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Deportivo play it raw, fast and loud!
A “shambolic“second album
Paris
05/11/2007 -
Garage rock
Deportivo have stayed true to their rock fundamentals on their second eponymous album, a sober pared-down affair which revolves around short tracks, snappy phrases and urgent guitar riffs that dominate the first single release, La Brise. "We never set out to revolutionise everything on our second album," says Deportivo’s lead singer, Jérôme. "Right from the outset, we fixed one golden rule - play things fast and play things urgent! That way we get to enjoy ourselves as musicians."
While Deportivo have not exactly revolutionised things on their second album, they have certainly developed a new edge to their sound since the days of La Salade and 1000 Moi-même (tracks which revolved around an alternate normal/distorted guitar sound reminiscent of Nirvana). Richard’s melodic bass-playing has finally been brought to the fore, the guitars are fuller and feistier and Julien’s drums have gained in precision and inventiveness. The result is a powerful blend of garage rock that recalls New York band The Strokes at their best. This is, perhaps, hardly surprising given that the Strokes’ first producer, Gordon Raphael, was recruited to work on Deportivo’s second album. "Working with Gordon evidently meant we were going to put a new spin on our sound," says Jérôme, "We wanted to dirty things up a bit and go more ‘lo-fi’. There are a lot less contrasts on the new album than there were on the first one. The sound is much more dense, more intense."
The American producer and sound wizard was involved at the beginning and the end of the recording process. "After Gordon had finished up with Les Satellites*", explains Jérôme, "he invited us over to work in his studio in London. It’s a really special place housed in this old abandoned factory in Whitechapel. I arrived over there with the bare bones of songs I’d written in the course of the previous ten months. Gordon got us to work on each instrument individually. He really encouraged us to bring the bass lines to the fore which was something we hadn’t necessarily planned to do to begin with. We came home to France with demo versions of the songs and then re-recorded everything with our sound engineer Yann Madec at the Black Box Studio* in Angers. That’s where we always work. Then Gordon came over and took care of the final mix."
A total shambles
Deportivo believe in taking a rushed, flat-out, up-against-the-deadline approach to the creative process in order to retain an element of spontaneity in their sound. "We didn’t have all the songs ready when we got to London," says Jérôme, "We take a very anarchic approach to our songwriting, in fact. I can turn up with three basic phrases and we’ll build an entire track around that, all three of us working together. Or it can be a riff or a series of chords that trigger things off. I think what gives our sound its characteristic edge is that we always work in a totally shambolic way!"
Despite taking such a haphazard approach to their songwriting, Deportivo’s sound comes across as anything but shambolic. Jérôme’s vocals have gained in confidence and assurance, the group’s 150 live dates having wiped away any complexes he might have had on that score, although he admits certain vocal modulations he experimented with on the first album "set my teeth on edge now." Lyrically speaking, Deportivo’s second album is very much like their first, songs such as En ouvrant la porte revolving around the same sort of distant poetry where words are evocative rather than explanatory - not to say downright obscure on Exorde Barraté. "That song title comes from a totally incomprehensible expression a journalist used writing about one of our early tracks," laughs Jérôme, "We were so blown away when we read it that we turned it into a song!"
One of the most interesting tracks on Deportivo is an ultra-rock reworking of the Miossec classic Les bières aujourd’hui s’ouvrent manuellement, featuring a guest appearance from Arnaud (the mad fiddler from the group Louise Attaque). "We’ve been playing that song live on stage for ages now," says Jérôme, "but we wanted to do something new with it before recording it. Then we had the brainwave of getting Arnaud involved. Miossec and Louise Attaque were inspirational forces for me. They really showed me the way. It was listening to them that I realised you could write rock songs in simple French. I found the whole Noir Désir legacy, the band’s literary lyric style quite a heavy burden to bear." And what does the Breton star think of Deportivo’s cover? "We haven’t sent Miossec a copy of the album yet. But it turns out someone played him our cover version the other day and apparently he liked what he heard!"
The next activity on Deportivo’s busy agenda now that their second album is out in stores is taking their new songs out on the road to fans. "We love playing live. That’s why we play music, in fact - for the live shows and the sense of freedom playing live gives you! At the end of the day, our studio work is just the continuation of the energy and exhilaration we get live on stage!"
Deportivo will be kicking off their French tour with a gig at La Cigale (Paris) on 18 December*another band from the Village Vert stable
*the legendary studio where the likes of Sloy and Les Thugs recorded
Jérôme Pichon
Translation : Julie Street
13/11/2006 -
