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One day we saw that word pop-up everywhere.
And at first I didn't get that it could had something to do with us,
or that we were included in it.
It's a new word for us...
Because we started to do this style of music in 2006-2007.
But it did not have that name.
And then suddenly we woke up in 2012-2013 with the Synthwave tag.
And: "Oh ok, we're in it".
So yes, it's music made with synths.
- And waves. - And waves.
The big question!
I see Synthwave as...
...the illegitimate child of Metal and New Wave,
who did also some shady things with Electro at the same time.
It's a kind of melting pot of different musical styles.
And that's why it actually works, because it resonates with everyone.
There is no need to have a musical education,
or to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the 80s to enjoy that sound.
I've been lucky, due to my age, to live in that time.
The catalyst for Synthwave is nostalgia
and the visual aesthetics of the 80s and cinema as well.
Many LP covers of Synthwave, what they describe
and what they're reaffirming is an aesthetic.
And I think this is what people like.
Grid backgrounds, like the movie "Tron",
these gradients and colours especially in lilac tones,
those cities you see on the horizon, at night,
with neon lights and billboards, like in "Blade Runner".
I think the graphic design, the art,
is a first step especially for underground artists
as they need to catch your attention quickly.
The movie, if it got an impact on many things,
it was because it defined a type of sound.
I was waiting in my heart for a director who says to himself:
"Oh wait, there are guys doing this kind of music“.
Electric Youth and us, we were contacted
shortly before the movie was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival.
It was really important for all of us to be on that soundtrack.
That's the magic of cinema: it's forever.
It's a song that's going to last.
For people like us who love cinema, it's the ultimate dream.
I think it made it ok for people
to love pink neons and the cities at night.
I love cities at night.
I think we're doing a little bit too much about ”Drive...
When media outlets discovers something for them it's new.
But people making music with synths, it's not really new.
But I think it was the trigger, because the song was a hit.
And then people were like: "Hey, why don't we do the same?“
I'm probably too old and stupid but I hate the Internet.
In a way, it has killed the concept of criticism.
I mean, everybody says what they think on the Internet.
And there are people who share their opinion with you,
even if no one has asked them to do it.
It becomes a big circus. People insulting, morons, you know?
I was not a user on MySpace.
Something happened in Myspace?
We always come back to Kavinsky. "Testarossa Autodrive", there you go.
We are so in the "Me, I" era.
"I do this, I'm better than you. I have more likes than you".
"I have more fans, I have It becomes stupid.
I don't care what you're doing or eating.
I'm only interested in your music.
I've always thought that music existed on its own,
and discovering who is making it will not make it better.
I can take this off and you can put a light on me,
but I don't think the interview will become better because you see my face.
Nowadays technology is allowing us to reach the listener very quickly.
So you think to yourself:
"I'm going to do it myself because I have all the tools".
"I have YouTube tutorials, the computer and virtual instruments".
"I don't have to wait for a label or someone, to give me a chance".
And what has really been created
it's a movement coming from the artists, not from any label.
It wasn't an executive, it wasn't the industry.
The artists themselves are the ones
who have created this movement in the digital era on the internet.
I do not want to sign with a label. I want to do it on my own.
Maybe Synthwave artists,
we are the last rebels of the Internet 2.0.
You know? Just like: "Fuck you".
I was playing saxophone,
and trying to do music and have girlfriends.
I didn't have a girlfriend, for sure.
In those years, my musical culture was much more techno,
I listened a lot to Underground Resistance, Jeff Mills,
Fumiya Tanaka...
I would go to quite a few technos parties,
And then Daft Punk in 1997 releases "Homework",
which is a cornerstone of all this.
"Homework", when you open it, the artwork is their childhood bedroom.
That's the intention, really "Around the World", all those tracks.
It's already a little nostalgic.
I don't know...
Maybe that was new music made for dancing.
It was...
And it's true that the French Touch...
only the French knows how to do it, you know?.
Musically speaking, I'm not a fan.
I find it loops too much. It's very repetitive.
Well, that bores me.
You should really dance to it, and I don't dance.
Sorry guys. You're gonna get your ass kicked.
It was cheesy!
Even Queen specified "No synthesizers" on one of their albums!
People were ashamed of using synths.
But I think it was because there were so many pop songs
done with the DX-7 synthesizer sound.
"Boys, boys, boys”, Sabrina, stuff like that...
It was hell on earth! But not the cool one.
And suddenly I think, synths, nobody could take it anymore.
We had to go back to something electric. That comes out of an amp.
That's badly played, and who smells like sweat...
...and piss.
I think that NIN in the 90s, they have influenced as much
as John Carpenter, but nobody says so
or it's not assumed as a fact. I don't know.
