I’m really stoked to finally publish this piece. Below you can find my recent chat with Clément, Jérémie, Pierre and Vincent, 4 crazy French boys from GRAND DÉTOUR, a brand new instrumental rock / post punk / post hardcore / emo project from Toulon. You may know some of them from emotional hardcore / screamo band BÖKANÖVSKY or CHILD MEADOW. But, to be honest, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that this new pack of theirs really deserves your attention. They have been preparing their debut self-titled album for some time now and are about to release it through something like a hundred of labels! ;) They know how to play and I hope you’ll know how to behave after checking out the tracks and the interview below :)
Tell all your friends and help me at least double the silly number of likes they’ve got on Facebook.
Hey, guys! So good to have fresh blood here! Please shoot me a quick introduction and tell me who are you and where are you coming from? [smiles]
C:
Hey Karol, GRAND DÉTOUR is 4 friends. We all played in several bands before playing together in GRAND DÉTOUR. We live around a town called Toulon, in south east of France, a lot of sun all the year, the beach really near! French California kind of!
P:
Hi Karol and thanks a lot for your interest on GRAND DÉTOUR. We just are 4 people who play or used to play in different diy punk band in the south-east of France. We started this band just because we wanted to play together and share the same interest in diy punk / alternative music. What we want is only playing and touring! Practicing and recording are fun but what we really love is playing live and loud [smiles].
V:
Hey Karol, not much more to say except that we all come from very different kinds of “punk”, and GD seems to be a way for us to mix those, within others of our musical influences.
J:
Hello, nice to meet you! And thank you for paying attention to our music and band. What else can we say? We’re all around 25-35 year old (except Clément who’s still a kid [smiles]!) and although we met in Southern France – because of the family, work or studies – 3 of us are from elsewhere in the country (Northern, Eastern and Center France). So, what about you Karol ?
Ha! What about me, mate? I live in Warsaw, Poland, work hard at my day job trying to get the word out about decent bands like yourselves! [smiles]
Let’s start off with your past projects. Please tell me about the bands you’ve played in. I’m ready! [smiles]
Dear reader, sit tight, we have the real rock stars here! Here we go… [smiles]
C:
Warsaw, yes! I remember I ate in an Asian restaurant there, that had a vegan menu with a lot of fake beef and crazy nerdy vegan stuff like this. It was paradise, and made my day worth it! So I guess, we’ll all respond one after the other! I started playing in bands not that long ago, I still play in BÖKANÖVSKY and CHILD MEADOW, and played in CAVALCADS that didn’t last long.
J:
Seems to be nice ! I don’t even know Warsaw, but still hope we’ll be heading there soon with GRAND DÉTOUR! But no rock star here, we all take or took part in some modest music background. For my part, before trying to play guitar in GD, I used to play bass and sing in some melodic punk rock band called MIKEY RANDALL, and before that, another project called CONTROL ALT SUPP. In twice, we only hit the road in France.
V:
The only thing I know about Warsaw is “Warsaw village band”, and although it’s good, that’s not enough! None of my previous bands could remind something to your audience (unfortunately for us), but I’ve always played in quite fast bands, except a recent experience in stoner rock, and I’ve never had the opportunity to travel with a band…
P:
Rock stars [laughs]! Forget about it… We just are people learning how to play an instrument!!!
The fact that you maybe know our other bands like BOKANOVSKY or CHILD MEADOW just means we have many friends all across Europe who spread the word about those bands. We didn’t tour so much and didn’t put out so many records [laughs]!
I’ve been playing in many crappy bands since I started to play bass. I met Clément in 2005 and we started to play together with BOKANOVSKY. Four years later BOKANOVSKY was playing less and less so I started to learn how to play drums (approximately) and CHILD MEADOW was born. So we both play in three “active” bands now! Four practice time a week, many kilometers to drive and the most important question is: which band is gonna tour this year!
So Karol, when can we play Warsaw???
[laughs] You’re allowed to come whenever you like, boys! [smiles] We could exchange some contracts and hopefully shake hands sometime soon, huh? Just let me know as soon as you start booking your trek. I highly recommend you Eastern European countries like Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The kids are insane over there.
