Collision - France, at its best!

Oi! Oi! Oi!

Collision, a French Punk Oi! band with a truly melodic approach to Music. Very suitable for that Sunday football match between those two rival teams eheheh it has, mostly, this very positive and uplifting feeling. It does not intent to describe life on the streets, but a much more bright perspective of it... but again, my French is awfully rusty LOL

Collision Official Bandcamp

Up next, the mates from Nantes:

Welcome and thank you for your availability! How are you experiencing these current situations? An almost total change in habits and routines, I suppose. How was adaptation to live a pandemic?

It's been 4 months since our last rehearsal, no gigs coming, no deadline so obviously a big lack of motivation. However, the first lockdown in France was a blessing giving me the sparkle to write most of the songs you can find on "Sur les trottoirs" album which just got out on UVPR by the way! From a more personal point of view, I haven't divorced yet and I still didn't killed my kids, so things are going pretty good so far, right?

But, let us stop and start from the beginning, your beginning. How was the whole journey that brought you here?

It was in ...2018 I think. A monday, that's right a Monday, it was around 9 AM, the Britannic drizzly rain was pouring on my face, traffic jam was intense as ever and suddenly I had this epiphany: I got to start Collision. I quickly began to hum few melodies which will soon become our first demo. So I picked up my phone and called all the good musicians my city could get for an audition and of course I kept the most talented one. At 8 PM, the lineup was set and the masks purchased! Haha!

That hot and full sound that you have in "Démo", from 2019, reminds us of the 80s, right? There is something in your music that I find fantastic: the ability it has to please the punks, but at the same time it has almost pop melodic lines ("Le Foot", for example). Is this multitude of sounds showing all of your influences?

I think the 80's feeling comes from the chaotic conception of the demo! However, it's true that we had pretty classic references: A mix between Camera Silens, West Side Boys, Evil Conduct and Vanilla Muffins. Besides, I'm a big Morissey fan. I also like melodic Oi! like Cock Sparrer with melodic singing. Most of the modern oi! bands seem to head towards a brutal and hardcore sound, I liked the idea of following the other path. 

There is a classic twist to your music. And I say it as something positive! The idea of a revival, in Punk Oi! is it something you are aware of? How do you see this growing up in bands recovering sounds, tones?

I think it's really cyclic, It's usually a band starting a new revival trend like Giuda did with Glam Rock or Rixe with visceral and brutal oi! Every band is influenced by those trends, including Collision. We listen a lot of post punk and cold wave and of course it affects our music and our sound. Mass Movement Webzine mentioned Blitz talking about us, I kinda like the comparison!

Does the use of the French language - like many other bands in the Hardcore Punk scene - result from an option, a necessity? Still, it is more than approved.

French seemed obvious for that band, it's way more fulfilling to write down a song in your native tongue. You lay yourself bare but it's a great exercise. Not sure I could switch back to english now.

From February 2019 to April 2020 there was no record edition on your part. More than a year without Collision. What is the reason for this? And then, "Immortels", superb!

Because we have a perfect marketing strategy!

A little along the lines of musical inspiration, where does your lyrical inspiration come from? A track like "Immorteles" (fucking hymn), for example. Who are the immortals?

I guess I'm kinda misanthropic and I like melancholic atmospheres that you can feel by reading  “Journey to the End of the Night“ by Céline, disillusioned but amused at the same time. Generally, my lyrics don't scream perky. Regarding "Immortels" it means that we are all immortals and we shape the world in a way or another. And with music that's a double dose of immortality!

Nantes is your place of origin. How is the Hardcore Punk scene in Nantes? I have had the opportunity to speak with other Gallic bands (Youth Avoiders, Syndrome 81, Nightwatchers) and they are all different. How do you "justify" such? Ahahah

Historically, there has always been a big hardcore scene in Nantes: Right for life, Tromatized Youth, Raw justice, Lasting Values… For punk you should rather go to Rennes. So yes, we always had a lot of music diversity in Brittany, and that's pretty cool, isn't it?

France has always had an immense tradition in Punk Oi! To what do you think this so extensive affiliation is due to a sound that, whether we like it or not, has such strong affiliations?

It's pretty hard to say, I guess the label "Chaos en France" with always be associated with French bands. Having said that, I've listened a lot to Trotskids and Les Collabos.

Explain the masks to me, please. I love the fact that you will use them, which are an integral part of the band's image, but I would like to know if there is a complex idea behind them or if you woke up one day and decided to put on a mask! Ahahah

I like a lot the concept of Death in June, MF or Klub des loosers. We wanted to be judged on our music and not on our background or on the bands with played in before.  Moreover people can't guess that I'm already 54!

"Immortels" came out in April 2020, when Covid was starting to emerge and wreak havoc. The release was already planned and you decided to go ahead or was it unexpected? How was it, realizing that promoting it would be very difficult? Or did you get to do any promotional action?

The thing was already up and running and once again, we had a perfect marketing strategy! In December 2019, we noted the epidemic increase so we thought: "Bingo! The virus should be in France in April, let's buy some masks and record songs!" So we recorded "Immortels". Brilliant isn't it? The funniest part is that the bands exists now for 3 years and we didn't have any chance to play live, hope we will fix that soon.

We are going on a little more than a year of pandemic (more or less). How has the French population lived, the pandemic? Do you believe that we will come out stronger, as a Society, from this? In Portugal, for example, this situation has shown the importance of Culture, although on the Government's side, it has not been felt, the way it should.

Honestly, I have no idea. I'm not really sure we'll get something good out of that. We'll probably just finish depressed and fat! Having a pint in a pub seems to be a lost paradise. Fortunately culture still resists through records that keep existing but it's more and more difficult.

And Collision, how will they live in the post-Covid? There were plans for something more, I suppose. Will they be put into practice or has this situation changed your course?

Our mission on earth ends soon. We will come out for the next crisis.

Once again, thank you very much for your availability and patience. I am aware that I exaggerated the amount of questions ahahah a strong hug from Portugal! Strength and Punk!

Thanks a lot to you pal!