The Power of Music, Exploring Feelings, and International Love - The Grand Bain Interview

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The sunshine blazed across a clear sky when I arrived at the Mama Shelter, one of Paris’s trendiest locales. In the mid-afternoon heat everything moves slower, even the servers who polish knives and the few patrons who sip Perrier through black straws. I’m here to meet Erica and Jules, who make up Grand Bain. As we start talking their message hits home for me. Erica, an American, and Jules, a Frenchman, creating art together. And not just music, it’s a story of intercontinental love. 

Erica was always passionate about culture and music, focusing on history and French when she studied at UCLA. Her passion for France brought her here to Paris, where she worked as a cook in a top restaurant. 

Jules was brought up in a musical family, his father being a musician, and he had been involved in many projects throughout his lifetime. It was during the time that he was working on a new wave project that they sought a singer. 

Erica was also looking to get involved with a musical project. She had been writing songs but was hoping to find something more. Calling her roots more “soul” than their current music, her background is more musical theater, soul, and R&B. Despite the potential mismatch, she auditioned for Jules’s old group, and they immediately got along. 

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That old new wave group did not share the same fate however. Soon after the group dissolved, and Jules and Erica struck out together under the new name, Grand Bain, in early 2014. 

Jules’s father has a studio, and Jules works as a sound engineer, two great advantages for an emerging group to get music out to the grand public. Both Erica and Jules consider themselves perfectionists, so it understandably took a while before they had something they were confident enough to share. There was one thing they were sure enough about though, each other. They recently got married here in Paris. 

The result of their partnership are three tracks currently available on Soundcloud (my personal favorite being the catchy and powerful “No Country”). They have put the finishing touches on their first EP, to be released sometime in the fall, preceded by their first single and music video which will come out in September. 

Jules describes their musical creation as “starting with lyrics, melody/chords, whereas before it was rhythms.” What’s important is to identify cool potential, recognize the beginning of inspiration when it strikes. If it’s not there, you wait. They often go to Burgundy to work on their music together, to take a break from city life. 

Not limiting themselves to constantly creating new sounds, they also take bits of older music and re-purpose those songs. Erica said that their upcoming single is actually the first song they co-wrote together. It sat on the sidelines for a while before they came back to it. 

Their music could be classified as sad, but Erica’s sunny philosophy changes what that might mean to some people. “I don’t believe that people are sad. Sad things happen to people. The important thing is to not hide it or let it fester. Release it.” 

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If they could open for any group touring right now, they don’t hesitate when they both said Arcade Fire. They also mentioned Interpol as an inspiration. One listen to “Leonie’s Dream” will confirm that. If there is one driving theme for Grand Bain as musicians, it’s to be powerful. Explore feelings, don’t run from them. 

Now that they have a nearly-finished EP and have started working on songs for a full-length album, they are looking to make the move across the world to Los Angeles. Since they sing in English, it makes sense to reach a wider audience who can appreciate the music more quickly. They will be looking for a manager and a way to get set up there. 

In the meantime, you can still catch Grand Bain here in Paris, they play tomorrow night at Le Motel and the big release party is October 9th at the Bus Palladium. 

The Art of the Rework - The Avener Answers Your Questions [LONG FORM INTERVIEW]

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A heavily bearded technical team sets up instruments on a packed stage while multicolored lights reflect brightly from the walls of the popular French TV Show “C A Vous.” The kitchen of the hidden studio in the 11ème has elegant-looking appliances. Everything gleans in stark contrast to the rainy grey courtyard outside. 

The hubbub is all for their latest episode, featuring a true Whyd favorite: The Avener, whose track “Fade Out Lines” has been sitting in the top 10 of the Hot Tracks for months on end. It’s in a small office stocked with Mars bars to the side of the studio that we finally meet Tristan from Nice, the French artist who has just released his album “The Wanderings of The Avener,” and who is about to perform for the French public at large for the very first time. 

If he was nervous, it was transmuted into warm friendliness. He sits down, cigarette in hand, ready to answer the Whyd community’s questions. We have 10 minutes. The mic clicks on. 

This interview is translated from French. Tony Hymes for Whyd in bold. All photos, (except the selfie!) courtesy The Avener’s Facebook page.   

