Interview Stuck In The Sound - eng

[Stuck In the Sound - 03.04.09 - Ubu Club, Rennes]

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We took each title of the tracks from their new record called ’Shoegazing Kids’, and asked them weird questions. Sometimes you don’t even see the link between the title and the question… Interview of José and Emmanuel - it’s written on those sheets of papers!

1) Zapruder : What does 'Zapruder' mean?

J: In fact it’s actually the name of the tourist who shot the video of JFK’s murder. There you go. Mr Zapruder.
100%: Why did you write a song about him?
J: It isn’t a song about him. Actually it’s more like a concept, that of getting away from… the meaning of the context… ( to E. ) Please would you help me here?
E: Well I have to wait and get what you mean first.
J: What is important is how you’re going to understand the song, what you’re going to feel when listening to it. I was the one who chose the words you hear, but the meaning is more important than the word itself. That is, the meaning you choose to give to the word. Not really clear I know…
100%: No, it is.
J: But yeah there’s a link with JFK’s assassination. What I like best about this song is Jackie Kennedy, the President’s wife. When he is being shot in the head, his brain explodes and parts of his flesh fly to the back of the car. She goes and picks them up. What I was interested in was the link between passion and flesh. This is passion. Actually it is about the love you can feel for someone to the point where you go pick parts of their brain up. Isn’t it beautiful?


2) Ouais : What are your favourite monosyllabic words?

José looks at E. straight away.
E: I wonder what you mean, I don’t get it at all.
J: I like the word « prout». [fart]
E: Yes but usually you repeat it twice.
J: So we could have called our song « Prout Prout » instead of « Shoot Shoot ».
E: Yeah, you can combine monosyllabic words.
J: I also like « ah » or « ouh ». Ouh the pooh!


3) Utah : Have you ever been to Utah Beach?
 
J: Where to? There’s no beach in Utah.
100%: Utah Beach, one of the landing beaches in Normandy.
J and E: Oh yeah.
J: I’ve have already been to the US.
E: Utah is right in the middle.
J and E: Yeah, so we’ve been to the US, on a school trip. Of course, we’ve been there.
J: A pupil called Mamadou even walked on a mine. ( E is laughing ). He died.
E: Why did it had it to be him?
J and E: Such a shame.


4) Shoot Shoot : If you could kill someone, who would it be? Where? How? Why?
 
J: If I had to kill someone I’d choose Nagui actually. ( He looks towards E who puts his head in his hands. They both laugh ).
100% : Why?
J : Everytime I brush my teeth I think about him and it gets on my nerves. That’s why.
E : Ah there‘s someone. I‘m thinking about someone who‘s dead, I can’t remember his name. Well everytime I pee I think about Guillaume  Depardieu, because of that movie he played in with Marie Trintignant. Well, she’s also dead.
J : And there’s only François Cluzet who’s is left.
E : But I’m OK with him - I don’t really want to kill him. But you know in that movie, « Les Apprentis »  there’s a scene where he pees and it makes a lot of noise because it goes right into the water ( He explains to J ). He doesn’t pee on the enamel edge.
100% : And how would you kill them?
E : I would pee on him.
J : I would pop his eyes out with my toothbrush. ( Pointing a finger towards one of us ) She is afraid.
100% : No, not at all, I was just thinking it might take a while to do this that with a toothbrush, don’t you think?
J : But that’s the point!
100% : I would like to kill someone with a lipstick one day.
E : And how would you do that?
100% : By sticking it in their mouth.
J et E : Oh yeah, nice one.


5) Teen Tale : What is your favourite fairy tale?

J: Can you give us an example of a fairy tale?
100%: Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Snow White, …
E: I like Grimm’s The Princess and the Pea. Also, when I was young I loved Peter Pan.
J: Oh yeah I like The Magic Flute. No that’s not the one, can you remember the name? There’s a guy and he takes the children away.
E: Oh yeah huh… The thing with the rats.
J: No… Oh yeah with the rats.
E: What’s the name of this tale?
J: The Tale of the Magic Flute?
E to us: Do you see know which one we’re talking about?
100%: Yes we do, but we can’t remember the name either.
E: It is set in Germany.
J: It is, he takes the children away, and they jump off a ravine.
E: At the beginning, the town is suffering from a rat infestation which is spreading a disease and he attracts the rats by playing his pipe.
J: He had promised to help the inhabitants and had asked for something in return but the mayor refused to give him anything so he abducted all the children. Well, so, that tale.
Editor‘s note: The Pied Piper of Hamelin.


