Archives par mot-clé : music

The band JOSEPH, a road movie album on the roads of life

25/09/2019 Joan Laisser un commentaire

The band JOSEPH is one of our crush of this year! A group formed in 2014 by Natalie Schepman and her twin sisters Allison and Meegan Closner.
The trio’s name is a tribute to their grandfather Jo and the town of Joseph in Oregon. The 3 sisters present us their 3rd album Good Luck, Kid. This new album is wanted like a road movie. It is at the same time intimate and intense.

The 13 tracks take us on the roads of life while questioning us on the choices that it is essential to have as an adult. An album definitely more pop but which does not lose the bulk of the group: the voices.
The trio master them to perfection, the harmonies are just perfect and takes us away completely. We cannot wait to discover the group live!

JOSEPH the band’s interview

USofParis: Did you use to sing all together since you were kids ?

Natalie: Surprisingly no! I am the oldest and I was always the one wanting to sing and be the center of attention. It wasn’t until we were adults in our twenties and I was playing music solo that I realized they could sing and how much better we would be together than I was on my own. I had a friend say “You don’t seem like you love your own music. What do you need to do to want to run it into people’s hands?” So I texted them on my way home from Chicago, “Want to be a band with me?”

What’s the best advice given by your grandfather?

“In the 80’s I gave up smoking, drinking, and wild women. My life has been boring ever since.” – Jo Hallam

Who write the music? The lyrics? How do you work together?

We write almost everything together and with other writers. Sometimes it starts with a melody Meegan sang in sound check that we got on voice memos. Sometimes it’s just a feeling that Allie starts talking about and I will start playing guitar while she sings whatever words and melody comes to mind. But other times we go into a room with a writer and start completely from scratch. In that case it might start with “What’s on your mind today?”

Your sound has evolved. It is less « guitary », less acoustic than your precedent album. Where did the change in your sound come from?

After touring with a band on this last album cycle it opened our eyes to how big things can sound when you have drums, bass and electric guitar behind you. We wanted to write songs that would feel amazing live. We wanted the louder parts to be even louder and we knew that would make the quiet moments even more powerful.

Our team really really love Fighter. What is the secret of this beautiful song?

Thank you! I think the secret is that it’s honest. It’s a song we sing to each other to stay in the fight when it’s hard. Also Meegan is a dynamite singer and she amazes me. 🙂

You just released the track Good Luck, Kid. How did you write it, what is the meaning behind this song?

This song is the only song on the album I wrote mostly alone. It was one of those that came tumbling out. When I entered my thirties I felt like everything changed and I was less certain of things I thought I knew. It’s like that saying, “The more you learn the less you know.” The world looks so different now than it ever has in my whole life and while I was explaining all this to my husband Chris, he said “It’s like the universe just stopped the car, tossed you the keys and said, “Good luck, kid.” And I knew that was the title.

I loved it because it reminded me of a technique my best friend Julie uses in her work as a therapist. It’s called Lifespan Integration Therapy and it is a process of connecting the adult you to the child you that still exists within you. I imagine this song is my adult self comforting that little girl me, acknowledging how hard things are but believing in her and reminding her she can do it.

What is your most personal song on your forthcoming album?

We each lead four songs on this album so I think we each have one that feels the most personal to us, but I think the most intimate and raw song on the whole album is a song Meegan sings called Revolving Door. This song doesn’t try to offer a happy ending. It’s a snapshot of the confusion and heartbreak you feel when you are betrayed by someone you love.

Is it difficult for a women group to evolve in the musical industry?

In some ways, yes! Naturally, in a society built on listening to men sometimes there is an extra hurdle to overcome to be heard. That said, we happen to work with an incredible team of men and women who work tirelessly to get our music in people’s hands and we have a fantastic audience who listens to us both because we are women and also regardless of that fact.

Which country you are the more excited to visit during your tour?

Oh wow! Well, since I am talking to you I will tell you we are VERY excited to come back to France. Our uncle, Jeff Hallam, has lived there for years (he’s also a musician there, Brisa Roche, Dominique A etc.) and he and his partner have a little son only a few years old. So, since I have a French cousin I’ve been learning French and I am excited to practice!

What kind of music are you listening to when you are on tour, in the tour bus?

Lizzo! Aways Lizzo. And Muna.

What is your favorite song ever?

Fix You by Coldplay because it makes me cry every time and it sums up the meaning of life: being together.

What makes you laugh the most?

Each other! 🙂

Interview by Joan and Alexandre

JOSEPH
new album: Good Luck, Kid
(ATO Records / [PIAS])

IN ENGLISH !, Interview, Musique

AURORA:’music is a driving force’ #Interview in Paris

22/02/2019 Joan Laisser un commentaire

AURORA is really our musical crush from the last two years. It is always a big pleasure to see her on stage, and since we discover her we cannot stop to listen to her music. It is kind of an addiction. We met her a second time just after the release of the first step of her second album called Infections of a different kind. She talked with us about her album recorded in France. She tend to be more political, more activist with this new record and we discussed her vision of the world. Time is always too short with Aurora, she is so passionate!

INTERVIEW / AURORA

USofParis: You released your second album, the step one, why did you split this album?

AURORA: Well, because I want people to have time. I would like to split my album so people will have more attention on each song. I wanted every song to feel special.
My first album is a kind of a process about our own demons, about fighting for your healing and giving yourself time to become better. This step is kind of a quite natural continuation to the first album. It is about making choices for yourself. Like if you are unhappy with someone you should leave, if someone is treating you bad, you should leave her/him. You can change how you feel about, every day. You can decide how happy you are. I want people to be happy.

Why?

Because when I have many happy people, I have people who are a resource to the world. When you are happy you can actually do something. You can create, you can help, you can fight for the people who can’t fight for themselves. That is why it is so important to me that my friends, my supporters, my family are happy.

How many steps do you plan to release for this project?

That is so exciting, isn’t? It will have more than one. 🙂
I know! But in my team, they don’t know yet. I am in a kind of a long journey.

You chose France to write and record this album. Why?

Because on my first album, I can hear that it is kind of cold, it is sharp, kind of dark. I am really affected by where I am. Everyone is, you know. I write all the time, I write on tour, I have many songs, maybe 200.
I wanted to go to a different place, where no one can reach me like I was on a different planet. So I went to France, to a place called La Fabrique which was beautiful. I love the people there, they have a dog, Paula, and Ginger, the cat, they are married. It was fabulous. During the recording days, they were in the studio with us, I can hear Paula and Ginger on the album. The album is warmer, I really wanted to try to be more organic. I recorded some organic sounds and making them sound ‘otherworldly’. I really explored because I know more about myself now than I did.

For your first album, in an interview, you said that ‘My first album is like the old AURORA’. In this one, is it the present AURORA?