In your new album there are a lot of reworks. When you create a remix do you try to break something down, or do you try to build something on top of what exists? 

Tristan: That depends on the song that I use to do my rework. Sometimes I have to do a lot more, to change a lot of the arrangements, and sometimes just adding a bit of salt and pepper is all it takes to season the plate! So it depends, for example sometimes I’ll use a dozen or so tracks, and there are other times where I will use more than 50 tracks! 

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Let’s use your new remix of Rodriguez as an example. 

Tristan: Rodriguez’s (“Hate Street Dialogue”) was a song that was rather easy to create because the heart was already there. All I wanted to do was amplify the rock aspect and make it more appropriate for the club. For that one I used about a dozen tracks to modify it. 

How do you choose the songs that you remix?

Tristan: It’s really just music I like from my years as a DJ. With my DJ background I’ve played a lot of music, from funk to soul to house, and there are tracks that I can’t really play sometimes, because if I did it would empty the dance floor! So I tried to modify the tracks that I wanted to play, but wasn’t able to, and that’s how this album was born. 

You have a classic music formation, notably the piano, but it’s not something that we take from your latest album. So does that serve something for you?

Tristan: Classical music helps me with music in general, with the notes, understanding, and writing sheet music. For this album it helped from a technical standpoint, and didn’t really serve as a source of inspiration. Having a classical background is a big advantage to make music, but orchestrally speaking it’s difficult to bring that into this type of music. 

What do the artists that you remixed think of your remixes? Phoebe Killdeer (“Fade Out Lines”) for example? 

Tristan: She was the first test. Phoebe Killdeer loved the track, but at the beginning she didn’t want to have her name attached to it, because it wasn’t in her overall artistic direction. She was, however, really happy with it. For the other artists, some of whom were collaborators, like Rodriguez, they love it, so it’s a huge joy for me. 

Who are your influences? Who do you look up to? 

Tristan: My music comes from different places. I listen to a lot of music, I’m very eclectic, at home or when I’m DJing. There are a lot of artists that influence me. It’s true that I spent 10 years in classical music so I have a lasting adoration for Beethoven, and Bach, they are THE composers, and no one from today will arrive at their level, they have so much unique musicality. They are still my favorites to this day. 

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Are there artists that you don’t like? Maybe not artists, that might burn some bridges, but are there styles of music that you don’t like? 

Tristan: There are some genres that I appreciate a little bit less. But I am still a student of music, so when there is a style that I don’t like, I try to figure out what the artist was trying to do. I never say “that doesn’t sound good.” There are always good songs in every style of music, you just have to find them. 

You’re labelled as being deep house, but on the new album there is a lot more. Are there other styles that you are moving closer towards? A bit of folk maybe? 

Tristan: Yes! This album is sort of a voyage between different epochs and different styles. And finally I can re-vindicate my eclecticism because it’s not easy for an artist to be so diverse with their music to say “I make all music.” It’s complicated to say that. This album is about sharing, it’s surrounded by my influences, so it’s a journey among lot of different points.

Would you classify your music as being French? 

Tristan: I would like that! I definitely like the “French Touch” period, which had a big influence on me. But now do I bring anything new to this “French Touch” compared to other artists? I hope to have that energy. 

Now I have fans that come from all over the world, not just in France, like Germany, Switzerland, Australia, South Korea, there are lots of people that loved the first single, and that makes me happy! 

When you are aren’t making music, what do you do for fun?

Tristan: When I don’t make music I play music! :) 

I have a second passion, aviation, so I’m in the process of getting my private pilot’s license. 

Awesome! At least you’ll have a great soundtrack to fly to! 

Tristan: Voilà! 

La Fine Équipe Answers Your Questions: Music as Food, The Process of Collaboration, and Being Connectors of Sound [LONG FORM INTERVIEW]

It’s a cold December evening near Père Lachaise as the door to The Bunker buzzes open. Up a concrete staircase that evokes thoughts of nuclear destruction, voices can be heard. Camera shutters are snapping. Moving up a level it’s clear that the bunker is alive. 