Tell me more about the birth of this project. When, where and why did you create GRAND DETOUR?
J:
Great ! We will keep in touch with our bunch of lawyers, artistic managers and agents to discuss the unfair clauses of the contract! More seriously, we hope eating a lot of asphalt in a quite close future, because 2 of us just get a new job, so, you know, it’s kind of difficult to do exactly whatever we wanted of our planning right now. But soon, we’ll be ok to book gigs in Central & Eastern Europe. For my part, I don’t even know these places, and GRAND DÉTOUR is almost a pretext to get in the van with my friends, play the music we love, and visit exciting new countries. Oh, look, that’s a part of the answer to your question!
V:
When? A bit more than a year ago. Where? In a crappy rehearsal room, lost between two unknown cities of south France. Why? The answer will probably be different from a member to another, we’ve never really talked about it this way. When we started playing together, we didn’t define or plan anything, which makes of GD a place where each of us can bring his own reason to share something. Personally, I probably needed to experiment something different from what I was used to play so far. I think it’s going to be difficult to make a real tour for at least one year, but Pierre and Clément taught me it was possible to make 3000 km in 2 days, so we may shake hands sooner than expected!
P:
I must confess that I didn’t plan to play with this band. They started to play together without me and the less that I can say is that I was pretty jealous when clement told me he started something new with Vincent and Jérémie! Those two guys were people I secretly wanted to play with from a long time ago. Then they asked me to play bass and you can imagine how glad and proud I was… The first rehearsal was fun and we felt that something good was possible. Clément was first supposed to be a vocalist only…but this is a story he will be glad to tell you!!!
So our first goal was to mix all our influences but we definitely wanted to play something pretty progressive, melodic, and more or less technical. My own goal was to play bass guitar as a bass guitar, which is way different from the way I play it with BOKANOVSKY!
C:
Like Pierre. I’ve always wanted to play in a band with Vincent. For me he’s one of the best drummer I’ve ever heard or see. (he will certainly say “no way, I’m very bad”, but don’t listen to him!). Playing with Vincent, is a real security, this is the first time in 7 years of music that I don’t have to turn myself to see if there’s something wrong or not! For Jérémie, I knew him a bit more than Vincent, especially through his past bands. I also have to confess that I didn’t know he was such a good “lead” guitar player, since he always played bass before!
Like Pierre told you, at first, I was bored of playing guitar and having this responsibility of “building songs” that I wanted to be the one screaming in a microphone. But it was a disaster, I don’t have enough breath to be a lead singer, and my voice sounds like a angry goat! So very silly and shitty! So I told everyone “ok next practice I’ll be the second guitar”! After several songs, we started writing more and more complicated songs, but still with a very big melodic touch! This band means a lot for me, and I really hope my 3 other friends will follow me in my future tour plans, and records plans, because I really want to travel, and experiment a lot of stuff with them!
What would you say is different about your approach and how you handle and plan things around this band comparing to BOKANOVSKY, CHILD MEADOW and other projects?
P:
Well, from my point of view, things are WAY different!
BOKANOVSKY was our very first project. Not our first band ever but our first “serious” one. The goal was about writing songs, playing the more shows we could, and touring as soon as possible. Moreover, we all learned how to play punk/hxc stuffs. And as I told you before, BOKANOVSKY is a band I always played bass guitar as a power lead guitar: cords, picks and angry bass play! So far the writing process is simple : clement writes everything and shows us what he’s expecting for! Then we all try to do our best to make it loud and raw…but it takes time!
CHILD MEADOW is not so different (except the fact that I play drums there). Clement writes song (and usually complete songs) and I try to add drum parts. Most of the time a song only needs a couple hours to be done. Fast and easy, this is the way!
