PATRICK RONDAT
Patrick Rondat from
France is one of my favourite guitarists.His guitar style is a
great mix of melodic, progressive and neo-classical
elements.Thanks to another good French guitarist, Jean
Fontanille, I had the chance to have an interview with Patrick
Rondat.
At which
age have you started to play electric guitar ?
I started
at 17 , I am not from a musicians family so it took time to me to
discover rock music .
Which
composors / bands / guitarists have influenced you ?
So many ,
it started with bands like Rainbow , Van Halen and then the jazz
scene impressed me a lot , my main influence was Al Dimeola .
Which were
your first bands / projects ?
Some
unknown bands , I recorded my first album with a band called The
Element back in 1985 with people from France and Germany .
Tell me
more about your period in the band of Jean-Michel Jarre ?
This
period is not over yet , I am still in touch with Jean-Michel and
I am sure there will be a few projects in a near future . Anyway
it was a great experience and I loved it . I like the way he
mixed electronic , classical and rock music and of course the big
venues where we played were like a dream come true for me .
About what
/ who do you think when you write instrumental songs ?
It depends
, it is not always the same . I try to give emotions to the
listeners and I try to create my own musical world with my own
mix of elements I need in music such as technique , melodie
rhythm’s and give the impression of a journey through
different landscapes .
Which was
your most succesful solo album , both personally and commercially
?
Undoubtly
“Amphibia” .
How did
you get in touch with Ian Parry and how is to play in progressive
metal bands? Do you have enough chance to compose songs for Elegy
and The Consortium Project ?
I saw him first when I played in a festival a few years ago with
my band and Ian played with the band Vengeance at the time . In
1999 when he started his Consortium Project he was looking for
guest guitar players and a friend of him played him my “Amphibia”
album and he loved it . He got in touch with me through Olivier
Garnier / NTS . I wrote some songs for Elegy and one for The
Consortium Project Two . I will not be a part of the third album
of The Consortium Project because we both thought it was a bit
too much people started to be confused because most Elegy members
also play in The Consortium Project
How many
gigs will Elegy play in the near future ? Any chance that you can
play some instrumental songs from yourself and maybe even older
Elegy songs ?
We still have some shows to come , one festival in America ,
Brave Words & Bloody Knucles on june 13th in Cleveland , then
one in Holland around july 13th and we have planned some other
shows in Germany and Holland in September .
When will
your next solo album be released ?
Hopefully
in 2004 , I’ve got 99 % of the material but I am still
looking for a deal , but it will probably be NTS for France and
SPV for Europe .
Are there
plans to release a DVD from a Patrick Rondat concert ?
Not yet ,
I would like to film the next tour and we will see if it is
possible to use it . My plans are mainly to record a new album
and go on tour with it . In the mean time I will have to play
some Elegy Shows in september and start to compose some songs for
the band too .
Why was
the gig in the Biebob (Vosselaar , Belgium) cancelled ?
The Biebob
gig was cancelled because there are too many shows at the time in
Belgium and it sounded like we were not able to get enough people
there .
Thank you
so much for the interview Patrick. I wish you many success with
your future projects.
More info at : www.rondat.com
by
Ronny Elst (2003)