Hi everyone!
We meet again – as we said – for the first video of the year
In this video, we will take time to come back to everything that we've done
during the year 2017, chronologically from the beginning to the end
We will come back to the music videos, to the album, to the various places where we have played
We will obviously tell you what we are currently developing
What our projects are; including this format but we will get back to that later
And what we plan to do this year
No more waiting, let's go!
[What Are We Talkin' About ?]
So, 2017!
2017 started very quickly: in January we decided to shoot
our first music video, Don't Wanna, which announced the release of the album
This video was fun, we had an absolute blast writing it, partly directing it
That was a great pleasure… although it was a pain as well because it was super hard
with the very little means that we had to be coherent in our very complex story
And by the way I beleive a lot of you people didn't really understand the video
I feel like lifting the veil! So it gives you an occasion to watch it agin
So Don't Wanna is a song that speaks about the circle of virtue in which one enters when one
forgives in opposition to the circle of vice in which one enters when one holds grudges
Say that's beautiful!
You will not have missed that I represent Vins's conscience,
that I'm not really in the story
We notice that quite quickly, because of my clothes for starters
that are just a light jacket while he's in a thick coat and it's winter
(It was about -1 or -2 outside… crazy stuff!)
So the idea is that Vins, at the beginning of the video, is very angry
We see that in the way he gets up, in the way he spills the glass of orange juice
he's in a hurry, he is… he's not doing so well!
This apparition of his conscience that I represent, we don't really know what it does here
but what's for sure is that by choosing to ignore it, only catastrophes happen to him
Particularly the car accident there is roughly in the middle of the video
So eventually he decides to listen to that conscience, and what happens to him
is that he realises that if this person whose image he sees hurt him and if he's mad
it's merely because they themselves is in pain
And I think that's a truth, I think there is almost no-one in this world
who is mean just to be mean
When we hurt others it's because we hurt inside
And that is depicted by the usage or drugs; we can see me at the end of the video ODing on the couch
I'd like to say that I wasn't really ODing, that wasn't really heroin,
that was a mix of Coke and water for those who would like to pretend
they're high on heroin sometimes, we never know…
Eventually he decides to listen to his conscience and decides to put his hard feelings aside and forgive
and to come save me, so that things go well for ma and for him
At the beginning of the video the story begins once again
He believes things haven't really happened and it was all just a bad dream
but there are still some clues that prove it has kind of happened
That's a way to show this vicious circle
and that when one enters such negative dynamics, not everything goes wrong at once,
there are warning signals; and that was the warning signal
that pseudo-accident that doesn't really happen though
And eventually, instead of restraining himself inside this loop, he decides to break it
listening to his conscience and coming to save me
So that was Don't Wanna's music video
That was a bit complicated, but we're pretty glad of what we have done with it
Then in March or April, we shot the second music video, Checkmate
After Don't Wanna's pain-in-the-ass shooting – because we've got to say, shooting Don't Wanna was
as much a pain as it was fun, there were so many shots, it was hard to follow the plot
with rigour – we tried something else with Checkmate
We worked a lot less… but we gave a lot more to the director
In concrete terms, we shot it with a green background here in the studio
Well, with green curtains because we forgot the green background that day
There has been a huge post-production job from Arnaud who directed the video for us
Because imagine that we simply played guitar
on high chairs in front of green curtains and then
all the animation of the chess board was post-production
That was a gamble but we are exploring different horizons
I don't know what you guys liked more, you can tell us
if liked the short-film story-like ambiance from Don't Wanna better
or rather the more visual ambiance from Checkmate, please tell us
So Checkmate was released, I believe early May, just after the release of the album
That was THE big event of the year 2017 and l would even say
The big event of our lives because it's the first album we ever release
That was a lot of work: we started writing the songs many years ago
and recording them during the summer 2016; and since we recorded them all by ourselves
in this very studio, there was so many things to learn, it was a bit harsh
We had to record several times some of the tracks to get a good result
We're pretty glad with the ultimate result because that was really not easy
The outcome may not me 100% professional, but good enough according to us
to be presented and by the way that's why we chose to release it
and show it to you, then make a CD pressing, that was a lot of work as well
having to design the package and everything, but that was pretty fun
So that was the biggest part, it was out on April 30
And around that we made several shows and I will speak about that now cos that was cool
I believe just the day before, we played at the Théâtre du Luxembourg in Meaux
I think that to this day, it's pretty safe to say that