GRAND DÉTOUR…maybe I should let my friends tell you…just because they can’t talk about our other bands! About touring plans, show this and there, Clement is the Man! He’s so involved, spends hours on the internet, and knows everybody everywhere…
J:
I’ll take the following of Pierre (also speaking for the “minor projects” part!), I really think GD is a place where everyone can tell & experiment whatever he had on his mind. I’m not saying that some other bands we’ve played in are/were dictatorships, but I’m pretty sure that, right know, each of us simply wanted to share moments with great friends trying to play more elaborate songs than we do before. The short or bigger experiences we had with our past projects lead us to enjoy everything that happens now, without focusing on the darkest sides of being in a band, you know, bad feelings when you’re a teen and the band doesn’t match with your influences but you don’t talk about it, when yourself ego leads to frustration, when you think you’re the only guy on earth who spend so much time on logistical things, like hours on phone/web booking venues, worrying about paying the rent of the rehearsal room right on time, keeping an eye on the backline when you’re on tour… Uh! Seems that I talk like a shitty old man, sorry! The fact is that I’m really glad to play now with Clément, Pierre and Vincent, as great human beings and as creative musicians. And I’m also convinced that it was the right time to do the band this way, maybe if we had tried it sooner, we could have made everything screwed up!
You really must enjoy it, huh? Awesome [smiles].
On the other hand, how do you cope with being so different? [laughs] I mean you’re at different ages, probably having different activities, families, jobs, etc.
C:
I think the answer is in Jérémie and Pierre last sentence [smiles] It’s obvious that we are older, and it means we handle better our instruments and our ideas. As Jérémie told you, I don’t think this band would have been possible few years ago, in my opinion it just happen at the perfect moment for all of us!
V:
I think most bands are composed of very different people, and this is not a problem as long as every member can devote a few hours a week to the others. I don’t care about the fact that Jérémie wears dresses after his working hours (laughs?). Once the door is closed and the earplugs are put, the only thing that remains is our will to build something together. We’re not the kind of band that lives in the same house, wears the same clothes, and spends all its time together, what unites us is a sum of ideas/opinions/hopes/fears(…) that can be shared by very different people.
P:
I totally care about the fact that Jérémie wears dresses. I totally support that!
Being different doesn’t matter. Being all the same would be incredibly boring and stupid. Being different makes us stronger (Ok this sound like a crappy Nike add, sorry!) Our music would also be different if we had the same lifestyle or the same thoughts. Passion has always been the motion of our actual or past musical activities so what we need is only time together, a place to practice and a van to hit the road! We all need this to feel alive and to tolerate the frustrations of our everyday life (at work for example). So whatever our age/jobs/love stories/activities are, music still being what we need to do; we all made sacrifices or hard choices to be able to practice once (or more!) a week, to buy our guitars/amps/drums, to get holidays on the right time for a tour, and so and so…
J:
[laughs] I just want to clear a misunderstanding up : I don’t wear dresses after work, I show my hairy legs wearing miniskirts, right! More seriously, everyone in this band has a different way of life, and also different musical influences, but GD is the point, the crossroads where it all matches. Like every guys who take instruments, play together, and want to make it a real project, actually!
What’s something you would never accept regarding your band mates’ opinions or way of life? Where would you draw the line? [smiles]
J:
Hey! Are you trying to play us off against each other? Everything went well until the last question! Well, I’m just kidding… I don’t have to set any limit, we are all grownups, free to think and act like we wanted to. And if there were something that really set at the total opposite of my opinion, I think I would have already get it, that’s the privilege of knowing my band mates for a while! Also, I think we share the same point of view about the fundamental causes (sorry if it seems demagogic!) for human rights, and against all forms of racism, homophobia, etc. It’s not by chance that we all work or plan to have a job nearby the health and safety background, we share a kind of social concern. But like you must suspect it, we have don’t have the same point of view about all subjects. For example one of us is vegetarian, the others not, but we all respect it and try to make it easier when it’s lunch time!
C:
Especially at lunch time! Probably the thing I wouldn’t accept is having a band mate that doesn’t like to eat! Yes you’ll understand with that reply that one of my passion is food! To be more serious, I think Jérémie said it all! Communication is the key, when there is a problem there’s always a solution, just need to talk about it.
V:
Every important thing had been told… Anyway, I’m the kind of mate that couldn’t draw any line on this topic: I’m always late, inattentive, and I tend to let my way of life spill over this band (sorry guys, and thank you). What I can say is that I would never accept to play with someone like me [laughs]!
