By Gary Lyons
with Pascal Côté(guitar) and Vincent Roy(bass)

É.M. : Give us brief history of the band, who are the members, where do you come from, when was the band formed?

Vincent : Blinded by Faith was born in the spring of 1996. We were five friends that included Daniel and I. We used to jam in our ex-guitarists parents’ living room. Danny joined next and brought a new dimension to the band. At a certain point, changes in our line-up had to occur because certain members weren’t as motivated to continue as the rest of us were. Today, however, the band is at its strongest with Daniel and Pascal on guitars, Julien on drums, Danny on keyboards, Tommy on vocals and me on bass. We’re al from the same area, on the south shore of Quebec City. We all love what we do and that’s what drives Blinded by Faith.

É.M. : Under an Occult Sun is your first full-length album. Was the writing process long for this album? Who writes the music and the lyrics?

Pascal : Yes, it was a long process. I joined the band in November of 2000 and they had one song (The Triumph of Treachery) finished at that time. I had to learn the songs from the demo before going further. We started to write seriously at the beginning of 2001 and the songs for the album were finished around the summer of 2002. As for the lyrics, most of them are written by Danny except two (A Perfect Imperfection and Under An Occult Sun), which were written by Daniel. As for the music, we all come up with riffs but Danny is the one who brings in most of the ideas. We then arrange the songs as a unit. We almost always work together on that stuff.

É.M. : Why did you choose New rock studios to record this album? Some bands prefer to go to an established studio and work with a known producer. Can you explain?

Pascal : We looked at the possibility of recording in Montreal, but we wanted to take our time. If we would have recorded in Montreal, we would have had to quit our jobs and school, which was impossible. We then decided to look for a place in Quebec City. We chose New rock studios. They wanted to make a name for themselves in the metal scene and they made us a really good offer that we couldn’t turn down! We’re the first metal band to record there.

É.M. : Some people consider Blinded by Faith to be a black metal band. Personally, I can hear larger influences on this album. Did you conciensly try to distance yourselves from the black metal stereotype?

Vincent : No, not really. Our album Under An Occult Sun is a mix of different musical influences from each member which range from classical to alternative to rock and blues. We don’t want to be confined to one particular style, I think that can be harmful to the creative process. We write for ourselves first and not to fit into a particular musical style.

É.M. : Tell us a bit about the launch of your album in Quebec City and Montreal and your association with Galy records.

Pascal : Eric Galy has been our booker since 2000 so it was a logical choice to sign with his record label since he has always believed in us. As for the record launches, the one in Quebec City was very special for us. It was a dream come thrue to play at the Dagobert!
It was quite an event and, I think, our best performance ever! There were 550 people in attendance! People were screaming between songs, slamming, stage diving and body surfing!! We also had a great time at our launch in Montreal and got a good reaction from fans there also.

É.M. : What do you think of the metal scene here? Do you think there will be, someday, a big enough record company that will have the money to launch an international career for a Quebec band?

Pascal : The scene here is packed with talented bands. You have established bands such as Cryptopsy, Martyr, Quo Vadis, Anonymus, Ghoulunatics and more. But there are great bands that are less known like Moonlyght, Astral Gates, Obscurcis Romancia……
With all those good bands the future in certainly bright for the metal industry here and metal is growing in popularity for sure. We have to keep believing; you never know what could happen!!

É.M. : What’s the scene like in your hometown of Quebec City?

Pascal : First of all, we’re from a town called Levis, on the south shore of Quebec, but that’s ok, nobody knows where that is anyway! The scene here is very diversified with all styles of metal present, from black, death, to power and neo-metal. We have good bands like Hanker, Forgotten Tales, Moonlyght, Sombre Nostalgie, Censure etc...In the town of Levis, there is a band called Smog that is entering the studio in mid-May. That’s a band you should keep an eye on, for sure. It seems like there are more shows in Quebec and also more people going to them, which is god ‘cause the scene is getting bigger.

É.M. : Are you nervous before a show and do you have any rituals?

Pascal : I tend to get nervous about 15 minutes before going on stage. But I think it actually helps me get pumped up! We like to eat at Subway before a show..
Vincent : I’m also usually nervous about 5 to 10 minutes before we go on, but we’re kind of shaky all day.

É.M. : What do you guys listen to? What was the first metal album that you bought?

Pascal : I listen to anything that rocks, it has to rock!!! The first metal album I bought was Metallica’s Master Of Puppets.
Vincent : We listen to pretty much everything. I listen to all styles of metal, but also some progressive stuff, blues, hard rock and even some classical! The first metal album I bought was the black album from Metallica

É.M. : Were you guys in other bands before Blinded by Faith? Does anyone have a side project?

Pascal : I played in a couple of bands before I joined. I was in a band called Lordz before joining BBF. Danny played in Summoning of Flesh. Tommy used to be in Septentrion and Julien played with Freemind and Merkabah.
Vincent : I never had another band. I started playing bass a couple of months before forming BBF with Daniel and other friends of ours. As for side projects, we have none. We put all our energy into Blinded by Faith and, personally, I think seriously that side projects aren’t very good for a band.

É.M. : Thanks for giving me this interview guys! Anything you wanna add?

Pascal : Continue your good work with L’Editon Metallique. The scene has only gotten stronger since it’s conception!!!
Vincent : We would like to encourage all the Quebec bands. THINK BIG!