it's the most beautiful venue in which we have performed
because it was a gigantic stage, it's such a great memory
Around that time we also played at the Batofar, that was quite nice
We played at l'Etage as well, the first out of 3 because we went back there several times during the year
Lots of people amongst you came to support
and that was definitely great, it made us really happy
So, April 30 was the release of the album and in May or June
We shot both Solstice and Don't Let Down videos
in almost just one week
Solstice then, is the eponymous song… for the band so it makes sense
we really wanted to release it on the day of the solstice, so we did on June 21
For the record that one was really relaxing, we invited some friends, the weather was great
And shortly after we went to London to shoot the video for Don't Let Me Down,
the cover of The Beatles; for those who didn't know by the, it's originally from The Beatles
and it's a funky cover of it
That was a tough one! Because we went by car, we left on Saturday morning and came back on Sunday evening
and it's about 8 hours of driving to go to London, as well as to come back obviously
So in a way that video just shows our 24-hour trip to London
So that was everything that went on until the summer
And during the summer, you probably didn't miss that we went to La Rochelle
That too was an important part! Firstly because we went there with no idea
if we would be able to play, where we would be able to play, and I'll say that too
we went there with no idea where we would sleep
And it turns out on the first evening we had to sleep in a park
It lasted a week, it was super beautiful, super nice
And the people since they were on holidays really enjoyed our music
We sold, if my memory is correct, 58 albums in one week
It gave us a nice moral boost, to realise that
we could go anywhere with very primary conditions seek people
we absolutely didn't know, had never met
and seeing they could enjoy what we did that much
That was very pleasing, and it was the first time we had decided just to take our guitar
our pedalboard and our amp and just go busk
Which we sure did after that, because starting September,
even though we had had the authorisation a few month before, we went in the underground!
The underground is as educational as it is frustrating
Because it is for people who are just really passing through, we are not anymore
in the same case as La Rochelle where the people were on vacation
They see musicians in the old port, the view is beautiful,
They are in no hurry, they stay and take the time to listen
Here in the underground, you know what it's like, everything goes so fast, people are just passing through on their way back from work
It's still nice because we somehow manage to attract some people's attention
but at the same time I would qualify it as a little unrewarding
We are there, we are playing, for several hours and at times we feel like
we are playing for nothing and at the same time it's very educational for us
because we have played during hours and hours, we made a lot of progress
So obviously we will definitely keep on playing there all along the upcoming year
We are holding back a bit right now because the temperature makes things a little hard
We went there by 0°C once, and it's the last time we did until today
so we will let you guys figure out the connection
I think we actually became aware of the potential for this sort of mobile music
because ultimately, it's the only way it makes sense to play any music
Just go out and play!
We think it's the only way we will be able to keep playing and go further
Just by going out there meeting people, playing in the streets, in the underground
anywhere, I don't know, on a boat…
It's something on which we are clearly going to insist in the future
In November, as we were peacefully playing in the underground
Someone came to see us and explained about his association which is called
Cool, Mon Bus Arrive (Cool, My Bus is Coming), you may have heard us mention it already
because we have once or twice during the month of December
Cool, Mon Bus Arrive, we suggest that you go visit their website
Long story short, it's an association that will implement a system of free bus riding inside Paris
inside which there will be sort of an ''art exhibition''
I believe what they want to do is put many paintings or drawings
Pictural arts anyways, kind of like a private viewing or a regular exhibition
and then arrange a stage at the bottom of the buses where the musicians like us could play
And so that the people no longer have to have the initiative of actively going to discover
new artists but on the contrary, it would be the new artists who would be rolling
and moving to come meet people directly in their daily life
We like the concept right away, so we chose to act as 'sponsors' for them
It's an association which primary goal is to have buses move around Paris for free
but in reality that would be the first contact with the artists, and the goal is also
to organise bigger events, rent venues to have concerts in them
rent venues to host exhibitions on a larger scale
but that first contact with the artists would be while wandering in the bus
Since we volunteered to sponsor this association, there is a strong probability that we will -
And actually I think it's already planned for this year - do some concerts with them in venues
And then again we strongly recommend you to come because there will be a lot of other artists
We are obviously not the only artists getting involved in this organisation
It will be cool, hence the title, it will be cool because the bus is coming
What I'm saying right now makes absolutely no sense!