[smiles] I love your approach.
Alright, let’s discuss your heritage. How many songs have you already written? What labels are you cooperating with? Give us a quick tour through your discography so far.
C:
Well we are a very new band. Only a year of existence! Our first record will be sent at the pressing plant in few weeks! In total I think we made 9/10 songs so far and 5 of them will be in the record. Listing all the labels would be too long, mostly it’s a lot of small labels run by friends, people we met on the road/shows/bands with our other bands, or just new people that were kind enough to help us out!
J:
I’m totally fascinated by Clément & Pierre’s ability to make (and keep!) new friends all over the world. It’s heartwarming to see a list of a dozen DIY labels from France, Germany, USA, Canada, Hungary… involved into our project. Especially knowing that most of the persons hidden behind these labels had not heard a single note from GD when they proposed to help! We will forever be thankful for what they do for us.
P:
As Clement said we have something like 10 songs but one of them (the very first one!) will stay quiet in our computer’s hard drives! Trust me when I say this is the best to do…
So we recorded five songs for our first record. Since the recording we wrote 3 new songs that we really love. We can’t wait to record and share them soon!
I can’t name every labels involved for our first record but I can tell you how glad and grateful we are for this. I deeply love this DIY way. Just people helping people. No profits. Just new friends sharing the same interests and passion!
C:
So much! But in our case, all the one that are helping with the 12” record: Désordre Ordonné (from Montréal, Canada. Nicolas is a guy i’ve been trading records, chatting on the internet for several years! He also released child meadow on a cassette over there! I’ve also had the chance to meet him in real life when I went to Montreal few years ago. It’s always nice to put a face on an email address!), Dingleberry (from Giessen, Germany, is run by Tim who set up shows in his city, and made a show for BÖKANÖVSKY last year), Eastrain (From Lille, France is run by Antoine. We had the chance to meet him in real life last year when he came and visited us with our common friend Rémi), Emotionnaly Unstable (From Strasbourg, France, is run by Ianik, which is a long time friend, he plays in bands: CHAOS-IS, INTO THE TIDE etc.., set up shows, has a silkscreen workshop), Go Away (From Budapest, Hungary is run by Tomi, we met him in Budapest last year with BÖKANÖVSKY), L’horreur De L’indécent Profit (From Toulon, France, is run by our friend who sings in BÖKANÖVSKY: Cédric), Orchiscent (From Dijon, France, is run by Bertrand who plays in Who needs maps?!), PEB (From Evreux, France, is my childhood friends who opened a self managed space, they set up shows there and have a skatepark! They also help bands releasing records!), Sieve And Sand (From Caen, France, is Antoine’s from AUSSITÔT MORT /AMANDA WOODWARD label), and Time As Color (From Munich, Germany, is Danny’s label, we met him while he was driving Human hands on tour, and GRAND DÉTOUR played a show with them in our hometown and got a long fastly!). There’s also a bunch of other labels, we’re waiting for a final confirmation, like a small label from Russia! But since it’s not sure I won’t talk about it [smiles].
P:
Friendship, friendship, friendship!!! We didn’t lie to you Karol…
Amazing… really, a nice mob network you’ve got there [laughs].
Alright boys, now tell me.. how many gigs have you done together so far?
C:
Like I told you we are very new, so we didn’t have the time to tour together so far, or to do a lot of shows! So if you want to be amazed you won’t! [laughs] I think something like 5 or 6!
J:
And if you count shows with our other bands, with GD members on a stage or in front of it, that number probably increases to 30 or 40 [laughs]! But right now, like Clément just said before, we’re fresh rookies.
