France: Demians (Rock)

Location: Normandy, France (2007 – present);

Genres: Progressive Rock;

Current line-up: Nicolas Chapel (vocals, guitar, piano and all instruments on studio recordings); Antoine Pohu (bass); Gaël Hallier (drums); Fred Mariolle (guitars);

Demians is a French band started by Nicolas Chapel in 2007. Chapel’s inspiration for the name Demians came from the novel Demian by author Hermann Hesse.

"I was six or seven at the time", the French allrounder remembers. "The character of Max Demian was fascinating to me, expressing his thoughts freely in a way I was not able to express myself at the time. When searching for a name for my music, I wanted to name the songs, they are my little Demians", Chapel explains. "They help me understanding my place in the world".

His musical inspiration came from a variety of artists and sources, ranging from Radiohead to Tori Amos to ambient music. Chapel plays all instruments and performs all vocals on the first two Demians studio albums. All Demians releases have been self-produced and recorded in Chapel’s home studios.

Temple from Building an Empire (2008)

Demians’ first studio album - Building an Empire - was released on May 19, 2008 with positive reviews. The success of Building an Empire led Chapel to assemble a live band with Gaël Hallier (drums) and Antoine Pohu (bass), and they subsequently were granted opening slots for several well-known rock and metal bands, including Oceansize, Anathema, Aviv Geffen, and Jonathan Davis of Korn. They toured throughout Europe, playing more than 40 shows in more than 12 countries.

Tidal from Mute (2010)

The follow-up entitled Mute came out on June 28th, 2010. Chapel once again performed all instruments and vocals on the album, with two guests, Gaël Hallier playing drums on “Swing Of The Airwaves” and “Hesitation Waltz”, and Lepolair playing electronics on the song “Porcelain”.

Swing Of The Airwaves from Mute (2010)

Very different from its predecessor, the album once again gathered excellent reviews worldwide, and brought the band’s music to a wider audience.
Nicolas Chapel chose not to tour after the release of the album, focusing on production works. He got involved in the soundtrack of the movie “L’Apprenti Père Noël” with French singer Arthur H, and is currently producing various artists in the studio he created during the recording sessions of “Mute".

Fred Mariolle officially joined Demians as a guitar player after the release of “Mute”. In late 2010, he officially joined the Metal band Vetha as their bass player, with fellow bandmate Gaël Hallier as their drummer.

Black Over Gold from Mute (2010)

In June 2011, the band announced that they have started working on their third album and a DVD to be released in the Spring of 2012, with the members of the live band being now involved in the recording process.

Discography:

2008 – Building An Empire (Full-length)

2010 – Mute (Full-length)

You can follow Demians on Myspace.