EMQ’s With DÄTCHA MANDALA
Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Bordeaux, France based Psychedelic Heavy Blues Rock band Dätcha Mandala. Huge thanks to them for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
We are Dätcha Mandala, a rock power trio.
We met at high school 12 years ago when we were teenagers. We all love Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and The Beatles, so naturally rock music came out from our first rehearsals, and that brought us to play more than 600 shows all around Europe, and also New York and Montreal.
We have two records, “ROKH”, an album recorded full analog with producer Clive Martin (Queen, The Stereophonics, Reef…), and “HARA”, which was just released on the 5th of June 2020, also recorded with Clive.
How did you come up with your band name?
“Dätcha” is a Russian house, it represents materialism, and “Mandala” is a drawing made by Tibetan monks, referring to spirituality. “Dätcha Mandala” means the balance between the material and spiritual sides of humanity, a kind pf Yin and Yang.
What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
We come from Bordeaux, in the South West of France, and there are a lot of great bands here, like Gojira, Mars Red Sky, Gorod, The Great Old Ones, Salamander Jiver, The Inspector Cluzo, Overcharger, Francis Cabrel etc.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
Our latest release is a video clip of “Stick It Out”, the first single of our upcoming album “HARA”. You can find it on Youtube, also on Spotify, iTunes, stuff like that.
Who have been your greatest influences?
The musical/rock scene in the late 60’s, 70’s from the UK and USA of course!
What first got you into music?
The influence of our families and close friends, who played music before us.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
If we have to choose someone famous, we would probably say Robert Plant, but if we are more realistic, we would like to collaborate with Mars Red Sky.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
We would love to play at Hellfest, because we would love to play at Hellfest!
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
A fan gave us a painting of her own creation, which was supposed to represent flowers, but it looks like a dozen vaginas…
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
We think our fans are wise enough to take the good decisions in life, so they don’t need any advice from us!
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Nico: Jeff Buckley
Jeremy: Kurt Cobain
Jb: Janis Joplin.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
What we enjoy the most is to play concerts, sharing energy and music with the crowd, and meeting everyday new people.
What we “hate” is that most time is on the road and waiting backstage, which is so much longer than the show itself.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
We would prefer the label directors choose an artist because of his quality rather than is popularity on social media.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Nico: “Grace”, by Jeff Buckley
Jeremy: “LA Woman”, by The Doors
Jb: “Back In Black”, by AC/DC
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
Live performance!
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Don’t know if it’s the best, but one of the craziest experiences was at the Stadium of France.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Jeremy: A drug dealer
Nico: A shepherd or a monk
Jb: A Paleontologist
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
We would gather Louis de Funès, Frank Zappa, James Maynard Keenan, Jane Goodall and Divine.
What’s next for the band?
What’s next is the release of our new record “HARA”, which came out on the 5th of June on Mrs Red Sound label.
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
We use Youtube, Deezer, Spotify, iTunes, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp etc.
www.facebook.com/datchamandala/
www.instagram.com/datchamandala/
www.datchamandala.bandcamp.com/
www.youtube.com/channel/UCBEE5mqy7ol-FrctE4hZ8yQ
Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?
We don’t know and as we don’t want to google it, we’ll go on the biscuit!
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you!!
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