What was the craziest one you have ever played? No matter what band you played in back then…
C:
With BÖKANÖVSKY the craziest show was the show in Ukraine, we drove for hours from Slovakia, maybe something like 14 hours + 4 hours at the border to enter Ukraine. I think the kids over there just wanted to let out their frustration and anger, and the show was just super wild, with kids singing the lyrics, and people slamming from the stage into the crowd. Probably not “original” at all for some bands, but for a small band like us, I swear it’s not common! Our last show of our USA tour in 2009 in Long beach with TOUCHÉ AMORÉ, MALADIE, BIG KIDS and 1994 was also very crazy and full of emotions, a compact house show, where you almost can’t move because of all the people around you. For CHILD MEADOW probably a show in Zaragoza in a big squated school, nobody knew us, but there was a lot of people slamming, and dancing. And of course Fluff Fest 2K12, because we never imagined that so many people would watch us, dance or know us.
J:
As we played all our gigs with Mikey Randall in France, my stories won’t be as exotic as Clément or Pierre! But if I must choose one, it was in the Alps, in a place we called in French an MJC, term that I could translate as the “House of the youth and culture”. Like in Clément’s memories, people there didn’t even knew us, but there was a lot of persons moving, smiling and head banging in front of us while we were playing. Maybe the bunch of snow outside ran all the mountain kids mad [laughs]! So, few of these guys became some of our best friends, and as they also played in a great band (95-C), we shared a split-12” with them few months after. That’s an example, but I could speak about every gigs that took place far away from home, especially with friends sharing the van (like my mates Pierre, Clément and Coco of BÖKANÖVSKY did for our small French tours, or like the band CHASING PAPERBOY in Paris, Toulouse or Lyon).
V:
The most amazing show I’ve ever played was definitely during the Fluff Fest in 2012. First of all, this wasn’t with MY band, but with BOKANOVSKY (I replaced their drummer for this unique show, because he was unavailable) so I had to learn maybe 6 of 7 songs in 1 month, which was quite challenging, especially concerning the A side of “We stumble”. We left on a Friday at 9PM, drove all night long, and we arrived in Rokycany around 11AM the next day, exhausted. We were the second band of the afternoon, the first one played under the rain and before 50 courageous people, and I was fearing the rain deters people to come. Fortunately, when we started playing, rain decreased and people started to come, to finally represent a very impressive mass (to me…)
This show was very special because it was the farthest I’ve ever played, the first as a substitute, the shortest time to learn songs, the biggest audience /stage, and… I was sick, tired, and not really self-confident. I’m really proud of what we did, even if I’m quite sad their drummer didn’t have the opportunity to play there.
P:
Oh yes, that show with BOKANOVSKY was sick! So many people, so many crazy things to make it real (thank you again mate!)… We also played with CHILD MEADOW half an hour after the BOKANOVSKY set. I was exhausted, sweaty as fuck, not confident at all too! And then, this show was a bit terrible regardless to our technical capacities (sorry again Clement!) BUT like for the previous show, all of our European friends were there to support us… but closer!!! Small stages make things bigger! We felt like home, playing for the people we love the more on this continent. This was so awesome!
About GRAND DÉTOUR, the best is to come for sure… So far every gig were super intense. Our very first show with our French friends LD KHARST (don’t know them? please, check it out!) was really fun and I will remember this day forever!
Great memories, huh? [smiles] What, do you think, is so special about gatherings like Fluff Fest? What other Europeans festivals make you get goose bumps?
C:
I think it’s because you see all your friends from all over the world at just one moments: people at the shows you’ve played, bands you’ve played with, or saw before, etc… Record label, promoters etc… All the “scene” is at the same place, and it’s super fun and awesome. The only thing with Fluff Fest, is that it’s getting bigger and bigger (which is not a negative thing), but it means you have a lot of douche’ just there to drink as much as possible, and sleep with “Eastern European girls” (a lot of time those people are French, just sayin’!). Sorry! But yeah I’m already excited to go at Fluff Fest this year to see all my friends and make new ones!
I would like to go at new noise in Germany sometime. I’m not too much into fest actually, what I like about Fluff Fest is friends/eating good food/chiling/swimming pool and then the music. It’s not everywhere, where you can find a music festival where the main “goal” is friendship.