Yes! 🙂

Who is she?

My perspective is bigger because I sing so much more than I thought. I met so many people from Brazil, Australia, Asia, France… I learned a lot. Now I know more about what I think the world needs from me. I want to make the music I feel the people need because music is a tool, music is a driving force that can change so many things and inspire people. I hope that my music can be the kind of friend people need, now. That is why I’ve gone quite political, I feel now is the time we need to be a bit more political.

Why do you have this commitment?

Aurora: Things are happening in the States, in France, in Brazil, in Norway, all over the world. We may think that they are in control but they are not. We are! Because we are more people than they are. But they have more power. I just feel like now is such an important time to be political. If you are ok here then you have to go there and help, show them support. It is so sad, it is really heartbreaking. I just really want people to be a warrior for the ones you need it. We can choose what to do now, we can choose to do something good about it or not. We have done worst before in History, and we have come very far. I think with the right attitude we can have big History again. We have to remember that we can and we should care even though it is not about us.

Do you know why you are a singer?

It changes from day to day. There are so many things I don’t understand about humans. Why we do so many strange things, and why we are so clever. We are the most intelligent species on earth, we say. But it is so weird what we choose to do with this intelligence, so many stupid things. Horrible. We also do so many good things. Most of the time, I really feel inspired to be apart. You know, my words mean nothing when no one is listening to them. It is not the same if you scream in the forest, because no one is taking the words. I am so honored to have people listening to me. We are more than an artist and fans, we are like a community. It is very inspiring and scary, but good, to see how quick, things, can change for so many. I really feel that is my biggest purpose now, to kind of just remind people that they are so important, even though they may feel small.
And sometimes I think I just want to be free and I like to be on stage because I feel like I am a free soul. I just dance and I can make stupid gestures and I don’t care about it.

Infections of a different kind is the only song you wrote alone, right?

Even though there are names on the credits, because even if you are in the room you still get your name as a writer on the song, because everything/everyone affects the song, I do all my melodies and the lyrics myself for all of my songs. Because I’m quite selfish and I know what I want. I am very busy, I tour all the time, I write all the time. It is hard to finish things alone because my mind is so all over the place. I have a thousand ideas at once. It is so nice to be with friends and to make something together. Normally I just put out songs and I record them in with these people and we build up the universe and I usually take it with me and do it again my way. It is nice to create something with people that can teach me something and help me.
It is a really personal thing, that is why I like to do the lyrics myself because I don’t want people to know what they are about. I want them to have the same experience than anyone else. It is an all-new experience singing the songs when you write them yourself.

The connection is strong with your songs!

I do two covers sometimes on stage (Life on Mars, Nature Boy), it is very nice because you can help keep a song alive. Some people may never hear, some people may forget about it. It is an all different thing when I know where the song comes from. Every one of my songs is not personal, but they’ve come from some things I’ve seen or heard, on my journey to who I am now.
Infections of a different kind is the only song I wrote when I was completely alone in a dark room. It was in the middle of a night, I woke up. But I still write all my songs myself just because I like my own ideas.

We adore Forgotten Love. We think that is so sweet of you the way that you sing about love. You are always touring, do you have time for love?

Aurora: I am always touring and even if I am home, I choose myself first. I need to make sure I have the right energy for my next trip because I will meet a hundred fans and I want to give them all that I have. I need people in my life who understand that right now. We are small pieces of a big world and that is how it has to be.

A sound that makes you happy?

She imitates a bird.

A song that makes you cry?

Most of the songs by Edith Piaf

A song that makes you dance?

You can call me Al by Paul Simon

A song that makes you think about home?

The ocean (she makes the sound of the ocean)

A song that makes you think about your childhood?

Susan by Leonard Cohen

A song that makes you fall in love?

Also every song by Edith Piaf

Interview by Alexandre and Joan

AURORA
Infections of a different kind – Step 1

BONUS!!!!!

AURORA: I love going to rave parties, alone, sober. You should never go to a rave party alone and drink alcohol. That’s a no-no. I like it because I listen to music and dance until 6 am, then I like to go home and meditate until the next day.

IN ENGLISH !, Musique

Charlotte OC / Careless People Interview – sensuous pop!

31/03/2017 United States Of Paris Laisser un commentaire

All about Charlotte OC, our new angel of British music!
Her second album, Careless People, has obsesses us since several weeks. Sublime songs like Shell, Medicine Man, unforgettable like Darkest Hour.
Beyond the stunning voice, we discovered an irresistible smile during our interview at Le Pigalle Hotel, in Paris.

SELFIE INTERVIEW

UsofParis: When did you start to sing?
Charlotte OC: I started singing the first moment I’ve realized that I loved it. It was when I was about 6 years old. I was enquired I think it was the first class music I’ve ever heard and we were singing and learning the song and we just finished learning it and we have to sing all together to the class and thinking singing was like « holy fuck! ». I’ve felt like « how great! », like I could do it, I’ve felt like i knew I could do it. That was a quite strange feeling when you are 6 years old. It was quite profond, just like really knowing. I am not sure if it was because I was doing just a bit of show off or genially just to know just to do it.
I knew I wanted it to do as a career like when I was 15. But then I’ve started to take it serious when i signed my first major company when I was 16. And when I was got signed to a record label when I was 18 and I took it properly seriously.

And when you have decided to write?
It was when i was 15 years old. and it was my dad who’ve booked guitar lessons for me behind my back but I didn’t really want to learn guitar. We had this thing together by using chewing gum together. I still love chewing gum, I don’t know why but and I still do, it’s my trick. One day, we were in the car and I was used to have all the chewing gum I wanted, and it was literally two steps away from home and he told me that “we ware not going in that way and I will drop you here and you are going to have guitar lessons.” And the guitar was in the car and I was just thinking: “it’s the worst fucking day of my life!”
And I became obsessed with guitar, I’ve felt confortable with the instrument.
Then as I started to get play with it I started to pop melodies all over the cords I was learning and it was how I started writing.

Did you thank him?
Yes. Even mentioning him in the interviews now. I think it’s thanking him in a way. Because what he did was the best thing he’ve ever done for me.

Airplanes, hotels, promotion, showcases, were you prepared for this in your life?
Not when I was younger. Now I feel like I am. Before I wasn’t ready for it.
I knew I’ve create a vibe or something but not created a world. So I wasn’t quite ready to talk about it. But now after making a body of work, a few world, I lived for that long, I ‘ve spend that long marking it and now I am ready to talk about it.

Release an album is a relief, an heaven or a big stress?
Making a record: it’s all of that, it’s everything. I find being in a studio quite scary, there a lot a pressure because you are there to really project yourself and I don’t know, I found it quite stressful and I don’t find yet a confortable space in the studio so I did find it stressful. But it’s also really rewarding, I’ve learnt a lot and I’ll quite love produce my own album one day and I am learning how to use logic and things like that, so… maybe I could do this all my own one day.

