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Indifférence=Mort

Interview réalisée par Braulio
Réponses par Hervé

1- First of all, introduce Belle Epoque and yourself.

Belle Epoque exists since october 2002. After practicing for a whole year, we recorded a demo in our rehearsal room. We did something like 25 shows after the demo came out.
We try to manage our band in a DIY and no-profit ethic/way cause it seems important to preserve a space where people don't come to the shows to just consume music and then go back home. Music can be a great way to meet people, to share feelings, to share our anger, to question ourselves and the world surrounding us and maybe try to make our own communities a better places to live.
Belle Epoque is composed of four different people: Seb (drum), Cyril (guitar), Morgan (vocals) and me, Hervé (bass & vocals).
To introduce myself, I'll be 22 in a few days... Sometimes I'm working as a postman, sometimes studying Sociology at the University. It depends on my mood!

2- How did Belle Epoque started, what influenced the band, and why the name Belle epoque?

As I already said, Belle Epoque started in october 2002. Seb and Cyril were trying to start a band together so they asked Morgan (who was in the same highschool as Cyril at that time) to sing with them... After a few practices with another guitarist (no bass-guitar!), they asked me to join and start something new... I was waiting for a long time to play in a band cause I had a bass guitar well hidden in my cellar. I was just looking for a reason to catch it and use it! I've learned playing with these guys.
I think that the main influences are the bands we were listening when we just started (and gave me the will to play music), that is to say the political french emopunk bands of the mid 90's but also late 90's punk bands. But actually we are listening to a very large variety of music... From jazz to crustpunk. From electro to 70's rock. From grindcore to pop music. No borders between styles!!!
“Belle Epoque” means a lot of things to us. There is a lot of different ways to understand that french expression. Personnaly, I think this is a pretty ironic expression because it implies there was a better time to live than the one we are living now.
To me, every period in history are both great and shitty. It depends on the place you are occupying in the society. I have the chance to eat as much as I want, to leave in a house with my parents and my brother, to have an access to knowledge through university and school, etc...
I prefer to focus on what I have and try to make my life the best I can instead of complaining all the time... We should fight to make our life a “belle epoque”.

3- Belle Epoque have only a demo released. Was the first "recording" experience to all the band members?

Yes. It was our first recording experience. We recorded four songs live during one afternoon. But the rehearsal room where we recorded was also a fancy studio (which only records mainstream shit ;) that's why the demo sounds soooo clean and unpowerful, haha!

4- How was the people feedback to the demo?

Great!!! We couldn't hope for something better. When you start your first band you don't expect to receive mail from countries such as Sweden, USA, England, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Belgium and even Indonesia!
It seems that some people enjoyed the demo and that's wonderful... It allowed us to play in different countries. That was really a dream becoming reality.

5- For the people who dont understand french, tell us what are your lyrics about.

Wahou... Hard question cause it's pretty complicated to sum up our lyrics in a few sentences.
Our lyrics deal with our own experiences of life. Morgan is writing most of them, so it mostly reflects his perceptions of the world surrounding us. In our lyrics the personnal and the political are always linked because we can't disconnect one from the other in our everyday lives. Every action we make, every decision we take, every behavior we adopt can be considered as political.
Our lyrics are mostly dealing with our struggles against this fucking unique way of thinking.
No one holds the truth. It depends on what you want to make of your life. We are fighting to have the right to express ourselves, to say what we have to say, even if it doesn't fit with what society/parents/school/bosses want to hear. Each of us have a voice. Scream out loud if people don't want to hear what you have to say.
In our lyrics, we could also find constant references to the idea of normality that we are confrontated to in our everyday lives and which is imposed on us by this system. You can't chose not to work or take some time to enjoy your life, you can't live your sexuality differently from the dominating heteronormality, you can't have your own dreams, you can't share your feelings if you want to be considered as a “real man”... Conform or die. That's the message that we seem to receive everyday.
If people want to read our lyrics, they will all be available on our (new) website soon. We will put translations in english first and then in spanish... I wish we could be able to translate them in other languages but we don't know lot of people able to speak many languages. If you are interested to help us by translating our lyrics and writings in your own tongue, contact us! We would be more than happy!

6- If my memory doesnt fail me, your first tour in Europe and UK was with The Pine. How did you guys get the opurtunity to tour with them,
and how was the tour?

We got the opportunity to tour with the Pine cause Flo (Trapdoor Tourz from Germany) was booking some shows for them in Europe and he offered us to join them as we were looking for shows at the same period. He asked Ralph (the guy who was in charge of the UK shows) if he agreed to allow us to share dates with the Pine in the UK and he seemed really enthusiastic. We have been lucky!!!
The tour was one of the greatest experience I've ever lived. It was a dream coming true. Playing in different cities every night. Moreover in a foreign country. Meeting new people every night. Everybody was so nice with us... When I'm thinking back of it I can hardly believe that all of this was true!!

7- Share with us the best and the worst experience in the tour !

Sorry but we don't have crazy tour stories to tell! I can only say that the best experience was the tour from the beginning until the end! Oh, maybe our best experience was the show in Manchester cause we all felt something special over there. This is probably one of the best show we have ever done. We played in a kind of livingroom in a big house. All the band we played with that night were awesome and the atmosphere was soooo great... Hard to describe.
I can't find any ‘worst' experience. Maybe the technical problems during the shows due to our lack of professionalism! Some songs were left unfinished because of broken strings or stuff like that!

