#dirty jacket

[itsjustaroughdraft-blog]

This jacket smelled a little funny today, like my dog but not the awful wet dog smell. It's the only blazer i have and i was running late so I spritzed some perfume all over and rubbed a little lotion on my hands and wiped it on my jacket. Will i tell anyone at work this? Definitely not. But it worked if only for today until i can wash it!

[markpatrickphelan]

Judging by my bilingual deficiency and the cluster of jacketed riders, El Recodo may well have Managua's premier scooter gang hang-out.

Keep scootin', Managua.

[doodzine]

Vive le Rock

Paris, the city of love and artyness, isn’t normally associated with rock ‘n’ roll. But it has all changed since the indie explosion in 2004. In 2007 the compilation Paris Calling featured some of those bands such as Les Naast, Second Sex, the Parisians and the Plastiscines; however, the French labels have mostly signed the ones that would sing in French. I travelled from London to Paris to meet the defiant bands, that sing in English, in their quest to get a record deal. I was one of the few people who were very excited about the French indie rock scene made possible by the hedonism of the Parisian kids and the dissemination of English alternative rock. I even bought the compilation Paris is Calling in April 2007 and was pleasantly surprised by those Parisian bands that could make good rock ‘n’ roll. Months later, to my disappointment, after revisiting some of those bands’ MySpace pages, I found out that most of them had stopped signing in English in order to comply with the requirements of the French labels. However, not all of them have. There are many famous French musicians who span the hip hop, electro and pop genres but not so much rock. After the US, France is the biggest market for hip hop and the most popular French rock band at the moment is Phoenix, who are signed to an American label. I also realised that new bands that sing in English have formed since then; the difference now is that all know they will have to play in England in order to get a record deal from an international label. The Wankers are one of those bands. They have played in London, especially at the Tube Club, a venue that supports these new French bands. In December 2007 I met Dirty Jacket at the Archway Tavern (managed by the Tube Club) in north London before they played the gig; they are another French band singing in English. Unlike most of their counterparts they are a garage rock quartet and although they looked like most indie kids we can find in the street of Camden their sound actually had some balls, not only for a French band but for any band. they started as a two piece, with Flora (drums) and Sam (guitar), somewhat resembling the White Stripes and later added a second guitarist and bassist. Another thing that struck me was the 60s feel to the band. “We don’t like indie, we’re more like old rock because we like dirty sounds. We all listen to different bands but we all like stuff form the 60s and 70s,” says Sam with his distinctive French accent. They are still unsigned but they tell me they hang around and play with other signed and unsigned bands in Paris. “In Paris we all know each other and we try to play gigs with at least 4 bands.” This music scene remains mostly underground but some bands breakthrough using their connections. “Some bands like ours try to succeed underground but others, like Les Naast, use their connections in the industry. Knowing people is like taking a highway to success.” They also tell me that although Les Naast managed to record a few songs in English, the majority has to be in French; in addition their sound has to become more commercial. Loc, the guitarist says: “the bands that get signed are very commercial, they make music for teenagers, plus they sing in French. The language of rock ‘n’ roll is English.” Fora continues, “we will never get signed by a French label because all our sings are in English and French labels don’t sign bands that sing in English and that’s why we are playing in London today.” In order to play in London Dirty Jacket asked the Tube Club for gigs and since they played their first one they have received invitations to come back. The problem for them is the size and location of the venues. “This is a very small venue with  a small audience, if we could play in Camden we’d a bigger audience and media coverage,” says Sam. many French bands find it difficult and expensive to cross the channel so frequently, so for me to meet all the other bands I had to go where it all began. Just before I went to Paris, I met Max, one of the members of the Byrons. He was on placement at Beggars Banquet. I chose a quiet pub in Convent Garden for our chat. The Byrons play a mix of psychedelic rock and power pop and when they formed some were as young as 15. Max recalls, “In September 2005, me and Hugo decided to form a band. Our band band was one of the leading ones at the time. It was very nice back then, we used to hang around the streets at night, just taking about music; we felt like the mods in the 60s, we were very influenced by that decade.” During our conversation Max revealed the reason for the rock ‘n’ roll boom in Paris. “It’s very annoying