Pirat of the Venician

Is Tristan still playing piano ?
I mean : is it still a piano sound we hear ?..

Ross "Mac Gyver" Robinson created new sounds as piano textures, plugging this with that, through this, amplified like that, ... blablabla... Of course, the real sound of the piano is here.

But when I hear drums and piano now, I really think 2 guitars and 1 bass are playing. The frequencies are so full and large. There is no fuckin' use of a fourth member, in terms of sound.

In terms of artistic, it could be, of course, but it's different.


And with this sound, Tristan can really feel like a musical pirat. His grunge and crappy trousers make him really look like he was one. And now he's one, playing on an old alien piano on the ghost giant woodboat.
Yohan even built him a flag on his piano !

And we reached the shore many times yesterday. "Broken Army",
"After You",
"Amen"
"Kill me twice"...

Fire at will !

Tesh

He's the guy.
7esh.
Or Tesh.
Or Terence Chevrin.

This guy is a video clip / movie maker. He took care of our "Die For Me" video clip months ago. And now, he IS a real big part of this big adventure we're living with MOPA.
Tristan (most of the time) is shooting the videos. Pierre RED Ollier takes care of the rushes. Then Tesh makes the MAIN part of the work. Aaaaaaall the video making process.
And you can see the results !

Video "M.O.P.A. - The Recording Sessions with Ross Robinson / Chapter One"
-> CHECK THE M.O.P.A. MySpace PAGE

You'll also see the making of the process of the album with pictures, sounds, and people moving, living, laughing, crying, and yelling !
I would like to say THANK YOU to Tesh, for all the work he's doing. The result is awesome, in terms of "video making"...
I mean in terms of artistic, it's up to you to think if our music sucks or not, and if we're stupid or not totally ;-)

Go check the video and hail to Tesh !

We are the messiahs !!!!! ;-)

We often hear about our stuff that we play elitist music. We are "elitist musicians", we consider ourselves as the "new messiahs" of the "new revolution". We "think we are the best musicians ever" blabla... I exagerate a little bit. But the idea is here. We hear that sometimes.
So know one thing :
IT IS TRUE !

We are Jesus and you'll drink our blood and eat our body to save your mind from MTV !

No, I'm just killing !
Don't drink our blood. It's not that fat free.
We're not Jesus or messiahs. We just write songs called "Amen" ;-)
MTV is cool. Blink rules.

Hum...
So.
I think things like that don't happen when you're a band with a usual line-up, usual instruments, usual "standing" ! Because we break a few rules, even without having the willing to break them, we may be seen as pretentious and elitist.
But it's not that evident.
Even if I think that elitism can be a good thing for "Music" and "Art" in general, it's not the feeling of the MOPA's...
To be clear, I obviously think that our music is fucking cool, and fucking original. Yeah. That's true. I won't lie. I could even say I'm proud of it !
But people who know us know too that we are really more simple, wiser, and more human than what can be imagined sometimes... we can also be so fucking stupid... as on these photos. (our new "metal" press pictures ! © Pierre RED Ollier !)

I could even say I'm proud of that too ! ;-)

Piano : Day #1

We went to see what remains of Indigo Ranch yesterday. As some must know, the Indigo Ranch was the mythic place Ross was used to record all the huge artists he took care of. But some months ago, all the landscapes of those amazing californian mountains near the sea burned in main fires.

I'll show you the pics of this place in a few days.

Now go back to the MOPA stuff cause Tristan will begin the piano recordings today. Ross is so excited to record a real and exclusive pianist ! At the moment, we're checking all the songs, editing here a snare drum, there a drum break, just to be sure Tristan will feel the music as Yohan felt it. So he mustn't be upset by some drum parts he can not understand with his body. That's what we're doing. Making the acting parts of the music happen together and naturally.

So he can forget his own body to live the music through the one of the lifeform he will create with Yohan.

Universal

Thursay was a day off for us.
The editing work time is about to end. So...
Tristan & Marie-Laure decided to go to San Francisco.
Yohan, Nina and me decided to go to Universal Studios. To play the tourists. Cause we are ones, definitely.
This day was amazing. It was really great to get out the MOPA stuff out of our brains for a whole day. We even get out our brains out of our heads in Universal Studios ! Cause it's just entertainment there, you don't need to think, you don't need your brain.
But it's damn good sometimes.
"I'm just to fuckin' mental..." would have said someone else.