We’re at the studio of La Fine Équipe, winners of the 112th Whyd Track of the Weekend and a group that has started to lift off in the French music scene. Comprised of 4 producers, their styles are varied like gummies in a bag of Haribo. But put together, there is a sugary goodness that is undeniably addictive. And the world is starting to take note. 

Cameras are repacked, hands are shaken, and finally it’s time for the last interview of the day, with Whyd, before the guys can get back to their families and lives. In my hand are fresh questions that we crowd-sourced from the community, from the huge pool of fans that have added, liked and re-added the delicious tracks from “La Boulangerie 3” which came out at the beginning of December, boasting the likes of Fakear, 20syl, Souleance, and more.

Three out of the four of La Fine Équipe sit down in chairs in the studio, backed by monitors and keyboards, known on the stage as oOgo, Mr. Gib, and Chomskey. The fourth, Blanka, is not in town. Considering their busy schedules, it’s already a win to get three of them. They are casually dressed, more comfortable than hipster. The mic clicks on.

The following interview is translated from French, and their stage names dissolve into their real names: Hugo, Vincent, and Mathieu. All photos property of Whyd. Interviewer in BOLD

Your music is shared quite often by the Whyd community. I sent an email to the music lovers who have shared your tracks, asking them if they have questions for you. They got back to me with a few questions that I’m happy to ask you, so here we go! 

Your individual styles are rather different, who are your major influences? What about inspiration? Could be artists, moments, genres?   

Hugo: I’ve listened to a little bit of everything, and I was very quickly drawn towards soul and jazz, but what really gave me the desire to create music was hip hop, around 1996. The first track that I heard that really got me, as an adolescent on a high school trip, was by Cypress Hill. A friend had it on a cassette on the bus. 

Mathieu: It’s the same for me, hip hop, and DJ Crush and DJ Shadow. That was huge for me, incredible. I didn’t know all of the samples that they used, so it was really hip hop and then the sources of hip hop, I would go searching for vinyls, in antique markets, record shops, online, looking for the hard to find discs. We had a scratch group at the very beginning and afterwards we evolved into making our own music. 

Vincent: My family was very into music. We were always listening to it, I started playing music with my brother and after that I met people who were playing hip hop and I loved it, so we started to make music together. I love cinematic music, soundtracks, the composers, there is a link to that and hip hop too: you can find everything in the libraries of film soundtracks. 

Yeah, I think that the theme to Jurassic Park is one of the best songs ever! 

Hugo: We play that when we play at festivals! 

Mathieu

If you had to choose a favorite contemporary artist, who would it be? 

Hugo: Every time we are asked this question it’s impossible to find one. It’s like restaurants. You know a ton of great places to eat, but when someone asks you, you can’t think of one! 

Maybe it doesn’t have to be from this moment. I just discovered Mel Tormé, who is nothing new, but he’s new to me and that’s what I’m listening to right now. 

Vincent: Serge Gainsbourg, he’s French and he truly knew how to make good songs. He was varied in his styles, and was so interesting for being able to recover classic melodies. 

Have you ever tried to remix him?

Vincent: Yes, of course, just for fun. He had a great sense of rhythm, a way of capturing music, he was really focused on the sound, not just making a song to say something quickly. 

Mathieu: Danger Mouse, just awesome. When he got together with Jack White and Norah Jones it was just super. I believe that when he does a project it’s really well done, even if artistically there might be others who can be stronger, he is extremely consistent.  

Have you ever tried to remix him?

Mathieu: No, but “Danger Doom” was absolutely something I put into my DJ sets. Scratching with it, but for pleasure, and fun. 

Hugo: I can’t really answer, there are so many artists in my head, but one that comes to mind without really thinking about it is Flying Lotus, very complete, an artist that pushes the envelope very far. You will always discover something new, he’s big right now. 

Hugo

For the creation of La Boulangerie 3, I noticed that each track was made by a different beatmaker. Do you work together or separately? 

Hugo: There are no rules, we compare it to making food. We invite a chef, a “cuisinier,” and we ask them to give us a recipe. Since we had already made La Boulangerie 1 and 2, they had an idea of what we were asking for. There were examples where someone takes the track from beginning to end almost completely by themselves. It’s the same with the artists, some of them gave us “ready to eat” plates, while others gave us just the ingredients. 

