EMQs With Telperion
EMQ’s With Telperion
07/11/2024
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with French Celtic metallers Telperion. Huge thanks to Morgan and Rémi, 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?
Hi, I’m Morgan and I’m one of the guitar players and primary songwriter for Telperion.
I founded the band in 2014, mixing Heavy/Power Metal and elements of Celtic music. We released our first album “Ahead of Time” in 2015, and we played our music live mainly in France, but also in Spain and Switzerland. We have a lot of great memories, sharing the stage with bands like Tengger Cavalry, Temperance, and many others…
Unfortunately, the band stopped in 2018 but was reborn in 2022 with a new line-up and an EP: “Of Saviors and Conquerors”.
In 2024, we released 2 singles – ‘Farewell’ and ‘Lunar Ritual/Lunar Festival’, showcasing a new direction for the band: a mix between Metal, Folk and Epic music.
We are currently working on our next album, a concept album, in which we tell a story taking place in a heroic fantasy setting.
How did you come up with your band name?
We’re all fans of heroic fantasy whether it be in movies or books. JRR Tolkien’s lore is often mentioned in the Metal world and we chose Telperion as our band name. It’s one of the trees of Valinor, a link between nature/Celtic/traditional music and the heroic fantasy world.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We are from France, from Clermont-Ferrand, in Auvergne region.
There are quite a few different scenes in France, especially Extreme Metal. Lots of people like Hardcore and Deathcore bands for example… In our region more specifically Black Metal is well represented, and so is Death Metal. As far as bands playing Heavy, Power, Folk, well… There’s us
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
We released 2 singles earlier this year, ‘Farewell’ and ‘Lunar Ritual/Lunar Festival’. They planted the seeds for our new concept about a party of adventurers travelling to different universes.
Who have been your greatest influences?
We are influenced by classic Heavy Power bands like Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian… Folk Metal bands like Eluveitie, Manegarm, by traditional Celtic music and film scoring for the epic orchestral parts.
It’s not only music, but also pop culture in all its shapes: films, books… Genres like science fiction, heroic fantasy or sword and sorcery. They all permeate our music.
What first got you into music?
I was 4 years old, a family friend put an accordion in my hands and I never stopped. It was not my decision, but I think if you give an instrument to a kid, it’s like a new toy and he’s just going to play with it
Over the years I became a bit more vocal, I preferred to learn piano, then guitar but I kept on playing the same game, I just switched toys.
Music has been a passion of mine for years, it’s my life and I don’t think that will ever change.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
Morgan (guitar): It’s a very hard question! I could probably write an essay if you let me!
More seriously I would like to collaborate with some of my favourite guitarists: John Petrucci, Guthrie Govan, Rodrigo y Gabriela to bring different sounds, it’s a very long list…
I would love to work with some awesome orchestral/movie composers for our orchestral parts (Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Thomas Bergersen …)
It’s just my point of view, and there are five of us in Telperion … So the list is very long 😀
Rémi (guitar): Hi! I’m Rémi, the second guitar player and one of the two Rémis from Telperion ^^. What a difficult question… We indeed gather a huge diversity of influences as already mentioned by Morgan (I could for example cite David Gilmour and Mark Knopfler about me besides Metal influences). But to answer your actual question, I would really enjoy collaborating with Sabaton! The two last Sabaton albums are the ones I listened to the most this year, and I guess they is my current favourite Heavy Metal band!
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
It’s difficult to give a name, we want to play and share our music as much as possible and everywhere if possible!
Sure, it would be awesome to play a big festival like Wacken or Download for example but we also enjoy the proximity you get in smaller festivals.
We just want to have a good time with the public, and we want the public to have fun as well. We take some time after the show to meet people and talk with them about our passion for music. I think that’s the most important thing for us.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
It’s not really weird, it’s more … unexpected! One day we received an artisanal sausage from the person who made it! Okay, that might be a bit weird… But it was great!
(PS: you can contact us if you want to send food, haha!)
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Morgan (guitar): Just a big THANK YOU! Thanks for supporting and following us, thanks for coming to our shows, and listening to our music.
Without you we would be nothing, so thank you for being here for us!
Rémi (drums): Hi guys! I am Rémi, the second one who beats like a beast I joined Telperion a few weeks ago cause I saw in that fellowship a great potential! I am impatient to meet you on stage, stay tuned, Telperion is going to make a lot of sparks in the next coming years! Cheers!
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
I’ll speak for myself again but I’m sure my Telperion’ bros will think of other names.
For me it would be Richard Wright from Pink Floyd.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
The creating part is just awesome! In Telperion we want to tell stories, so we try to use the music to propel this. Finding sounds, instruments, atmospheres to tell something is very exciting.
Another positive point is sharing music with people. One day someone said to us “I‘ve had a very bad week but now after your show my battery is full and I feel better”. I think that is the best thing we can hear as musicians!
We are really lucky to play music, and to play in a band. Sure it’s a lot of work (for me and for the band) but there are worse jobs! So we don’t hate anything, sometime it’s difficult, of course, but with patience we can do it!
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
It would be the streaming system, it’s easier to listen to music but it’s more complicated for bands to stand out.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
There are many albums but if I have to choose only one, it would be “Metropolis part 2: Scenes From a Memory” from Dream Theater.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs or Downloads?
All supports have advantages and drawbacks, but for me, it’s CDs! I try to buy as many as possible to listen to good audio and to support bands.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Our supporting shows were great memories, with Temperance and Celkilt in Clermont Ferrand. We had a great time and it was home!
Also opening for Tengger Cavalry in Paris. It was one of our first support slots for a big band. It was a very nice evening, they gave us a lot of advice, and we still think of their singer Nature fondly.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
We all have day jobs, but I am lucky to work in music. I also have a science degree so I’d probably work in this sector if it weren’t for music.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
I heard we’re nice in Telperion and there are five of us so… Party at yours later?
What’s next for the band?
We are working on a new album. We want to tell the story of our adventurers across different universes, we can’t wait to share that with people, but in the meantime we want to play as much as possible in Europe.
What Social Media/ Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
You can find us on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/telperionband/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@telperion63
There’s a long-standing food-based debate here in the UK. And we’d like your help. So… A Jaffa cake – is it a cake or a biscuit? Discuss!
We are from France so we don’t really have this debate, but luckily, our singer Julien lived in England a few years ago so he might have an answer about that:
“Hey! I’m Julien, I make a bunch of noises with my mouth, and I have an opinion too! Funny thing is: I used to live in Manchester not too far from the first McVitties’ factory where the Jaffa Cakes were produced. I think I remember reading that they proved in court it was a cake by making a giant one (for tax reasons too, because apparently biscuits are taxed higher than cakes) and it’s actually the layers that make them cakes. So, don’t get fooled by their small size. They are mini cakes. I would recommend you try the French version though, they’re called Pim’s, and they are delicious!”
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you for the interview, thanks to the readers. I hope that it will make you want to discover Telperion and our universe. We also want to thank May and Melissa from IDIA Management for the help, the support and the trust in Telperion. Hope to see you soon in the UK !