As you understood, our girlfriends met us here in L.A. to spend some time with us. That's so cool they managed to come. They managed to deal with their jobs, to find the money. Having them here brings so much peace of mind. We got almost all what we need : music, friends, sun, beach, ... and love.
It will be hard to let them go back in France...
It will be so cool to find them back in Toulouse in september...
But it will be so hard to find back our tiny tiny flats, 32 m2 style !!!

Peace of mind

You don't know how I feel when I'm playing music.

Maybe this sentence sounds totally hollow to most of you but the truth behind it is really not meaningless. I mean the peace of mind I get when I sing the MOPA songs reaches such a high level, that I think I only reach in a few other moments. Maybe when I'm with my girlfriend.
But it's not just a "good moment". I speak about "rare rare rare moments".
During a MOPA rehearsal, and moreover during a gig, my body speaks to my mind and says : "Hey, everything is fucking ok, here. All your problems are fucking dead. They've gone away."

It's paradoxal to have such painful lyrics, and feel such a peace of mind with this music. But that's true and amazing. Music heals. Really.
I answered to an interview a few weeks ago, telling that when you live awful personal experiences, you got 2 solutions :
A. You kill yourself
B. You turn it into "art", to save yourself

I choose B.

Pierre RED Ollier

Pierre "RED" Ollier is a photographer. He's a journalist too. He's someone close to us. He's close to us even when we're in Los Angeles. Pierre lives in fact with us here at Ross's house.
He takes care of what will be printed for MOPA in the french medias. Of course, most of the french medias don't give a fuck about what happens here for us. But others do. The ones Pierre is used to work with ;-)
I will talk about Pierre longer in the next days I think.

Anchorage

MY OWN PRIVATE ALASKA - Anchorage
--------------------------------------------------

Bye
Even if I didn’t say it
Burn
First and last goodbye
Bold
Of having wanted to kill you
Bored
Of watching the same movie
In my head

I remember me in that room, waiting for the sleep to come, waiting for minutes, waiting for hours, waiting for days... Waiting for a miracle to wake up from this nightmare. Never stopping to say : "it’s not possible, it’s not possible, it’s not my life..."
Please take it and give it to the garbage truck. Please take this life and flush it in the toilets. Throw it into the ocean. Burn it all. Bury it six feet under. Give it to your worst enemy.

Give my life to your worst enemy.
Oh no...

I remember me under this public bench . Like a tramp. Like a motherfuckin’ tramp. Drinking alcohol and alcohol. Eating pills and pills. Mixing it. Feeling my mind going crazy. Just to forget. I remember the cold. I remember the piss. I just learned about your crimes and I just wanted to die. Not even to kill you... not yet. I just wanted to die, and you were laughing.
Drinking for other reasons. I remember what you never saw. What you’ll never see. What you’ll never remember.
What you never saw. What you’ll never see. What you’ll never remember...

What you’ll never remember...
Oh no...

Then I wanted to kill. I wanted to kill you. I wanted to kill them. I wanted to kill the Earth, and after to kill me. I got the picture of you naked. I got the picture of you sucking cocks. I got the picture of you with all theses bastards... I got the picture of you asking my friends to fuck. I got the picture of you lying to me.

I got no more pictures of you now...
No more pictures
No more
Oh no...

Bye
Even if I didn’t say it
Burn
First and last goodbye
Bold
Of having wanted to kill you
Bored
Of watching the same movie
In my head

So now thank you
Thank you so much bastards
All the cum you sent on her face was like the fuel I need to reach Anchorage

Reaching Anchorage...

Reaching Anchorage...

Reaching Anchorage...

Reaching Anchorage...

Reaching Anchorage...

Reaching Anchorage...

Reaching Anchorage...

Reaching Anchorage...

Reaching Anchorage...

Reaching Anchorage..."