So you guys are really the connectors of sound, are there not rules about who adds what?

Vincent: We have habits about how we work, but we are all producers. 

Mathieu: We go back and forth a lot, we make everyone listen. 

Is there someone who gets their way more than the others in the La Fine Équipe? I mean, you have very different styles! Does anyone have the final word? 

Vincent: There has to be a “chef d'orchestre,” otherwise we couldn’t get things done, because we are also a label so there is marketing, etc. 

Hugo: We’ve been working together for a while rather easily, our decisions are generally taken together. We try to make good tracks, and since there are different styles, each person knows how to help in their regard. Sometimes there are tracks that are more electronic, or hip hop, so they fall under different members. There are so many tracks in this project because we want to include all aspects of everyone.  

So you focus on making a good track first, and then you rework it.

Hugo: Yeah exactly, we work on the train, during commutes, everywhere.

Vincent

You guys do interviews all the time now, you’ve been working together for a while, and you’ve gotten to this level now where you’re working with big acts. Do you think this style of production is sustainable? Is it an advantage? Meaning to make a track and try to classify it later? 

Hugo: Well, in any case it’s how we work. Do this, do that, we tried all those things, but we are not really careerists, we are in this for the music, we are lucky that it works, and we have the ability to be free. Our character is anti-rules.

Vincent: We are more from the Myspace generation. Today on Soundcloud there is so much music from new young producers, that people really want to wait until they have a great track to publish. 

Hugo: Yeah but there are people who post songs everyday too on Soundcloud. 

But it’s true, in the Myspace days, there was no Garageband, not everyone had Ableton. But now it’s a different thing. 

Vincent: Because there are so many songs, there isn’t a lot of quality, so instead of posting they hold off. It has to be perfect because they know that there is so much stuff. 

Mathieu: Since we are a bit older we also knew the idea of the album, to tell a story, like a filmmaker.  

There might be a contradiction there. Since you say that you work on a track, trying just to make good tracks, but then you say that the album format is important, a story, like a film. But how can you make a film with 12 tracks created for their own individual sake? 

Mathieu: It’s not contradictory in the sense that you make tracks. It’s you who makes them, and over a period of time you are going to have consistency. Sure, you can have fun making little tracks, but the idea is that I want to make music, and today I’m trying to express this emotion, so I have a style that runs between. If you release 40 tracks in a year, I’m sure that you will have at least 20 that are actually telling the same story. And it’s in that form that you make an album. 

I understand, it’s the artist that comes out, even if we want to do 5 different things, we just end up doing the same thing 5 different ways. 

Mathieu: A painter who does pointillism, he is still going to want to do other things, but you are going to find coherent elements in his style. The “file conducteur.”

How did you have the idea of La Boulangerie? I’m sure it’s a question that you get often, but who chooses the names for the songs? Is it you or the artists?  

The first Boulangerie was an homage to J Dilla, the beatmaker from Detroit who released an album called “Donuts” shortly before he died. We would’ve called our album “Croissant” but Boulangerie was larger, it opens up more possibilities, from naming the tracks to graphics, etc. It was much more exciting. 

It’s true that it’s a warm image, going on Sunday morning to get your baguette, it’s welcoming. 

Hugo: We also think about consuming music like we consume food, and this concept was full of different morsels: sweets, salty, the pleasure of eating. 

Plus for French people you will find a lot of fans of the Boulangerie… Second to last question, when will you go to Tours? 

When you invite us! Plus we have some great friends there, Chill Bump for example, our friends that we go on tour with so yeah, with pleasure! 

When you aren’t making music, what do you do for fun? 

Vincent: We work on the label.

Hugo: Go out, go to clubs, go to restaurants, eat, drink. 

Mathieu: I’m a sound engineer so I work on that, I’ve got my geek side. Plus my family. 

Hugo: Plus there is Blanka, who has a studio and spends a lot of time there, and he has a project called Jukebox Champions. They do hip hop instrumentals. 

Thanks guys! And a big thanks to every one from the Whyd community that sent in their questions for La Fine Équipe! Never stop jamming!