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Bob Sinclar, French touch star
Two sets and a new album.
Paris/Barcelona
19/02/2003 -
BOB SINCLAR IN BARCELONA
On Friday 7 February leading French Touch DJ and producer Bob Sinclar swept into Barcelona in a whirl of sequins to present his new album in the Catalan capital, delighting Spanish clubbers with two 'soirées' and 6 hours of turntable fun! Jointly organised by Spanish distributors "Blanco y Negro" and Bob Sinclar's agent, Mona Rennalls, the 'before' party at the Risco attracted a VIP turnout. As for the second paying 'soirée', held at La Discothèque (a hip nightclub perched atop Montjuïc), it proved to be a veritable dance inferno!
Cruising up to the Risco, located in one of Barcelona's chic-est neighbourhoods (just up from the Ramblas and the Gothic Quarter), one immediately got the impression that getting in would not be a walkover! With immaculately-dressed bouncers surveying the crowd to pick out regulars - and anyone chic enough to become one - the Risco was evidently no run-of-the-mill music bar. Once inside we found ourselves in an elegant and relatively small club (just 200 seats), bathed in sultry lighting with videos projected on the walls. The club's resident DJ was already pumping out a punchy mix of pulsating house beats (the kind you'd normally expect to hear at the end of the night rather than the beginning!) and the night air smelt of promise.
Around one in the morning a blinding row of flashbulbs and a whirring of camera shutters announced the arrival of DJ god Bob Sinclar. And, as if by miracle, the Risco filled up instantly, its dancefloor invaded by young Spanish clubbers each more extravagantly dressed than the next. Big-haired drag queens in slinky latex competed for attention with spunky young Barcelona chicks dressed in 80s leather numbers, mini-skirts and boob tubes. There was no doubt about it, on Friday night the Risco was home to the city's Beautiful People who had turned out in force to see and be seen.
Stepping up behind the turntables after making his entrance, Bob Sinclar immediately swung into his set. And the music caught everyone by surprise. Rather than the merest hint of house, electro or Bob Sinclar, the Gallic mixmaster served up a mix of disco classics (most of which were Anglo-Saxon and at least seven or eight years old!) Bob's sophisticated retro set struck a chord with the crowd and the Risco was soon transformed into a veritable disco inferno. Meanwhile, Spanish clubbers kept on piling through the doors and, much to photographers' delight, marking a pause at the top of the staircase over looking the dancefloor to show off their extravagant attire. There was no doubt about it, the crème de la crème of Barcelona clubland had turned out to see the French mixmaster. And yet around two in the morning (i.e. an hour before the end of Monsieur Sinclar's set), the Risco slowly began emptying out as if locals had come to strut their stuff on the dancefloor rather than listen to any particular DJ mix.
Before driving off to enjoy Bob's second set at La Discothèque, we dropped into La Paloma, another happening Barcelona nightspot hosting a soirée by another major French house star, Alex Gopher. What lack of organisation on the part of the Spanish electro scene – imagine having two top French DJs playing the same night when French guest sets are such a rare thing in Spain! Would Monsieur Gopher suffer from direct competition from Sinclar? No problemo it seemed! La Paloma, a former theatre transformed into a vast cavern of a club, was filled to bursting with an ecstatic crowd of 1,200 clubbers going crazy for Gopher's hardcore mix of electronic house and hypnotic UK house. (But, like Sinclar, not a hint of his own productions).
There was no time to linger at La Paloma, however, so we hopped into a taxi and sped up to La Discothèque for Sinclar's second soirée. Up behind the turntables already Maestro Sinclar was playing to a packed house, driving clubbers wild with a far more predictable set than at the Risco (i.e. house, house and more house!) So at the end of the day was Barcelona clubland bowled over by French house or were the Barcelona crowd just honouring the age-old Spanish tradition of dancing the night away till dawn? We have to plump for the latter. Having said that, however, French DJs are undoubtedly flavour of the month at the moment. According to Bob Sinclar's agent Mona Rennalls, the Gallic mixmaster has played at least twenty times in Spain already, bringing the house down in Barcelona, Ibiza, Madrid and Marbella. In fact, every summer Monsieur Sinclar sets off on a mini Mediterranean tour, playing sets across Italy, Greece and Spain. Mona affirms that "Bob Sinclar is one of the most popular DJs in Europe, Asia and Australia right now." "He's also been in great demand in the States," she adds, "but he simply hasn't had time to go there yet!" For those who have yet to catch Bob The Mixer on a Spanish spin, he'll be back in Barcelona this summer playing at the Terazza club. So add that onto your holiday agenda – now!
Carine Bouillon
INTERVIEW WITH BOB SINCLAR
Sporting an Ibiza tan, a suave get-up and self-confidence bordering on arrogance, Christophe Le Friant (aka Bob Sinclar) holds court at the HQ of Yellow Productions. The pioneering DJ and French Touch star mans the phones, assuring the promotion of his new album with consummate ease. Sinclar, who has been stamped with the seal of French disco king Cerrone's approval, ever since the release of Champs-Elysées (his second album under the name Bob Sinclar), serves up an unexpected minimalist style on his latest offering – but there's a strong hint of 80s nostalgia in the air nevertheless.