To give - gave - given

The last day for the drums was in fact a last night.
Yohan had to do 2/3 songs in a day. At 11 pm, 3 songs were recorded. I personly thought we deserved to go to bed. Especially Yohan, cause he just hurt his finger really really bad. There was blood everywhere on his snare drum head and on his short. We're used to that on our gigs, but like that... But Ross wanted him to continue to play. "The fire" was "on the room", as he said. He didn't know how deep Yohan cut himself but the record had to be finished this night. He felt it. Ross said : "Guys, let's play another song. Now." Yohan went directly in the studio : "Allez !". He was on fire, indeed ! I just wanted to sleep and I had to scream for 2 more songs ! It was quite funny !

The fact is Ross was absolutely right to tell us to finish the record this night. Yohan played with something else than his own arms, his own hands, his own body. He was moved. Moved by the lyrics. By Ross. By the inner discussions we have, telling each other how intense was the experience we were living together, and between us as brothers.
As a symbol, the last 2 songs were "Die For Me" and "My Girl". I think I never lived "Die For Me" more truely than this night. I never lied less. So did Yohan. So did we all.

Ross said we reached a "much much higher and awesome level of emotionnal power", discencumbered from our fake gimmicks, our technical obsessions, our physical limits, and our musician habits. I hope he's right. If I played in MANOWER, I would say "I know he's right". lol

But we were just happy to live our songs with the greatest happiness and peace of mind we've maybe never ever known playing music. Happy to give it. To everybody. To ourselves. To the living ones and to "the faithful departed". We gave it. Now this music isn't ours anymore.

Nihilism

"MOPA is nihilist".
Waouh... Hard to be nihilist in Venice Beach.
People never like to hear to we don't like people. We understand that easily. But it's not that simple with MOPA. People often see us different as what we are. Maybe we're sometimes mistaken in what we show. All the angry stuff, misanthropic style on stage, all these lyrics, all the pain, spitted on everyone's face like a fist on the nose...
We've got no problems with people. Even with whole society. We use it. We feed from it. We even like or love a lot of people. All the ones who help us, who make us laugh, who move us, who make us think, who make us feel alive. There are a few, but they exist !

And we now how to get blind to some parts of society to stay happy, to stay honest, to stay deep.
And we now how to get deaf to some people not to get crazy listening to them.

But don't lie to us... You feel happy seeing our world with a little bit of distance ?
Be honest.
When you see G. Bush and N. Sarkozy, you feel happy ?
When you talk to people addicted to FOX NEWS & TF1, you think the world is aware ?
When you see military cars in the street, you feel peaceful ?
When you buy a sandwich 8E on a highway, you think all is right ?
When a fucking chemical factory bursts off in your town, and it's nobody's fault, you think all is fuckin' right ?
When you read fuckin geeks on websites, who think they're the new intelligentsia of the modern world and who get their dirty clothes to be washed at mummy's house the same time, don't you want to kill sometimes ?
When you watch the music on TV, don't you want to put a baseball bat in it ?

When you read blogs, don't you want to run in big fields, make love, breathe on a large beach, close your eyes facing the sun, dive into the water, get back at the surface and then south your joy ?
Do it.
It's still not forbidden.

Supersize me

XL, XXL, XXXL, XXXXL... There are sizes here we don't know the existence in Europe. Everything's bigger. Yes. That's true. But I must confess that in Venice / Los Angeles, it's not the "Supersize me" vision of the USA that gets on my mind first.

Of course, it's fun and weird to choose a simple salad at the restaurant, not the "gargantuan" one, and to have so many difficulties to finish it ! 

Of course, it's amazing to buy a "one gallon" bottle of apple juice. To buy daily a half-gallon bottle of milk. To ask every time the small size in every fast food, in every smoothie bar, in every StarBuck Coffee.

BUT, BUT, BUT... I must confess that this place is full on veggie places. Or healthy food stores. Vegetarian restaurants. Fast food specialized in organic fruits / vegetables coming from "organic" farms. This word is everywhere here. "Organic". It's what the european companies call "Bio". Venice Beach is such a place for independant / alternative artists, freaky people, new-old-new beatniks, rich ecologists, bodybuilders... Those people are also fond of healthy food. Of course, you can eat "supersize" all day long.  But you can eat normally if you want to.

And if your wallet wants to too...

Cause here more than everywhere else, eating well is expensive.

