Radical French-US collective Paris Suit Yourself was born in 2007, in the city from which it takes its name. The first ‘rock’ act to be signed to the otherwise hip hop-dominated Big Dada label, the band is made up of three core members; singer Luvinsky Atche, bassist Marie Boye and axe-man Victor Tricard.
Having relocated to Berlin, the trio enlisted frenetic percussionist Joe Heffernan, whose background is in metal, and proceeded to wreak havoc on the city’s warehouse and squat party scene with a string of infamous live shows.
The sound of genre-defying first album ‘My Main Shitstain’, released last week, has been likened by bemused critics to various artists from Ol Dirty Bastard to Fela Kuti, whilst not sounding much like any of them. As the band ready themselves for what is sure to be a scorching set at London’s Bull & Gate tomorrow evening, we approached bass lady Marie to get her response to our Same Six.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Honestly, it began so casually that it’s hard to tell, like a conversation in the morning about the movie you saw the day before, or the urge to eat a chocolate cake… I guess a lot of people experience that phase where someday you feel like doing something that counts. Some people start to write, or get involved in politics, some others have babies, we chose music.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Nothing, everything, each other…
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
Man, that’s like asking the secret recipe of your grandmother’s amazing apple pie. I’m not sure I should give it away.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
I really hope this will disappear from the list of questions asked by music journalists in the future. This is, in my opinion, a very weird thing to ask. It suggests that musicians are unable to create a fresh sound from scratch. In our case, we start with a melody we have in mind, and then build a song as it comes (oh shit, I gave away the creation process!). If there are influences from other artists, they’re unconscious.
And I’d say more, there’s something almost unhealthy in the idea of being able to point to the artists that influence your work. I guess it’s impossible to close your mind to everything you’ve stuffed into your ears during your life when you start to create a song, but at some point you have to cut the musical umbilical cord, like when you take your own decisions and stop doing things because Mummy told you they’re the right things to do.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Hear me now, feel me now, because what you’re about to hear comes from somewhere I’ve been to dig up the sound. It’s been intense, painful sometimes, and the least you could do is to let yourself be touched by the raw nudity of the material I’m willing to insert in your system… please.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
For the album, that we sell enough to be able to pay our rent again. For the future, that we’ll live long enough to see the world falling into chaos in 2012.
MORE>> www.myspace.com/parissuityourself
Sections: Q&A P | Tags: Paris Suit Yourself
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