January 17, 2025 will see release of Uncommon Grounds, the sophomore effort from France’s CKRAFT and unless you’re already one of the ‘annointed,’ the surprise will be phenomenal. See, this is a band that approaches unconventional like most folks approach their next day, seemingly effortlessly. Medieval sounds meld with bone snappin’ metal and unorthodox jazz culminating into of the most unique and refreshing things I’ve heard in a mighty long time. It works and smashingly so. One listen is nowhere near enough to unpack all the mysteries contained in each track here and multiple listens uncovers more fun than you’ve ever had with a shiny new toy. Ahead of the album’s release we had a chance to pose our Profile questions to founder, composer and accordionist Charles Kieny and he was super gracious with his responses to help us peel back the layers of this band and their sound. Keep reading to see how it went down and get your own copy of this treat via the links contained within.

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How and when did you first get into playing music, or metal more specifically, and how did your band get its start? Any pushback from family/those close to you?

Hi guys, thanks for having us today! I first got into playing music with accordion as a child, there was an old dusty instrument in my grandma’s attic, she put it on my lap and I was happy to entertain her (I was a total grandma’s boy). No pushback at all, until I started wanting to play drums, which led me to dig metal, and jazz: I could then see some kind of worried look in their eyes ha ha – But everyone could see how obsessive I became with practising and listening to music so even if they didn’t understand, they all respected that.

How would you describe your band and what you play to someone who is completely in the dark?

It depends who I’m addressing to be honest! If it’s metalheads I’d tell them that CKRAFT is like an instrumental Meshuggah with saxophone and a synth-accordion. If I’m talking to jazzheads I’d probably tell them it’s somewhere between Magma and King Crimson but on steroids. I’d play both of them our very first track “The Loudest Victim” from our first album “Epic Discordant Vision,” it’s really a great introduction to our thing because of the short and solemn acoustic sax and accordion introduction that suddenly switches to a heavy but super odd riff. Alternatively I’d play them our last single “Pageantrivia,” which has an epic intro with the whole band playing long notes, that switches to what a quite established jazz journalist recently told me sounds like “Black Sabbath but with odd times signature” (he thought he was saying something utterly wrong to get me to react and say something true in return, but I couldn’t agree more with him actually!)

Is there one (or more) thing about your latest / upcoming album or about your band that no one will find in any interview or review that you care to divulge?

I would probably tell you how difficult and challenging it is to lead a band, the insane amounts of money that get to be thrown in it, the hours and hours of work, for years in a row, for results that you can barely see at times… I’d probably rant about all that! But since I don’t want to sound ungrateful for all the cool things that are happening to CKRAFT at the moment, I won’t! [shushing emoji]

Any funny stories from playing shows / tours / festivals, etc?

Nah, we’re super square. More seriously, our very first public show was in front of a huge (seated!) jazz audience – there were around a thousand people, main festival stage, supporting jazz legend “Roberto Fonseca” + “Makaya McCraven” – and we could see some grannies at the first row covering their ears. I’ll always remember that sight! But overall everyone else in the audience ended up standing and cheering so this festival is still a memory we’re all fond of.

What do you see as some of the great things happening in and around the metal scene (yours or just in general) and what are some of the worst things happening right now?

Meshuggah’s new album and their new show absolutely blew our minds. Each time I see them live I end up staying in the pit with tears in my eyes after the concert, just staring blandly at the stage, not believing what I’ve just witnessed, and feeling blessed to live in the same period of history as them. I think they are the greatest thing happening to “the scene,” and to metal music in general at the moment. I guess people must have felt the same back when John Coltrane had his epic bands. Another great thing happening in the scene according to me is that I heard Car Bomb might be preparing a new album at the moment [we have the same PR, I’m leaking info here, Curran I’m sorry man hehehe]. Absolute legends.

About the worst thing, I’d mention Three Trapped Tigers, if you don’t know that band, do check it out, it’s just pure raw brutal jazz/math-rock energy; the bad news is that they literally just split, I was at their very last show in London two weeks ago, the scene has just lost one of its most badass weird projects.

Most folks have passions for a cause or causes that are close to them. What, if any, are some of the most important issues (social/political/humorous/etc.) for you / your band and how do you insert those issues into your music?