Editing Time

Now the drum is done, it's "editing" time.
For the non-musicians, the ones who don't know who it usually works in studios : after having played our the instruments, the musicians check with the ingeneers every hit, every sound, on each tom, on each cymbal, on the computers that recorded the stuff. And sometimes of course, they touch them to make them sound better, with the faaaaaaaaaamous software "Pro-Tools".

It's amazing how some studio producers, and even some musicians, use this magical software till the music doesn't sound anymore like a human playing ! When you listen to some of the "MTV stuff", some brutal indus or death-metal bands, or some kind of crappy bands who play like shit, you can hear the using of Pro-Tools... on the drums, on the guitars, and on vocals of course.

When you listen to most of the bands recorded by Ross Robinson, it's not what you hear. And now we understand why.

Ross wants to hear humans. Listen again to your "Life Is Peachy" from KORN... Listen again to the vocals from the last THE CURE, from GLASSJAW, or from the massive "Roots" of SEPULTURA... Listen to the drums of TEAM SLEEP... Listen to the guitars of AT-THE-DRIVE-IN...

The war versus Humans and Robots, as said NORMA JEAN

Drums : Done

Yohan did it.
It seems everything is in the box. All the drum parts. This guy is amazing... He was so "on fire", as said Ross. And moreover, he touched something different, something more.
You know, during a show, every musician will feel a moment better than another one. On 10 songs, for example, you will maybe feel something really really strong and particular on 2 / 3 songs. I mean something really deep... When Ross talks to us before recording, it's with the intention to re-create this magic moment, but without doing 8 songs before.
When Yohan played, we were everytime playing with Tristan. He had to feel us, as support, as friends, as guys on the same boat. He had to go into the song, the meaning of it. The lyrics. The pain inside of them sometimes. Often. Then the salvation through them. After them. He had to touch something immaterial, something spiritual, not to just play the songs.
His body had to live the songs. Forget his parts. His technical habits. How he is supposed to hold his sticks, to hit the snare drum, to behave as a drummer. He had not to worry about that.

I personaly think that you must be a huge huge huge drummer to be able to do that. I mean you need to have a huge technical background to be able to just play with your instinct... and stay in the tune, in the rythm, in the vibe !
But he did it.
I'm so proud of what he has given. Of how deep in himself he has dug. Of how he gave himself in the lyrics, in my stories. In my story. Singular. And God knows how close he had to be part of some of this fucking story. God knows too how honest he was when he gave himself to me when I needed him, when he wanted to solve all my problems, when he wanted to be the part of the solution, and not be part of the problem. You've never been the part of the problem, guy. It wasn't you. Never feel guilty about that. Never.
You're the good guy, not the bad girl.

Yohan, when he plays drums, is quite never the part of the problem neither. ;-)

Another world

The MAYHEM Festival is one of the Summer US Festivals. There are several festivals like this one, that go through America, making 40/50 gis in july - august.
For example, the site of this one is 2x the "Eurockeennes de Belfort" or the "HellFest" for our french readers. Everything's bigger here. The bottle of apple juice. The toilet paper. The people... and of course the festivals.
It's fun to be in the VIP place and see Dino Cazares (FEAR FACTORY) here, Roy Mayorga (SOULFLY) there, Ray LAUZIER, the new live drummer of KORN over there ("really calm and cool", said Yohan), and of course, the guys that played during the fest, Robb Flynn & Dave Mac Lain (MACHINE HEAD), the guys of UNDEROATH (really really intense and true on stage !!!)... and all the guys, 2 meters high, with the beard of ZZTOP and the belly of POPA CHUBBY, with tattoos and sunglasses... This is America !
Ross, there, was seen as a half-God. Everyone was trying to talk with him, hug him, joke with him... It must be hard to make the difference between honesty and opportunism, when you're that famous. Especially in that "metaaaaal" sphere.
Thank him he helped us to survive in that strange huge world, made of decibels storms, expensive cheeseburgers, HxC skinheads, devil's children, old porn stars, and well well well organized security people !

Rainbow warrior (!)