J:
Haaa Fluff Fest… Unfortunately I’m the only one in this band who have never been there. But hope I could go in Czech soon ! Other Europeans festivals ? I’ve often heard about Groezrock or Ieper Fest… Even Pukkelpop seems to be cool, but in very different kind of way than Fluff! It’s more about mainstream machines you know, even if, according to me, there are always great bands on display. It’s too bad promoters don’t think punk/rock/hardcore deserves a real French festival, and not only one band or one stage between two metal acts, like in Hellfest…
P:
Unfortunately, Fluff is the only DIY/underground fest I went to… There’s nothing I could compare it with, except some small event/lDear reader, sit tight, we have the real rock stars here! Hereemp we go… ocal fest I used to go to.
Fluff is getting bigger every year according to what I heard. Is it just because it’s getting more famous? Or DIY/punk music is more and more listened by more and more people? I just hope this event will keep an human size and, more than everything, that promoters will never change their state of mind about money/no profit stuff… THIS makes Fluff so special to me + being a place where all European punx can meet and share something for three days! Connections & friendship again…
V:
I’m not really used to festivals (even less to very specific ones like Fluff) but like Clément, I guess music isn’t the main goal: it’s only a catalyser that allows many other things to happen, and actually, I’ve observed this in every festival I went to (even in a giant like Sziget). It’s like extracting yourself from the regular world, and I’m convinced that the disorientation you can get depends on the event’s size, especially if you want to run away from capitalism…
Alright, guys. I wonder, what French screamo bands are you tight with? Do you know guys from DAITRO or SED NON SATIATA, who are alive and running again. New album, US tour, South American tour in works, lots of things going on around them. How do you know these guys?
C:
DAÏTRO are close friends. SED NON SATIATA are less, but we know those guys from several years, and had the chance to meet them with their other bands, or even in other countries! I met Charles (one of the guitar player) in Montréal, few years ago. Those bands are just amazing live, such good musicians, and very inspiring people! I’ve grew up with DAÏTRO, I didn’t know them at first, but when BÖKANÖVSKY started playing our paths crossed, and we finally become friends. I’ve always been blown away how humble and kind those guys were, and this is for sure something I learned. And yeah, I know, SED NON SATIATA are still a band, and I can’t wait for that new album! They’ve toured last year in the US with common friends called BIG KIDS. I heard about that US tour and that South American tour, I must admit I’m jealous! South America is definitely a place I want to tour, hopefully we’ll go there in the future! I can’t wait for their picture report! Kids are going to be crazy, that’s for sure! France has always been very productive with bands like this, but you should really keep an eye on those French bands that deserve also attention: SUGARTOWN CABARET, BATON ROUGE, AUSSITÔT MORT, LD.KHARST, GÉRANIÜM, BIRDS IN ROW … You’ve just have to look few years back to see how French scene is productive: GANTZ, DAÏTRO, MIHAI EDRISCH, ANOMIE, AMANDA WOODWARD, 12XU, and so many more!
J:
I think the only screamo band I was close with is… BÖKANÖVSKY [laughs]! But first, as I was more into punkrock/poppunk/emorock/melodic hardcore, it took time for me to get into their music too. So it did with DAÏTRO. And currently it’s one of the bands I prefer listening to ! As I’m knowing well the city they’re from, their “Y” album (for the confluence of two rivers in Lyon, the Rhône and the Saône, as Clément told me) makes really sense to me.
P:
Well well well… This are two bands that had a GREAT influence on us. Not only because those guys are awesome musicians, great story tellers and involved people. DAÏTRO was one of our major influence when we started to play with BOKANOVSKY. SED NON SATIATA still being a huge inspiring band to me, especially for their great sense of melodies and the way they built songs. Part of DAÏTRO used to play in 12XU, a band that was really inspiring me when I was starting to learn how to play drums a few years ago. I love Hugues’ drum play!