So here it is for the year 2017! That part is done!
It was a bit long because we discussed each event, month after month,
and now we will focus a little more on what we are currently building
As we briefly evoked in the former video
We have got - Vins will come show you
We have got a controller keyboard
That's a controller keyboard, it possesses 25 keys with pads, linked to a computer
And the computer is the one determining the sounds that will come out
I'm going to put this on to show you what it sounds like
So we can have drum sounds
And let's be honest, that's definitely dope!
We also have bass sounds
We've got classic piano sounds
There are other modern sounds, hear that for example
That's a sound widely utilised nowadays and we like it very much, kalimbas
Those are just random examples
This keyboard in linked to Vins's loop pedal
I remind you the loop pedal is a thing that he controls with his foot and allows him to record
what we play and sing and have it looped so that we can
add some layers onto one another and build the instrumental, reaching depth in what we play
Up until now we only did it with an acoustic guitar, that was nice
It has its inherent charm as well, it's not something we plan to abandon
We hit the guitar to have lower-pitched sounds such as a drum beat
But with this keyboard the outcome is deeper, with much more bass
and we thought that when we will be on stage
Acoustic guitar is nice when we are mobile, when we were in La Rochelle or in the underground
but when we are on stage, it's a lot nicer to have something more evolved
So here's a proposition for you, we are going to play a song!
So let's go, we will use the keyboard, Vins will come pick up the guitar, and we will play for you
[Loop 65]
So here is what it sounds like, that was Loop 65 with this new setting
It was just a teaser, but the whole video is available
so do not hesitate to go watch and share it
It's really something we feel like establishing regularly during the rest of the year
It's a different way of playing songs we have already played over and over again
It will require to adapt to new instruments
To learn some bass because we will incorporate real bass in the near future
To learn things on the keyboard, and mostly it will allow when it's just the 2 of us
We are often accompanied by a drummer and a bassist, those who came to see us live know it
But sometimes it's just the 2 of us and it will give our music a body
as imposing as when we are in a more sophisticated ensemble
We are finally there! What we plan to do this year 2018, is to come back on a regular basis
with this VLOG format where we tell what happened, what we have planned, what we will do, etc.
and we will constantly associate it with a song we want to play
May it be a a song of ours, a cover, maybe some new stuff
Please tell us if you like this because we want to do it regularly
if you have things to say, to improve, let us know
And share these videos on your social media accounts if you enjoy them
Something else that will naturally be of importance for this year 2018
is to go busk again with our acoustic guitar and amp as we have already done
in the underground mostly as soon as the temperature will have warmed up a bit
We will go back down those underground corridors
And of course it goes without saying for every musician, what we expect the most is to have lots of shows
So we are currently trying to set this up
We are trying to anticipate our summer, that is how things go when you are musician
During the winter you organise the summer
So we would like to have shows, shows, and more shows
We hope we will be able to land some festivals!
By the way if you know any people who work in festivals or in venues
Really don't hesitate to say it, it's important to us
if you have the ability to connect us so that we ask for a programmation
That's all for today, we hope you will have enjoyed this new format
we are putting in motion
Once again we are waiting for your feedback and hope you will share these videos
Remember to watch the video for Loop 65 that we did with these new instruments, especially the keyboard
And, we'll you soon?
Bye bye!
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