Definitely humanity’s creepy relationship with beliefs, religion, and figures of power. I like to use medieval religious melodies in CKRAFT’s music. Nearly all the leads you hear are stolen from Gregorian chants. For example our new single “Pageantrivia” features a melody from the Gregorian chant “Salve Regina (tonus solemnis).” The track is as a meditation on the ways in which governments and religions have oppressed people throughout history.

I was in London in September 2022 and attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, along with hundreds of thousands of people. I was truly amazed at the ‘pageantry’ of these ceremonies. It can really make you feel that your life is quite ‘trivial’ compared to those of monarchs… If you look at human history, it seems that religions and kings are worthy enough reasons to kill zillions of us. So there I was linking these ideas together: What’s valuable? What’s trivial? Us? Religion? Royalty? The pageantry of ceremonies?” P.S.: We shot the “Pageantrivia” in a monastery in France.

Do you guys have day jobs or hobbies you want to share?

We’re all professional musicians actually! No time for day jobs or hobbies haha. Bassist Marc and I are playing in other people’s bands (mostly jazz, electro, and adjacent stuff – Marc plays mostly with Tigran Hamasyan that your readers might know of!), drummer William also does a bit of drums teaching, our guitarist Antoine is a classically trained musician, playing French horn in one of France’s national orchestras (“ONF”), and our saxophonist Théo is running a rehearsal studio in Paris one or two days per week when he’s not on the road, that’s the only “day jobs” we’re doing so far!

What advice do you have for music critics and outlets out there? How can we all better serve the genre in the eyes of a hard-working musician?

The most important thing for us musicians is to find our audience, find that potential hardcore fan that will really resonate with our music. I don’t have enough experience and my career is currently too short to pinpoint exactly what role music critics and specialized outlets have in career’s development but the sure thing is that we need maximum “exposure” in order to survive, and nowadays, this happens mostly through social media because our smartphones are ALWAYS in our hands. So I’d say, if you really dig the artists you’re interviewing, think of developing your outlet on social media into something big: your posts have to become an essential element in people’s life, something they’re really looking forward, something that they CAN’T not click on it when they see it. Your outlet, your design, your tone, your words, have to be the one thing that “makes their day,” if you know what I mean? Easier said than done! Anyway once you become absolutely essential in people’s lives, no matter if you have 10k or 100k followers/readers, you’ll always be a game changer for the artists you feature. I guess this work is just as hard, if not even harder, as writing and performing music.

Any specific long term goal(s) in mind?

Yes. Staying alive and well, have a balanced diet, enough hours of sleep, and write 10 albums for CKRAFT.

When you’re not obsessing over your own material, what are some of your favorite albums to listen to currently? (Feel free to include non-metal)

Oh my, there are so many! I recently did an article on this site about picking 10 seconds of 10 tracks I love. I went over 10, couldn’t help it. I love all these albums. Here are a few featured in the article:

Yellow Magic Orchestra – Solid State Survivor (1979)
Gojira – The Link (2003)
Machine Head – Through the Ashes of Empires (2003)
Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band – Season of Changes (2008)
Kurt Rosenwinkel – Star of Jupiter (2012)
Venetian Snares – Making Orange Things (2001)
Charles Dutoit and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – Honegger Symphony No. 2 in D Major (1986)
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – The Big Beat (1960)
John Coltrane – Blue Train (1958)
Mr Bungle – Disco Volante (1995)
Faith No More – Angel Dust (1992)
Secret Chiefs 3 and Ishraqiyun – Perichoresis (2014)
Dub Trio – New Heavy (2006)
Opeth – Still Life (1999)

And when I don’t know what to listen I generally go for any Meshuggah, Gojira or Car Bomb album. About new stuff I found Knocked Loose “You Won’t Go Before You Supposed To” (2024) to be an absolute banger.

What is the near future outlook for you or your band? Any specific events on the horizon that the masses should be aware of?

Absolutely! We’re releasing our new album Uncommon Grounds on 17 January 2025 and playing our release party in Paris on February 24 (at the venue, Backstage By The Mill, with our friends from Chrones opening the show!)

Summarize your band in one word. (Disclosure: If you use more than one word, we’ll probably just pick our favorite.)

Uncommon.

Many thanks to Charles and CKRAFT for their time!

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Uncommon Grounds will be available January 17 direct from the band here and on their Bandcamp page. For more information on CKRAFT, visit their Facebook page.