Tahiti 80, France's Lovable Popsters
So what's this I hear about the French government requiring that 40 percent of the music played on the radio be sung in French? Isn't that a pain in the ass for you guys? You're French, but you sing in English. They must hate you.
When we sent our demos to record companies they said, "We like your music, but it might be better if you sing in French." So at one point we tried it, we tried to sing in French, but it wasn't natural. So we said, "Fuck it, we're going to sing in the language we have chosen." I think we were quite lucky to get signed. I think it's maybe the beginning of something, and that maybe we are opening doors for other bands in France and also for the future. I think maybe we've got a complex in France with the rock/pop music, because we've had many terrible bands in he past, trying to sing in English with very bad accents. So I think it's a new beginning.
Next thing you know you'll be eating hamburgers and drinking Bud! It all seems a little elitist to me. How did you ever get introduced to rock music with that kind of law? I mean, you fellows seem like real audiophiles to me. Do you have cartons of imported vinyl at home, Beach Boys Smile bootlegs and the like?
CDs and a lot of vinyl, yes, because it's really cheap. We've got a huge collection of 60s records. We've got a lot of the obvious ones, Pet Sounds, but also more obscure ones, especially maybe for French guys, like the Left Banke. We've got a lot of Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes and Marvin Gaye records. Also got some jazz records?Chet Baker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, the obvious ones. And Fela Kuti. Then there's Air, Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twins. We like all sorts of good music.
What do you think it is about the music of the 1960s that makes it so damn good? Do you think it was the political upheaval, the cultural revolution or the drugs?
It's a combination of things. The 60s is really a golden age of music. They were experimenting, they were trying to change. The Beatles, for instance, were experimenting in the studio with new technologies. It's a combination of that musical knowledge and new technology. In the 60s everything was new, so they tried everything. It was more open for experimentation.
In a way I think that same thing is beginning to happen now. A technologically fueled change. Maybe I'm just naive and optimistic, but I'd like to think that's true.
I definitely agree with you. People can make a record in their flat. I think right now you can do that even if you're into guitars or more organic sounds. Usually you use filters with synthesizers, and now you can use them with a guitar, control this and get weird, strange sounds. There's some really good bands coming out from a lot of different countries. They're really into music and into writing songs, but they're also into trying to make advanced-sounding records, experimenting with sounds.
Do you tend to prefer combining electronic and organic sounds, rather than militantly sticking to one or another?
Yes. I think this album was a good way to introduce the band. "Hey, we are Tahiti 80 and we try to write traditional pop songs, but we try to also use modern sounds." But I think next time we will try to combine electronic a little bit more. I think there are some really great things happening in the r&b scene right now, things with really minimal production. I think we'll experiment with that with the next album.
I think in many ways music has become much more international. I think a big part of that is the Internet making a lot of music accessible, and technology, like you said, making it possible for Everyday Joe to make music in his crappy apartment.
It took 30 years for Frenchmen to do some decent pop music. I think anybody can make music but not everybody can make good music. There's a lot of bad music as well. But I'm glad to be starting a band now because you have so much to work with.
Why do you think it's taken the French 30 years to make a good pop album?
Because it's not our culture. You take Serge Gainsbourg. He's not making pop music. He's making something on his own. It sounds French. He's using some other elements, so it sounds original and different. Not like pop. I think the music leaders in the past 30 years, for pop music, were the U.S. and the UK. But I think maybe things are going to change and maybe the mainstream bands...I mean, you take Oasis, who is the most famous mainstream guitar pop band of the moment, and they're only trying to copy the Beatles and the Stones, even in the attitude. This is not really interesting. Maybe now it's time for other countries to take over. Most of my favorite pop records recently were Swedish or Belgian or Iceland or Holland. It's funny, because all those bands are taking the elements from the States and the UK, but they sound different. We live in a world where it's all about references. Even in the movies, all those remakes of old movies, using scenes from old movies. Now, with the ears and the eyes of other countries, it sounds new.
Welcome to the postmodern world. A little bit of everything. But the trick is to be inspired by art and music and film of the past, rather than attempting to directly mimic it. Inspiration instead of imitation.
Yes. Exactly. In the end the goal is to make music for the future. I think pop music is going global. It's true that college kids in Japan are aware of what's going on in Sweden and in the U.S. everyone knows what's going on.
Speaking of Japan, how is it being an adored and beloved pop star there?
It's great. We're having more success than our references there. Everyone knows the words to "Heartbeat," it was number one on the charts. Bigger than Britney Spears and Bon Jovi and Toni Braxton. Which is crazy, because in all the other countries at the moment we are just considered an indie band. But there we're mainstream artists. That's the aim for us. To be played on the radio. That's what I love about pop music. That's why sometimes I prefer Britney Spears. At least you can sing the song in the shower. That's the aim of pop music.
I think the ultimate goal is to make a kind of music that has something for everyone. Tangible referencing for audiophile geeks like us and accessibility for the rest of the world.
Yes. You don't have to know the whole discography of the Kinks to understand our song "Mr. Davies." The aim is to have a good chorus that everyone can remember. That's pop music, I think.