Strasbourg, France based emotive indie punk rockers LES MAUVAIS JOURS (members of The Boring, Another Five Minutes, More Dangerous Than a Thousand Rioters) just released their first LP and it’s a surprisingly fresh listen that holds tons of nostalgic joy, warmth, and delight for a weary soul, without losing the power to be a one hell of a sundtrack for the Summer! In substance, energy and freshness, this may be one of the best hearty indie punk record of the last couple of years.
The record is intended to warm your feelings, which is something we all need in these distressful times of social oppressions and prejudices. But hopefully, the ice cream won’t melt and the bitter and dark days will end.
We have teamed up with the band to introduce each and every song and give you a wider idea on what’s behind these amazing tracks. See the full track-by-track commentary below.
Recorded live at the Domino’s Bar in Lemberg (FR), engineered and mixed by Ted Moody, and mastered by Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden Recording Studio in San Francisco (USA), the LESS MAUVAIS JOURS s/t LP is now available via À fond d’cale (FR), Bad Wolf (FR), Crapoulet (FR), Dingleberry Records (DE), Don’t Trust The Hype Records (FR), Fireflies Fall (FR), Hardcore For The Losers (AT), Pifia Records (SP), Pike Records (DE), Saddest Song Records (FR).
Dig
After feeling a little bit down for some time, I realized twice that I’ve been getting actually quite better, and especially at two occasions. The first one was some friends taking me to a joyful weekend of parties in Paris, and the second one occurred during the social movement we had in 2016. Yes, spending quality time with friends has got nothing to do with getting involved all the way in a political struggle but it made me feel a little bit less emptier somehow, because I think I (re)discovered that being supported by loved ones AND being able to claim or reclaim your rights and being political matters to me very much. And in a way, it’s also about feeling safe in company of your friends. This is what we would like the people to experience at shows. Punk routine (the show-promoting association we are part of) tries as much as possible to make its concerts a safe-zone, because ideally, DIY shows should be a break from everyone’s daily grind.
Panda
I wrote this song just the night after a hard break up actually. It’s filled with intimate stuff and kind of private jokes but afterwards, it felt like these could work as nice enough and poetic metaphors. So I guess you can turn cathartic writing into cheesy punk rock !
Familiar Faces
The best parts of starting a band and touring, beside of course playing music with your best buddies, might be to travel with them, to discover some new places, and to connect to new people and to learn about their views on music, politics, and DIY. You always learn something new.
Promoting shows and contributing to keep the DIY alive is also a great way to broaden your horizons.
Spring city
I actually have a half-sister I never met and when I decided to look for this distant part of my relatives, I came to find her on social networks but didn’t contact her for personal reasons. I did go to the place where she lives so I wanted to write a song about it, and I realized how hard it was to write to someone who doesn’t even know you exist. Who knows, there might be another version in the close future.
Steps
Claiming you’re a feminist is not enough. Too many people use the excuse of being political or posi to pretend « they’d never » and I think they’re wrong. I think it’s important to acknowledge the fact that yes, when you’re a guy, you’re very likely to be a potential aggressor and you’re de facto a systemic oppressor. Only then you are able to deconstruct everything sexist and patriarchal you’ve learnt over the years consciously and unconsciously. So I think it’s important to acknowledge the fact that we’re a band of white cis guys, in a scene mostly occupied by white cis guys, talking about white cis guys issues. That’s what we wanted to talk about, but we didn’t want to talk for or instead of feminists or to step in as spokespersons of the feminist movement (which guys often tend to do). In a sense, we wanted to say we need to be responsible, enlightened and supportive, but not in a way that would overstep the women’s rightful and legitimate place. The music parts are simple because the message is also simple: you are not on the oppressed side, so you don’t get to decide what’s best for the oppressed persons, or judge their behaviors, clothes, life choices, etc.
Colossus
I like to talk right. And I mean by that that I hate to be misunderstood so I do think it’s important to be as precise and clear as possible. This qualifies for the everyday life but also with your political discourses and perspectives. If you do want to break apart those great institutions, the state, the capital, the patriarchy, etc. (those colossus actually), I think you need to be sharp and rigorous and don’t fall into the trap that oversimplification can offer.
On another level, trusting your guts, your instinct is a great way to go through life and make things your way, but hindsight can make you more relevant in what you do, whether in your creative activities, relationships, activism or everyday life.
So Long
An apology song, like every band should have, haha.
I grew apart from a dear friend a few years ago and before I realized it, there was nothing to fix this and he was gone. And yeah, this feud was on me, on some lack of insight and consideration for this person from my part. It made me think a lot, thus it changed me a lot and for better I hope, but still I never had the chance to apologize.
A part of growing up is to acknowledge and recognize your past mistakes. Sometimes you can make up for it, sometimes you can’t. Either way, you’re learning something about yourself
Cards
A song about growing up, growing old and learning from your mistakes, your successes and in general all experiences. The good old “you can’t change your past, but your future is in your hands”. And more importantly, knowing your strengths, embracing your weaknesses in order to become a better self. I look at those last few years and how everyone around me made me become how I am. We grew political together, we spent our time and our energy into DIY and I can say I’m pretty proud of being a part of all this.
December
I lack of imagination because I can’t write about some unknown character or create a fiction within the lyrics of a song. So this song was actually written on a december’s night, having a cigarette on the balcony of my mother’s over the parking lot, and thinking about how time’s running so freaking fast.
Fading
This one is a bit of a pessimistic song, a song about painful days and how they stick to your memory. Everyone has sad recollections but the question is “what do you do with them?” Are you living in the past or are you looking at the rest of your life? Are you full of regrets or are you forgiving yourself? Whatever the answer is, there always will be days when you are down, when you want something more in your life or on the opposite, nothing in the world can cheer you up.
