Interview with ODC (1/2)

The debut album by French alternative metal band ODC is entitled “Twisted Love”. We talk to singer and mastermind Celia about the band’s beginnings, happiness and how a song is created.

Orkus: You founded the band in 2017. Oh, so you were still at school then?
Celia: I was no longer at school. I was already working, but my job left me pretty empty. ODC really came out of my need to express myself artistically and the search for a deeper meaning in my life. The 9am to 5pm daily grind was too confining for me. I felt trapped and needed freedom – the freedom to become the master of my life and captain of my destiny and express something that comes from my soul.

O: How would you describe the formation of the band?
C: ODC was born out of a deep need to express myself artistically and musically, to find my own voice, and out of my encounter with metal music. ODC is my first and only band – my odyssey with metal. It was a revelation for me, the way I found a connection to the world and positioned myself in life. My heart and soul are in it.

O: How did you spend most of your free time as a teenager?
C: Mostly with music and lots of sport. I was very, very active. I listened to albums, went horseback riding, did water sports … Music and sports were both a refuge and a way of finding out who I was becoming.

O: On a scale of 1 to 100, how happy would you rate your youth?
C: Maybe around 60. I was very curious and keen to experiment, which gave me a lot of pleasure. But youth is also a time of questioning and searching for identity, which of course comes with inner turmoil. It takes time and determination to become who you really want to be.

O: And what was missing to reach 100 percent?
C: Probably clarity – about where I belong and who I really fit in with.

O: Do you think it is even possible to achieve perfect happiness in the long term?
C: For me, happiness depends a lot on being in tune with your true self. That means listening to your inner voice and following what you really want to do, even if that means moving away from the expectations of your family, your environment or society. In this sense, ODC is an act of resistance and self-realization for me. It allows me to find happiness by freeing myself from my environment’s expectations for my life – and they certainly didn’t expect me to sing in a metal band.

O: What is it like when you write your music? When do you experience real moments of happiness in this regard?

C: The strongest moments happen when something suddenly feels true – when a melody, a lyric and an emotion fit together perfectly. It’s not about technical perfection, but about recognizing a feeling that suddenly becomes clear.

O: How is an ODC song created?
C: It usually starts with an emotion or a mood. Then we build on that – melodies, textures, dynamics. The songwriting process is very collaborative, but the emotional core of the song always comes first.

O: How did the decision to name the album after the song “Twisted Love” come about? What does this song mean to you?

C: “Twisted Love” captures the emotional essence of the album. It reflects the idea that love and pain, strength and vulnerability can coexist. But beyond that, it’s also about the complexity of human beings. We all have multiple sides – a kind of side A and side B within us. People are full of contradictions, impulses and ambiguities. It is precisely this complexity that we explore in our first album “Twisted Love”.

O: All the songs on the album shine like real diamonds. Which two other songs are also particularly important to you and why?
C: First of all, thank you for those words. (smiles) “I Need to Breathe” is very important to me because it expresses the need to find space and clarity when emotions become overwhelming. To me, this song almost feels like a prayer. It’s heavy, but there’s an intensity that keeps building – like a desperate attempt to heal. It’s a cry to start from scratch. “My Name Is Gold” is special in a completely different way. It has this fun riff that gets people dancing, and I love it when people dance and move at concerts. It’s funny and sarcastic at the same time.

We continue our conversation in the second part.

Claus Müller

Line-up:
Celia – vocals
Raphaël – guitar
Sonny – bass
Hector – drums

Watch the video for “Love I Tore It Apart”: