I shared your band with many friends, and everyone seems to become a fan instantly. How does it feel to be everyone's favorite cover band?
Well, what can we say? It's great! Especially because we did not at all expect these kinds of reactions when we started Nouvelle Vague back in 2003.
Who is playing in the current lineup of Nouvelle Vague?
As you maybe know, Nouvelle Vague has two sides—the live one and the studio one. I would say that Marc Collin and myself are the (let's call it like that) "brains" behind these two sides. Nouvelle Vague on album is basically recorded by Marc and I (we play most of instruments ourselves), with this variety of fantastic female singers we are so lucky to work with—Mélanie Pain, Nadeah Miranda, Eloisia, Marina Céleste, Karina Zeviani, LeeLoo, and others. And Nouvelle Vague live in concert is made of four musicians—Marc, Raphael Chassin, Julien Decoret, and I—and our two front singers Mélanie Pain and Nadeah Miranda. So six people in total.
With the third release, you have taken things a step further and have some guests from the bands you cover join you on the album. How did the idea of working with other musicians come about? (e.g. Martin Gore, Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen, Terry Hall of the Specials and Fun Boy Three, and Barry Adamson, who sings Magazine's "Parade")
When we started considering the recording of third album, Marc and I talked together and thought it would be great to try some collaborations with great post-punk/new wave people. We already knew that a number of these guys had heard about Nouvelle Vague and were appreciating our work. At the same time, we also wanted the third album to still be a very Nouvelle Vague album, so we would consider only a few songs with guests on the album.
We prepared a short list, not too many people, of great new wave names and started contacting managements. The great thing is it happened that everybody knew us and liked us, so talking with people was very easy, and achieving the thing was easier than we had expected.
Was there anyone you really wanted to work with who didn't pan out?
Some things happened that some people were really keen on the idea to work with us, but could not find the time to do it, as obviously they were very busy, touring, etc. So we may consider that, if they could not make it this time, we would be able to arrange another meeting in the future.
Has there been a particular song that you tried covering that didn't work out?
There are a few ones, actually, not so many. In fact, we've noticed that some songs or bands need us to be patient with them. For example, we were willing to cover a Magazine song already on the first album, but could not really pick one. Or, when we were picking a song, we could not really find the right female singer to perform the cover. In the end, we just had to wait until this third album, because this time, it happened so well with our cover of "Parade," sung by Nadeah and Barry Adamson himself. See, the thing is we just had to be patient with this band.
What prompted the US shows prior to the LP release in the States?
We were really missing America for months. We had not played here at least for two years! At the beginning of this year, we were planning tours as, you know, the third album was going to be released everywhere. We knew that the album would be available in Europe by June, but were not still sure it would be in the US. We had to find a new record deal here.
We thought it would be great to plan four shows in the US in June, even not knowing if the record would be released here or not. The idea was obviously to play some new material to the audience here. The great thing is we could confirm these shows, and we are so glad to be here now. And we can also finally announce that the album will be released in September. We will obviously be back during this period too.
Was there red tape with the US release?
No. The US situation was our record deal with our previous record company was over, so we had to put together a new team here. We managed to do it, actually—absolute dream team, by the way. But it obviously took a bit longer than in Europe, where record companies and partners were the same as previous ones.
Any chance of guest singers at your live performance in NYC tonight?
Well, not on this show, but we should definitely stay in touch, as I think some later shows could be presenting interesting events.
Who are your current favorite bands?
Obviously there are many ones, from Phoenix to Jarvis Cocker to many others.
Anyway, we were recently playing a festival in Newcastle, and we watched a live performance of an English band called The Maccabees—sort of a 17-year-old-guys rock band—and we loved them! They made us think about The Undertones back in the day.
Who, band or person, was most excited by being covered by you?
Well, it's difficult to say. We are getting close with some people, which means they quite like being covered by us, and at the same time, we are so proud to cover them. We’re hearing good feedback from many people.
Do either of you have other musical side projects?
We have many! Marc has been producing some albums the last few months (Anna O, Mélanie Pain, Pulsion Fantome), and I will record my next (third) solo album as soon as I will have time to do it.
Where do you most like to eat when you're in NYC?
I don’t have a preferred restaurant yet in NYC. Still trying many.
Any closing thoughts or recipes you'd like to share with our readers?
Well, as Nouvelle Vague’s producer but also guitar player, I would recommend capo to everyone! And also I can assume all Nouvelle Vague songs have been recorded and played with normal guitar tuning. |