Interview Neïmo - eng

[The unsuccessful Interview with Neïmo - 2009.01.29 - Ubu, Rennes]

    French rock atmosphere in the venue. Barely done with the interview of The Dodoz, done with our beloved collegues from Stage Invasion, we decide to sneak around the soundchecks. Neïmo has just finished. We claim for a real improvised interview : Josephine has hardly heard their single 'Johnny Five' on the french radio Le Mouv' and I'm stuck with the flu. The stress for our first interview, probably. Bruno, the singer, Camille -guitar player, and Matthieu -bass player and keyboardist answer us with great kindness and great patience, along with two of their friends in the biggest dressing room of the venue.
   Find the sample video HERE. Ps : We did not delete the swearing, we'll try to do better next time. Sorry for the bad english as well, if you see any mistakes please correct us!

... We are the band that plays 'Johnny Five' ...
B : And Vincent, the drummer is not here, he went to see some whores.
M : I remind you this magazine is aimed for the 11-14 (laughs), and that this sentence is absolutly forbidden. He went to play tennis.
B : It rhymes with penis, that's funny in the mean time.
M : Which only shoes Oasis (the drink) can drives you in a rather funny way.
Neïmo : Ok here we go, let's go, second question!
100% So second question ...
(blank)
M : Mind, that's live question! (we begin to feel rather ill-at ease)
100% : You can ask the questions yourself if you want to.

100% : (the question being rather awkwardly asked, I prefer not to transcript it)
M : An album that was released in September, and that will be in February in Germany, that is important.
B : We already have, let's say, two music victories (i.e.: french official & national competition), one grammy award.
M : One granny award! (i.e. : brand of cereals). And this album is great if you don't know it, it's called Moderne Incidental, and you can still find it in all the good stores because it's still on sale.
C : Meaning there's are still plenty available.
100% : How many did you sell?
B : Oh 14 or 15 we don't really know.
M : It's a delicate question because the record industry is on crisis and as you can see, it makes them nervous (he shows his two collegues).
100% Alright, alright. Sorry. (C pretends to cry, which is quite scary). But if the record industry is on crisis, the gigs are not!
M : Exactly! That was what I was going to say, you're taking the bread from my mouth.
100% : So how's touring going on?
M & B : It has just started ... with hum ... (M tries to take B's glass) hey oh you! you don't drink you've stopped drinking ... with The Dodoz. We've made 2 dates with them, it feels good, really.
M : Just say the truth.
C : They're never on time. They fart in the tourbus. Unbearable persons.
100% : In addition, they come from Toulouse!
B : Countryside, you know what we think about countryside...
100% : So Brittany, with the rain today...
B : I believe Brittany is the worse place in all the countryside. (annoyed laughs). That is to say that it was raining in Paris when we left but it's less boring that when we are in Brittany. Well each countryside is boring when it rains. Paris is the only place where things happen.
[...]

100% : The worse gig ever? (dubious faces) Or maybe there aren't any.
B : In La Seine St-Cloud with the band Stuck In The Sound, there was nobody. In Mouen, also, that wasn't easy, it was very cold moreover. (i.e. : Mouen fort la sik, french festival in Normandy)
M : We can say one can have shitty gigs because there's no one and still have a good time on stage and vice versa. Having a big crowd and having an awful time on stage.
[...]
C : Actually, we did a gig here four years ago. We had problems with power cuts, we played poorly..
M : In fact it's that gig that...
C : It was one of the worst.
M : Because, actually, we expected a lot from that gig, saying to ourselves we absolutly had to make a good show, and in those cases you don't make a good show.
B : No, the problem was that at that time we had no drummer, it was our first album (i.e. : From Scratch, on digital reedition). We had a rythmic box, and it went down as soon as the third or forth song, and played all the drums part in about 30 seconds (laughs and miming) so we ended up like real idiots in the end.
M : Yeah we depended upon that so that's the reason why we missed the show.
B : Another shitty gig, as a way to speak, was the gala we did in Switzerland two years ago.
M : Oh yeah.
B : The drummer of the time had managed to perforate the bass drum as soon as the second song.
100% : It takes a lot to do that.
M : Yeah, and moreover it's the kind of problem you can't solve quickly, because you have to go off stage, ask for the drummer of the next band to lend you his bass drum and so on.. and it was very difficult because during that time we had to do something instead (on stage).
B : So we played acoustic.

Enters Jerome.
Neïmo : Sit down, do the interview with us.
J : Oh shit it's an interview.

100% : On the contrary, the best gigs?
C : In La boule noire (venue in Paris) it was awesome and lately in Toulon.
B : With The Dodoz also, they came on stage and ruined half of the show, but it was for the sake of hum the atmosphere.
M : To me, someone said 'thank you for this lovely music' at the end of the show (laughs). The really 'not adapted to rockn'roll' comment. It was a shimmering lady.
B : Maybe it was someone who works with my mom.
M : Oh yeah, well based on that she was quite obliged to say that.
C : Maybe she thought you were me because there was a lady who was staring at me all along.
B : Oh that, that was for something else... (laughs)
C : 'I've got the ladies touch' (in english)

(blank again from us. C offers coke to J)
Comment on B's shirt : Those Dancing Days.
100% : Girls' band so music for girls only?
M : On the contrary, it is the guys who watch.
B : In front of Plasticines, you will rarely find girls.
M : And in front of Neïmo, you rarely find boys.
B : In a bizarre way, yes. But for Those dancing Days, we played with them in Germany three months ago.
M imitates the way they play and ask for the next question (gratefully, no blank here).

