Birds in Row: Keep the Flame Burning in Times of Fear and Hate

Birds in Row are undoubtedly one of the hardest-working European hardcore bands. They’ve spent the past few years relentlessly touring the world, signed with Deathwish Inc., and, most importantly, managed to retain their uncompromising DIY ethics and attitude.

All that touring has given them an interesting perspective on the international hardcore scene. So when they came to Sofia for a show organized by our friends at For The Kids Booking, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to sit down and interview all three of them.

Thanks to Ivaylo Totev for capturing some precious moments from the show with his camera.

Hello! Can you start by introducing the band to our readers and telling us about your current tour?

We are a band called Birds in Row. We come from Laval, France. We’ve been on tour for ten days now, and this is the first part of the tour supporting our new record, Personal War.

It’s not the first time we’ve come to Bulgaria. We already played two shows here two or three years ago, although this is our first time in Sofia. Back then, we played in Varna and Plovdiv.

We don’t speak for ourselves as individuals. We speak as Birds in Row, and we don’t introduce ourselves individually.

The terrorist attacks in Paris happened just a few days ago, while you were on tour. How has all this affected you, especially being away from home? Have you managed to talk to your families and friends about what happened?

We’d say that everybody in the band was really shocked. We’re far away from home, and it’s hard to get through moments like these when you’re not with your friends and families.

When we heard about the attacks, we were playing in Vienna, and we were really, really scared for our friends. The show at the Bataclan concert hall was the kind of show where a lot of our friends could have been. We know some of them were there, and they were deeply shocked. It’s something they might never forget.

It’s really hard to be so far away, knowing that your friends are losing people, looking for missing friends, and going through all of this while you can’t do anything to help. That’s very difficult.

I saw a post on your Facebook page about one of your shows in Poland coinciding with the country’s National Day, when there’s an annual neo-Nazi demonstration. Some people were scared to come to your show while all these fascists were marching through the streets. The far right is on the rise across Europe, and now, after the Bataclan attacks, the backlash against refugees and Muslims is even stronger in France. What’s the situation like in your hometown? How can we, as a DIY hardcore punk community and activists supporting refugees, deal with such extreme situations and violence? How can we make it possible for people to simply be nice to each other?

You already said it: be nice to each other.

The extreme right wing in our hometown, the far-right politicians, let’s say, are extremely stupid. They make fools of themselves whenever they give interviews or speak in public, so we don’t think they’re such a big threat.

We think the real threat, everywhere and not just in France, is ordinary people starting to adopt these reactionary ideas. The media and everything else around us keep pushing rhetoric that encourages hatred toward certain communities, or simply promotes the idea that people should be selfish.

Sometimes, the only thing we’d really like people to do is think. Of course, they should try to be nice to each other, but also make an effort to understand other people’s situations and perspectives.

Look at what’s happening right now, with people blaming refugees for the terrorist attacks. You just don’t get it. You don’t understand where those people are coming from, and then you make the most ridiculous move by blaming them for what happened.

It seems that these far-right and xenophobic ideas are often rooted in a lack of information and reflection. Maybe what we need in our Western countries is more social workers, better education and healthcare, rather than more police.

If you want to solve a problem, you need to address its roots. The answer is improving social conditions, not bringing in more cops and security. Right now, we tend to have more police officers than social workers, when what we really need are more people working to address the causes of these problems.

What about the lyrics and the message you’re bringing through your music? You’ve just released your new record, Personal War. What has changed musically and lyrically compared to your previous releases? Do you think events like the terrorist attacks in Paris also affect your music and lyrics?

The new record is somewhat different in its message. While You, Me & The Violence was about relationships with other people and how certain choices can affect your friendships or your relationships with people outside your immediate circle, this new record is more like a conclusion.

It’s about reaching a point where things are still very difficult, and sometimes it feels like it would be easier to give up on everything you believe in. You get tired of constantly making an effort in your life.

But the message of this record is that you should always hold on to your passion, or whatever it is that keeps the flame burning inside you.

That’s the main difference, I guess. It’s just another angle, because we’ve always talked about basically the same things, like how people should have more passion in their lives. The subjects haven’t really changed that much.

What we also like about our lyrics is that we try to keep them very open. We want people to interpret them and relate them to their own lives. We want listeners to create their own stories from our words, rather than guiding them in one particular direction.

How do you see yourselves as a DIY band while releasing your records through Deathwish Inc.?

Deathwish isn’t a big label. (laughing)

But you have a much bigger fan base now than before. You have fans! DIY bands don’t have fans.

Yeah. (laughing)

It doesn’t change anything for us. We’re still the same band, the same three people. We come from a small town, and when we go home, we’re nobody.

Here in Sofia tonight, maybe 50 people will come to see us, and that’s a lot. But when we go home, we don’t have 50 people following us around.

Being in a band or being on a certain label should never change anything about who you are or how you live your life. You know what I mean?

Is there anything interesting happening in the scene in your hometown that you’d like to share with us?

We don’t have any venues left where we can organize shows. There’s one proper venue in our town for indie stuff, and they’re doing good work, but it’s difficult for us because we no longer have a suitable space for our own shows.

At the same time, there are a lot of new bands coming up. Our bass player’s brother, Amaury, has a recording studio, and all our friends record with him. Other bands also discover our town, Laval, because of his studio, which is really cool.

Through all of this, we get to see just how many DIY hardcore punk bands there are in France right now. So from our perspective, there are a lot of bands, and that’s great.

So what do you think we, the kids from the DIY hardcore punk scene, could do to make things better?

Maybe talk more, share what we have, and try to be nice to each other. Be respectful and don’t oppress one another.

For example, if you’re on tour and you have some money, but there’s another band touring that doesn’t have enough, maybe you can share a little of yours.

It’s about trying to be together and finding ways for everyone to feel comfortable with what we’re doing. We should support each other, even when we don’t play exactly the same kind of music.

We should try to get past all these ridiculous divisions between different styles of extreme music. Who cares about all that? It’s probably bullshit anyway. (laughing)

Anything else you’d like to add? Any message for the people who enjoy your music?

Thank you for the interview and for the food. (laughing) The food was amazing.

As we said before, it’s really hard to be far away from home under these circumstances. But at the same time, it’s very cool to make new friends and meet such nice people every night.

To feel welcome in places you’ve never been before, among people you don’t know, means a lot to us. Thanks for that.

Sofia, November 16, 2015