But there’s also some major connections about all those people (ok, here we are: the “old guy punk story”, sorry people) : actually, Aurélien, DAÏTRO’s vocalist, is an old friend of mine, born in the same town, studying in the same college, spending holiday times together. Thanks to him I discovered bands like ENVY or BREACH. Those two bands are 80% of what I love in music. 100% of my bass lines can be connected to their music, really. They (and he!) gave me the will to start a band and to hit the road the sooner I could. So , I maybe won’t be answering your questions today if Aurélien wasn’t one of my best friend. Without this guy I would probably still being one of those metalheads (no offense!) I used to be…
SED NON SATIATA: It took me years to be really into their music but I know some guys of this band since 2000; Their very first bass player, Lionel, was a friend’s boyfriend when I was a student, far away from my home town. I was 20 and was listening to bands like SLIPKNOT or PANTERA, SEPULTURA and he gave me a K7 one day; BOTCH’s “American Nervoso” was on it plus some old songs from them. It just blew my mind man!!! Then I bought some CD from his friends distro: CONVERGE’s “Petitioning the Empty Sky” was one of them. I never listened to metal anymore since that day. Thanks to Lionel I discovered the DIY punk scene, the trading system, the non profit concept and I met a bunch of awesome people, including SED NON SATIATA’s actual members who were playing with their former bands in Toulouse (a great city in south-west France)
So…about your question…those people just directly and willingly made what and who I am now!
Just take those few word as a confession and a tribute to those great people. LOVE
V:
I actually don’t know these bands as much as my pals, I’ve only listened to a few songs and I will probably take more time to discover them in a close future… I think I’ve met DAÏTRO’s drummer when we played with ANCRE last year (awesome), maybe I’ve already met other members from DAÏTRO or some from SED NON SATIATA, but I don’t know. The only French screamo band I listen to is BÖKANÖVSKY, and I must confess it took long before I got able to appreciate them as they deserve because when I discovered them, I was really not into this kind of music.
I’m a kind of outsider, sorry…
Ha! I hit the jackpot, huh? [smiles]
Have you heard the newest tribute to ORCHID? What other screamo and non-screamo bands are you into at the moment?
C:
I heard it yes, but I must admit I didn’t take time to listen to the covers excepted the one that SED NON SATIATA did. But definitely a record i’ll buy. But in my opinion ORCHID are really hard band to cover, such a unique “sound” and way of playing songs. Concerning your second question, it’s weird because I was talking about that few days ago, but I listen to very few bands or music this days… Maybe it’s because I just moved, and all my records are still in a box, maybe i’m bored, or maybe it’s just a break, … I don’t know! Going a lot back to the basics and oldies actually. Concerning more recent bands/records: the last stuff I’ve listened too and enjoyed very much where the last black heart rebellion “har nevo” which is one of the best record of the year for me, the last comadre with that fat bass and those really cool guitars that are mixed very far away, and the record awkward breeds by “the sidekicks”, a super nice pop/punk record, “ala” WEEZER.
J:
It’s funny to see that before this interview I didn’t know Clément was listening bands in the vein of WEEZER, although I’m supposed to be the poppunk guy in the band [laughs]! To answer your questions, don’t blame me please, but I haven’t heard a single note from ORCHID or the tribute you’re taking about yet… I’ve only read few reviews about the musical link between them and my friends of BÖKANÖVSKY. By the way, I’ll listen to this band quickly! You could understand it through my answers, I’m not really into screamo stuffs! Presently, I’m listening to very different things. It goes from the pop of NADA SURF (their last LP “The stars are indifferent to astronomy” is beautiful) or FICTION PLANE (the band of STING’ son, a sort of modern version of THE POLICE), to the metalcore of PROMETHEE, passing by punk/hardcore bands like COMADRE or AFTER THE FALL (I’ve heard few pieces off their “Unkind” album, sounds totally nuts!), and also instrumental “oldies” like ANTARCTIC or ENEMIES. The last record I bought is the great LP of SPORT, close to CASTEVET’ stuff, and these guys are coming from DAÏTRO’s city.
C:
Jérémie, maybe because since you have a girlfriend, you lost all the interest you had in me, no more kisses and no more “let’s go eat in a romantic place together”! Those days are gone! Thank you Laure!
J:
[laughs] Clément, be sure you’re the very next person I’m thinking of for romantic lunches, but too bad our favorite place doesn’t open on saturday anymore… Anyway, I can’t wait for the next rehearsal to share more love …and poppunk songs!
P:
Ouch! I’m so glad to know guys that your love still alive…. No split for 2013, that’s a good news!
