The French pop-rockers have been busy touring their Grammy-winning album ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’. Clash caught up with Laurent Brancowitz and Christian Mazzalai at the Francofolies festival, and asked: what have they picked up along the way?
Favourite TV
Christian: “We don’t have a TV. TV is bad! When there’s a TV I’m totally mesmerised and absorbed like a kid. Actually the problem is the news, as it’s like a machine that feeds ‘us’ information that in turn causes fear and paranoia. Now when there is a storm in France there are red alerts issued. There are alerts for everything!”
Favourite Movie
Laurent: “We’re watching movies by a Japanese director Yasujir? Ozu. The psychology in these films is fascinating. I love the Japanese spirit and touring there.”
Favourite Book
Laurent: “The Empire Of Signs by French theorist Roland Barthes - he’s written a fantastic book on Japan that explains a few concrete elements of Japanese culture. It’s a very down-to-earth philosophy, like explaining Haikus. They looks like the most simple thing but are very hard to write.”
Favourite Gadget
Christian: “We like old things. We love dictaphones - they play a major part in the creation of our music. We have a shitty one that uses tape but when you record music it sounds very mysterious and beautiful. We don’t know how to write music without them.”
Interview by Nazlee Janoo