It’s your dream?
I would love it. 🙂

The first track Darkest Hour obsessed me. I love it. What is the story?
I wrote this song in a tree house/studio in Los Angeles. I wrote about watching somebody having a really toxic relationship and what you can do about it. And when it’s somebody you really care about, it’s not only them going through, you’re going trough as well. When you care about somebody you feel the pain that they’re feeling. I quite needed to write a song about how me and my family fell about what she’ve done and put herself all through. I was a bit a therapy for me writing this song.

What about the track Shell?
That’s about this guy who was older that me and he was quite manipulative. He was bad ache, the guy who was not very nice in general. When my mum first met him, she was: “no! i do not like him”
I was basically a child and he completely swept the life out of me and I completely lost who I was. And it was me realizing: « I dont know who I am anymore and it’s because of you ».

About your music, some journalists describe it as an alternative pop, dark, also black paint… Do you agree?
Music is interpreted by you own. You create a mood, whatever the mood it is. And it’s totally personal to each, it’s individual. I guess there is a part of dark in it but there is also a lot of warmth.

Lou Reed is a major influence for you generally. And in this album?
Let me think… Maybe. No, I just think it’s someone i admire, I think he is just amazing. I love the ton of his voice. I don’t channel anything of his.

Which song of him do you prefer?
Pale blue eyes. This song was when he was in the Velvet Underground.

Funny or strange story during one of your shows you want to share?
My uncle passed away about 5 years ago, he used to come at every show that I did and he was a really important part of my life and I’ve dedicated the album to him. Whenever I went on stage, my guitar used to break, and somebody would always be there to lent me a guitar and it never worked and every time I’ve gone to the shop I would be like: « what the fuck it’s wrong with my guitar and why it keep doing this? ». But I’ve realized there was nothing wrong with this. I did’t realized I get in touch with those people and basically my uncle came through and I was very skeptical about all this but this all kind of all things about me and my family that nobody would know. And he basically said: « I know that you know that I have been there with you on stage, I am sorry for breaking your guitar ». That’s something a kind of weird. After that, true or not, it was really nice knowing that he was there.

How do yo feel when you are on stage?
There are moments of little bit of incertity and sometimes real euphoria and moments you’re thinking a little bit much about stuff. There’re so much many feelings when you are on stage, it’s not a common experience. You always can tell about he first note that you sing if it’s going a good show or not.

Do you enjoy?
I love it! 🙂 It’s a part of me.

BONUS
Charlotte who chose Los Angeles to make her album, spent 3 days in Paris meeting web media and blogs. Respect!

Interview by Alexandre
Thanks Leila Lamnaouer for the translation

Charlotte OC
New album: Careless People
(Harvest Records / Capitol Music France)

Shows
Wed 19 April, LONDON / Omeara
Wed 26 April, PARIS / Badaboum
Thu 20 July – Sun 23 July, HUNTINGDON / Secret Garden Party 2017

IN ENGLISH !, Interview, Musique

Frances a star is born / from Coachella to Paris – Interview !

16/11/2016 Joan Laisser un commentaire

Frances is one of the most talented emerging artists of 2016. Her differents EP have made a hit in the USA and in the UK. Her debut album Things I’ve Never Said will be released in March 2017. She was on stage at the Cafe de la Danse for Pitchfork Avant-garde, we met her on the first floor of Barbès the next morning to review the past year with her and speak about the one coming which is full of promises.

FRANCES / SELFIE INTERVIEW

USofParis : Your first album will be released in March, It’s called… Things I’ve Never Said. Why didn’t you say those things before?
Frances: I don’t know. I think that’s kind of.. a bit… what I worked out while I was writing it. And that’s how I came up with the title because I was kind of writing songs and going: “Why is it the first time I said these things?“. You can find the lyrics for what you want to say on a song but maybe not the words to speak in person, so.

You start writing music at 12-13. On your album, is there a song from this time?
No. I think the earliest one was when I was about 18.

Which one?
It’s two: one called Drifting and one called Sublime, that I wrote when I was in university, like 18, 19.

What inspires you to write?
Everything, everything I see around me, the people I meet, obviously personal experience… or it might be, you know, someone I’m close to who says they’re going through something and I kind of write a song about that. But whatever it is, I have to relate to it, it kind of has to make sense for me.

Do you have any influences?
Yeah, so many. Everything you hear… everything I hear kind of ends up in there somewhere, but I love Radiohead, Björk, Coldplay, and then more modern like Ed Sheeran, he’s great.

One of my favourite songs on your album is Don’t worry about me, could you tell us more about this song?
Oh, thank you. It was great because when I first wrote it, I didn’t really think that it would be released. I thought it was a bit strange, because it started with a cappella… and it didn’t feel like it had much of a structure, it was almost like a hymn, it was weird. And then I kind of listened to it a few times and it was like : “Oh, it is actually making more sense”, and I played it to some other people and they were like “Oh my God” and they loved it. I think it was interesting because I wrote it exactly how I wanted to write it, because I didn’t think anyone else would even hear it. So that kind of taught me a lesson, that I should just do what I want to do, and not think too much about what other people are going to think of it.

You used to play only with your piano. Is it difficult for you to play with the whole band on stage?
Oh no, I love it. I really like playing on my own as well because it’s very intimate… but when you got lots of other instruments behind you, it just going to add extra depth. And now what I do is play on my own imagining what they would be doing.

You played at Coachella, SXSW, some of the biggest festivals in the world. Isn’t it crazy for a young girl?
Yes, especially to be in America, as I had never been to America before, and my first time going to America was to support James Bay on tour, and it’s like : “This is so weird“. And I did my own show in New York, in LA, and then I went to Australia and New Zealand, which is completely on the other side of the world. Which is really cool because I don’t think I could ever get to go to those places if I wasn’t doing music, so it’s pretty cool.

But Coachella is very special…
It’s kind of weird, because you’re in the middle of the desert, in a kind of manicured polo field, and there are lots of celebrities, Instagram models, and… I just thought that it was kind of hilarious, but it was very beautiful, it was very pretty, and the music is amazing, and because of the drinking laws in America you can’t hold a drink and watch the gig. Which is actually kind of cool because it means the crowd is not crazy, they are not getting bare and trying to jump on you, everyone is really watching music.

Any friendly meeting, anything unusual at Coachella?
I was watching Disclosure and then this woman came in… pink hair and like a jumpsuit with clouds on it… and I was like : “Hmm funny outfit” and then I looked up and it was Katy Perry. And I was like : “Oh only she can pull that up“, and then she was dancing with a guy and I was like: “Hmmm I wonder who that is“, and then he had this hat and he looks up and it was Orlando Bloom. And I was like here and I’m just kind of watching Disclosure. Then The Weeknd came in with about eight of his crew, it was mental… and apparently a Kardashian came into the dressing room a little bit, but I can’t say… So it was a very kind of strange place, pretty cool, though.