I'll talk about our crazy day in Devore / San Bernardino, CA, next day.
I just wanted to talk about things we hear it although we're so far away from everything we knew... Things we hear through friends and families, and coming from anonymous guys, maybe enemies, or from even other friends or so-called ones !
These things are about the fact of just being here. MOPA recording in L.A. with Ross Robinson... We add Ross on MySpace. He listened to the songs. He fell in love with the music. He wrote us as I quite never do, and so we began to think at recording together. That's amazing how this story brings us so many cool things, and the same time, so many bad words, bad things.
Bad stuff, from people we don't know and who love to hate MOPA, and sometimes from people we know. Sometimes, friends don't send us bad things. But they just can not be happy for us. We feel that.
There are people who feed you with their support, their joy, their inner frankness, their positivity. And there are people who make you feel strange inside, like guilty of the luck we have, guilty of all the work we've done to make this possible too ! Guilty of having an american producer convinced in the "spiritual power" (as he says) of our music. Guilty of having, after so many motherfucking awful personal things this year, a bit of luck. Maybe lots of luck. Yeah. We're lucky. That doesn't mean we haven't worked for that. That doesn't mean we have neither... but... we're lucky. And knowing that I scream like a pig in all the microphones of France since 1996, I'm happy to be lucky today. Yeah, that's cool, I'm a happy man today, motherfuckers.
But I will not feel guilty for anyone. I will not accept all this shit sent on our face. I will not be moved by any pathetic geek behind his screen. I will not even go to see that. I will refuse to see the jealousy around me. Cause that's what this is built on. I will forget all the strange things I heard before going in America. I will even stop to call anyone "motherfucker". Cause noone is still a motherfucker here. The motherfuckers become through our eyes people in pain, people lost in their inner fight, people who missed their enemies, people who think the world hates them, people so scared of life, and what they hide inside. I can even say I agree to help you. Just if you want to. Cause I know you need help.

Now is what we always did. We just make music. We work for that. A lot. Me, I write lyrics. I sing. And I got 2 friends. One on drums. One on the piano.
If you like it, enjoy. If you don't, enjoy life.

Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival

Slipknot, Dragonforce, Mastodon, Sevendust, Airbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, 36 Crazyfists , Machine Head, Black Tide, Suicide Silence, The Red Chord, Walls of Jericho, Disturbed, Underoath...
That's what we're going to see this evening. It's even going to start in the afternoon indeed...
We'll also work only this morning for the record, and then a little pause... with a maximum of sound ! But we deserve this break. 3 songs yesterday in the box for Yohan : "Amen", "Ode to Silence", and "Ego Zero".
Of course, we go there cause Ross is close to some MACHINE HEAD & SLIPKNOT guys, but it will be really cool to see MASTODON ! And see again this rare woman from WALLS OF JERICHO, and check what is UNDEROATH on stage. And we'll also see the new songs of the album of SLIPKNOT.

It reminds me you can see funny things in Ross's house ;-)

Mental Surgery

I didn't get the time to write the diary yesterday. Cause this last day was a big day. We recorded 3 songs. The drums of Yohan were reaaaaally reaaaaall cool. "Kill Me Twice", "Just like you and I", and "I Am An Island".
Before each song, we begin with talking about the song with Ross inside the room.
What is it about ? What are the lyrics ? Are they true ? Do we feel them in our skins ? Do we lie in there ? Are we honest enough to sing that ? What does that mean ? Why ? Could I be the same motherfucker than the guy / the girl I'm talking about in my song ? We share our experiences on that. We tell what we feel deeply. Ross wants that. He's digging in us.
"I'm a dinosaur, somebody's digging my bones" as KING CRIMSON said. He wants to get the evil out of you, so you can see this shit, visualize it, and speak to it during the songs. He wants us to know deeply why we're going to do this song. The meaning of it. The feeling to express. The common feeling to express. The meeting of our three brains connected in a imaginary point in the middle of the room, and then talking to the sky, with a common voice. Ross wants us to live the song . Not to act it. Not to play it. There's nothing to intellectualize. It's not time for that anymore.
"You say you're in pain in your lyrics ? So, now, suffer, show me. Suffer." We must suffer with our souls, more than our bodies. Cause behaving like that, with a mental conditioning, means that you forget your body. Your throat, your hands, your feet become just a tool for music, connecting people to each other, connecting people to something higher above. Some say God. Maybe it's true. You can imagine something else if you don't believe in God, but you'll feel it. Something's higher is talking. Talking to your mind. Talking to your body. And you forget yourself. Words are coming out you don't know how. With a personal voice. With a personal strength.
You only know you're tired when you go back landing on Earth, which means when you go out of the studio. Then Yohan can feel he's gonna fall on the floor, cause his legs don't carry his whole body anymore... but before, he could have played the song 20 times, he maybe would have done it.
I didn't imagine how deep I had to dig inside of me to record these songs. How I had to involve my whole mind and body into this process. How I had to accept to change all of my musical bad habits to find a bigger truth.
Knowing that, I didn't imagine we would be able to do it.

