From French land comes one more Punk act, with class. The French should be
seen, today, as some of the best in terms of Punk; but Punk with a scent of
something else, you know. Not just the basic structure, or the clichés. No.
these chaps really go all the way and craft some of the best Post Punk and
Hardcore and whatever, I have seen in a long time… and these words also apply
to the band Turquoise, of course. Check it.
Good morning, gentlemen. How is everything? Thank you very much for the opportunity, and my apologies for the delay. Patriarchy is a bitch!
Heya! All ok, here in Paris, during the pandemic thanks - we’re doing better than a lot of others so we have to be thankful for that :) We are Turquoise; a raw Swedish punk/hardcore-inspired band from Paris. Jean-Phi plays bass, Thomas is on drums, Romain Basset sings and I play the guitar. I started composing songs when I was living in London and moved back to Paris to learn tattooing. I asked those fine gentlemen if they were up for starting a band playing this kind of music and here we are!
First of all: tell me a little about the band, the members, the idea, the usual in these situations LOL
We are all originally from Paris or have been living in the city for a long time; we play music influenced by the Scandinavian Punk scene so it sounds all right to me.
Another funny detail: Recorded and mixed: At The Movies Studio, in Brest, by Jacky. Jacky Cadiou of Syndrome 81? How did this professional "involvement" take place? How did it help - if that was the case, of course - the whole environment of Brest in the recording process?
Yeah Jacky did the recording and mixed the record. He is a longtime friend of Jean-Phi who is originally from the same area of Brittany. As I spent 10 years abroad, I did not know him personally but only from his reputation playing in some cool bands. I listened to his work and I knew he would do a great job. Jacky is awesome and we will work with him for our next release for sure. As he lives in Brest, we packed our gear and spent a few days over there to record Hantise. It is always nice to be on the road and do things away from where you live and have a change of scene. I had a blast recording in Brest with Jacky and the lads. Unfortunately, we did not have much time to check out the area but we will be back.
Your work was recorded in February 2020, but released in February 2021 (although available before that on digital platforms). What is the reason for this time span so extensive? Covid?
I think a year is a decent amount of time for the release of a record. Of course we are living in strange times at the moment! Jacky recorded but also mixed it. We have been quite meticulous on how we wanted it to sound, so he did a few different mixes before we all agreed on something. It was the same with the mastering. We asked Jonas Blakklodge in Sweden to do the job. It took us a bit of time to find his contact info but we really wanted to work with him. I knew he would make the record sound the way we wanted. I am very satisfied, and would like him to do the same with our future records. It took me a bit of time to draw the cover as well! Then you know the pressing companies are a bit saturated now. I guess with the pandemic everybody has more time to focus on their projects so there’s an abundance of creativity. It is one of the positive things to come out of it in my opinion.
How did this
situation affect you personally and as a band? I suppose that the creative
process has had the need for forced adaptation.
Personally, I'm okay with Covid as I’ve been lucky it hasn’t affected my life in a seriously negative way - I’m fortunate in that respect. I mean there are really only two things that I miss; not playing gigs or going on tour and not being able to travel. Other than that I do not really miss having a full social calendar - it takes some pressure off somehow. I enjoy spending time with my friends and family of course but I do not need to always be surrounded by people. It actually gave me some time to focus on my drawing and tattooing even if it's been a bit of a rollercoaster with shops opening and closing, the lockdowns and stuff like that. We were lucky because we managed to practice quite regularly and it didn't really affect the creative process as we mostly work the following way; I compose the core of the song at home and together we give it its final shape at practice. Therefore, we have been quite active and have pretty much all the material for a next record. We hope to go and see Jacky in Brest at the beginning of next year.
In terms of
influences, both musical and lyrical, what are yours? Those that led you to
create the band, and those that you identify with, as music fans. Is there a
juxtaposition of bands between your personal tastes and the direct influences
of your music?
I personally like loads of different styles of music.
From Hip-Hop, Jazz, to Punk and Metal… but most of the time it is punk,
hard-core and Black Metal. I love the Smiths too, and a few other indie bands. Scandinavian
Punk and Hard-Core has always been my favorite I guess. Always found it faster,
angrier and more energetic. It had something a bit more straight to the point.
Of course, Totalitär has always been a big influence for me but I also like
more modern bands like Herätys and Infernö. So yeah it made sense to start a
project like Turquoise because it's one of my favorite styles of music. As for
the lyrical content, the songs deal with ecological denial, willful blindness,
uniformed fake individualities and work being shite.
What is the concept behind your album ("Hantise"), and that very appealing artwork? It should be noted, that that smile, together with your sound, is an interesting combination.
Hantise comes from one of the title of a song. We were chatting about how we could illustrate the record and we thought about a portal. I do not know why! As a big fan of the study of Symbols, Alchemy, the Occult and Dark Arts I picked some Masonic imagery and changed some of the elements with others to bring a more psychedelic and absurd touch so a smiley was ideal as a contrasting centerpiece.
What was the
Paris scene like before the pandemic? Was the closure of concert spaces, bars
more dedicated to the Hardcore Punk scene, a reality? Has the Government
supported these spaces?
I recently came back to Paris so I cannot really tell you about the Parisian Punk scene from the last 10 years. However, I know that at the moment there’s not that many spaces where we can do our stuff. Like many major cities around the world, most of the squats and independent venues have been shut down because of gentrification and austerity. There are only few bars left to put on gigs, with no intention from the government or external forces to change the situation. It has always been a struggle in Paris as it’s a really expensive city but recently it’s becoming more and more partisan. Just another playground for the über rich.
How do you see
the future for French culture, in a general way, when we manage to get out of
this pandemic situation? Nothing will be the same; I believe that we will agree
on that point.
It is hard to say how the future will look like. The
pandemic will change things for sure but I guess things will slowly start over
again. People will always have a need to create whatever happens and it seems
like there is a few exhibitions on at the moment plus few gigs as well, which
is all positive!
Thank you
again. New album quickly, please! Until next time, greetings from Portugal!
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