You supported James Bay when he was touring around the US, did he give you some advice?
Yeah, he said to me: “Enjoy everything” because he was like: “You know, it’s gonna get really crazy busy, and really crazy, so you need to make sure that you’re enjoying every little bit” and “Don’t take it too seriously, remember why you’re doing it“. So that’s nice.

Imagine now you can sing with someone. Who will you choose?
Probably Ed Sheeran. Only because he plays the guitar, and I really want a guitar. And I think maybe our voices would go kind of well together. I’m imagining that.

Does he know?
No, he doesn’t. There hasn’t been enough interviews…

He would know now!
That would be kind of cool.

Yesterday during your set, you said that you want to live in Paris. Why?
I love it ! The buildings! It just looks like nowhere else, I think. It is so stunning. And I think, it is so vibrant every day of the week.

If Paris was one of your songs, which one would that be?
Oh, that’s a pretty good question! Probably one of the more kind of uptempo ones… maybe Under Our Feet.

So what’s your project for next year with this album?
I just think I’m just gonna be touring it along, which is going to be great. All the songs are really going to come to life.

Alone or with the band?
With the band. Probably with the drummer as well. And maybe some more string players. And I’ll keep, I think, on writing, I just write all the time. I will probably finish the second album before I finish touring for the first one.

So maybe we can hear some new songs on stage during the tour.
That’s a good idea.

What was your last music crush?
Probably it would be a girl crush… like Beyoncé, her last album is incredible. The best!

What was the last artist you saw on stage?
Birdy. I was there in London on Friday. So good. She’s on tour.

Do you have a good spot in London, a restaurant?
A fair restaurant in London, it’s called The Pollen Street Social, it’s amazing. It’s not too expensive but it’s really good, and there is a fire…

Venues for concerts?
Actually where I saw Birdy, the Hammersmith Apollo, that’s amazing. Brixton Academy, probably the best, I think. The small ones are very cool like Koko, which is only 1,500 places. It’s a kind of old theatre with red curtains and red carpets.

What kind of relationship do you have with your first fans?
I mean, some have been there since the very, very beginning, and they’ve kind of stuck with me all the way. It’s still really early, and they’re really patient. But they’re so lovely.

Interview by Joan and Alexandre
Thanks to Fran

FRANCES

First album Things I’ve Never Said
(Capitol Music)

Musique

Aurora interview-selfie, a strange and touching meeting

16/10/2016 Joan Laisser un commentaire

Aurora is one of these complex artists that we love to interview and with whom we could talk for hours. Young girl of 20 years old, Aurora enchants its audience at each concert, with his lyrics and his music worthy of a singer who already have 10-year career. We met her at Barbès, the day after her venue to Rock en Seine. A meeting that we were waiting for over a year, after his concert at La Boule Noire.
We are very happy to share our Coup de Cœur, author of the wonderful album: All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend.

AURORA / INTERVIEW

You seemed very surprised by the public to your concert at Rock en Seine. What did you feel?
Aurora: For me, it was one of those perfect concerts because when you start it is luminous. There is still daylight and there were many people, but not much. I like when it starts like that and it becomes darker, and the public continues to arrive. At the end, it’s completely dark, it’s magic.
I always said that I loved playing in France, I did a lot of concerts and it was always amazing for me. I feel that here the public understands me. They understand my music and my words when I speak, the audience laughs even when I do not want to be funny, but I like it, it relaxes me.

You had a crazy year, between the release of your album, concerts, the Jimmy Fallon show in the USA (huge!). It is quite unusual for a young girl! How do you live this success?
I know!
In Norway, we use to go swimming in the ice in winter, we make a hole in the ice and plunge into it. When you’re in, you’re so cold! This is the worst and the best thing in the world. When it’s over, you forget that you were so cold, because you’re outside, dry. It was really intense when you did it but it’s the past. It looks like this when you do all these amazing things. It sounds really incredible when you do the list and it was of course. I just do my job and what I should do. I’m not really nervous when I sing because it’s the music.
It is a fairy tale for me when I do it, but once it happened I do not really think about all of this.

Was it your dream job?
I did not dream about this before. I wanted to be an astronaut, maybe a dancer, a writer.

You’ve already written 43 songs, is that true?
Yes, I write songs all the time. I always wanted to write. Even when I was a child I thought I could write songs for other artists. I did not really want to be on stage. But it happened. And I like it ! It was not a dream, but it became one.

The New York Times compared to Björk, what do you think about this?
I don’t know. I like Björk. I never really listened to her before. Once my album came out, I thought I had to listen to new kinds of music. I bought and listened to some of Björk albums.

So it was not a part of your inspiration?
No, because I didn’t know her before. I had heard of Björk. I don’t have iTunes or Spotify, I don’t easily discover music. I love Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Enya, classical music, soundtracks, I like music without word.
Be compared to Björk now, I don’t really understand, because my first album is a little bit electronic but also organic. But I think we are really simple in how we connect things in our mind.
When I see a man with a guitar I think about Bob Dylan, but Dylan is Bob Dylan and the man with the guitar is the man with the guitar. I think it’s good in the minds of people to remind something that exists, but also be something new. I want to be something new, that’s why I’m here.

Joan: I really like Murder Song…
Alex: Me Conqueror...
Joan: I love Conqueror too, but you did not write this one, right?
This is the first song I wrote with others. In fact, I wrote it with two people of my group: Martin, my bassist and Magnus, my drummer. They had this incredible eye when we produced the album.

Joan: I wanted to talk about Murder Song …
Oh yes ! I have many sad songs, that’s why they said me « try to write with other people to have happy songs. »
Murder Song which I wrote myself, is a very sad, a bloody one. I’m very morbid. I’m fascinated by death and murder.

Is this something you lived?
Well, maybe…
I just think it’s fascinating how people can be the same people, how you and I need oxygen, can have children, need to be embraced, we need food, water, that we smile at us … we need the same things because we are people. And it’s just fascinating that some people can have in them the desire to kill while some people cannot pick a flower without feeling bad.
That’s about this I wrote Murder Song. How can a man kill someone he loves and it happens often in the world. But he doesn’t really understand what he did, it’s a very complicated story. Her, she didn’t want to be in this world anymore, and she knew that this man would do anything for her. She asks him to kill her and he said : “Ok, I love you, I would do anything for you. “After he killed her, he became sad because she didn’t move anymore and he didn’t understand where she went. He didn’t understand why she left and he start crying. And it is sad, because for the rest of his life, he will not understand and he will be sad.

