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It seems that most popular French acts aren't from city centres in France. A lot come from the
suburbs. What influence did growing up in the suburbs have on the way you approach making music?
"You know, there's a very concrete fact that in the suburbs you have room to play. I used to
live in a big house, and I had a lot of instruments. In Paris, where I live now, it's more difficult
to play. Maybe living in the suburbs creates more freedom for the musicians, more than in a real
town. That's the first thing... I live in the West part of Paris, like Phoenix or like Air, Etienne
de Crecy, the whole family... There are a lot of forests, and maybe it creates something very
romantic, near to the wood. Very..."
Organic?
"That's it! Maybe that's why we like piano and guitars, real things, natural things."
You're from France, and lately a lot of French bands have been getting a lot of exposure. Do you
ever grow tired of the media trying to define a certain 'French Sound'?
"Oh, not at all, because I'm proud of it. I'm proud of my own culture, because it's very
singular and very strange. It's a very nice thing that foreign media know that French people are very
creative and very expressive."
Yes, that wasn't always the case. Maybe the French were creative, but they never were portrayed as
cool in the way that bands such as Air and Daft Punk are now.
"You know, it's a new fact that French people are creative in pop music. Since Gainsbourg Ð
nothing... With the liberation of electro, with Air, Daft Punk, and so on, something happened in pop.
The freedom of electro began to expand on pop music and on our rock music. That's why today there's a
new wave of French musicians beginning to play pop music and rock music."
You yourself definitely don't just play electro...
"No, not at all. I always played funk or rock."
Your album 'Don't Kill' has a very organic and light, fluid feel to it.
"I played everything without any ProTools, any computer. There is really no computer on the
album."
No samples either?
"No, nothing. It was important for me."
How many of the instruments did you play yourself?
"I did all I knew, so all of the basses, a few guitars, acoustic guitars, keyboards, all of the
backing vocals, one drum, percussion... Everything. And production. I produced a few tracks, like
'Don't Kill Me' or 'Asnieres au Soleil' and 'Don't Kill Dub'. These are tracks produced at home by
me. I really did all that I could do."
Is that important for you, to keep that independence while working?
"Yes, of course. I love the image of the complete artist, independent and very self-made. You
know the first album by Paul McCartney, recorded at home, alone with his wife and his son... I love
this kind of thing."
How important is the combination of electronic and analogue sound to you?
"I try to have the same feeling with the electronics and with analogue sound. That means, for
example, that in 'Don't Kill Dub' it sounds like something from a computer. It's very strange to play
like a computer, and I think the two - electronic and analogue - together create something very new.
In my P-Funk band, I used to play a lot of analogue synths. I love machines."
Do you like experimenting with them, playing and discovering new sounds?
"Yeah. I thought that on my first album it was important to be far from this preoccupation with
computers, because that's only a story of production. My purpose was to be more lyrical and poetic."
You've also said that you prefer old music to modern music.
"Yes, but I think when you are an artist it's more interesting to see what happened in the past
than what happens now or in the future. You come from somewhere, and you have to understand where it
is you come from. The actual production is a different thing. I prefer to stay with my old records."
As a former art student, you've compared music to painting as well. Your record is very nuanced,
and it's full of many moods and atmospheres.
"It's incredible how similar painting and playing music is. During the recording of the album in
the studio, I discovered this. All of the stories of mixing, of colour, both in music and in
painting, are so similar."
To continue this metaphor: Let's say you start off with a white canvas, what do you put down first
when making music? What normally comes to you first, a melody line or a beat..?
"I prefer first to draw a line. That's the melody. Then come all of the forms and the geometric
elements. That's maybe all of the orchestration. Then come the colours, which is the sound, the
colour of the sound..."
The artwork for the record is extremely interesting and funny as well. How involved are you, as a
former art student, in the packaging?
"I create everything. I work with a graphics supervisor, who knows all of the stuff like
Photoshop very well. I designed all of my artwork."
How important is the total package - music plus art - to you?
"I love old LPs. I love the fact that an artist is a movie director or a producer or just a
musician... I was in art school, and I play music. I'd also love to make a film, to dance. Hmm, maybe
not! Everything is in everything..."
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/rob/rob/405/
Meer Rob op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/rob
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