The Power of Music, Exploring Feelings, and International Love - The Grand Bain Interview
The sunshine blazed across a clear sky when I arrived at the Mama Shelter, one of Paris’s trendiest locales. In the mid-afternoon heat everything moves slower, even the servers who polish knives and the few patrons who sip Perrier through black straws. I’m here to meet Erica and Jules, who make up Grand Bain. As we start talking their message hits home for me. Erica, an American, and Jules, a Frenchman, creating art together. And not just music, it’s a story of intercontinental love.
Erica was always passionate about culture and music, focusing on history and French when she studied at UCLA. Her passion for France brought her here to Paris, where she worked as a cook in a top restaurant.
Jules was brought up in a musical family, his father being a musician, and he had been involved in many projects throughout his lifetime. It was during the time that he was working on a new wave project that they sought a singer.
Erica was also looking to get involved with a musical project. She had been writing songs but was hoping to find something more. Calling her roots more “soul” than their current music, her background is more musical theater, soul, and R&B. Despite the potential mismatch, she auditioned for Jules’s old group, and they immediately got along.
That old new wave group did not share the same fate however. Soon after the group dissolved, and Jules and Erica struck out together under the new name, Grand Bain, in early 2014.
Jules’s father has a studio, and Jules works as a sound engineer, two great advantages for an emerging group to get music out to the grand public. Both Erica and Jules consider themselves perfectionists, so it understandably took a while before they had something they were confident enough to share. There was one thing they were sure enough about though, each other. They recently got married here in Paris.
The result of their partnership are three tracks currently available on Soundcloud (my personal favorite being the catchy and powerful “No Country”). They have put the finishing touches on their first EP, to be released sometime in the fall, preceded by their first single and music video which will come out in September.
Jules describes their musical creation as “starting with lyrics, melody/chords, whereas before it was rhythms.” What’s important is to identify cool potential, recognize the beginning of inspiration when it strikes. If it’s not there, you wait. They often go to Burgundy to work on their music together, to take a break from city life.
Not limiting themselves to constantly creating new sounds, they also take bits of older music and re-purpose those songs. Erica said that their upcoming single is actually the first song they co-wrote together. It sat on the sidelines for a while before they came back to it.
Their music could be classified as sad, but Erica’s sunny philosophy changes what that might mean to some people. “I don’t believe that people are sad. Sad things happen to people. The important thing is to not hide it or let it fester. Release it.”
If they could open for any group touring right now, they don’t hesitate when they both said Arcade Fire. They also mentioned Interpol as an inspiration. One listen to “Leonie’s Dream” will confirm that. If there is one driving theme for Grand Bain as musicians, it’s to be powerful. Explore feelings, don’t run from them.
Now that they have a nearly-finished EP and have started working on songs for a full-length album, they are looking to make the move across the world to Los Angeles. Since they sing in English, it makes sense to reach a wider audience who can appreciate the music more quickly. They will be looking for a manager and a way to get set up there.
In the meantime, you can still catch Grand Bain here in Paris, they play tomorrow night at Le Motel and the big release party is October 8th at the Bus Palladium.
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