when you see people around the world playing the music you want to play and nothing is happening where you live. There were the Strokes in New York and the Libertines in London, so I suppose we wanted to do the same in Paris.” Some of the other leading bands were Les Naast, Second Sex, Les Plastiscines, Les Shades and the Parisians. They all sang in English in the beginning, but all of them apart from the Parisians started singing in French in order to get a record deal. Singing in French seriously hinders the chances of getting airplay in French radio; mainly because government controls ensure that 60% of the output is in the French language. “Rock ‘n’ roll is in English; rock in French is pointless,” quips Max after sipping his pint of lager. Rock&Folk is the magazine that supported these bands in the beginning of the Parisian scene and played an important role in promoting some of the bands that would be later signed by established French labels. The daughter of Philippe Manoeuvre (editor of Rock&Folk) offered to help the Byrons get signed but they refused. “At first we were really enthusiastic about the whole thing, it was great being with people who love the same music as you but then we became wary of it. We didn’t want to sing in French and be the prostitutes of the music industry and Rock&Folk; we wanted to play good music whereas the other bands wanted to get famous quickly. Those bands were dumb because they just do what the industry says.” The Byrons have never played in London but while working for Beggars Banquet, Max has acquired some useful contacts. “We have recorded a demo in Paris in January and hopefully in a couple of months we’ll play in London. I’m going to give the demos to someone I know in the record company, so they can give me some advice and put me in contact with more people, so we should get some gigs soon.” With the connections Max is gaining, the Byrons could be a step closer to some prominence in London. However, the biggest test is yet to come: the English audience reception. In January  2008, I went to Paris to experience the French rock scene first hand. I met bands recently formed and one of the pioneering bands - the Parisians. Frogs in Fire met me in a cafe in town on a grey Friday. The five piece, in their early twenties, got together in 2006 and fuse pop and garage rock. Most of their songs are in English and like many others they cite the Libertines as a major influence. “We started listening to the White Stripes and the Libertines, we loved it and we just wanted to do the same,” says Pierre (guitar). On their MySpace there is an image of president Sarkozy with the caption “Not My President”, but somehow they claim they are not political. “We’re not passing a political message but our songs as any other song have messages of love and other feelings.” They also tell me how they see the music scene in Paris. “Generally speaking, the rock in Paris is quite trendy now but it’s mainly done by rich kids who can afford any guitar, amp and can pay for studios.” Pierre has played in London before but with another band. Some of his frustrations were the acceptance of the British public. “We want to be heard and make some good music and to show England that the French can make some good music and not just copy them. They accept that the Swedish and Iceland make rock but not us; it will take some time, our scene is very young still. But France is a big country so in a couple of years there will be big French bands.” Frogs in Fire are not thinking of signing just now. They want to remain independent for a longer time, not only because they want to sing in English but also because they believe it is the only way to be taken seriously. Later that evening I met a very young band, Les Prussians, at the Bastille square. These teenagers are late comers in the Parisian scene and one of the first steps they took to get acceptance was to dress the same way. They all wore skinny jeans and vintage coats. “We wanted to be accepted by [the pioneering bands] so we tried to look and sound like them but now we do something more original,” says Arnaud (vocals). It seemed to me that the bands wanting to be part of the scene were motivated purely by the aesthetics rather than the music itself. Yarol Poupaud who produced Paris Calling said in the Guardian, “These kids are the children of the generation who grew up during May ‘68. They can see that those political battles are lost. For them the revolution is in the head, It’s in the clothes, in the way they look. Forming a band is a political act.” But Jean-Daniel Beauvallet from French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles sees it differently; he said, “They are from upper-class families and went to the bests schools in France, But they’re all incredibly apolitical. Pete Doherty is their hero. There he is wearing those tight trousers that French kids love, carrying a slim volume of Rimbaud or Baudrillard. Bands like Second Sex and Naast tell you that they love the Clash but it sometimes seems they actually just like the iconography.” From what I could see, the latter was more realistic though I’d add that despite many of these bands endeavor to make a connection to philosophy or