In today’s A-Z challenge, we find out all about Golem Dance Cult.
A song that made you want to make music?
Laur: There’s so many of them… One of the first ones was “Sure Know Something” by KISS!
Charles Why: Ace of Spades from Motorhead.
Best rider you’ve had?
Laur: When my old band Sparkling Bombs played in Cognac, France, each member got a Cognac bottle with the name of the band printed on it as a gift. So cool!
Charles Why: bag of weed in Spain.
Craziest moment you’ve had in the band?
Laur: Having to drive 3 hours to save Charles because of the train strikes!
Charles Why: We know each other since forever but the band is only 4 years old. For crazy stories we would need to go further down the line.
Deepest lyric one of your songs features?
Laur: I can’t really tell honestly. It’s quite hard to label your own lyrics as deep. Haha.
Easiest song you wrote?
Laur: The song “Shamanic Faultlines” on the new album. I basically wrote the lyrics the first time I ever listened to it and recorded the vocals straight away.
Charles Why: on our previous album “Legend of the Bleeding Heart”, I wrote a song without remembering it. I had a nasty flue and spent 3 days in bed, hallucinating with fever. At the end I realised I had recorded this whole song (“Carpe Noctem”).
Favourite song in your set?
Laur: The new album is so fresh it would be hard for me to choose one. We only have two albums and an EP but it will be difficult to chose less than 15 songs for a live set when we do.
Charles Why: Same here. Granted, our latest album “Shamanic Faultlines” is my absolute favourite at the moment, I will not be able to chose one song over another.
Guest you’d most like to feature on your record?
Laur: My old friend Dick Dens who plays in surf punk band The Irradiates. He killed it with his demonic guitar solos!… But I must say that all the guests on this new album did an amazing job!
Charles Why: working with Dick Dens was great. He contributed a solo that we liked so much that we asked him to play on another song. In addition to Dick we invited several musicians friends to collaborate with us, the Legend of Victoria Industrial scene, Loki Lockwood (Velatine, Spooky Records) played synth, Boris Boublil (Mu and Emilie Loizeau) Moog and organ, Jean-Philippe Feiss on Cello, singer/songwritter Inga Liljestrom lent us her amazing voice on a few songs, Peter Miller on Theremin, Haydn Walker did a blistering guitar solo, multi-instrumentist Blair Manie played Oud, Alex “Zillon” Jean, on vocals…. It was a great experience working with those talented musicians, each bringing their own musical colour to the song they collaborate on.
Hardest thing about being in a band?
Laur: For us, it’s definitely distance but at the same time it probably makes us a bit special too…
Charles Why: Yes, distance and as such time-zone are tricky. On the “plus side”, I don’t think this band could function without the friendship that exist between Laur and I.
Interesting fact about one of your members?
Laur: Charles is a transcendental meditation expert!
Charles Why: Expert, I don’t know ;-). Laur is an ex-BMX champion.
Jokes you have in the band?
Laur: When we started playing together in the late 80s, one of our guitar player friends used to say that if we recorded our music on cassette tape with only one mic, the guy living upstairs “Pascal” could separate all tracks!!! No need to say that you couldn’t do this at the time but now in 2025, you can!….. This guy definitely saw the future!
Charles Why: Ha! Ha! The legendary “Nicky”. So now, everytime we want something impossible, we say, “let’s ask Pascal”. We know each other since when we were teenagers so we have so many “in-jokes” that it is the world we live in all the time.
Key to writing a song?
Laur: Just don’t force it… It either works or it doesn’t.
Charles Why: I’m from the school of thought that to write song is to capture with our antenna ideas that exists in the ether. Once it is done, we translate it with our tool: it could be a melody that you can whistle, a ball line, guitar riff, a rhythmic pattern…
Longest distance you’ve travelled to play a show?
Laur: I did tours all around Europe and in California/Nevada with my previous bands… But for just one show, probably something like a 1,000 km drive to Germany.
Charles Why: 700kms from Warsaw to Berlin with my previous band L-DOPA.
Most inspiring musician you’ve experienced?
Laur: I’ve met a lot. Playing with Kevin K was always inspiring as he’s so good as keeping everything simple in his music in a Tom Petty way.
Charles Why: I did a jam one time with the bass player from Magma and my then drummer. It was a 2 bass jam on Hendrix covers and that was mind-blowing! He tuned his bass like a cello and was taking all the solo part with brilliance and such a ferocious energy.
New band you’d recommend?
Laur: At our age, bands who are more than 10 years old are still considered as new! Haha.. I really like Ravagers from Baltimore though. They have this “Dead Boys vibe” and they are hard working guys.
Charles Why: Velatine. This is Industrial Goth perfection from Melbourne with Loki Lokwood (who played on our album) and The Black Heart Death Cult, which I saw live and was blown away, they play a kind of Psychedelic Doom Rock that is quite something…
Opening for this band would be ideal?
Laur: Jane’s Addiction when they’re done fighting! Haha.
Charles Why: Excellent! Opening for Queens of The Stone Age would be amazing!
Place you’d most like to tour?
Laur: Japan because I’ve never been there and everything must be so different!
Charles Why: Australia! I’m salivating looking at the club and festival here.
Quote you’d like to pass on to our readers?
Laur: “All power is cursed” – Louise Michel
Charles Why: “Art is a reverberation of an impermanent Life” – Rick Rubin
Reason for the title of your recent/forthcoming release?
Charles Why: “Shamanic Faultlines” as a title is open to interpretation.
See us live at?
Laur: Nowhere for now… But it might happen…
The old days of music were better than the current, do you agree?
Laur: Yes and no. Music has lost some of its excitement and mystery but there’s still a lot of good bands around. The way of promoting bands has changed. It is now easier to make records but at the same time it’s harder to be noticed…
Charles Why: Yes, it is a lot more easy and cost effective to record at home, now. For our new album we still recorded some drums/bass and basic track in a “real” recording studio though. And yes, promotion seems like a gigantic open digital bazar nowadays;-)
Unusual merchandise?
N/A
Variations you’d like to do on any of your songs?
Laur: We’ll have more interesting remixed songs in the future. It’s always interesting to see what others artists can do with your music.
Charles Why: remix of our songs will be part of our next project.
What do your fans mean to you?
Laur: They mean a lot. Sometimes you have doubts about your own music but a few words from a fan can really make your day!
Charles Why: we created this band, the music and the universe it lives in, solely for our ourselves. That being said, it is really cool to see how supportive some of our fans are. And Laur is right, sometimes a nice word can really make your day.
X-rays or any treatments needed for band related injuries?
Laur: We’ve been fine… So far! Haha
Charles Why: red eyes at the end of the mixing stage, ha ha ha!
You’re late for a show, whose fault is it?
Laur: The drummer of course! In our case a drum machine 🙂
Zoo animal that next describes the personality of your band?
Laur: The Animal Liberation Front activist who opens the cage and free all the animals!