How old were you when you wrote that song?
18! 🙂

You have a very large fan base, you call them Warriors and Weirdos. In France, they are a lot. Do you have a message for them?
I have so much to say. I love my fans. They are amazing! And I feel that they understand me. I know who my real fans are, who see more in me than I do myself. We are the same, maybe a little different. I write for them. I thank everyone for supporting me, because I need that to be able to do what I do. My fans are the nicest people in the world. In France, I always get gifts, which is really lovely.

What your fans do not know about you?
They know a lot about me, I think. I like to shower with cold water. That’s why I don’t like the showers because I always use cold water and a bit of hot water at the end. It’s good for the skin and it wakes me up.

Do you often meet your fans before or after your gigs, as you did yesterday at Rock en Seine?
Sometimes. I love meeting my fans before the show and also after the show. Sometimes it takes an hour, even two hours. I don’t always have time, sometimes I have to leave directly after the concert. But if I have time, I’m going to discuss with them.

Is it easy to sleep after a concert?
It depends. Sometimes I‘m so tired after a concert where I gave all my energy, all my emotions, it’s very easy to go to sleep. And I sleep like a baby. But if I know that I’ve done something bad, it keeps me awake for a week.

If you were a fairy tale, what would it be?
I could be a part of the Lord of the Rings. But I’d like to live there after the ring is destroyed, not before, obviously.

If you were a song?
I think I would be a quiet, sad song.
Children of the River, Secret Garden.

If you were a singer?
Iggy Pop. I love it !

If you were a film?
Fantastic Mr. Fox, I just find this movie and I love it.

If you were a word?
In my room, there is a poster with insects and there is a word below: Libellula Depressa. I think it’s pretty. I don’t know what this means. (N.D.R: it is the name of an insect Dragonfly depressed)

What are your future projects?
I’ll do a cooking show! 🙂 No, I don’t even know how to cook. I even burned spaghetti.
I’m on tour until 19 December. And the next project is to make a wonderful second album.

You also auditioned for film, isn’t it?
Yes, Yes. I would like to try. Everything is possible. I auditioned for a movie but I wasn’t inspired by the role. I would like to play in a fascinating film, maybe a possessed woman.

If Paris was one of your songs, what would it be?
I think it would be a romantic song. I think Paris is the city that people dream about with beautiful people,red lipstick, wine. It is also the city of love. I think that I would write from the perspective of a man in the street maybe, how he sees the city where he lives.

Interview by Joan et Alexandre

AURORA
All my demons greeting me as a friend
(Capitol Music France / Universal Music France)

Concert:
La Maroquinerie, Paris, October 24th

IN ENGLISH !

Lindsey Stirling: selfie-interview & message for her french fans

22/08/2016 United States Of Paris Laisser un commentaire

Lindsey Stirling is a violinist of a new kind. In 2010, she arrived at the final-quarter of the famous show America’s Got Talent ’s, but she lost in front of an uncompromising judge who said : “I don’t think what you’re doing right now is enough to fill a theater in Vegas.”
Since then, she has more than 8 million of subscribers on YouTube with a billion views and filled theaters all around the world.
After several sold out dates in Paris, she returns with a new album Brave Enough, a concert for La Fête de l’Huma, the 9th of September and a France tour in 2017.

LINDSEY STIRLING / SELFIE INTERVIEW

Lindsey Stirling selfie original exclusive for usofparis blog Brave enough new album © united states of paris — Exclusive selfie for UsofParis

UsofParis: Your new album Brave Enough is an album full of emotions. What was your state of mind a few days before the release?
Lindsley Stirling: All kinds of emotions: Nervous, excited, scared, love the album… then I think the album is no good, then I love it again. I’m so glad it’s finally out.

What is the best memory that you have about America’s Got Talent in 2010?
I made some nice friends with the other contestants.

Did your experience there open some doors for you?
This is how I feel about America’s Got talent. It was Horrible; the single most Humiliating moment of my life. After I got kicked off the show, no doors opened for me, and the world forgot I had existed. My 15 seconds of fame had been just that… 15 seconds and then it was over. However after I got over the shame and fear of getting on a stage again (which was hard to do) I realized I wasn’t ready to give up. I had this inner strength telling me that I could do it and nothing anyone said was going to change my mind. To be honest I dont think to have that same inner strength any more but it was given to me when I needed it. I believe god gives us power when we are standing alone on a journey that we are meant for. My fear and hurt turned into extreme motivation. I wanted to prove America’s Got Talent, and Piers Morgan wrong.
I’ve learned that any time you chase after your dream you are accepting the fact that you will fail at some point. People don’t succeed because they never failed, people succeed because they learn how to rise from their falls. My career started to take off when I discovered Youtube.

You have millions of views on YouTube! Is it easy to keep in touch with your community with the success and your tours?
I do my best. I think touring helps because I get to meet my fans and see their faces. Also, I do my very best to show my fans the real me through social media. My instagram feed is full of silly pictures and non edited photos of me being me. I do my best to respond to their comments and like their pictures. I have so many amazing supporters that do so much for me that I feel like I could never do enough to thank them all but I do my best.

Disney chose the song Something Wild to be on the soundtrack of Pete’s Dragon. I imagine that is something huge. How did you learn this good news and how did you feel when you heard about it?
Disney approached me and asked me if I would be interested in seeing an early version of the film and writing a song for it. I have always wanted to work with Disney so this was a dream come true for me. When I found out that they liked it and wanted to use it I was exstatic and I immediately went out and got a chocolate milkshake to celebrate.

Did you say yes without any hesitation? Have you seen the original movie?
Yes, I grew up watching the original.

If you had the opportunity to be writing music for another Disney’s movie, which one would it be?
It would be one of the cartoon remakes like Aladdin.

You’ve done a lot of featurings with a lot of artists. Is there any other artist you would like to collaborate with?
P!nk

You did a lot of shows in Paris. Do you have an anecdote, a funny story to share of something that happened here?
We did a live song on the spot on stage one night. The audience was doing the “Olay, olay olay” chant and my key board player and drummer just started jamming along. I joined in and we had a fun jam session with the audience.

Do you know a secret place (restaurant, street, shop) you love or is there anything unusual that you may like about Paris?
I love l’As du Fallafel!

Have you ever thought about playing your music in the Parisian subway?
That’s a fun idea. Maybe I’ll do that.

You have a big fan base in France, do you have a message for them?
All the time. My French Facebook fan group is amazing and I love them and hear from them. I have many french fans that I recognize there faces and I look forward to seeing them every time I come to France. They often even dress up in costumes from my music videos when they come to the shows.

