Here come Revolver
How is new album Let Go different from last album Music For a While and your self-styled ‘chamber-pop’?
We used to write and play in a shy and discreet way [two acoustic guitars and a cello]. We first added drums for the recording of the first album and it changed everything. When we discovered that people were dancing to our music, we decided to make more dance songs. It was a surprise because you wouldn’t expect people to dance to songs with vocal harmonies. You’d have to go back to the time of the Bee Gees to see that. We didn’t try to mix two types of music. It was more that before we were a rock band de chambre [chamber rock band]. I can't say we really play this kind of music any more.
So you're moving away from playing acoustic sets?
Well, normally with bands like the Fleet Foxes, it’s beautiful music but you don’t really dance. We wanted more energy and to give more to our public. But you have to find the good balance for each venue. If you’re playing in a very small place like a church or something like that, acoustically, then maybe two guitars and a cello is the right balance. It sounds good. Then when you play in front of hundreds of people you can’t really do that. If you want to add drums you have to play everything differently.
You spent a lot of time in the USA recently. How was that?
The USA was a shock: amazing and very impressive. It’s hard to put into words. It was intimidating because it was the first time we sang in front of people who understood the lyrics so we had to correct all the mistakes… (laughs)Ambroise: I noticed that I paid much more attention to the lyrics when I was singing them. I realised that sometimes I was singing in an automatic way in front of a French public. But American people are very welcoming. We had a lot of good comments on the lyrics. They are very warm, positive and curious, even if they have strange diets!
Yeah, what did you make of American food?
Well, the worst was when you’re on the road, and you have to stop at gas stations in Arizona or Texas – it was just junk food. But America is still very exotic for Europeans.
Any crazy stories to come out of the tour?
There were a lot of amazing stories. Nothing shocking. We didn’t kill anyone.
Why do you sing in English?
We were listening to so many American bands. We tried to write in French but English felt more natural because of the style of music we wanted to play and compose. We started writing simple lyrics in English and then tried to improve them. I read in an article that English is a more positive language than French. They'd counted the number of times different words were repeated in songs, articles and books etc. It’s amazing, I think it’s true.
Where did you learn English?
We learnt how to speak English by going to school and we learnt how to sing in English by listening to songs because it’s very different. We have a French accent when we speak but when we sing it’s not as obvious. It’s a little softer.
What do you think about the quota, the law which means 40 per cent of music on the radio has to be in French?
I guess it wasn’t annoying for our first record: it was the first or second most played on the radio that year. I heard about this law when we had trouble getting contracts with labels at the beginning. They were pretty scared. Then it changed: bands like Cocoon, Moriarty, the Do, Hey Hey My My… they started to be played more on the air.
Have people criticized you for singing in English?
Sometimes people are very protective of the French language. They think we are attacking the French patrimoine [heritage]. But we love the French language. If we don’t write in French it’s not because we don’t like French it’s because English suits us better. And it’s a scientific fact that vocal harmonies sound best in English!
Favourite English word or expression?“Appreciate it”, “sounds like a plan” or “pain in the ass”. Our (legendary) bass player, Pino Palladino, taught us that one one day when we were listening to the radio together in the car. We were listening to a very famous Kinks song. He said “oh I played with the Kinks in the 80s.” We were like “wow amazing!” He was like, “you know Ray Davies, he’s a pain in the ass!”
Has YouTube, Facebook etc been important to you as a band?
We’re not extremely talented for the internet. I know bands who are very close to their fans on Facebook or Twitter. We try to answer all the messages but it doesn’t feel natural. We love talking to our fans though.
What do people abroad think of the French?
People think that the French are proud and that they have a high opinion of themselves or are a bit snobby. They also think we have good taste, that we’re elegant and that France is the country of fashion.Christophe: When my sister went to the USA she met some people who thought that French people didn’t know about washing machines. And so they thought that French people were fashionable, but a little bit stinky!
And finally, what's next for Revolver?
Our hopes for the album are that we can go on tour for a while and at the end of the tour have enough songs to record a new album. We just want to go on tour again because we feel that we are better musicians, that we wrote better songs and I hope the songs are going to just keep coming.
First published on Wordpress. Photo: EMI.