I think that unconsciously I put it in my music.
I think a lot of people put it in their music too.
They just are not aware.
They are stuck in this dogma: "We are in the 80's decade".
I didn't know electronic music.
I was making metal music. I was a guitar player.
I've just quit a metal band that didn't work well.
It was an impulse. I wanted to make music.
And the best way to do it, it was alone.
And the best way to accomplish this was to do electronic music.
How old was I in the 90s? I was 15-16.
So I had to be a rebel against something.
So I listened to metal, and it had to be the most violent.
Cannibal Corpse, Brutal Truth, things like that.
I was probably procastinating, like any 15 years old kid.
- It wasn't as easy to make music. - Yes.
To have synthesizers you needed money, you needed gear,
- you needed a place. - A studio.
It was really hard.
Our music was born due to the democratization of music making.
When I bought my first personal computer, that was it.
Everything changed.
We could make music in our bedroom.
I used Fruity Loops, for Christ's sake!
There you go.
I think people were very willing to forget what happened before,
we were in this state of mind:
“We'll move forward and make better movies, better music...
But there's a blockage, something that doesn't work anymore.
And people look behind, and say to themselves:
"There was something cool in the 80s. I really like neons".
I too had this effect so I watched tons of films,
I watched everything. "The Goonies", "Gremlins",
"Scarf ace", the "Rocky" and "Rambo" saga... Everything.
And I realized that it's true. There is something attractive.
We want to be there.
We don't want to be sitting in front of our shity television,
eating expired chips.
We want to be in "Back to the Future", in the "Delorean".
I grew up in a housing project, and I think
it has really influenced my culture.
There were several housing projects like that in France
and they were somehow modelling the US housing ones.
With the school, the supermarket, everything in one place.
And as we watched TV shows,
somehow we felt like we were in California.
But no, we were in the suburbs of Nantes.
The Walkman! You were carrying your cassettes and a pencil to rewind them.
When you are growing up, it's your best time.
When you're a teenager, and you're discovering everything.
If you know what I mean.
And when you get older, life is actually less amusing.
So you try to put yourself back in the moments that made you happy.
For me, it's the 80.
This is what is called in France “Proust's madeleine...
There is a little smell, right? Like when you used glue pots.
Well now, if you smell that glue,
it automatically reminds you when you were in primary school.
"Star Wars", "Robocop , Predator", "Terminator".
"Ghostbusters". I got some bottles of water, and a piece of wood,
and I went to school like: "Yeah, Ghostbusters!“
In fact, that's what I wanted to do later as a profession.
Ghost hunter. I thought it was cool.
I told you there was a dinosaur!
I'm still a newbie.
I'm discovering things everyday.
I wasn't born in the 80s! but I love films from that era.
"The Goonies", the old "Star Wars" and all that stuff.
There was "Miami Vice"?
- Who was the composer? - I don't remember.
I'm very cold.
For me it's timeless, it's a movie that hasn't aged.
It's a film that is beautiful. Everything is perfect.
The score it's so... extraterrestrial.
It's sounds we've never heard before.
And even today when I listen to the Vangelis score,
I don't know anyone else who has done that. Nobody.
And I know many who tries it. Including me.
I think about horror films, and I think of John Carpenter.
He creates melodies that stay in your head... forever.
I relate to his attitude, back in the days.
"I don't have an studio that's gonna help me,
I'm all by myself, but I'm gonna find a way".
It's like: "Fuck you all".
There was Tangerine Dream,
but they were more focused on live performances
with amazing shows in cathedrals and everything.
And then they started to work with Hollywood on film scores.
And I think that's where the link between
synthesizer music and the visuals was born.
Technically, I was not alive.
It's true that
most of those who listen to Synthwave were not even born then.
So, I wonder how you can be nostalgic of something you did not know.
For me, the only nostalgia, that would be
that I thought life was cooler in the 80s.
People seemed less stressed... everything were more colourful...
Colour doesn't exist anymore nowadays. It's all gone now.
I don't expect people, when listen to my music
to go: "Fuck, the eighties were so great"
Because that's not really the goal of my music.
For me the 80s, it's a theme, a tool, but not the absolute meaning.
But it's true that there are people who come and say:
"It's not 80s enough what you do".
It makes me laugh. I don't know. They don't get it.
For me Synthwave it's the perfect tool to say: "It was better back then".
But I don't know if it was better. I don't think so but...
It's just music. The rest, it's pointless. You can't explain that.
You want people to listen to it, and if they like it you go:
"It's great folks, we meet in a common ground".
"Have fun and never forget you are going to die".
End slate!