Introduce yourself/band duties/age/best book you’ve ever read? Hi, I'm Ben, GOROD's bassplayer and I'm 29. I'm addicted to reading and my favorite kind of novels are SF and thrillers. I really like authors such as Phillip Jose Farmer, Maxime Chattam, or Henning Mankell, and one of the best book I ever read is The Neutronium Alchemist of Peter F. Hamilton. Background/history of the band? Gorod exists for about 10 years. We started as a trio (Sandrine, Mat and I) playing thrash metal. Then Guillaume came on vocals because I wasn't able to both sing and play the bass. In 2003, After many 2nd guitarists we found Arno before recording our first album “Neurotripsicks”, at this time, we used to be called Gorgasm. With this album, we made a deal with a french label, DSR, but this deal was pretty bad because we didn't have any promotion, distribution, and the label manager screwed us. Willowtip reissued “Neurotripsicks” on 2005 (we changed our bandname to “GOROD “ at this time), with 2 bonus songs added, and we signed for 2 LPs. “Leading Vision”, the first of these 2 albums was released last summer. What groups/individuals influenced the sound of Gorod? Our first influences were DEATH and CORONER, but we used to listen many more music styles like latin and acid jazz, neo-classical metal for example. You dropped “Leading Vision” a couple years ago. How do you feel it compares to “Neurotripsicks?” Seems like you guys have gotten a lot more melodic and experimental while retaining the brutal end of things. The essential point is that Mat did a huge job on writing to get the songs and Leading Vision coherent, compared to Neurotripsicks, in which the songs were more or less a sequence of technical riffs for some of the songs. On LV, our aim was to improve the structures of the songs in order to make them more “catchy” and efficient on stage. Considering the brutal end of things, we are less in a “brutal death view”, like Gorgasm(US) or Necrophagist, much more in a “progressive” one, where musicality prevails. But don't worry, this is still Death Metal with useful blast-beat drum patterns! Out of all the tracks you’ve done so far, which one are you most proud of and why? In no particular order: “Chronicle from the stone age”, when Mat created this song, we were very sceptical because it sounds really like a Heavy Metal stuff and we didn't know how to turn it in a different way but before entering the studio sessions, Mat got the solution and after recording, we all thought it was one of the more efficient song of LV! A similar example for Neurotripsicks was the last song, “Neuronal Disorder State “. “Hidden Genocide”, “Blackout” or “Here die your Gods” are some of our favourite songs, due to their abilities to mix different moods and playing these songs is really pleasant! On stage, we still play “Gutting Job”, “Pig's Bloated Face”, “Harmony in Torture” or “Beware of Tramps” from “Neurotripsicks”. How is the French scene these days, death metal and otherwise? To be honest, I'm not really hyped on french scene actually because I'm more listening to old music like progressive rock of '70, or the old death metal album I got ( Bolt Thrower, Sickening Gore, Carcass, Death, Morbid Angel... ). One of the really good french deathmetal band is Gojira especially on stage. I think the Hardcore scene is important, but I'm not in. Does Gorod have any particular lyrical goals or message? No, our lyrics just tell a imaginary story in some Sci-Fi style. We don't think that death metal is a good way to express political or ideological views. Involved bands usually have a critical view without bringing any solutions, and most of all, we play music to share emotions more than thrash out current life problems. Thoughts on the current political state in France? In America, we see a lot of stuff about riots regarding immigration, unemployment and leadership fights. Didn’t witness too much of that when I was in Paris this last summer but wanted to get a natives perspective. Everything has begun when the prime minister tried to impose some laws about employment that allows societies to fire fresh employees for neither valid reasons nor compensations. At the same time, he provokes immigrant community, insulting them indirectly. Every social classes take this opportunity to claim their discontentment, as ever in France. Riots and violence were just caused by some punks that have always been waiting for such an occasion. How about the war in Iraq? The war in Iraq is a really stupid thing and the fact that France didn't participate to it was one of the rare good decision of our president. Bands you are really hyped on? The bands I mainly listen to at this time are Strapping Young Lad (The New Black), Jungle Rot (everything but the last one), Bolt Thrower, Gojira (From Mars to Sirius), Origin, The Mars Volta, Decapitated, Gorguts (I can't wait for their new project – Negativa), King Crimson also. How is life with Willowtip? Life looks good in North America, but since Willowtip breaks its deal with Earache for European distribution, we can't be promoted in our area, and that's a problem because we don't have any support and advertising here, so it's really hard to perform our music live. Just a few people knows that we exist. Touring plans for ’08? Come to the US, man. We participate at Maryland Death Fest on May 07 but at this time, nothing else is scheduled for the US. Last words? Thanks for your support, I really hope to come and make a little US tour in May because we got a lot of support of American people and that's a great thing for us!!