Hollywood

We also went to Hollywood. Not for tourism. We didn't even make any tourism at all yet... So we took the cameras when we knew we were going there to buy drums kits elements and equipments for the recording. The "Guitar Center" is in fact a Drum Center too. When you come in, you first understand the original name... but when you go upstairs. It's drummer's heaven.
We also checked with Ross several cymbals, several hi-hats, several snare drums... in order to have the elements that would fit the best with the way of playing of Yohan. It was Christmas for him.
I'm so frustated... I'm a fucking singer, and I can not have 1000 guitars or 1000 drums as everybody... It's totally useless to have 1000 SM58 or stuff like that...
Have you ever heard of the famous microphones of Freddy Mercury ? Michael Jackson ? James Hetfield ? No... And it's normal.

Pedals, Plugs, Cables... and modern music

Chucky repaired the tape recorder ! Hail to "the Chuck" !
Today, the studio looks like a cables store. XLR, jacks, USB, SCSI, simple plugs, cables that I didn't even know the name nor the existence... What a mess ! Little green lights, red buttons, digital numbers... This is modern music, bad ass ! Without electricity, we're tiny tiny boys...
The most impressive things among all that stuff are the strange pedals, the weird pre-amp, the effects that Ross brought to try on our instruments. This is the Robinson touch. But at the end, the goal is only to reveal the great southern MOPA sound ! The one we look for since the beginning. The one we begin to work on with Baptiste B., the guy who made our first EP (hello guy !). The one we define during this summer with Ross as mentor. Something unusual (we hope) and personal.
On the 2 videos, you'll see Ross, checking his little tricky pedals with Lil Bush, his assistant, and then, giving his last advice to Yohan (here, on "Die For Me"), cause he wants him to begin to record drums now, cause, as he said about Yohan : "he's on fire...".
Let's burn

Java Monster

The "MONSTER" drinks are energy drinks. Most of people know that. But french people like us do not !... More tasty than the RedBull. But filled with sooooooo many strange and maybe dangerous things : Taurine, Strong Ginseng, Carnitine... Filled with so much shit... that I drink it... and love it !
We thank so much NORMA JEAN to be sponsored by this company. They left 1980497740 drinks in the fridge. Thank you guys ! But you will be able to get back the Coffee or Chai Tea flavoured ones, they're awful ! The ones with juice are really cool.
I think that Yohan really needs that shit at the moment. Ross is pushing him to the limits of his body. But they get further day after day. The MOPA drums sounds more intense, bigger, more massive, stronger day after day... A mix between the 70's prods... LED ZEP and DOORS style... and the 00's prods... His tom bass even sounds sometimes like the Igor Cavalera ones on Roots ! And sometimes, his drums sounds like the one of John Bonham or Jon Theodore from MARS VOLTA... Incredible.
Yohan is hungry all the time.
When I see him playing, I know why...

The paintings of Wes Borland

Wes Borland is not only a good guitarist. The one who used to play in LIMP BIZKIT, when they were one of the best neo-metal bands. Especially with their wild, dirty, and wonderful "Three Dollar Bill"...
Wes Borland is also a great painter. When we work in Ross's studio, on the computer, one of his painting is watching us. Here it is. It is at the same time disturbing, dark, strange and full of inner peace.
The other photo shows Ross and Tristan working on "Anchorage", the last song we wrote. Maybe one of the most extrem in terms of lyrics. One that teared my belly up when I wrote it. One I took so many hours to write... cause my fingers just didn't dare to write these words on a keyboard. Now, they're outside of me. Now they went through a mic. Now they're recorded. At least somewhere. I'll maybe post them soon.
End of therapy can begin.

"Let's talk... right..."

