The Amsterdam Red Light District: Voice Of A Threatened Generation
You’d probably be forgiven for expecting a record called Trapped to be a suffocating affair – perhaps a miserable reflection on the past couple of years of often quite literal entrapment in our own homes, or maybe the self-centred ponderings of a band at a loss for their place in the world. None of that’s the case when THE AMSTERDAM RED LIGHT DISTRICT are involved though. With their name usually helpfully abbreviated to TARLD, the Lyon-based quartet’s latest album is a thoroughly rousing affair – a defiant call to hope and tolerance presented by way of a polished yet raging brand of melodic hardcore that seems designed to incite circle pits and sing-alongs in equal measure.
“Freedom is the heart of TARLD’s lyrics mainly,” explains guitarist Maxime Comby. “I don’t write the lyrics, Elio [Sxone, vocalist] does, but I’m a big fan of enlightenment philosophy and writers like Immanuel Kant, for example, and that’s a big influence for us. We believe that thinking for yourself is the start of freedom. People are all influenced by mainstream media, and we think it’s important to find alternatives, to find light about what is the truth.”
“Health, pollution, the economy, everything is part of this big mess, and we all worry about it,” he continues. “We’ve got friends in Brazil and Germany and everywhere and we are feeling it is really worrying, [but] I see hope maybe in humanity. We hope that people will be aware of things and think for themselves, and maybe come back to the basics. I think it’s important to link with people – maybe this is the most important thing – and we hope that people will go for that.”
It certainly helps THE AMSTERDAM RED LIGHT DISTRICT’s case that all these messages come packaged in a tight and high-energy 36 minutes that walk a fine line between a myriad of metal and hardcore influences. “We are between two chairs,” suggests Comby. “I often say that as kind of a reference, because basically I was a big fan of the punk rock scene when I was a teenager; I liked bands like SATANIC SURFERS and RANDY the band, more melodic stuff, and then I loved REFUSED and that kind of music, more hardcore stuff. And then as I grew I discovered bands like SEPULTURA and big powerful metal bands. That compromise between all those things, from the melodic punk rock to the big sound of SEPULTURA or SLIPKNOT or whatever, that’s it I think.”
As for how the band go about striking a balance between all those influences, Comby is quick to emphasise that all four of them just trust each other. He also highlights the importance of the live show, something which explains a lot about how TARLD have made the reputation for themselves that they have. “THE AMSTERDAM RED LIGHT DISTRICT is a live band more than anything else,” he elucidates. “We love to celebrate and commune with the fans. We write songs with this philosophy basically. If we think that a song is not cool for a live session we will throw it in the trash. It’s always a big party, like a big celebration, and a big mess too [laughs], but that’s our philosophy, to be a live band, to bring all the energy, and to find a compromise between power and melody – that’s THE AMSTERDAM RED LIGHT DISTRICT.”
Of course, you’d think this would make the process of putting together a new album with strictly no gigs on the cards something of a challenge for Comby and co., but they seem to have taken it all in their stride. The guitarist even goes as far as to suggest “we’ve been a lucky band, I think, because when we finished promoting our previous album Sapere Aude, we started to write these songs, and that was two years ago. We had lots of time to write and record some stuff and then we had the chance to find new life – the life was back and we were able to play again so it really matched up for us.”
“I mainly wrote music at home during the pandemic,” he adds. “And it changed because basically as a musician you go to play with your friends but this time it was more like being focused in my room and playing with my computer – that was it! It’s pretty strange but we’ve never really been pushed by anything, it’s about emotion. I don’t really need any feeling to write music, just when I have an idea – whether that’s ten years ago or now – it’s always been the same for me.”
Business as usual then, and it’s safe to say Trapped offers little hint of a band looking to slow down anytime soon either, with Comby looking hungrily to the future and the band’s bread and butter of live shows. He hints at a hopeful return to the UK next year – which will definitely be worth catching if you get a chance – and as we come to conclude he offers a few final thoughts on the importance of getting behind bands and live music in the aftermath of the pandemic. “In France venues are really suffering now, people are not really coming to shows. We’ve been lucky for now because we’ve been supporting big bands in France and we had the luck to have shitloads of people, but all venues are suffering and people need to come back and celebrate live bands.”
Trapped is out now via Blood Blast Distribution.
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