Who is your latest musical crush?
I love Classic by The Knocks

Interview by Joan & Alex

Lindsey Stirling

new album Brave Enough
(Capitol Music)

France tour
9 sept: Fête de l’Humanité Festival

23 march: Zénith, Lille24 march: Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon
25 march: Zénith, Paris
27 march: Zénith, Nantes
29 march: Zénith, Strasbourg
31 march: Zénith, Toulouse

Enregistrer

IN ENGLISH !

Kendra Morris: selfie-interview about Babble, Paris, her fans

22/08/2016 United States Of Paris Laisser un commentaire

Kendra Morris was back in Paris to promote her new EP, Babble. Radiant, generous, she shares with no filter the secrets of the composition, while confident about her special relationship with our city and Frenchies more loyal than ever.

INTERVIEW / KENDRA MORRIS

UsofParis : Are you still the same artist, the same writer, the same singer since your beautiful love story and your baby?
Kendra Morris: I think maybe even more like, you have so many more experiences and I think about things in a different way now. You really start to think about life in other terms. I’m just thinking more about suddenness of things. Definitely more responsible, ’cause I have to be.

But, are you still optimist?
Definitely an optimist. Yes, there’s new challenges and things are different but there’s always another path, there’s always another way to get to where you want to go. I’m definitely even more so open to try new things, working with other people, like… taking chances.

Do you have time to think about your music, your new songs when you have your child to take care of?
Yeah, actually something I’ve noticed about having a child is that even though in some ways I have less time, all of my free time I am so careful about, I take all of my free time and I really focus. I’m more focused than I’ve ever been and you know…

In your work?
Something that I started doing since having her is, I started editing videos. I’m creating this visual, like visual videos that go with each song. Because the way I write is a very visual thing. I see colors and the moods of the song. I grew up around visual arts, my dad being an illustrator, as well, so that’s always been a huge part in music for me. So I started finding these old videos and different clips and editing them to the songs, and then when we play live we have a projector where we do our projections.

So, Avalanche, the video clip was your idea?
That was one of the visuals I did and then I had my friend come over and I have an old like, 1950’s projection screen in my apartment and, like I said, my idea was to film myself in front of the projection screen and use that footage that I put together. And so I’ve been putting the Woman visual that’s up. That was one of the videos I did also and I’m going to put all of them up like, Cry Sometimes has a lyric video. That was one that I use old footage of skyline.

When did you write these new songs?
It spanned… It’s weird, I know, like with Banshee I wrote Banshee about a relationship, over the course…
I think I wrote it over a year or two and this was the same. I think I wrote it over two years. I started really writing because something I always take time is make sure to go to the studio two or three times a week to write. Always. Even when I first had Opal, when she was weeks old I would go to the studio. As soon as I was healthy enough, and I was spending two… a few hours a day there, just writing, working on these songs, but I started on these songs probably around the first tour, here. Because Le Snitch was influenced by France.

No? I want to know!
That was written around the time of the tour we did where we played at Café de la Danse. I think we, maybe, might have played it then. We wrote it right between that November show that was played in, ’cause this was a song where the whole band had to do the instrumentation on.
The sound, everything sonic in it, is very much influenced by France and Paris.

What about Woman? I love this track.
I wrote that one so fast ’cause I felt so strong about it. I wrote it in the studio one day. I call it the “Instagram lab” at home. I was on my phone and I had started obsessing about this other woman.
She was a beautiful…You know, girls on Instagram that took all these selfies and look right in every angle and I was just looking at her and I had started being like: “She is so cool…” You know, – he was my boyfriend at the time, now he’s my husband – “If he ever meets her, what if he falls in love with her?” Crazy thoughts.
It was just me comparing me, like finding… comparing myself to her. It’s not just this person. I do this all the time. We’re always feeling inadequate and then I started Instagram is a monster. It’s become this whole cultural obsession with vanity and these things that are all gonna fade.
The chorus came to me, like, in two seconds. Jeremy was fiddling around and I was like: “What about this chords and why don’t we try and find the lyrics?” and the chorus was: “Always gotta be a woman making me feel like shit.”
I actually felt so much better when I left the studio that day. I was like: “Even if I keep comparing myself, I got a really great song out of this.”

Did you learn something, or what did you learn by coming to France, for the promotion, for the shows?
Each time I come back here, I feel more and more comfortable, here. I pick up a little more of French, of the language each time. A bit of understanding the culture more. I feel like more at home.

What kind of relationship do you have with your French fans, and with the French audience?
I think it’s bittersweet, like, I love them and yet we’re so far away, in some way but, like, after the Paris attacks I remember, I was, like, in tears that day because I know how much you guys… music is such a huge part of Parisians’ life and the French’s life.
Every time I do any sort of post on line, I have my French fans say: “Come to Paris, come here!”

What is the best place in Brooklyn, where you live?
I’m in Greenpoint. Sometimes it’s just riding the subway. As weird and bananas… but sometimes it’s nice to get on there, especially in the summer when there’s air conditioning. And you just kind of zone out, people watch and there’s all kinds of everything, everybody you can think of. You just can sit there, and your phone doesn’t work, you’re just underground and whizzing through the city. The New York subway is another, like, you would get off on the platform and someone is playing amazing music, you get off on another platform and someone has crapped their pants…

What the French audience does not know about you?
I love smelling things. I love… I have a great sense of smell, I don’t know if it’s because of my nose…:-)

You have a beautiful nose!
Everywhere I go I smell things, and then I think I store them in my head because that’s where I drop all my experiences. Sometimes, like the smell of perfume. I’ll recognize the cologne from my high-school boyfriend. If I’m walking down the street, and it takes me back to being in the time period. I just forgot his name, but, see, I always remember the smells.

Interview by Alexandre

KENDRA MORRIS
EP Babble

Thanks to Aude Saucey for translation

IN ENGLISH !, Spectacles

NEXT THING YOU KNOW : a lovely musical in a Scottish pub #exciting

04/12/2015 United States Of Paris Laisser un commentaire

Anything is possible in Paris! Even an American musical theatre show in the cellar of a Scottish pub.
The Franco-American company American Musical Theatre Live! Paris (AMT) caters for expats, anglophiles and other spectators looking for new horizons and love stories. it doesn’t take much to believe you’re somewhere else, several miles away from Paris.

A night or two per week, the insiders meet up at the Highlander Pub in Paris’ 6th district. Low key setting, just a chalk board in front of the pub letting customers know there’s a show taking place.

Next thing you know american musical theatre live paris american Pub Highlander Bar écossais rue de Nevers 6e photo by United states of paris usofparis

Next Thing You Know, by Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham, is a joyful mix of Friends, When Harry Met Sally (minus the orgasm scene) and some pearls from “Made in New York” rom-coms.

photo Christine Coquilleau - Naït Sidnas — photo Christine Coquilleau – Naït Sidnas

On stage : an inspiring actress who struggles to shine, a new and hopefully upcoming theatre writer, a lesbian singer ready to move to LA, and a womanizer. Four characters for a nice, spicy yet sensible and uplifting show. When the young couple lives a perfect romance, questions about the future, commitments and compromises come to shake up their daily lives.