"Page of a Dictionary".
"Broken Army".
We worked on 2 songs yesterday.
I explained the first one to Ross. The fact of being tired of seeing all the metal bands, hardcore bands, rock bands, using words they don't even now the meaning. Bands who invent a story about themselves, coming from the guetto, coming from Brooklyn, coming from the favellas, coming from poverty.. But they most come from a quite neighboorhood, from the big house of mom and dad, from where grandma used to cook them their pancakes before rehearsals... They're "tough guy" in their dreams. They're in fact fagets, they're "little kid"s as Ross said. "They're afraid of the world, but most of all of themselves". That's why they use all the cliches to become others. The one that is not them. The one that seems to be cool, strong, beautiful, poweful. Ross liked the message of the song ! We're totally in it here... in France too... everywhere...
"So wipe your asshole with a page of a dictionary."



Thanx to JANE'S ADDICTION. We got back this tape recorder from them. The assistant of Ross, "Lil Bush" worked by the way on the last PERRY FARRELL record.

4th of July

Yesterday, it was the 4th of July. Independance Day. Special atmosphere. National feeling.
Americans are proud of their flag. But it's not obviously in a patriotic / nationalist way of thinking. But they belong to something they all share. And that is something. Whatever, on this day, everyone is lying in a grass, on the beach, with most of time a flag somewhere ! On houses, on clothes, on tshirts, on hats... even if that can be also ironic. That is fun and strange to see that.
But what is cool is that what counts for americans on 4th of July, is not as in France, the military guys showing their weapons in the streets, in front of the presidents, with all the official stuff... Here, the 4th of July is before other things a paaaaaarty.
So, we met guys from DROP DEAD GORGEOUS and FROM FIRST TO LAST, after having worked on new songs : "After You" and "Amen". It was really exciting to play unreleased songs to Ross, and to see his face listening to them !
And at the end of the evening, we were not even drunk... We're definititely not rockers !

Die For Me : #1

We wanted to play first "Die For Me" in Los Angeles. As a symbol. This song was the first we played together with Tristan and Yohan. I remember when we played it in the big but dirty Antistatic rehearsal local... The magic appeared. We felt it on our skins. We didn't know at this time if the line-up could work or not, cause it hadn't even been done before. Tristan played his classical compositions, Yohan knocked on his drum as if he was going to die, and I threw up my neurasthenic lyrics... and we just felt good.

So, we wanted to do the same in front of Ross. 

That's what we did. And then, after having talked with Ross about how deep could be this song, we

 played and felt. We felt deep deep things. Waoh... Maybe it's because of the deep Pacific Ocean beside.

But maybe not.

No, it's not the ocean...

From the first day I saw (him)

First rehearsal.

And then began the mental surgery. We spoke about that weeks ago with Ross. We were eager to see what he meant. And so we saw... Ross takes your brain, your guts, your heart, and confront them to reality. He wants your soul to be in the mic, in your sticks, on your piano. He wants a band to breathe together.

Let's suffocate.

Toulouse - Paris - Boston - Minneapolis - Los Angeles (part. 2)

When you arrive in Los Angeles from the sky, you think you'll land in a ocean. An ocean of lights. Neverending lights for a city that never ends. L.A. nevers stops. L.A. has nos borders... Lights, and lights and lights...

I was thinking in the plane that we were going to be a little, little, little part of it very soon, writing a little, little, little line in music history, but meaning for us a massive, massive, massive experience. For our lives and MY OWN PRIVATE ALASKA.

Here were are.

Welcome to Los Angeles.

Toulouse - Paris - Boston - Minneapolis - Los Angeles (part. 1)

Here we are.

We left France.

We'll see it back in 2 months...

When we were in Paris airport with Tristan, we were asking ourselves where we were going...

"Los Angeles"...

It's still a concept for us.

A town we read in the lyrics of bands we were fond of, when we were kids

A town we live by procuration

A town we dream in the movies

And now we go there.

We were anxious, thinking about the controls of Immigration Police. We were right to be !

We were not willing to bring 15 kgs of cannabis and 8 home-made bombs... but you know. When I meet police agents, I always feel guilty, even if I'm clean. My colleagues visited the offices of Immigration Control during 20 minutes in Boston and Minneapolis.

But the Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship, so there is no problem !