We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sébastyén Defiolle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sébastyén, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Last winter, I published a book. My first book. All my texts, my poetry. Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved writing words, creating stories and lyrics – I’m a musician.

When I was 18, I bought my first guitar and was soon writing songs almost every day. Inspiration always comes faster when you’re young. Then I went to live in Brighton, England, and that was a real inspiration. I became more comfortable with writing poems and lyrics, and I started thinking about publishing my best work. One of my friends did it and said “why not me?”, but it was merely a thought, for I had no idea how to do it.

That was almost 15 years ago. But the idea was always there in the back of my mind.

Time passed and during the Covid period, when we were locked in our houses, I said to myself “ok, let’s do it”. I knew I had enough material, over 100 songs and poems. I put them together by album, period, etc. and asked friends to help me with the cover, preface, publishing procedure and all the legal issues, etc. It took me two years to get things right, and last December the book was published.
I was delighted, happy and proud. 20 years of words, lyrics and poetry… of my life, in fact. It’s a milestone. Definitely.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well, hello… My name is Sébastyén D. I’m a professional musician. A multi-instrumentalist, I sing and play guitar in various bands such as The Funeral Warehouse (post-punk, indie), Venice Bliss (indie) and, more recently, Kiss Me Black (black rock, gothic blues), which ‘replaced’ my longest musical project – over 15 years – Opium Dream Estate (alt. country, dark blues). I felt I’d said and expressed everything with and under that name and that I needed to move on, change, be reborn. So I put an end to ODE and created Kiss Me Black (after a Nick Cave song), which can be seen as a sequel, musically and atmospherically speaking, but with new sounds like lo-fi electronics.

For those who are curious or crazy enough haha, to listen to my music, all these bands are on Bandcamp, Spotify and so on.

I’ve also played with other bands and artists, and I produced and ran a small filk festival in Paris, in which my good friend Jes Leneè, aka Autumn Shade, played. I’m a big fan of her music and I had the pleasure and honour of playing with her on stage. It was very exciting.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Freedom. Definitely freedom. I mean, I am free to create, to do this or that, whatever I want, no one will restrain me. Of course, and especially when I play with other musicians, I have to adapt my ideas, my musical visions, and sometimes or rethink them, but there are still a part of them in the final process. Mostly when it comes to lyrics, atmosphere, melodies… for I’m the singer.

The other rewarding aspect is that when you’re an artist, you see the world from a different angle. You feel things, see things, hear things differently. I don’t mean I have some mystical powers and else but it seems the world doesn’t affect me the way it affects people and I’m sure it is the same thing for every artist. We are, I think more sensible to what surrounds us. And also the fact we can express it through music or painting or literature or something else, is also a rewarding aspect. It’s a gift I guess.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Freedom. Definitely freedom. I mean that I’m free to create, to do this or that, whatever I want, no-one will stop me. Of course, and especially when I play with other musicians, I have to adapt my ideas, my musical visions, and sometimes rethink them, but there’s always a part of that in the final process. Mainly the lyrics, the atmosphere, the melodies… because I’m the singer.

The other rewarding aspect is that when you’re an artist, you see the world from a different angle. You feel things, you see things, you hear things differently. I don’t want to say that I have mystical powers, but I have the impression that the world doesn’t affect me in the same way as it affects people, and I’m sure it’s the same for all artists. I think we’re more sensitive to what’s around us. And the fact that we can express it through music, painting, literature or whatever is also a gratifying aspect. It’s a gift, I suppose.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kissmeblackparis.bandcamp.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kissmeblackband
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kissmeblackmusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KissMeBlack
• Other: Professional instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sebastyen.d_music The Funeral Warehouse: https://www.instagram.com/thefuneralwarehouse https://thefuneralwarehouse.bandcamp.com https://www.youtube.com/@TheFuneralWarehouse Venice Bliss: https://www.instagram.com/venice_bliss Ambre: https://ambreparis.bandcamp.com

Image Credits
Photo 1 (mandoline): Aaron Bowen Photo 2 (singer): Horatio Sora Photos 3 & 4 (green & red): Elliott Selwood Photo 5: unknown Photo 6: Deborah Maal Photo 7: Emilie Mauger Photo 8: Maria Labuena