6) Playback A.L. : Would you like to mime on Michel Drucker’s show?

J: It is true that it’s the only song we wrote that could be played on his show. Anyway, we usually refuse to mime.
100%: But if you were asked to?
J: We won’t be. Anyway we don’t sing, we also don’t work either on Sundays. But I like Canteloup. (…) Anyway, if we ever go on Drucker’s, we wouldn’t mime.
E: We would have never been invited anyway.


7) Beautiful Losers : The worst gig ever?

J: HuhUm... , I’d say one in Marseille, not long ago, and also Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon where we played with I Am Un Chien.
E: The worst gigs are actually those which are depressing, and they are depressing when there is no one at the venue.
J: It happens.
E: Also we had the best and the worst gig ever in Nashville. That time it was more about technical stuff. It was hard to do so many things in such a short amount of time.
100%: You’d rather cope with a technical problem than…
E: Oh yeah, it is so depressing to play in front of nobody, when, as a matter a fact, there’s no atmosphere. And for the few people who are there, it’s not a really a good experience either.


8) What?! : What is there to do at the Galeries Lafayette?

J : What? What to do?
E : What song is this question about?
100% : Well, What?!
E : Oh, OK.
J to E : It makes me think of… You know, you have to answer quickly.
100% : No no, you can take your time.
J : I don’t shop at the Galeries Lafayette.
E : I don’t either.
100% : What if you were in a department store at night, and there’s no one around?
E : I would love that. But you can’t do anything, can you? You can take all the things you want but since it is closed, you can’t get out.
100%: You can’t, but you can use them.
J : I think I would sleep.
E : No, you do roller skating, as like in a movie.


9) Dirty Waterfalls : When was the last time you laughed so much you cried?

J : Do you know?
E : I don’t know , but we all had a blast two days ago at Agathe’s.
J : What was it all about? I don’t remember that.
E is laughing.
J : I laugh really hard every time my brother plays the fool with Doug and I Am Un Chien. They make me laugh. So yeah it was two days ago. Nice huh? The theme of the song being when’s the last time you came...
E : They were not going to ask you that.
J : Yeah, right, it’s personal. It was two days ago. I was with my brother… ( All laughing ).


10) Erase : If you had the possibility to erase something that happened to you, what would it be? Why?

J : It‘s personal. You don’t ask this kind of question.
E : I’d like to erase the photo on my passport.
J : I’d erase a certain trip to England…
E : Note to affected parties.


11) Gore Machine : Could you live without any technology?

J : I could not. ( to E ) Can you let me explain myself there? I have cold sweats after spending a day without the net. Now you’re free to say crap.
E : I could do better than him and live without any technology.
J ( looking anxious) : I can’t, I really can’t.


12) I Love You Dark : What is your favourite dessert?

E : I don’t like desserts.
J : It’s true you don’t. Huh, I’d say  "Charlotte aux Poires" (pear cake). I love it. ( He makes fun of one of us who also laughs at him, then stares at her ) and I  love chocolate mousse and also huhum, cookies, you know when they’ve just been taken out of the oven and are soft and crispy at the same time.
E : And mummy still has her apron on. (…)
J : I won’t give you my cookie recipe.


13) ( Well, you are ) Can you give us a cooking recipe please?

J : No we can’t, it’s a secret.
E : Mum’s "Blanquette de Veau" then. It‘s easy, you cook two onions in a saucepan.
J : Manu can cook pork very well. I can make you an excellent raclette. You have to buy pepper, chilli, herbs and raw milk cheese.
E : Sheep’s milk cheese and goat cheese.
J : And then some nice pork with potatoes. There’s the raclette. And then some Charlotte aux Poires, to help it all down.
100% : What about the blanquette?
E : Right, so you cook two onions until they turn reddish. Then you add a small piece of pork, better if it’s a little fat, and you had water, but not much. Leave it for two hours and then add a yellow egg and some flour. You serve it with rice. Classic. Powerful. Don’t forget to cook it on a low heatlight fire!
J : But I didn’t even say what my favourite dessert was. I’ll tell you, it’s on the tip of my tongue.
E : You know, the cookies from Portugal.
J : No they’re not my favourite dessert. Oh I know, it‘s called "Baba de Camel". It means camel‘s spit. It’s true, I’m not joking, it’s a real recipe and it’s really good. It’s made with milk and, huh… Well it tastes really nice! This is my favourite dessert, and not the "Charlotte aux Poires".

Itw by Josephine & LittleSyd. Translation by Comète.