One of the most surprising things about III is that the cover is so restrained. Music fans can usually expect something much more flamboyant from you!
Well, you have to move on and change things a bit every now and then. It's like Gainsbourg used to say, "My milk teeth have finally dropped out!" But my wisdom teeth may well be a long time in coming! (Laughs). I'm not a big fan of the word 'maturity' – it always sounds way too grown-up to me! Besides, when your career revolves around making music you have to keep a childish, playful side.
Your new album certainly seems to hark back to the songs you grew up listening to, in any case…
Over the past five years – the five glorious years of the French Touch – we've listened to endless disco samples. In fact, I'd compare the period 1997-2002 to 1976-1980 when people lived on a non-stop diet of disco. But at the beginning of 1980 there was a real backlash against disco and it became completely kitsch.
A few years earlier, of course, people were actually burning disco records in American stadiums…Yes, it was totally unbelievable! There was this disco boycott on the radio, too. Then in 1980 analogue. synthesisers and rhythm boxes began to appear and gave the music a totally new feel… And that's really what I was trying to capture on the new album. I wanted to recreate that synthetic feel to things so, you know, instead of using guitars and live bass I replaced them with synths and rhythm boxes to make the album sound a bit different. The sound's also down to me having had the privilege of working with Alain Wizniak, the guy who worked with Cerrone on Supernature.I mean, imagine, instead of sampling disco classics I actually got to work with the guy who created the music in the first place! I tapped into Wizniak's skill and savoir-faire and I think we came up with a really great album.
Your critics may well accuse you of being 20 years behind the times, though!
Well, the big difference is that in the early 80s this style of music was basically cold and "anti-groove." What I've tried to do is make the music even colder, but keep the groove in there – after all, the point I'm coming from is black American music. I think it's essential to keep an element of soul and funk in there somewhere!
III is a much more pared-down minimalistwork than your earlier albums. Is this a reaction to certain critics who accused you of being too flashy and commercial?
No, it's not. Although I have to admit I do take bad reviews to heart because I throw myself into my albums body and soul. But the thing is, if you want to make the kind of music I do you can't expect to please everyone all of the time. I never take what critics say into account when I'm working on an album, though. I just go ahead and produce what I want to hear. I go with the feeling of the moment. When I started with The Beat Goes On I felt like I'd really made a record for the club circuit. I knew immediately that I wanted it to be the first single, because it's important when you start an album to start with a single. That's what motivates you to do the rest. I really put my heart into it, too, you know. In fact, I'd say every single track contains a little nod or reference to something I've loved.
There are a few tracks on the album which pay very obvious tribute to existing records… When I do an instrumental I love slipping in a reference to the classics, via a bit of George Benson's Nature Boy or Prince's Sexy Dancer. Fans who are familiar with the originals really appreciate it, but my tracks don't sound anything like the originals. Besides George Benson and Prince are icons. They're absolute gods in my eyes and I know I could never begin to hold a candle to them! It's guys like Stevie Wonder, Prince and George Benson, who are behind all the music we listen to today, you know, whether it be rap, R’n’B or house.
Your earlier albums featured a lot of guest stars, but on III you seem to prefer to bring your own songwriting and production talents to the fore…
Well, if you listen closely to the album, it soon becomes evident that it's basically a tribute to Grace Jones. A track like Kiss My Eyes has got a real Libertango feel to it and then there's Métro Blanche, of course… I really wanted to have Grace Jones singing on Kiss My Eyes, but I could see I'd end up with a whole lot of lawyer trouble! Grace Jones is a diva, she's a world-famous icon, for God's sake! So I said to myself, "OK, why don't you find the equivalent of Grace Jones today, use a girl you know?" Anyway, I was lucky enough to find that girl in Camille Lefort and we got Moïra Conrad in for the backing vocals. Everything worked out really well, in fact. I think that's what gives III such a new fresh feel to it, too – only young people were involved in it!
You were talking earlier about the glorious years of the French Touch. But isn't it getting a bit difficult today for electro acts to push things forward and continue the French Touch momentum?
Well, it's not difficult for us in so far as Yellow was actually around before and during the French Touch – and we'll be around afterwards, too, I assure you! Having said that, however, certain electro acts have definitely been overhyped and we're beginning to pay the price for that now. The vinyl market has started to slump a bit now. These days you can't just put out a product and say "Well, it comes from France, so it'll definitely sell!" These days you need to make sure there's real production work and genuine content or you'll get nowhere. The problem is, we were all lumped together at a certain moment. And the ones who rise to the top of the barrel at the end of the day will simply be those who are the best!
Bob Sinclar III (East West 2003)
Loïc Bussières
Translation : Julie Street
14/01/1999 -
13/07/2001 -
24/09/1999 -
