| AqME | |
| Alias: | Neurosyndrom (1996–1999) |
| Origin: | Paris, France |
| Genre: | Alternative rock, alternative metal, nu metal, metalcore |
| Years Active: | 1999–2019 |
| Current Members: |
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| Past Members: |
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AqME (pronounced ; previously known as Neurosyndrom) was a French rock band from Paris, consisting of four members. The band was part of a French nu metal movement called "Team Nowhere", but they eventually split up with the Team in order to have more independence.
Aqme was created in the end of 1999 after the break-up of Neurosyndrom, which were one of the founding bands of the music collective Team Nowhere. The band name is inspired from the Ancient Greek word "akmê" meaning the climax or turning point of something. At the time of its formation, Aqme's line-up was composed of ETN (Étienne) on drums, Ben (Benjamin) on guitar, Sofy (Sophie) on bass (who will later be replaced by Charlotte), and Koma (Thomas) on vocals. Six months after the formation of the band, the quartet released a five track demo known as "University Of Nowhere". It is at this period, when the band started appearing in several compilations, that Sofy left the band. She was then replaced by Charlotte. They reissue 2000 copies of University of Nowhere in April 2001.
Not very satisfied of their previous releases, the band decided to work in studio during a year in order to create their first album. They went to record in Sweden with the Swedish producer Daniel Bergstrand, who is known for working with Meshuggah, In Flames, and Misery Loves Co. The band then came back to France and played in concerts with other French bands such as Unfold and Mass Hysteria. The band's new songs attracted more people to the concerts and the band eventually had a larger audience.
Aqme's critical acclaim occurred after the release of their first album, Sombre Efforts (French for "Dark Efforts"). They went on a relatively big tour across France between September 2002 and October 2003, with a notable success at the Eurockéennes de Belfort. At the end of 2003, the Parisian band went back to studio recording in order to make their second album, Polaroïds & Pornographie (French for "Polaroids & Pornography"). AqME publicly announces his departure from the Team Nowhere on 2004, 12 September.
The band began recording their third album, this time without Daniel Bergstrand, after a lengthy tour. They chose Steve Prestage as a producer and stayed in Paris for recording. The album was released in October 2005, under the name La Fin des Temps (French for "The End of Times"), and Pas assez loin was even played on the radio. This third album had more prominent guitar parts but still continued to be playable live. The lyrics centered around different topics such as euthanasia (Ainsi soit-il), apprehension of death (La Belle Inconnue), the downfall of the world (La Fin des Temps), and human relationships. Aqme has opened the concerts for Indochine during their tour since AqME had recorded a track with Indochine (Aujourd'hui je pleure), which is featured on Indochine's album Alice & June.
The band also releases his first Live DVD titled Live(s), recorded 2 June 2006 on Nantes.
On 21 October 2006, following a concert at the Olympia, the band announced that they were planning on disappearing the following year in order to come back with a fourth album in 2008.
Three out of the four members have now a side-project. On 26 November 2006, Étienne's side-project, "Grymt", released its first record called "My Dark One". In June 2007, Thomas and Ben have announced via MySpace that they're both working on their new bands ("Vicky Vale" and "Die on Monday") debut album.
The band lists Nirvana, Soundgarden, Cold, Chokebore,, Deftones, Korn as their primary influences.
Their fourth studio album, entitled Hérésie (French for "Heresy"), was released on 4 February 2008.
After ten years of music with his mates, Ben left AqME in November 2008 in order to work entirely on his own group, Die on Monday. Next to latent period, the band integrates Mulder (Julien Hekking) as guitarist in January 2009, this one and ETN both performed within the band Grymt. This new quartet records a fifth album, En l'honneur de Jupiter (French for "In Honour of Jupiter") which is released on 19 October 2009.
Their sixth album Épithète, Dominion, Épitaphe (French for "Epithet, Dominion, Epitaph") release 10 April 2012 as Thomas Thirrion (Koma)'s swan song: Indeed, the singer has announced, to the surprise of the others AqME members, his complete withdrawal from the music world in March 2012. Vincent Peignart-Mancini take his place during the tour following album release.
With this new singer, AqME releases an EP titled Les Sentiers de l'aube (French for "The Paths of Dawn") 15 October 2012, gathering 3 unreleased tracks and 3 live tracks from the previous albums.