politics, especially by their names, they are devoid of any intellectuality in their motivations. Achille, the drummer, studied classical music and the band made their recordings using their own resources. They still sing in English but it all might change if they relent to the demands of the French labels. After the interview, the band invite me to a gig of three bands that sing in French at La Scene Bastille. I was reluctant to go at first but then I thought it would be a good opportunity to see the other side of the Parisian scene. La Scene Bastille was one of the first venues to hold independent rock shows in Paris and now it’s mainly used by young unsigned bands. I mingled with the bands before the show to find out more about them. It felt as if I was in any other gig venue in England. The backstage was dark and dingy and there were beer cans all around, but soon I was reminded I was in France by the sight of the guys kissing each other on the cheeks. Les Dorians and Les Pink Cowboys are two young bands that sing exclusively in French. They disagreed that rock should only be sang in English. Louis from Les Dorians says in a defensive manner, “This has never happened in Paris before so we’re free to do what we want. We started a rock band that sings in French so my friends could understand what we say.” I entered the venue, which was crowded with teenagers and some parents. Tickets cost €10 but allegedly the revenue from ticket sales in not enough to cover the whole venue rental fee, the remainder being paid by the bands members’ parents. On Saturday I met the Amazing The, in  an Irish pub off Les Champs Elysees. What was so curious about this glam rock quintet was that two members are Canadian (French and English). They recently got signed by an international independent label (LPP Records) and have released an vinyl entitled Stupid. Even though they are based in Paris, they refuse the category “French rock”. “French rock doesn’t exist anymore, what those bands are doing is simply copying whatever comes from England, they should sound like us,” says French Canadian Felix (vocals). They recorded they first LP in the Blackbird studios in Nashville (with daddy’s credit card) hoping to get in the French market that way. “Bands such as Daft Punk and Phoenix only became big because they left France.” The Amazing The are good friends wit the Wankers and they provided me with the band’s contact. I spoke to Tristan (vocals) who informed me that the band had recently recorded a new song in Nottingham. He also told me something that may explain why no band has yet been signed by an English label. “We did not get any chance to get signed because our manager was not satisfied wit the recording ands and he was waiting for the right song to send to labels. We’re just recorded a new song called It’s Our Time and we think that it could be the right one,” says Tristan. My last interview was with the Parisians. We met in a cafe in the Odeon district. The Parisians are one the of the bands that kicked off the wave of rock bands in Paris, they’re in their early twenties and started playing music in their teens. “When we started our band, four years ago, there weren’t a lot of bands that were singing in English and had a rock ‘n’ roll attitude. We felt really close to bands like the Stripes and the Libertines,” says Stevan (vocals). The Libertines in particular were very important in the formation of the Paris Calling bands; in fact their show in Paris in 2004 served as the catalyst for the Parisian scene. “We met the Libertines when they were writing their second album. We saw them in their hotel, we had a beer together and after spending two weeks with them we realised we could do the same. Pete told us ‘you can do it’, so we did it”. After forming the band, they enjoyed the recognition from magazines for being friends with the Libertines. They started playing gigs in Paris and at the shows other young people would ask them for advice. “I felt that something was changing in France,” adds Stevan. However, nothing has changed in the music industry. Their counterparts, who sing in French, have got record deals but not them. “We spoke to many labels but singing in English was a big problem for them.” recalls Stevan. “Even if we don’t get signed or don’t make it big we don’t care, we’re in this for the music, not to become famous. I hope kids in the future will say ‘oh, they were the Parisians; they were not famous but they were a good band’”. Out of all the Paris Calling bands, the Parisians are by far the band with most  recognition in the UK; they were featured in magazines such as the NME and Dazed and have opened for the Paddingtons, Mystery Jets and BRMC. They have recently been invited to play SXSW, the biggest music conference in America. With such an impressive CV it seems nearly impossible they are still unsigned but SXSW might just be the turning point, not only in their career but for the whole Parisian independent guitar band scene. The Parisians and the other bands who endeavour to sing in English are determined to keep doing what they like regardless the labels’ impositions. For them at least the ethos “Rock in French is like English wine” has never been so alive.