Progression By Failure

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Progression By Failure is a project by a young french compositor named Nicolas Piveteau. He was born in 1981 and starts to play keyboards at 10 years old. He also plays guitar and drums. 
This project is a vision of the progressive music, a large panorama between power & emotions. The songs are made of beautiful melodies, power riffs & light atmospheres, without what the author considers cliches of standard progressive music.
The first Progression By Failure was well received and this is good enough reason to get Nicolas story. 
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Your
biography has been covered in your ProgArchives profile so let's
bypass this and go straight to your album. But why did you choose
that name ?

The
concept of the progression by failure looks like the construction of
a song. You have an idea in mind and you try it again and again until
it works. This concept is also available for life in general. You
learn more of your mistakes than your success. It's an important
point for me. I think you have to fall to become a better man and
learn from life.

How
did you get in touch with Musea ? 

In
the end of 2008, I send demos to some labels specialised in
progressive
music. I already know Musea cause my former music teacher was sign by
them few years ago. Musea is a solid French label worldly known. We
signed a record deal but they only deal out the album. It was a
really good thing for me because they've got a great distribution
network. It also gives me certain credibility in the world of
progressive music.

Please
give us your long or brief afterthoughts on your only album to this
date Progression by Failure from 2009

It
was a really good surprise for me to discover that people like my
music. The
listeners have to understand that it's an autoproduct album. So of
course, the production of the cd is not as good as some big
progressive issues. But a lot of people didn't focus on this point
and just heard the work on the songs. All the reviews tell the same
in fact : the weakness of some instruments (drums and bass) and the
great work on melodies and keyboards playing. Those reviews make me
move forward. It's always good to have another point of view on his
music. 

How
is your writing and creative processes and the recording process ? 

I
listen to a lot of sort of music (metal, progressive
rock, jazz, classical…) and when I compose a song, I always want to
found the feeling that those music provokes in me. For example, the
song "Talion" was write to find the feeling of bands like
Therion, but It does not sound exactly the same. It's the explanation
why we found all these different styles on the album (dark metal like
Opeth for "Desperate Anger", symphonic prog for "Memories
From The Future)… But I don't want to mix all those styles in one
song because, for me you can easily loose the feeling you want to
transmit. 

How
would you describe your music to those here who are unfamiliar with
Progression by Failure ? 

Like
I said before, I think that everybody who likes
progressive music whatever It looks like (nu-prog, metal-prog…) can
find something on this album. I don't want to focus on one special
style of progressive music. Everybody who is open minded can found
something. If you like strong melodies and keyboard playing, you will
like it.

Tech
talk: Which keyboards do you use and do you also use samples in your
compositions ? 

For
the first album, all songs were made on my Korg Triton Le. Every
sound was made with it. At this time, I'm a constructing a new setup
with new keyboards, new effects and a sampler. I want to try to mix
vintage and more actual sounds.

Do
you envisage to expand your project into a full band with other
instruments too or is this going to be a keyboards projects only ? 

For
the first album, I didn't know that my music will have this impact on
some people. I was just writing music for myself and didn't search
for some musicians to play with me. It's really hard to have
musicians
who want to invest in a progressive project. But for the next album,
I will try to found some musicians to record songs in good
conditions. For example, I know that I'm not a great drummer, so next
time I will ask someone else. I also want to try to add vocals and
more heavy guitars on some tracks.

Is
music your main occupation or do any of you have daytime jobs outside
the music scene ? 

I
have a full time job beside so It's hard to find time to compose.
But I always keep time for music every week. That's really a need for
me.

What
is the latest updates and the plans for this and next year ? 

I'm
working on new songs. A demo called "Sparkles" will figure
in my myspace soon. It sounds like a crossover of The Gathering and
some more progressive things. I'm also working on a heavier song that
looks like some Planet X and another
long track sounding like Gentle Giant and Genesis. Maybe I will have
enough songs for an album in the fall of 2011. 

To
wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this
interview ? 

I
would like to thanks all the people who support this project and who
bought my first album. It means a lot for me. That's what makes me going. I specially want to thanks everybody at Progarchive.com for his
support since the beginning.  Long live the prog!

Thank you to Nicolas for this interview

His PA profile is here and his homepage is here