Doomed Confessionary: Sébastien Charpentier & Guénaël Heuveline (Thunderwize)
Thunderwize is a stoner metal fusion duo from Gap, France born in 2019.
Guénael Heuveline (guitar, didgeridoo) mixes oriental sounds and gypsy jazz with his rock-metal playing. Fat riffs and progressive melodies meet the depth of the slide didgeridoo that he plays simultaneously.
Multi-instrumentalist Sébastien Charpentier lets his singing hover between softness and stormy unleashing. He supports everything with heavy, warm but also subtle drumming.
Thunderwize released their latest studio album »The End Of Words« on September 27th, 2024 via Bitume Prods. Available now on all major digital streaming platforms.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Sébastien: Let’s give this a shot (laughs). We’re a stoner metal fusion duo, and you could call our style Alpine desert rock. We practice in a tiny village in the southern Alps close to Gap (FR), and most of the time, we play for the stones and the marmots (lol).
Guénaël: I play the guitar and slide didgeridoo, and Sébastien sings while playing the drums, which adds a unique touch to our sound.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Guénaël: Handle everything from A to Z on your own. Creating is awesome, but finding gigs and putting yourself out there is a whole different ballgame. Building our live sound can be quite a challenge. It’s all about finding the right balance between the guitar and its effects, the didgeridoo, the drums, and the vocals.
Sébastien: Producing our own albums was a huge deal for me. It took a lot of time and perseverance to go from a terrible demo sound to a decent album. We didn’t have the cash to hire professionals, so I just kept at it, determined to create something good. It really taught me a lot.
Guénaël: We’re a pair, but there’s enough work for four people. Some folks really have our backs, and we appreciate them. I’m thinking about Damien, our live sound engineer from recently, and Bitume, our partner label.
Sébastien: And folks like you who help spread the word about our music.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Guénaël: We’re all about moving forward. For the past five years, we’ve been taking it one step at a time. It can be tough to share our music in the rural areas where we live, but we keep pushing on.
Sébastien: People around here really love cover bands and party music. We know there’s an audience out there for us, and we’re on a mission to find them!
What was your biggest regret?
Sébastien: We’re not going to record our third album with Steve Albini…
Guénaël: I haven’t had the chance to see Pantera live in concert.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Sébastien: The Carnival of Freedoms took place during the lockdown in April 2021 in the little town of Gap, which is close to us.
Guénaël: Set up on a towed trailer, we put on a walking concert at the front of a parade with 400 people all dressed up and embracing freedom. It was honestly a refreshing burst of wild energy!
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Guénaël: Remember when the legendary singer Pavarotti did a rendition of »Roots Bloody Roots« by Sepultura? (lol)
Sébastien: Hmm… Take the song »Thebes« by Om from the album »God Is Good«. It’s an older track, but I stumbled upon it a few years back. It’s got this progressive vibe – both soft and heavy at the same time. It feels like the energy of a torrent carving out its path, but without any aggression. I don’t keep up with the latest music news, and I tend to be pretty focused in how I listen to music.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Guénaël: I don’t really listen to a lot of music, but I play quite a bit. I also enjoy the quiet and the sound of my Citroën Berlingo’s engine when I’m driving. It’s kind of similar to the drone of a didgeridoo for me. One day, I’ll play a Harley… lol.
Otherwise, I enjoy Pantera: »Vulgar Display Of Power«, Deftones: »Adrenaline«, Nirvana, Gojira, Grave, Sepultura: »Chaos A.D.«, »Roots«, RATM: »Killing In The Name«, and so on.
Sébastien: Soundgarden’s first three LPs; Sleep, Om, Black Sabbath’s first four albums, Nirvana: »Bleach«, Bad Brains: »Rock For Light«, Melvins: »Ozma«, Mr. Bungle, Altamont: »The Monkee’s Uncle«, Råtten: »La Longue Marche«, I’ll stop there…
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Sébastien: Play first, then figure it out.
Guénaël: Write your own songs!
What are your guilty pleasures?
Sébastien: Sipping on local IPAs, jamming to Marxist punk-hardcore, and shopping online in capitalist China. Oh, and throwing in some Death metal too.
Guénaël: lounging in bed during my afternoon nap and getting totally absorbed in some intense MMA fights on YouTube with my phone.
Sébastien: Seriously? I had no idea… How about a deathcore jam session?
Can you say something more about current music scene in Gap / Hautes-Alpes?
Guénaël: We got to share the stage with some awesome local projects! I’m thinking about Fur Cròia and their earthy rap punk vibe with psychedelic Bouzouki, ENK and his modular synth acid drone trance, whose first album was mastered by Seb In his cozy home studio, Ocel records.
Sébastien: There are likely some awesome rock projects happening here, but honestly, we’re a bit like bears and we don’t really know all the other bears in the area. To be fair, we practice in one of the least populated areas in France, and there aren’t any state-supported music venues (S.M.A.C) around. There’s not much support for current music around here, and getting to play on stages in big cities is still tricky for us. But you know what? We fucking believe in it! I really enjoyed catching the black metal band Råtten this summer at the little Alp river rock festival in the valley where I live. We’ll arrive in 2025.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Sébastien: We’re on it! In France, we’ll likely be between Gap and Marseille soon. Plus, our wonderful partner label Bitume is setting up a mini tour from Gap to Limoges next winter. And don’t forget, there’s the Alp river rock happening in July 2025.
Guénaël: Got any other thoughts?
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Guénaël: Performing for a thoughtful audience whenever and wherever, and putting out great albums.
Sébastien: We’ve got plenty of new tracks ready for a third album, and it’s looking awesome! It’s a pretty heavy mix with hints of math rock, African sounds, a double pedal infused with death metal vibes, reggae, and more. We’re planning to record in 2025, and then Bitume will handle the digital and CD distribution in 2026. It would be awesome to have it on vinyl as well.
How can people best support your band?
Guénaël: Come hang out with us, play some music, listen in, connect with us on social media, and grab our albums on our Bandcamp, along with those from the Bitume label, which is packed with awesome underground rock and metal bands.
Sébastien: Why not come to a Tw concert and hang out with us afterward? You can offer to help us pack up the gear, and while we’ll definitely appreciate it, we’ll probably have to politely say no most of the time.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Guénaël: Hey, can we hang out at your place?
Sébastien: Roll down the windows of your old car and crank up the Thunderwize!
Guénaël: Or just soak in the deep hum of the engine…
Sébastien: And like the screamers song goes “a better world begins with…”
Thanks for checking out this interview!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well