Doomed Confessionary: Seb Alaise (Deaf Blokes)
Deaf Blokes is a four-piece stoner/desert rock band from Antibes in the south of France.
The band’s debut album »Life Is Hell« was released on September 5th, 2024 and is available now on CD and all major streaming platforms.
Deaf Blokes are Seb Alaise on vocals, Olivier François on guitar, Pierre Rouland on bass and Stephane Carpentier on drums.
Can you say a few words about your band?
The band was created in 2017, but really begins in 2019, after a long search for the bassist and the drummer, around the same passion for stoner-rock and bands like Kyuss, Lowrider, Red Fang… and many others. Our songs used to talk about protection of the oceans, and some funniest thematics like Game of Thrones or Walker Texas Ranger.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Maybe when we have played for the Rockfest 1 Max de Bruit in 2023 at the Théâtre de Verdure (Nice), one of the biggest place for concerts in Nice.
What can you be most proud of so far?
To have been accepted as Deaf Blokes by the booker/manager of Slomosa for playing before them in Marseille on November the 4th.
We could also answer that we are fucking proud to tell that our first LP has been mixed (in part) and mastered by Esben Willems (Monolord’s drummer)!!!
And on a personal basis, I am more and more proud of our guitarist Olivier François, who became in few years a fucking stoner-guitar-hero who composed most of the songs in Deaf Blokes!!!
What was your biggest regret?
After trying to find something, we gonna answer NO REGRETS like Edith PIAF 😉
And personally, to have been to much lazy to learn how to play guitar for real, and still having the same bad level since 30 years! LOL
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Our last gig, at Sophia Live Music, in front of a crowd full of good energy, singing some chorus with us! We were back on stage after 1 year, spent to record, with the new drummer, and it was huge!
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
For sure the last gig, in Sophia Live, when the crowd starts to sing with us! Before this concert, by the past, we used to see friends in the first row singing with us, but in Sophia, there were much more than the first row 🙂
And if the question is not about Deaf Blokes on stage, the biggest surprise, for sure, is when Kyuss came back on stage in 2011, with the name Kyuss Lives, and I had the chance to see them in Italy (Milano).
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Kyuss, Red Fang, 1000mods, Lowrider, Slomosa, Monolord, Unida, Sasquatch… and many others in different styles like Faith No More, Sepultura (with Max Cavallera), Sex Pistols, The Cure, Dead Kennedys, Depeche Mode, Deftones, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Ultra Vomit, Joe la Mouk and of course Black Sabbath!
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
To make music with love and passion, and in this case, the audience will feel it and love it!
What are your guilty pleasures?
Weeds and Rum!!!
Can you say something more about current music scene in the south of France?
I start playing in rock band in 1990, since this moment, I always thought I was not in the good city, and even more, not in the good country to make a professional carreer in music.
After 34 years, by playing in a lot of bands, and in a few cities all over France, I’m still thinking I’m not living in the better place for rock music, but our local scene, despite everything, is rich of many talented bands!
And in the local scene: No End Date (grunge, alternative rock band in which our bassist Pierre also plays bass), Preparation H (punk, rock, ska band in which I play, not as a singer, but as the bassist), and also band’s friends: Rising All Stars, Deceates, Unchained, Corpus Delicti, Doctor Doom, Code 150, Glamour At The Gate, Split Personality, Deadly Viper, Yerao, Walrus, Azelma,…
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
November 4th opening for Slomosa in city of Marseille (Le Molotov)
December 7th in Nice (Altherax Music)
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Record the 2 nd LP, all songs are ready, and give some good concerts all over the country, and why not, try to be selected in stoner-rock festivals, or in Hellfest even if its for playing at 11am in the morning!
As huge fans of Kyuss, we have also decided a few weeks ago, to start a tribute band to them which is called Sky Valley… We hope to make the first gig around winter 2025…
How can people best support your band?
In priority, by coming to see us on stage as often as possible, by following us on social networks, and of course, by listening and buying our first LP »Life Is Hell« 🙂
Do you have any message for your listeners?
For a long time, our listeners were our friends… since our first album is available all over the world on every streaming platforms, and we could seen that we are listened in a lot of countries!
It’s just amazing for us, to see that, and to read some cool comments on YouTube or Instagram or Facebook! We try to not miss any comment and we answer each of them and thanks everyone!
Some of them, asked us to come and play in their cities/country… For the moment, we haven’t got a lot of plans to play out of south of France, but we are going to try to… If someone here, read this interview and has listened to us and leave a comment without an answer, I just would like to say, firstable, thanks to take the time to listen, and if you have enjoyed it, we are so happy!!!
If you have the opportunity to see us in live, come, and let’s have a talk with a beer – don’t be shy!
Thanks so much Doomed Nation!!! May the Fuzz be with you!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well