Well, it's two years since I started the band Louis Lingg and the Bombs. I feel like writing a kind of story of the band with some selected highlights of cool stuff that's happened to us. All in a non-linear, anarchist fashion (of course!).
The thing that's on our minds at the moment is our new album. We recently recorded 17 songs in 3 days at our friend's farm: Ferme de la Justice. We broke a snare and a kick drum and we'll be recording stuff in my bedroom all summer. I think the album will have at least 20 songs (yes, that's correct: 20!) We'll be recording a hip hop song, an acoustic song and a Lo-Fi song; (**** purists). I hope it'll be ready for september, we'll look for a little label but in anycase we'll be giving it away free on the internet.
The internet has been good to us this year. We've given all our stuff free under the creative commons licence and been rewarded by about 20 000 downloads and songs featured on 3 net compilations and one real compilation. Talking of records, last year a fabulous record label and fanzine from London called ORG Records put out a single of our song Princess Mononoke. I can't thank them enough. Great people that gave us a lot of confidence to continue. At that moment I really wished that I was in London and not Paris so I could have promoted the hell out of the record and built something cool. I'm still frustrated at my inability to get any concerts in London. Basically, getting a concert in London is easy if you are rich kids who don't mind losing large amounts of money (I'm prepared to lose a little money). After one year, I'm still looking for a good concert in London. I sure I'll find one soon....
So thanks to ORG records and no thanks to all the french "punk" labels who didn't even acknowledge receipt of my demo, let alone reply. The lamentable, boring and formula based quality of french punk labels is stunning. (As my drummer says: there's no people more conservative than punks) Basically, the only way to logically explain the rubbish bands is to say that they release only records by their friends and we're not in the elite punk club. Luckily, the real french DIY scene is vibrant, varied and interesting. We've played with some of the geatest french bands in this country's history. I feel genuinely honoured to have played with some of them. The tradgedy is, they don't even exist to labels or the press so they'll fade into forgotten history and france will retain its reputation as a shithole for music.
One of the concert highlights this year has been the PPPzine festival that I organised to pay tribute to a fanzine that has support Louis Lingg and the Bombs. I feel it is the duty of bands to support good fanzines. It was a really rainy day and the attendance wasn't great but the groups were amazing and the audience pogoed and moshed like lunatics and I even crowd surfed whilst soloing (very badly) on my shitty guitar. People told us that despite our normal problems of forgetting song structure and fucking up at breakneck speed, it was our BEST EVER concert!
You know, it still brings a tear to my eye when I see people that I don't even know jumping around and going crazy to our music. Amazing!
Other highlights include playing a squated factory complex called the CAES on a great stage backed by a wall of old TV broadcasting interference. Wild! The Zorba has been good to us this year - a stinky beer stained hole - but at least they're happy to host mental punk stuff.
I started the group with my friend Laurent two years ago with a couple of demos and a mutual love of Bikini Kill. We recruited Jerome from jazzy mathrock instrumental group, "Flashing On Bright", to play drums. He's also the brother of JB from the mighty Underground Railroad. I found the guitarist through a fabulous group called "No Punk No Reggae" It turned out the guitarist of No Punk No Reggae had a brother, I had a deranged notion that lo-fi pop punk genius was heriditary so Ben was recruited. We rehearsed about 6 times and then recorded the 7 song demo "Conspiracy". I'm really proud how the demo turned out. I hope it wasn't a fluke!
Anyway, Jerome had to move away for work and family so we recruited Ben's mate Nico on drums. This was the formation we unleased on the world and we did a load of concerts like this. Our first concert was in a mexican campus building for some very bemused people who innocently turned up for the mexican national holiday celebration only to be confronted with punk insanity.
We then decided we absolutely needed a keyboard player so we recruited Clemence, the bassist of Foxglove. Foxglove are the greatest french band that never made it. Needless to say Clemences ear for a poppy melody is infallible. We even recruited a backing singer, the amazing Julie "hate" Togashi.
Another highlight of this period was playing in a tiny bar called the Omadis filled with balloons. We did our soundcheck without Nico.
I called him: "Where are you man, we've got our soundcheck?!"
He responds: "oh, what time is it? I'm at Park Asterix, an hour at least from paris!"
I respond predictably: "oh ****!"
We recorded an interview with Mutant TV that night but they decided not to use any of the live footage. They kept the interview but recorded the live footage at another concert we did at the Klub. I don't even remember this gig but it was wild and Benoit from the group Savon Tranchand say it is the best concert he's been to in his life!
We recorded "Chomsky changed my life" and "Madonna is a corporate ****" during this time.
Nico had to leave the band to move to Australia so we had to find a 3rd drummer. I called on Laurent "gilbertmuda", the drummer of the legendary defunct techno punk band, the "Troglodites". The Troglodites had split up years ago and he was ready to come out of retirement.
Gilbertmuda revolutionised our sound. Not only does he play like a possessed, malfunctioning drum'n'bass drum machine but he has a great feeling on how to craft a good song too. Can't emphasise enough how great he is.
Laurent left the band at that moment because of personal problems and Clemence took a break from the group for personal problems. Disaster! Luckily, ORG records released a CD with Princess Mononoke, Conspiracy and Am Stram Gram on it. Yay! That lifted our spirits a bit. We never stopped doing concerts however, (the show must go on) they concerts were often with incomplete line ups.
We then found Axel to play bass for us. Axel is an excellent musician who plays guitar for "No Flag Project", an experimental prog rock pop band. Axel is great producer himself and plays the hell out of his girlfriend's precision bass. Two practices later, we were back to playing concerts and headlined a festival with a real PA system. Wow! stage monitors! I wonder what they do!
Loads more things to say but I think this blog is long enough.
Plans for the future in the short term:
Play in the Zorba the28 June.
Play in a punk festival the 1st august
Play in Nice the 13 september.
Play in Rouen in November
Play in Bristol with Los Conios
Play in Berlin with Mamasweed.
Plans for the long term:
Play in London (only 2 fucking hours away godammit!)
Release first full length album.
Get signed with Damaged goods records or any other equally legendary label.
Play concert with living legends Helen Love!
Participate in revolution against capitalism etc.
Live free and happy until my death.
Rock on,
Josh
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