100% : What are your favorite bands of the moment?
C : Hum I don't know, I have to search.
M : Friendly Fires is not bad.
B : MGMT asshole.
C : Vampire Weekend I like it a lot also. But it's not recent it's from a year ago. I like The Dodoz too, say.
Unwelcomed comment from B, that we won't discuss over, for this is a magzine aimed for the 11-14 (thanks to M for refreshing our memories).

Blank
"OK"
Blank again.
M : You will cut all this, right?
100% : Sure. At first, it was for a paper magazine, but video on paper doesn't look so fine.
C : Unless you put a lot of pictures.
100% : Why not but it's a 12 pages magazine.
C : Otherwise you can make 'photo novel'. You take only one pic and you add bubbles with text inside.
B : That would be a crazy damn idea.
M : We give each others ideas and then we think they are really good, among us.
M : No, but it's obvious that publishing a paper magazine nowadays is like making music, say. It's like trying to sell records. [...] No TV is power.
100% : And what about tv adds' suppression? (B is laughing, M has wide opened eyes).
C : Considering I don't really watch tv...
M : To me, you've run out of questions.
B : No but C and I we do not watch tv a lot anyway. 'Arte' (national channel, number 5) from 3 o'clock in the morning is very cool.
M : Essentially documentaries for adults on animals.
B : No, but it goes to who likes animals.
M : Spare the rod and spoil the child, it's his big thing. (plus he bangs on his legs in rythm).

100% : You look like you love socks. What are your favorite ones?
C : (immediatly) Hum me it's with little robots, that I bought in England. Wait I'll show you (gets up and go looking in his suitcase). [VIDEO]
B : There, this is the moment where you should say 'cut'. (he himself has pink socks) No, this is one of my best friend named Jean-baptiste B. who works for a highly fashionable magazine called 'Jalouse' and who told me 'You have to put on those fluo pink socks with a black pant, it's so trendy'.
100% : And so you do follow what he says.
B : He is paid to find out what is trendy, so I believe him.
M : What was the question already?
100% : Your favorite pair of socks?
M : Oh no, I'm really not a socks' fetishist.
100% : The most amazing thing from a fan? (M hits a buzz that doesn't exist. Blank).
100% : Alright...
B : The only problem is she was not really a fan but mostly she became a friend ever since.

Discussion on snails.
B explains to C : Apparently in the countryside, mainly in Brittany, things are happening like snails races.
M : It is very important, there are enormous political stakes.
Discussion on Tv taxes.

B : Bars en trans (off festival from Transmusicales) it was crazy yeah.
100% : Memories from 'la rue de la soif' (a well-known street with a lot of bars in the historical center of the city)?
B : Especially on the music national holiday, I guess you must be used to it, but above all it was very funny.
C : There was a moment when we grew scared.
B : Oh yeah there was a guy who wanted to fight with C.
100% : There's a guy who has been kill recently, a fortnight ago.
B : In fact he thought it was C.
C : Really, a fortnight?
100% : He was stabbed yeah.
C : Oh! To this point...
100% : Like 4 stabs or so.
M : Well, the guys who do have non-funny jokes, obviously...

100% : Drugs, for or against? (laughs we didn't understand)
M : Neither for or against, on the contrary.
B : Totally against.

We are introduced to the two friends.
M : Yoyo was the first hardcore fan, to the point of ripping off his clothes, give his blood and tattoo Neïmo on his arm, of following us in forbidden places. So he knows us very well, he cannot ask us questions he knows everything about us.
J goes out.
100% : Maybe just a word to define them?
Yoyo : No 3 words. (laughs)
B : No that, that is a code. 3 words. When people gets on your nerves you said '3words'. There's also 2 words.
M : Even me, I don't understand.
Yoyo : We can explain to them, can't we? 3 word is for "you .." [did not catch the rest sorry]
B : And 2 words is for 'two whores'. That's it.

Blank.

M : And the next album, otherwise, hum, this is the first question that's why i'm heading back to it, is on preparation.
100% : If we are boring you, just say so.
Neïmo : Not at all.
M (adressing to B) : No, I'm just thinking that The Dodoz where listenning the song we played wrong just before, and there found it crazy.
B : We're gonna work in March to compose. April a little bit less because we do have a lot of gigs in Germany.
M : And May/June we are rockstars. That's it.
100% : If you were invited to the Star Academy, would you go (to play as a guest band)?
Neïmo : No, we've already been invited but we refused.
B : I think they don't give a shit about us in the first place.
M : And us too somehow, the audience that would watch it is not the potential audiance we can find in our gigs. We prefer from far to come here and have motivated people who comes and sees us.

B : Alright. I hope The Dodoz were better than us.

Itw by Josephine and LittleSyd.
Translated by LittleSyd.