Interview with Klone; Lead Singer Yann Ligner Discusses France’s Metal Scene, Writing, and New Album ‘Here Comes The Sun’

French progressive rock/metal group Klone released their fifth full-length album, Here Comes The Sun, on March 9th via Klonosphere Records. “Immersion,” one of the ten tracks to appear on the newest recording, can be heard below. Be sure to also check out the new album artwork, plus our nice chat with lead singer Yann Ligner, who helped us to get a better understanding of Klone’s origins, music, and hometown.

For those not familiar with your band, can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
Ligner: We are a rock/metal progressive band from France. We started the band more than 10 years ago, since then we’ve toured France and Europe with bands like Gojira, King’s-X, Orphaned Land, and we’re gonna tour Australia next May. We just released our 6th album Here Comes The Sun.

Your new disc Here Comes The Sun has just been released. Now that it is complete, how do you feel about it, and what has been the response so far?
Ligner: We’re very proud of what we’ve achieved on this new album, the reviews are mainly positive so far and we’re really happy with the way things are going on. We just started playing shows and the audience has been pretty receptive, that really pushes us forward!

What is your writing process like?
Ligner: Most of the time, it all starts with a guitar riff, after that we build the core of the song with the drummer while rehearsing. Then we all take it home to work on vocals, bass, additional guitars and sample arrangements. Once a song is instrumentally complete, the music drives my words and helps me writing the lyrics.

You guys are an extremely heavy band, how does it make you feel when that power and energy you channeled in the studio comes to life in front of a crowd?
Ligner: Indeed, studio and live are two completely different worlds, the transition can be complicated, we have to work a lot on our sound and performance to feel the same vibes on the songs. The first gigs are usually a good way to improve and try things out before it all comes naturally.

When you write, do you do so with the live setting in mind or do you write a song just for the song’s sake?
Ligner: Of course we care about what’s gonna happen on stage. We don’t want to restrain our creativity, but we try to find a good balance between adding too much stuff that we would not be able to play live, and keep the ideas flowing. We do not really set limits in the first part of the writing process, but then we have to think about live performances and how we’re gonna deliver the maximum once we’re on stage.

What is the story behind the name of the new record?
Ligner: We already had the name of the album before we started writing, it actually gave us a good guideline. Here Comes The Sun can have many different meanings depending on who you are… The sun can be your best friend as much as it can be your worst enemy, so the title might sound positive when you first read it, but it also includes a part of darkness….

You have toured the world extensively. It there anywhere you would like to go that you have not been?
Ligner: As I told you, we’re about to tour Australia, that’ll be an awesome experience for sure! Of course we’d love to play in the U.S., Asia, India, Japan, pretty much anywhere we can! That’s why we do this. Stage is like a home we can bring anywhere we want, with the benefits of meeting different people, different cultures….

What is the metal scene like over there in France?
Ligner: There’s a lot of great bands in France like Gojira, our friends from the Klonosphere team Trepalium and Hacride, Dwail, Seven Weeks, Soundcrawler, Lizzard, Eryn None Dae, Nojia… Nowadays in France, there’s a kind of buzz around a lot of very good bands, and I think that’s because they all have a real identity that you can’t find anywhere else.

Check out the song “Immersion” here.