logo

Name: Full Dub
Members: Fabien Romain, Florent Gidon, Clément Bolot
Interviewees: Fabien Romain, Florent Gidon

Nationality: French
Occupation: Producers, songwriters (Fabien Romain, Florent Gidon), Drummer, percussionst (Clément Bolot)
Current Release: Full Dub's Forward is out via Flower Coast / Afftrwrk.
Recommendations: Fabian: Portico Quartet: A luminous beam; Thomas Ott: The forest
Florent: Nine Inch Nails: Ghosts I-IV and Ghosts V (to listen to on a rainy evening with headphones); All of Lorn's work

[Read our Portico Quartet interview]

If you enjoyed this interview with Full Dub and would like to stay up to date with the band's music, visit their official website. They're also on Instagram, Soundcloud and Facebook.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?

Fabien: We started the FullDub project in 2010. In the beginning,I was solely responsible for the production. Soon after, though, Florent joined the project for the visual side "Mapping Video Live", followed by Clément on live drums. Since the album Rewind Florent abandoned video and became part of the musical process.

Initially, our sound was deeply influenced by the “French” dub music of the 2000s with groups like High Tone, Kaly live dub, Zenzile. There was a freedom in some of these groups that I had never heard before, particularly with High Tone who mixed bass music, techno, hip hop, jungle, reggae ... in short, a large number of styles. I was instantly attracted to thos freedom and the imagination that flowed from their music.

Today the influences are diverse. Of course, dub and bass music are a given. But we also listen to Gojira, Frank Carter, WoodKid, Lorn, Gesaffelstein, Hania Rani etc.

[Read our Hania Rani interview]

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

Fabien: It depends on the moment and my state of mind. If the music is calm and vaporous, I will experience it as an inner feeling, It's like taking a journey into a world of colour and texture, almpst cosmic in natire. If on the other hand, the music is rather violent, I will be drawn in by its energy and power.

My way of creating will be linked to that. It is a search for sound, texture and mood, all in relation to the “image” that I want to award it.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

Fabien: The motivation has always been simply to create. Development happens on its own accord over time.

We have more and more technology to achieve what we want to do. At the same time, challenges are directly linked to that. At first, it's quite laborious. But after hours spent in the studio, we have developed the skills that help us produce what we have in mind.

Tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences both your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist, please.

Fabien: It is true that we are part of a family of producers in France where I think we all influence each other. In a way, this relationship can act as a brake when it comes to taking risks. We remain in a style ... in any case, in terms of the way we're producing.

As far as listening to music is concerned, my identity has evolved over time, according to my life and does not take into account our style of music. I would even say that the more time goes by, the less I listen to the style of music linked to our identity.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

Fabien: I think you have to feed on a lot of things at the start: music, painting etc. It's important to try and do without copying, without waiting for results and being free to do what you want. Maybe that's the hardest part.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

Fabien: We are not following a musical tradition. But whatever happens we are inspired voluntarily or involuntarily by everything that has been done before. After all, the future does not exist without the past (laughs).

I think that in the end we don't care one bit. There will be times when having sounds that resemble Pink Floyd for example will make us happy and at other times it will be innovation that will motivate us. Therefore, it is impossible to choose between tradition and the future. Full Dub is both at the same time

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools - and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

Florent: We are great lovers of analog synthesizers and use them frequently in our compositions. Our search for textures and sounds has regularly led us to the vintage synths that we have in the studio. But new technologies in music also open us up to new, more modern synths which we also like a lot.

By making ample use of these synths, we now know them by their sound qualities and no longer by their technical characteristics. During our sound research, we'll instantly know which synthesizer to turn to. The search for textures has always been very present in Full Dub, and it is very rare that we use a preset sound without adding our little “touch”.

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

Florent: It depends a lot on the person, but for me, it starts with a big cup of coffee. After that, I'll very quickly start working on a song project that I either started together with Fabien or a project that Fabien started on the side.

If I see that neither of these inspire me at the moment, I'll try to start a new piece to find a new idea and then propose it to Fabien.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

Florent: We changed the creation process for the previous album (Rewind). Before that release, Fabien was the only one to compose the tracks for Full Dub, and since this album we started creating together. We decided this to bring a new dynamic, new ideas and new way of composing to the group.

The new album Forward was conceptualised the same way.

As I said before, we each compose ideas for songs, each on our own and then we meet together to flesh them out together. When nothing comes out of this process, we work on new tracks together from scratch. These last two albums were composed in this way.

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

Florent: In our way of composing our music, we precisely keep these two facets intact. I think it is important to have this creative process alone, each on our side to stimulate the creative ideas of the other.

It's very common that we send each other simple ideas which we can't seem to develop further. Sometimes, a simple sound or a simple rhythm unlocks a creative idea in the other which makes the piece move forward, sometimes even in spheres we would never have imagined on our own.

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

Fabien: Conveying emotions, escaping reality, I imagine that music helps us digest certain moments of our life, makes us relive others or escape completely.

Music is a reflection of ourselves whether it's listening to it or creating it. It can be brutal, soft, cold, hot, structured, unstructured, intellectual or stupid, it is us. So I would say that music brings everything, it is inseparable from society.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

Fabien: I don't know if it has helped me understand certain things in life, which is why it accompanies us at all times, in joy or sadness. Music helps us exist. If you're completely desperate, you will probably write very beautiful music.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Fabien: That would mean doing it mechanically. Some aspects in creation can indeed be experienced like “making a coffee”. The difference, however, is that whatever my state of mind is, my coffee will remain coffee. Unlike music, which will be tinged by this state. A creative process is necessarily tinged with “me”.

They are quite different, also in the degree of freedom which you have. Music opens up a space of possibilities.

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

Fabien: It is probably necessary to dissociate instrumental music from that with lyrics.

With lyrics, the message can quickly be communicated. With instrumental music, it's more personal I would say, more subject to interpretation.

But there are universal codes. A minor scale will always tend to make the music sad or mean, while a major scale will make it more upbeat.