8- How is the scene in the UK and in all the other countries you toured?

I think the UK is not really different from the few other countries we had the chance to play in... Maybe people seemed younger??!! Everybody we've met was really invested in what they were doing, making lot of shows in a DIY way. That's great...
Before going to the UK, lots of people told me that it was a pain in the ass to tour in this country. No food, few money for the gas, etc...
Actually it was totally the opposite ! The lifecosts are highs, that's true, and taking the ferry was expensive but people who put up the shows really care. The food was amazing, always a nice place to sleep, etc...
Maybe we are a lucky band but wherever we played in the past, we felt more than welcomed. I haven't any memory of a bad experience when touring. Touring is the best thing and meeting new people, seeing new faces everyday is amazing!
I feel very well in the DIY scene cause it's really easy to communicate with people taking part of it. Unpretentious and passionate people!

9- How is the french hardcore/screamo scene nowadays?

Currently I don't feel any connection with the HxC scene... I'm bored with all these rules, for example looking like a SxE kid, a skinhead, a punk or an emokid if you want to be accepted in the “scene”. According to me the HxC scene is very narrow-minded and is focusing on one kind of music only... I feel more connected with people doing things DIY, with their hearts and guts, whatever the kind of music they are interest in.
The HxC scene / Screamo scene are only trends, especially in big cities as Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon...
Screamo is trendy nowadays in France since a lot of bands are playing that kind of music. Most bands are good (Amanda Woodward, the Apollo Program –RIP-, Aghast, Gantz, Gameness –RIP-, Daitro, etc.) but their audience is sometimes ridiculous. I saw people listening to stupid tough-guy HxC a few years ago get a new haircut and a adopt a new style now but keep on dancing/acting stupidly the way they were before. The HxC scene is less and less focused on political topics or being politcally active and more and more only on music. If you just want to listen to some HXC music, that's fine but if you are waiting for something more, there's nothing for you right now!
Nevertheless I met lots of my friend within the punk scene so I can't say that everything is wrong or that the HxC is full of stupid assholes... It's just that I don't feel always confortable in it.

10- you told me that maybe belle epoque will split, after a new tour and a new release. why?

First because we all need a break. Belle Epoque took a lot of our energy these 2 ½ year and we need some fresh air...
Belle Epoque is our first band so we have learned a lot through that experience and I feel like we need to live something new.
The second reason is that I'm going away from Paris next year... I need some fresh air musically but even more geographically!!! I'm bored with Paris... I live there since I'm born so I want to discover something new.

Anyway, I'm sure Belle Epoque will remain essential in our lives... After our tour in Spain (june 2005) we will do a very long break, but the possibility to play more shows/tours after it is not excluded. But probably nothing before 2006... We'll see...

11- What does D.I.Y. means to belle epoque?

As I suggested in my previous answers, DIY is a way of thinking and acting... It's not only being independant in a financial way or starting your own record-label, it is putting relationships on the first level.
We are not part of the music business. We don't care. We are doing music because we like it much more than any other activity. We are not “wannabees”. Personnaly, I don't give a damn about famous or selling tons of records. I just want to meet exciting people who share the same passion as mine.
Playing music is also a mean to travel and that's fantastic. Doing both things you like the most at the same time! You are writing to people asking for help, then you meet them, you eat and sleep in their house... Wahou, this is just amazing. To me, that's what DIY is all about.
Where is the point when you tour the whole year, when you play in the front of 5000 kids (of course you don't know any of them), when everything has been professionnaly planned? It must be boring. You drive from a city to another without taking the time to enjoy.
DIY is much more “human” orientated! Do it yourself with simplicity and humility. Or do it with your friends! That's even better!

12- What is your top5 albums of 2004, and what are you listening to at the momment?

I'm pretty bad with doing Top5 lists but I'll try:
From Monument to Masses – the impossible leap...
What's Wrong – s/t
Defiance Ohio – share what ya got
Hymie's Basement – s/t
Explosion in the Sky – the earth is not a cold dead place
(with no particular order)

These days I'm listening to the new Sole LP (abstrakt hip hop), Camille (a french girl who's got a great voice and many ideas), instrumental version of Gameness's posthumous album (they will probably come back with a new name), Q and Not U (different damage LP), Erevan (french emo), Rotten Tofu “practice songs” MP3s (people from What's Wrong doing a mix of fast core and french emo with kind of LaQuiete/Raein influences!) and many many many other records!

13- Do you know anything about the Portuguese scene (besides those bands I sent you in the mixtape eheh)?

Sorry Braulio, but you are the first person from Portugal I'm in touch with... You've learned me everything I know!!! ;) I'm sure I have a lot more to discover!

14- Whats plans does Belle Epoque have for the future?

Practicing tonight, then playing a show in 2 days in Paris, then some more before our LP come out. Then touring Spain with the fabulous Rotten Tofu, some of the craziest folks!!!!!!!! Wouhou!

15- Thanks for all :)

Thanks for your patience, my friend, and thanks for your questions... That's fucking cool to be in touch with a guy I've never met but someone I feel connected with... Keep on writing to me, sending stuff (records, fanzine, underwears,... ;) and I'll do the same in return! Hope to meet you soon... Love.

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