy was so perfect that 11 tracks were composed. With their venture taking serious shape, the musicians decided to go to Sweden to record the drums with Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, In Flames, …) at the Dug Out Studio. Everything else was recorded later on at Lyzanxia’s Dome Studio/Guillaume Bideau’s Dogs in the house studio and produced by Guillaume Bideau and David Potvin.
The album was finalized when the band went to Denmark to get the tracks mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen (Sick Of It All, Dark Tranquility, Mnemic, …) at the Antfarm Studio. One-Way Mirror now had its full identity and 11 killer tunes under its belt.
The next logical step was to get plastic arts master Alain Trehard to design the album cover and the booklet.
The bands self-titled debut album has been released on the 27th of June 2008 (G/A/CH/I) / 30th of June 2008 (rest of Europe) on Metal Blade Records. USA release date: July 22nd 2008.
One-Way Mirror toured the Europe with Soilwork at the end of 2008.
In 2011 the band decided to record their second album Destructive By Nature. David and Guillaume take care of the production at the Dome studio / Dogs In the House. The artwork is once again designed by Alain Tréhard. Destructive By Nature is released on April 16th 2012.
After sharing stages with bands like Gojira and Loudblast, the guys get together again to compose and record 15 new tracks. The release is set for 2014.
It’s time to be on the right side of the mirror!
One-Way Mirror Trailer [New Album 2015 – ‘Capture’]
Interview by: Laura DeSantis-Olsson
1. What is the history of One-Way Mirror as a band?
Franck: “Ah, the story of the band. We met each other in 2000 / 2001, while I was recording with my brother for another band, Lyzanxia. Lyzanxia is the first band I was a part of. We began about 1996. It included my brother. We made about four albums. We did a lot of tours in Europe and one in the U.S. We sold many CDs. Lyzanxia, in a form, still exists. We are exactly the same members as One-Way Mirror except for the singer. However, we are on a break and concentrating only on One-Way Mirror’s new album.”
“In 2000 or 2001 we met Guillaume, and we kept in contact for many years. We always got together to party as well. Then, one day we had a really big party and we decided to have the band come all together and play music that we liked to play and that we liked to hear. It was pretty easy, and funny, and happy music. We went into the rehearsal room for twelve days, and after those twelve days, we came out with twelve songs. We sent the songs to a few lanes and that was it; One-Way Mirror was created like this.”
“The process of composing the songs is really easy. We did one song per day. One song is one day. If it’s too long, we stop writing the song. We are really good friends. We understand a lot about each other. Everything’s going so fast for One-Way Mirror. I think that when you listen to our music you can see that it’s happy and easy music.”
2. How did you decide on the name One-Way Mirror for the band?
Franck: “Ha, deciding to call the band One-Way Mirror… it’s a really funny story. We mixed the first album in Denmark. When we arrived at the studio they opened the session in Protools and asked us, “What’s the name of the band?” We said, “Oh fuck, we don’t know.” We knew we had twelve songs prepared, with lyrics and everything, and we said, “Oh, we have to be good at finding the name of the band.” We were thinking of really, really bad names like, “Momac,” but nobody knows what this means. Nobody can understand this outside of France. We were also looking at the lyrics of the songs to come up with a name, and we just noticed “One-Way Mirror.” I like the image of the one way mirror and what it represents. It can have a lot of meanings behind it. It’s not just a name, it’s a concept, and idea, and you can play around with it. You can even play around with the image of it. We can do a lot of things surrounding this name. However, we chose this name just one day before sending the CD to the labels. We were really in a hurry and the labels were saying, “Ok, we listened to your songs, it sounds good, but we need a real CD with the packaging and the band name.” So, just the day before we said, “Ok, we go for One Way Mirror (Miroir a` sense unique).”
3. From a marketing standpoint, how much weight do you think a band name has in the packaging process? How important is it to have a strong band name?
Franck: “It’s really important to have a good band name. A good example of this is my previous band, Lyzanxia. It does mean a lot of things, even in France. It’s a medicine. Everywhere we go people didn’t understand it and would ask, “What does it mean?” A long time ago we thought it was really cool to have a band name that makes people ask you this question, “What does it mean?” Ultimately it’s easier when you have a band name in English, of course, because everybody understands English basically everywhere in the world. The band name must also represent a little bit about the band. For us, One-Way Mirror is just perfect because you can see the one way mirror in reality. For example, in a police station, we are not cops, we are more the bad guys, but we think it’s really funny. Guillaume, the singer, and I are also photographers, and we like working with mirrors sometimes as well.”
“As a band, we are really proud of the name One-Way Mirror. It’s not a shame for us to say our brand name and we are really proud of it.”
4. What is One Way Mirror’s current writing process of the band?
Franck: “We mainly compose with only two people together. We pair off to do the writing. If everybody’s composing at the same time it’s going to be a real mess. The drummer likes something really fast. The bassist loves something really groovy. It’s going to turn into a mess really quick (laughs). Everybody will want to but their contribution in at once and it will be completely chaotic. So, we mainly compose as duos. It’s mainly my brother, David, and I; Guillaume and I, or Guillaume and David. Perdi, the bassist, and Clement, the drummer, they work together creating the arrangement. It’s getting really, really fast. We have our own studio; it’s called The Dome Studio. So, when we compose we directly record it from the Protools. If there is anything to do, like any affect, editing stuff, we do directly. Then, we have a chance to listen to it after. We are good at working for twelve hours non-stop. We will take about two-hour breaks after our twelve-hour session and go out and see some friends. When we come back, we listen to the song again.”