Karol, I’ve never been that guys who discovers the perfect newbie band every corner…
Anyway, this is what I’m listening to at the moment or what I discovered while nerding on bandcamp: ENGINE DOWN’s “Demure”, LACK’s “Be there pulse” & “Saturate every atom”, SLINGSHOT DAKOTA, BIG KIDS, COMADRE’s last effort, MICROFILM, ENVY, FALL OF EFFRAFA, our Belgian friends DEUIL, our czech friends ██████, MENTAL ARCHITECTS, THE AUSTRASIAN GOATS’s “Paved intentions”, CHELSEA WOLFE “Unknown Rooms”, PAINTED WOLVES, BEACH FOSSILS, BÂTON ROUGE, ANCRE, GIRAFFES?GIRAFFES!, AMBER, SHORA, NEUROSIS, our dear friends KARYSUN + SUGARTOWN CABARET + AUSSITÔT MORT, LIMP WRIST, THE BLACK HEART REBELLION, MÖRSE, DOPPLER, BURIED INSIDE, BØREDØM, DOMINIC, FUCKED UP, HYACINTH, JEAN JEAN, KIDCRASH, LD KHARST and many many more!
V:
Thanks Karol, we really needed this interview so Jérémie and Clement can declare their mutual gaystronomic pulsions… As you probably understood, I won’t help for the screamo part, nor be able to talk about ORCHID, sorry again. About my non-screamo bands of the moment… many things! Not really full albums these times, as I spend a lot of my “internet time” on youtube from track to track. If I had to give a very quick resume, I’d say: DESERT SESSIONS (I to X), PNEU, NTM, GOODBYE DIANA (that I don’t manage to consider as a screamo band), and AGAINST ME!
[laughs] I love you, guys, seriously.
Alright, let’s close it up with the purpose of doing what you guys do with this band. Do you have a certain goal you’re trying to reach with GRAND DETOUR?
C:
No real goals. Just play far away from home, record a lot of records, tour, meet new people, see new faces, people, countries, city’s, landscapes etc… ! I still feel we don’t play enough shows though… (and one of the reason is my new job) But hopefully we will play more shows soon!
J:
I totally agree with Clément. And I could say this band is also a place where we try to improve our songwriting and the mastery of our instruments. Personally, this simply results in learning how to play electric guitar! Each musical part we built is an opportunity to test a new “trick” that fit with my mates’ instruments. In the last song, I learn how to do a “pull on” (you see, very technical, uh!)
P:
I simply wanna play every huge stadium all over the world. I wanna be such a rock star that I can destroy a hotel room without getting troubles with the police. I wanna do so much drugs that I will be respected as a “tortured but genius artist” like Amy Winehouse or Kurt Cobain were. I wanna have sex with all my fans. I want you to call me Mister or His Majesty. I wanna do my own sextape and sell it on the internet or on blue ray DVD. I wanna get diamond ear plugs. I wanna drive Hummers. I wanna spend thousand euros in clubs like soccer players do. I wanna wear fur even in summertime. I wanna kick paparazzis ass cause the rape my intimacy when i’m drunk as fuck at 5 a.m after a disco party.
Just simple plans you know…
V:
My only goal is to bring Jesus into my brothers’ hearts.
C:
I want to quit this band!
Ha! I made it! I literally decomposed a band during an interview!
Now that you’re gone, it’s high time to part our ways. Any last word, gentlemen?
C:
Thanks for the interest and your time Karol! What can I say more? Our record will be on free download as soon as we get the vinyl: share it, download it! Hopefully our road will cross the day we play in Warsaw ! Take care!
J:
Thank you very much for paying attention to our activities. Hope you’ll enjoy the record, and sure we’ll reach Poland to play live in your neighborhood in a close future! Take care.
P:
This was our very first interview. Sorry for not being the serious boys you guys expected us to be! Karol, thank you for not giving up after the third question! Really hope to meet you very soon and to party in your beautiful and awesome country. I miss Poland and can’t wait to play there again! Hi to our friend Magic Macek in Krakow (we miss you dude).
Take care!!!!!!!!!!!
V:
Merci, bonne chance, et à bientôt!
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