Will the pretty Waverly accept a position in a law firm, to the risk of giving up her artistic aspirations? Does Darren have time to give attention to and comfort his beloved girlfriend while being torn between his (casual) job and his writing?

Another strong point is that the cast is international. We have the Franco-American Quentin Bruno (Luke), a Brasil-Belgian mix with the young Vinicius Timmerman (Darren), the “Charming French” caution with the spicy Marion Preïté (Waverly), and finally 100% US with the with the high-spirited Miranda Crispin, Devon Graves (playing Lisa in alternance) and Lauren Berkman (alterning with Marion Preïté as Waverly).

Next thing you know musical by AMT Live Paris Marion Preite Vinicius Timmerman Quentin Bruno MIranda Crispin Tolgay Pekin Mathieu Becquerelle Pub Highlander Bar photo usofparis

The lively score and the songs manage to make us forget how small the place is. Tolgay Pekin’s staging is inventive and plays wonderfully with the (real!) bar and the proximity with the audience.

The 4 artists sing in your ear and don’t hesitate to get up close and personal during the evening.

We’re far from the grandiose of the super-production of Singin’ In The Rain that plays at the Chatelet. Here, we jump a few blocks to go Off Broadway, where you can talk to your neighbour, sip on a beer before, during and after the show. Andwhen it’s time for the bows, you’re so full of energy that all you want is sing along with these characters who feel like your friends already!

NEXT THING YOU KNOW
Music : Joshua Salzman
Lyrics : Ryan Cunningham
direc : Tolgay Pekin
musical direction : Mathieu Becquerelle

@ Pub Highlander Paris
8 Rue de Nevers
75006 Paris

Next shows : March 14th, 15th, 20th and 21st

And @ Théâtre Blanche de Castille
Place de la République
78300 Poissy

april 15th and 16th

Musique

KELE Okereke interview in Paris – new solo album Trick

01/12/2014 United States Of Paris Un commentaire

Few days ago, Kele Okereke was in Paris to present his new solo album, Trick, after a last tour with Bloc Party band. He shared with us the genesis of these new sensitive and rhythmic songs.

United States of Pari s: Do you often look back on your past career ? Do you have special memories of some things that surprised you as a singer, as a musician ?
Kele: Yes, but to be honest I don’t spend much time, I don’t spend any time looking back, with nostalgia or anything like that. I’m far more concerned with looking forward but yeah, there have been cool things that happened, of course, over the 10 years I’ve been doing it. I remember the first time we played in Paris with this show, at Pigalle, Les Inrocks Festival. The kids were just going completely crazy. At that point, I’d never seen anything like it for us. I also have lots of fun memories of coming to Paris.

When I listened to your first album The Boxer, I felt that you were a sensitive, or even a very sensitive man. Am I wrong ?
Kele: No. I feel that I am a human being and I have more than one side. There are different aspects to my personality. You know I am a sensitive guy but I can also be a douche bag, I can also be a jerk, so I am not just like a wet lettuce , I can also be funny.

But you share your feelings with the audience in these two albums.
Kele: Yeah. I share certain feelings. As a songwriter I’m really only concerned with telling stories. These records are not entries in my journal, or my diary. I’m telling stories, I’m obviously projecting aspects of my life in these songs. I don’t want people to feel that this is what I am. This is what I’m choosing to share.

About Stay the Night, can you tell me few words about ?
Kele: Stay the Night is one of my favorite songs on the record. I like… it was a different type of start of singing for me, and it was a different kind of subject to me to sing about. I like that idea of me as a spurned lover.
To me the lyrics seemed very kind of sad, melancholic, more…It was a different type of song for me to write.

Do you remember where and when you wrote this song ?
Kele: I recorded the record over 2 years from 2012 until the start of 2014. I started to work so I was touring, so a lot of these songs I’ve been working on for 2 years. Stay the Night was one of the first ones from this session. But it started off in a very different way. I had a lot of different lyrics, it really took a year for it to tend to what it became.
I was listening to an Usher song called Climax that he released a few years ago. I wanted something that has the same kind of emotion, that is romantic, kind of pretty sweet somehow.

Do you suffer a lot because of love, or did you suffer a lot ?
Kele: Yeah, I guess so. I’ve always been quite a romantic person. The thing is, I always fall very quickly into love with people that maybe are not really deserving. But I haven’t had my heart broken for a long time. The last time I really had my heart broken was probably when I was a teenager and it really, really hurt. And there was nothing else I could think about, that kind of crazy feeling of… you can’t get it out of your head. That was the last time I felt that and I think because of that I’ve always quite well insulated myself in oncoming relationships. I was more, not pessimistic, but I’ve always reminded myself that at some point this isn’t going to be there, which is kind of a self-defeating attitude perhaps, but it’s realistic.

What was your first desire or wish for Trick before writing and recording it ? Did you have an idea or a direction for this album ?
Kele: Yes, I wanted it to feel like it was a night time record. I wanted it to feel like it was slightly underdone, like there weren’t too many ideas in the songs, like there wasn’t too much happening. That there was a real, clean, minimal, sense of space in the music. That’s what I wanted from the op cit. Because I’d spent a lot of time over the last years doing Dj’ing and I think playing house music or techno music on loud speakers you become very aware of the separation that needs to occur. The softer sounds you can get in the music, the sound is good when it has very few elements in it . Whereas in the past with all the records I’ve made, I’ve always fixated on getting as much happening in the space as possible. And I thought this is the time maybe to try something different. That was the only thing I had going into making my record.

Did you try something new during the writing or the recording of this album ?
Kele: I guess the lyrical matter was something that is not really an area that I’ve been so confident about writing. I’ve never really written about desire, I’ve never really written about expressing that. I’ve written about love or heart break, I’ve never really written about that feeling of getting an erection or something, or that kind of feeling. I don’t think that it’s like coarse or smutty but I think that desire is a very important part of pop music.

Do you remember what mood you were in during the writing process ?
Kele: Trick was recorded over two years. That’s a long period of time for a sustained kind of mood, but I guess initially I was touring with Bloc Party for the first half of that. The initial sections were very kind of furtive, I didn’t know yet what was going to happen but I wanted to create, to express myself. And then we stopped touring and I started DJ’ing. I DJ’ed for a year and a half, every week-end I went to the States, Australia, Asia, Europe. I have just been DJ’ing for the last year and a half. And to be honest I’ve really enjoyed that rhythm.