3 November 2014, AqME delivers his seventh album Dévisager Dieu (French for "To stare at God"): upstream from that release, the clip of Avant le Jour comes ahead. The band returns on the road at the ending of November 2014 to defend that new album. Charlotte takes a hiatus towards the band for the time to achieve her pregnancy. The bass will be taken during the rest of the tour by Vincent's twin brother, Julien Peignart-Mancini.
To celebrate the 15 years of the first album Sombres efforts, AqME reissues it 21 April 2017 on a CD version (consist of 2 discs, one for the album remastered by Magnus Lindberg and the second containing demo versions as well as an unreleased recorded at that same era) and a LP version on the occasion of the Record Store Day, 22 April.
17 May 2017, the band shows the clip for Tant d'années, one amongst the tracks from the next album expected for the upcoming back-to-school season. The new album is announced 22 September 2017 with the eponymous title AqME.
11 November 2018, AqME announces on the social medias, by a long communiqué, that the 2019 year will be the last for the group, which get ready to celebrate its twentieth anniversary, explaining be gotten to the end of a human and art adventure. 12 April 2019, they release their ninth album, Requiem. They split up after a ten-dates farewell tour, passing across France and Belgium, from March 2019 to January 2020, playing their last concert 11 January 2020 at the Trianon in Paris, two former historic members within : Thomas Thirrion (Koma) on vocals et Benjamin Rubin (Ben) on guitar. However, the last dates are cancelled because of last line-up singer Vinc's health issues.
Current members
Former members
Touring musicians
Timeline
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Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4BackgroundColors = bars:barsScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1999ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1999
LineData = layer:back color:studio at:09/10/2002 at:04/13/2004 at:10/10/2005 at:02/04/2008 at:10/19/2009 at:04/10/2012 at:11/03/2014 color:EP at:12/01/1999 at:10/15/2012
BarData = bar:Thomas text:"Thomas Thirrion" bar:Vincent text:"Vincent Peignart-Mancini" bar:Ben text:"Benjamin Rubin" bar:Julien text:"Julien Hekking" bar:Sophie text:"Sophie Chaussade" bar:Charlotte text:"Charlotte Poiget" bar:Étienne text:"Étienne Sarthou"
PlotData=
width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Thomas from:01/01/1999 till:03/09/2012 color:Vocals bar:Vincent from:03/09/2012 till:end color:Vocals bar:Ben from:01/01/1999 till:11/27/2008 color:Guitar bar:Julien from:01/14/2009 till:end color:Guitar bar:Sophie from:01/01/1999 till:10/21/2000 color:Bass bar:Charlotte from:10/21/2000 till:end color:Bass bar:Étienne from:01/01/1999 till:end color:Drums
Sombres efforts (2002)
Polaroïds & Pornographie (Original Edition / Limited Edition) (2004)
CD2 (Limited Edition)
⑴ Presented as such on the album back cover.
⑵ Track recorded at the Eurockéennes de Belfort on July 2003.
La Fin des Temps (Original Edition / CD+DVD Edition) (2005)
DVD (CD+DVD Edition)
Making Of
Hérésie (Original Edition / Limited Edition) (2008)
⑴ Track included in the Limited Edition of the album.
En l'honneur de Jupiter (Original Edition / Limited Edition) (2009)
DVD (Limited Edition)
Épithète, Dominion, Épitaphe (Original Edition / Limited Edition) (2012)
CD2 – Les Sentiers de l'Aube (EP) (Limited Edition)
Dévisager Dieu (2014)
AqME (2017)[2]
Requiem (2019)
Confusionmentale (1998)
University of Nowhere (1999)
AqME (2004)
⑴ Presented as such on the album back cover.
Les Sentiers de l'Aube (2012) ⑴
⑴ Included as second part of the Épithète, Dominion, Épitaphe studio album Limited Edition.
Slimfast (1997)
University of Nowhere (Limited Edition) (2000)
⑴ Bonus track unreleased in the first edition.
Sombres efforts ("15th Anniversary" Remastered 2-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2017)
CD1 – Album studio remasterisé
CD2 – Raretés
Maquettes SE#1
Maquettes SE#2
Inédits
Version inédite
Live(s) (2006)