Olivier has been active in Limoges, France based melodic punk band MR GODSON for almost 10 years now, and this year he has launched a new interesting project called BOBBY SINGER, a one man emotive post hardcore / screamo infused act bringing some of the nostalgic vibes of early 00s French screamo bands, seeing the author at his most honest and crafting a tapestry of moody sounds and sonic sentiments. We asked Olivier to give us some more details about BOBBY SINGER and his debut opus “Salvation”, slated for a vnyl release in the end of July 2020 via Fresh Outbreak Records, Crapoulet Records, APB Records, Wacky Cats and En soirée je danse pas.
“BOBBY SINGER is my DIY one man project. It means that I recorded, mixed ans mastered it. My long time friend Duarba helped me with the artwork. The record will be out thanks to the labels Fresh Outbreak Records, APB Records, Crapoulet, En soirée je danse pas and Wacky Cats.” – says Olivier.
Asked about what prompted him to start this new band, he continued: “I have always played and I’m still playing in classicals bands. I currently play in punk rock / hardcore bands (Mr Godson will be the last one to survive, Breaking Tag, California Dogs). But I wanted to do another band with more screamo / noise influence. Unfortunately in my city it’s quite difficult to find people interested in this music, and even more people who have spare time. So I decided to start this project alone. And I enjoyed it ! I did demos at home on my computer. And then when songs were more or less finished I went to the rehearsal room to record as if I was a real band (starting with the drum, then bass, guitars and vocals). Now I’m working on how I could play a show!
The name Bobby Singer came from a character of a TV show. I chose this because one of my favorite band has a name of a TV character too (Amanda Woodward). And I didn’t find any other ideas that were not completely stupid names…”
Track by track commentary:
Demain (Tomorrow) -One of my favorite song of the record. I thought it was a suitable song to start the record. It’s quite a sad song talking about seing someone you love dying.
L’apogée de la médiocrité (The peak of mediocrity) It’s a song with a punk rock vibe.
It’s like a reminder not to be lulled by mediocrity, not to fall in immobilism and passivity if we want to changes things (at all levels)
Pour avancer (Move forward) The beginning of the song is a little bit different to the rest of the record. But It is a really cool bass part to play so I played it a lot during the song! This song states that the more treacherous the road is, the more marvellous the finish will be.
Qu’importe les autres (The others don’t matter) Really love the final of this song. It was the last song I wrote for the record. I actually had the different parts but it took me a lot of time to piece together some of them in order to get a real song. It talks about living your life no matter the others, as many people interfere in other people’s business instead of minding their own.
Nous sommes (We are) It’s the first song I wrote for this project. It was 2 years ago. It’s my favorite intro. The lyrics are « we are what we will be. nothing can make us change, straight, immutable, tied to our past ». A movie called The third murder inspired me the idea of this song. And then when I wrote it, it made me remember some discussions with musician friends. I think everybody in a DIY band has already lived this. It’s about when your co-workers or other people ask « do you a nice week end / holidays? » and you told them: « I drove 8 hours to play a 30 minutes show in front of 20 peoples and I finally slept on the floor in my sleeping bag. It was nice! » You can see the lack of understanding in their eyes, but it’s what we love to do and we are not going to stop!
Leurs regards (Their looks) It’s the other punk rock song of the records. It talks about discrimination.
And how stupid it is to judge people just by a look or a preconceived idea.
Morne (Dreary) I think this song has a different atmosphere than the others. It talks about having undergone bad periods on your life but being able to move on and keep enjoying moments to come.
Une indécence resplendissante (A resplendent indecency). It is the most punk hardcore song of the record, quite straight ahead, nothing fancy in it, just trying to be efficient! The lyrics are about people who make profits, political exploitation or try to take advantage of people in difficulty. Unfortunately we can observe this everyday
En cendres (In ashes) It talks about keeping a fighting and rebellious spirit
Thoughts on COVID-19 pandemic
“Covid-19 totally stopped my other bands, we couldn’t rehearse, our shows were cancelled. So it gave me a lot of time to finish the mix and master of Bobby Singer’s LP. But it is quite depressing not to have attended a live show since march! Thankfully I’ve started again the rehearsals with my other bands.
In my personal life, COVID-19 don’t change a lot of things. At this period, I worked at the hospital (in an office) so I worked as usual. Luckily the area where I Live is quite preserved by the pandemic.”
Other bands worth checking out
“I’m always late! When my friends talk about new bands or releases that I could like, a year may have passed from the moment they tell me to the moment I listen to it! I don’t know why but maybe it’s because when I find something I like, I listen to it a lot. So this is the bands and records I’m listening at this time, some are new, the others not that much: Dead Bars (Regular), Dogleg (Melee), Envy (the Fallen Crimson), Morrow (Fallow), I have a hurt (Deep Slumber) and Young Harts (Truth fades).”