But for the most part I was just DJ’ing on the week end so I was busy and the week free and I’ve never really had that kind of routine of travelling but then also being at home. And I realised I actually prefer it because you can still have a semblance of a normal life when you’re at home in the week.
It took quite a long time actually I remember, making this record, I had it at the end of 2013 and they were : “Oh no, we need more songs. “Oh great“, but then I wrote Coasting and Humour Me and a whole bunch of songs which turned out to be my favorite songs on the record. I’m glad that I had that period, I think it’s good to have people around you that you trust, that can bounce stuff off . But as for the mood I don’t remember being in an especially anxious need, and if I was making this record or something that I had to make me feel good, so I don’t feel that lead into the music at all.

Is your relationship to the audience different when you’re alone on stage from when you’re with Bloc Party ? Do you have different sensations or relations to the audience ?
Kele: I’ve done five or six shows as a solo artist for this run of shows and as I said I’m only doing it on the week end, so I think personally I’m still finding my feet a lot with the act of performing giving that there is not a band and it’s all about the visuals and stuff. Personally, I feel it’s still a relatively new experience for me, but that said, standing in front of a room full of people, singing to them, it’s the same emotion that I feel when I stand on stage and I sing in Bloc Party. You’re expressing yourself and you can feel the crowd. But it’s about how I feel and I still feel that sense of joy about performing, so yeah, I think it’s the same.

Kele, new album Trick
(Kobalt)

Twitter : @KeleOkereke
Facebook : www.facebook.com/kele

Interview réalisée avec l’aide d’Aude Saucey

IN ENGLISH !, Musique

Music : interview with CHVRCHES about scottish pop, concerts, touring, The Bones of That you believe

23/04/2014 United States Of Paris Un commentaire

Met a few hours before going on stage at the Trianon for their concert event in Paris, members of the group CHVRCHES talk about their influences, the atmosphere tour and the evolution of their live music, their latest album – The Bones of That you believe – and the next one, ready to be recorded.

B & G: We’d like to know what you think about several Scottish bands, starting with Glasvegas ?
Iain Cook: I really loved their first album. When it came out, there were a lot of people that we are friends with who were a bit suspicious of them because of the way they were using the dialect and the accent and stuff like that… But it’s a nice kind of blending of styles: shoegaze, 50s-style rock, genuine Glasgow confessions or stories. That’s a really interesting band and their new album is also really good.

B & G: Primal Scream ?
Martin Doherty: This band is not entirely Scottish but they have a Scottish front man [ndlr: Bobby Gillespie]. I’m a big fan of Primal Scream. From a personal point of view, two records are considered to be very important: XTRMNTR [2000], at least because Kevin Shields was involved, and Evil Heat [2002].

B & G: Belle & Sebastian ?
IC: Belle & Sebastian have been around for… as long as I can remember. I remember being at school and one of my friends had got a copy of Tigermilk [Belle & Sebastian debut album, 1996] which at the time was not released properly, it was only ever released on a very small pressing of vinyls, so it was really difficult to come by. It was just the time when The Boy With The Arab Strap was blowing up. My friend came at school with this copy, on a tape he got from somebody. It was a really big deal! Their importance remains. It’s not the kind of music that I listen to, but I have a lot of respect for a band that has a career as long as they have.

B & G: Has any of these Scottish bands been an inspiration to you ?
IC: We grew up listening to all of the bands of Glasgow that we were into at the time. All of the bands of the Chemikal underground [an independent record label set up in 1994 by Glasgow Scotland rock band The Delgados] were really important to us, forming our musical landscape. We loved the Delgados, Arab Strap, particularly Mogwai for me. Those are the bands I still listen to and still think they’re really important.

B & G: Do you think there is a Scottish pop with a Scottish specificity ?
MD: There are different styles. Maybe Scottish bands have in common a certain level of self-depreciation and humor. That’s what, I would say, would be the “Scottish element” (laughs).

Synthpop

B & G: You said in an interview that synthpop suited better groups like Depeche Mode because you think you use more modern production techniques, especially in the rhythm techniques, and the focus on melody can make your band more unique. What’s the Chvrches’trademark ?
Lauren Mayberry: I think that synthpop implies a certain time period… We are not really part of that. But I don’t really know, does anyone want to help me? (laughs) We don’t want to be a pastiche band nor a chart pop band. We are just writing primarily on the synth instead of the guitar.

MD: Synthpop refers to a period in time and a synthpop band appears to be a retro band. We don’t really subscribe to that. There is a small element of what we do that is in the technology that was used at the time and that we use. But to describe our band now, it’s just “song focused electronic pop music”, somehow influenced by yesterday but it’s not really definite. When you tie something to genre, you immediately impose rules on yourself and I consider that to be a negative thing. I don’t think there should be any rules.

Touring

B & G: About the concerts, are you more anxious with the venues getting bigger and bigger as your success is growing ?
IC: I think that initial nervousness comes from the fact that it was a studio based project. There were no plans to take it live. Technically, it was a difficult exercise to translate our songs on stage, to translate it well in a live environment. We played our first show in July 2012, that’s nearly two years ago, we played a lot of shows, so I feel like that kind of nervousness about playing live is way gone. Now, every time we play, every tour we do, we thrive to be better.

B & G: You did a lot of concerts in 2013 and you are touring a lot around Europe still now in early 2014. Do you still manage to appreciate waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning to take the bus and go from one place to another… ?
MD: I don’t think I’ll ever appreciate waking up at 4, even if it was to get a million pounds! But, I mean, it’s hard to complain about this job. There is a lot of worst things that we could be doing with our lives. And I love all our songs. About the evolution, to us, it’s not about being more comfortable on stage, it’s more about feeling better.
IC: The only time I can get bored with playing a song is when we’re not having a great gig for technical reasons. But the most important is that people have a good time and enjoy and sing along, and when it means something to them.

B & G: How would you sum up, in a few words, 2013 ?
LM: I feel like we covered a lot of ground, it was a lot of ‘first times’ of things [first album, first shows…]. We learned a lot, but we are still learning a lot, I think. So, yeah, it was good!
MD: It was good, that’s the word!

B & G: And in January 2015, how would you like to sum up 2014 ?
MD: In one word? (laughs) I would like to achieve satisfaction and success, in the way that I want to.

The next album

B & G: You said in an interview that you were “looking forward to getting back to the studio”. Do you know where your second album is heading to ?
IC: We play in some festivals during the summer but we have some breaks that we will use to make a proper start. We’re looking forward to getting back to the studios. We have many ideas.
MD: We would not be very good musicians if we had no ideas! (laughs)
IC: Let’s say we want to finish the heavy schedule for September…

B & G: Which colour would you choose to describe your first album? And the next one ?
MD: I’d say the first album is dark orange; the second album will be red.
IC: The third is going to be purple.
LM: That sounds good. Red and blue, that makes purple!

by Baptiste et Gérald PETITJEAN
http://ljspoplife.magicrpm.com

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