5. What message do you want people to get from your music?
Franck: “I would like to know when people are listening to our music that they get a really, really huge smile and start head-banging. They can scream as well, at the same time: smiling, screaming, and head-banging.
6. How did One-Way Mirror become involved with Pavement Entertainment?
Franck: “I don’t really remember because my brother usually takes care of the business-and-management side of things. We know, of course, (hed) p.e., and Tantric, for a long time. We heard that they were possibly looking for bands to sign. So, I know my brother reached out to their team and I guess they responded right away. We also know Pavement because they have really good distribution in France and Europe. We are aware of the work they do.”
“To be really honest with you we worked with Japanese labels, Italian labels, Spanish labels, French labels, even labels from the U.K. However, each time we worked with a U.S. label, you guys are more professional, I mean it. You don’t reject us because we are a metal band. It’s a band and we are going to do our best to make it bigger. Each time we work with American labels it has stayed consistently professional. We are not here to goof around and only have fun. We can have fun, but we are professional before everything else. That’s the way we like it.
You can see that Tim King is a really great guy. We met him in Paris when he was playing with Soil. We are also always talking with Mark or Shauna from promotions. It’s fast and easy and we really, really love it.
7. What do you miss about France when you are on tour in the U.S. and vice versa?
Franck: “Yes, of course I miss my family, my friend, and sometimes the food. I’m sure you can find good food in the U.S. in New York, L.A., and places like this. However, in France, you can find a lot, a lot, of really good restaurants but you need to get the address right to find them. These places are really good and the wine is inexpensive. In France, the good wine is really inexpensive, where as in the U.S. it is a little bit more expensive. However, the U.S. knows how to make good beer, especially the IPA stuff and everything. When I’m back in France, what I miss is the liberty and the landscape. You know, I’m just coming back from the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. When I was riding there the landscapes were so huge and beautiful, and you got a certain glow in the sky when the sun sets. Many pinks and purples; and, they were soft. It was just beautiful. I really miss it when I’m back in France. I think there are no words to explain what I’ve seen, you know, it’s so huge and beautiful. I can spend days there without even talking: no internet, nothing; and, just watching the beautiful landscape.”
8. How is art, in general, viewed in France compared to the way it is viewed in the U.S.? What is the energy surrounding people’s expression of ideas in France?
Franck: “I can talk for hours on this subject. In France, people are pretty musically open-minded. However, it’s quite complicated for a metal band to play every night. It’s even not possible. It’s really even complicated if you have a pop band or something of this nature. It is this way even for DJ’s. For rock music, or metal music, in France, it’s considered underground; even if you have a big festival like HELLFEST, which is one of the biggest festivals in Europe. Some people think that in this genre of music we burn churches, we eat bats, or things of this nature.”
“I’ve been to the U.S. with my brother in 2004 with our band Lyzanxia. We toured here. We know how the U.S. welcomes people, how you welcome bands, and how it’s easy for you to go to a show any night of the week. Now, here in Los Angeles it’s Monday night. I quite sure I would be able to find a live band to go see here tonight. In France, this is not possible.”
“There are a lot of American people I met and they say, “Yeah, I’ll come to your show.” You have a really strong culture and are positive; especially when it comes to music. We are positive too in France, but it’s not the same. I think for playing in a rock band, rock music or metal music, it’s easy in the U.S.A. We really love the U.S. A lot of us have been to the U.S. many times and we really love the way you treat the musicians. However, in France, it’s easy to be a musician because you get paid real easily. In France if you earn a living as a musician, you can play in an orchestra or something of that nature, and it’s quite easy. However, if you only play rock ’n’ roll… WOAH! Except for Gojira, I don’t know another professional band in France. Without exaggeration I think there are only, maybe, five or six professional metal bands in France.”
9. What other art forms do you create besides music?
Franck: “I’m a photographer as well. I’ve been making photos for more than ten years now. I don’t do this as far as business. I just like to take pictures of everything; of people in particular. Sometimes I go up to people and say, “Hey, can I take a picture of you please?” Most of the people say, “Yes.”
10. How would you relate photography to music?
Franck: “I think sometimes it’s the same. It’s quite complicated to explain. Sometimes I like to play something that’s really violent. When I’m angry or something, or when I have that knot in my stomach that I just want to get out, I like to play something really violent. When I am taking photos with this same feeling, the photo is really brutal. There is a lot of blur and a lot of color in the image. When I’m really peaceful and I just want to listen to really cool music, I will choose Bob Dylan or something like this. I just lie down on the couch and appreciate the music, or I can take pictures of the landscape and I feel peaceful. I can just be cool. I think, like for everybody on earth, when you have anger in your body it has to get out. When you’re really peaceful it’s the same. This is the relationship between photography and music.
11. What bands or musicians would you really love to tour with?
Franck: “There is that great band from San Francisco called Metallica. If you have their number (laughs), I’m ready to call them. Of course we also like the powerful band, Soil. It’s not just because they have Tim King, they are so powerful on stage. Their singer is so, so amazing. So, I would like to tour with them of course. I am also reminded of the band Dog Fashion Disco and I’m quite sure we would fit onstage with them. These are the bands I really like.
