2 weeks after the record release party for the vinyl version of their latest album “Tight”, Julien, the guitarist and backing vocalist of Parisian melodic hardcore band BURST ONE’S SIDE, teams up with IDIOTEQ to give you some cool insights on the record,ย 95 District hardcore scene, the band’s evolution and the current state of hardcore punk! Read and watch below.
The limited double picture disc 10″ vinyls of “Tight” are available now via Knives Out Records!
Hey buddies! Thanks a lot for taking some time with IDIOTEQ. How are you? Howโs Paris? Please tell us a little bit about your background and the 95 district.
Hi, well everythingโs doing pretty good for us now, weโve just released our first album called โtightโ on Knives Out records, the CDs came out few months ago and weโre waiting for the vinyls now. We are pretty excited about that. Weโre trying to book shows and write new songs too.
For Paris itโs more complicated. Since the November events the situation here is quite stressful. Policemen everywhere, everyoneโs quite paranoid, afraidโฆI guess we donโt know what to do right now and our Government doesnโt really help with that, but I guess France is just an example of how the world is really sick now. Sick from what I donโt really knowโฆand thatโs another topic.
So weโre a pretty old band now since we started in 1999. Weโve always been a punk hardcore band, we released few demos, splits CDs and weโve played many shows in France, few in Europe. I donโt know if we can say that weโre an โunluckyโ band but every time during the ten first years we waited to go further, record an album, go on a real big tour, EVERYTIME someone in the band had to leave. Between 1999 and 2010, weโve known something like 4 drummers, 4 bass players and 5 guitar players. I guess you can imagine how frustrating these can be; so in 2010 weโve decided to stop the adventure.
And in 2014, after a long talk, we took the decision to start again but in a more seriously way. So we went straight to the studios and recorded our first album at the end of the year 2014 with Amaury Sauvรฉ (BIRDS IN ROW, AS WE DRAW, WANK FOR PEACE,โฆ). After few amazing shows in France with PENNYWISE, IGNITE, 7 SECONDS and a small Euro tour with a band called MEMORIES, the album came out and here we are now.
Well first of all, the 95 District is an area in the northern suburb of Paris. Thatโs where a bunch of friends decided to start a band. And after meeting more guys, that crew became even bigger and more bands appeared. We released CDs, compilations, we organized shows and festivalsโฆweโve done our best to create something fun and interesting so everyone in that area could be a part of it. At its golden age, the 95 District represented 7 bands (M16, STRIKE BACK, THE MARX MALLOWS, NHC, SIDE EFFECT, FULL SCREEN and BURST ONEโS SIDE). 7 bands, 7 styles: punk rock, NYHC, punk hardcore, emocore, pop punk,โฆ With time, all those bands split up. Today, weโre the only one which is still alive with the band MEMORIES that I talked about earlier.
Yeah man, thanks for the intro!
The โTightโ goes back your roots with even more powerful tracks! Tell us about the process of composing and recording these tracks. Are you happy with the final result?
So first of all, the recording process has been a really amazing experience. We had a lot of fun spending time with Amaury Sauvรฉ (who also worked with great French bands: BIRDS IN ROW, NINE ELEVEN, WANK FOR PEACEโฆ); heโs a really great guy and a talented musician. Weโve decided to work with him cause we knew he could give us the sound we wanted: something honest, intense and natural.
The way we compose songs is quite easy in a way. I got the first idea and I give it to my colleagues so we can find the final shape all together. So far thatโs how we do, maybe we will change it, never knowโฆFor the lyrics, Iโm also the one whoโs writing them, and that for two reasons: I got the best English in the band (yes sorry we are French) and since we always had that political/social ideas in our lyrics, as a social worker I got a good position to express issues.
We didnโt write new songs for that album, we wanted to go quite fast so we used old songs weโve never recorded and gave a second birth to songs that deserved a better sound than demos.
The final result is really nice, even if the recording process wasnโt that easy. We had some bad surprises during those 10 days at the studio and thatโs why the album is called โTightโ tooโฆI think we are really proud of the final object too, the design rocks. Our friend Gaetan Heuze (POWERBISCUIT) has done an amazing job. We canโt wait to see the picture discs.
How has Amaury Sauvรฉ impacted the final form of โTightโ? Can you expound a bit more on the details of your work with him?
Amaury is really an amazing guy; heโs so simple, so humble and so talented as the same time. Heโs a very good musician and he knows how to feel the music. He knows how to catch a band energy to create something unique. Being with him was more a human being adventure than a musician one, for sure. He helped us being better musician (if we can say we areโฆ) and he helped us being more sensitive about our songs and how to play them. It was our first time in a studio, being only the four of us and him for 10 days, so it was more about relationship than music, itโs not that easy staying with the same 4 people in a small area for 10 daysโฆ
Ok, so tell us a bit about Knives Out and your pairing with the label.
