Fuck The Bass Player - Reports Live

FRENCH BASTARDS TOUR PART II
TIC IN U.S.A
Date : March 2011
Location : Austin, Texas
Mode : cow-boys

Last month we played in Austin, Texas- We were supposed to play two shows at famous South By South West Festival (a.k.a SxSw). Even Sean Yseult, former bass player of White Zombie, was talking about us on the festival website !

The journey had started badly, as Phil was stuck one hour at the immigration office. We were very closed to go back immediately in France... and not play. Actually, we didn't have the good visa... it's too much expensive, and we didn't want to pay $5000 just to enter the territory -So we tried the "tourist mode". But the "berets "+ the guitar, the snare and the merchandising stuff, that was too much for them and we've been trapped. Luckily, the customs girl has been nice with us and she has let us enter ... sometimes, the Gascon knows how to be charming and persuasive!

What can we say about the United States, out of it looks like exactly what we thought? People are, shall we say, "really overweighed". People are cool, and people like rock'n'roll. For an American, rock'n'roll is like Aznavour in France, it's cultural. Young or old, everyone wants a guitar in his face. It's also the only country where the backliners who praise the instruments (and see it destroyed on stage) come to congratulate us after the show. A good rock'n'roll show ends here with a fight or a massive destruction.

Other way, the food is even worse that we previously thought! Everything is saltier or sweeter, and the eggs are completely white (not only the outside, even the inside of the egg is white, not yellow). During SxSw, Austin looks like a giant party. It's the "Fêtes de la Madeleine" (traditional fiesta here in Mont-de-Marsan) but in a rock'n'roll way. There is people everywhere in the streets, who have fun and dance to the sound of rock bands that play at 115 decibels on each corner bars. The result is an absolute cacophony, but it's wonderfully festive.

We've seen unknown artists playing all around as if their lives depend on it, they are all good, from the "Hendrix style" guitarist to the completely crazy marching bands. When you hear the supposed "French rock scene" after that, Izia and other crappy bands, it makes you cry or laugh. We'll prefer to laugh at it , it's in our nature. There's nothing surprising if Americans are better than us playing rock'n'roll : you have more chances to have good rugby players when you are a rugby country like France. In U.S.A, it's the same thing, but they don't play rugby, they're playing rock'n'roll.

That's just a little car...

So we played two shows in Austin : first one was in an amazing bar, the Rooftop 512, for the official SxSw. We met other very nice French bands, especially the Bewitched Hands from Reims. And the excellent Tahiti 80, which we were frequently compared because of our common abroad success and our similar careers. They're very cool, and even if we're not big fans of their music, we can say that at least these guys don't cheat. They are excellent musicians who really play everything on stage, no tapes !

(pic by Deborah Cannon)

The second show was at French Music Export Office showcase, where this picture and this amateur video have been taken. It was in Brush Square, in the middle of the town, for a show promoted by Michele and the other members of the French export office in U.S.A. Thanks Michele for your help and your support! We did a great show that day, in front of many professionals. It was hard, but after many insults, it happens even to raise one of them on stage. Malcom injured his hand because of an uncooperative cymbal, and he finished the show in pain. We also met that day the French band Revolver. They are charming people, dressed like Parisians, but very nice and very interesting. Tahiti 80 was there, still excellent. And the other French bands, well, what to say except .. they were well dressed.

AMATEUR VIDEO

That's what the guy from L.A Weekly has written after the show

We heard a lot of great things from the American audience. It looks like they like our sense of humour ("Fuck The White Stripes" could be a hit around here) and our style of music. We heard also the famous "it's rare to see a French band who can really rocks", a big classic sentence. A lot of people have recognized us on the street after the first show, and they laugh a lot about our "Fuck The Bass Player" T-Shirt! It's quite hard to get noticed in the middle of the 1300 (all good) bands playing at this huge festival, but it smells good. The New York CMJ promoter was there and liked the shows, it's cool : we will play there in October, but also in Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, San Diego... one month U.S tour. The only thing is that we have to bring some food with us, or we're all gonna die from a cancer.
:-)