The story with Knives Out Record is quite easy. Johan and Anthony (our guitar player) are good friends, Anthony used to play in PROVIDENCE when someone was missing. Johan pushed him (and pushed us) to reunite and said he would help us if everything was good. I guess you know what the end of that storyโฆHe liked the album so he decided to release it on his label. We are really proud and really happy for he has done for us. And itโs also really cool to be in the same label than our friends HIGHTOWER, sometimes you can feel lonely as a punk rock band when you are on a metal hardcore label ahahah
Ok buddy, youโve been around with BOS since 1999. How has your approach to running a band changed over the course of these years?
That band has always been about friendship and not trying to calculate anything, thatโs the big thing. I guess since we reunite things have changed cause of the complete situation, the scene, the music industryโฆetc. When we started Internet wasnโt that popular and powerful, bands could play almost anywhere, we had so much possibilities, now its way more complicated. There are a lot of bands and culture is dying slowly. So as a band, right now you have to use all those new kind of communication and you have to be pretty active if you want your band to stay alive. Thatโs the big change for us, now we have to think more about how to reach people, we have to be like a small organized company and letโs be honest, we suck at that, cause itโs not natural and doesnโt look sincere to us. But now that we are โoldโ, I think we know what we want and what we donโt want anymore. Before we could โyesโ to any ideas or possibility, now weโve learned to say โnoโ.
Whatโs something that helped your songwriting develop as youโve gotten more mature?
I think that now we can assume what we really like and use all the kind of music that influenced us. I donโt know if Iโm a โmusicianโ but I donโt know how you can play one kind of music without listening to any different styles. Letโs be honest punk rock isnโt the richest music for musician potentials, so listening to other styles helped us or playing in different bands, having more experiences gave us also another ideas.
About the lyrics, itโs also about assuming who you are and what you think. Itโs a clichรฉ but when youโre younger you can be easily angry against anything and not being able to explain really deeply what you got in mind cause itโs purely emotional. Growing old gave me confidence through all my experiences, so I know what I wanna say and how I wanna say that. Being angry isnโt enough, explaining smartly that anger is way better. For me the challenge is to make people think and not tell them what they have to do. I think that one of the biggest change is that now on stage I talk a lot, trying to explain our lyrics and our ideas. I sound like a preacher sometimes (ahahah).
Whatโs your view on the current trends and fashion in punk rock and hardcore punk scenes? Whatโs you view on the whole movement and its evolution?
Iโm not really in touch with the scene anymore, is there still one? I donโt know. As I said Internet has changed a lot of things, the scene is probably worldwide now. To be honest I donโt care about the trends and fashion, I donโt need to follow them. But itโs crazy how bands appear and disappear so quickly now, thereโs no more good bands that really last. Maybe cause members follow trends too, they play their songs and when they took what they could they stop and start something new. Just another signals of how our society is into consumerism I guess. Do those guys still believe in what theyโre doing?
How has YOUR view of punk and its meaning has changed from late 90s?
We just talked about trends and fashion, so can we still talking about a movement? About somewhat meaning? Iโm not sure. Maybe I got a negative approach but now I think that punk rock is mainly just a music style, his meaning is dying slowly. Medias used those mainstream bands to fool people. Who really care and believe in what Rise Against say today? How can you believe in REFUSED lyrics when you see how good their business is doing? All those so called political bands who show up with such nice haircut, great looksโฆI think the message has been lost. In fact, as Iโm answering I realize that I donโt really know whatโs going on in that punk rock universe. We talked about music but it should be about the attitude, a way of life. Iโve made choices in my life, Iโve decided to follow my ideas, thatโs why Iโm a social worker, in a way I kept that mentality. But whatโs punk or not anyway, and who am I to judge? Maybe today punk rock is about having the best tattoos, the best jacket and the best haircut?!
I sincerely hope not. Ok, so how much are you thinking beyond this new record? Are there more recording and touring plans already in the works?
We donโt have any plans. Weโre just enjoying whatโs going on now, we try to have fun and see what we can do. We wanna play shows, we wanna tour but right now we canโt say about any new record, but I think we wonโt try to record another album. The next one would probably be an EP. That would be way easier.
Cool. Thanks so much for your time! Feel free to wrap it up with your final words and till the next time!
Well thank you so much for your support and your help. We really appreciate. And if I had just one thing to say it would be: โGo read books!!โ.
