Thanks so much to Jimmy Arfosea for the interview! Some weeks ago I was reviewing the OVVK Recordings Bandcamp as there were many releases available to stream by Les Autres. Then Jimmy got in touch and it was a superb opportunity to do an interview for the blog! Les Autres was one of the most important bands in the French indiepop scene of the 90s and released an album and a bunch of singles mostly on the label Cornflakes Zoo. It is then a good time to rediscover them, even more so as they do have a CD compilation with unreleased bits and bobs that is still available on Jigsaw Records.
++ Hi Jimmy! Thanks so much for getting in touch! How are you? You are not in Rennes anymore, right, but in Nantes, how come?
Hi Roque ! Pretty good thanks.
Oh actually i was the only member coming from Nantes. When i joined the band i was starting studies in Rennes. Rennes and Nantes are like twin cities only like 70 miles from each other.
++ I hear you are still making music these days with your band Ocean of Embers. Tell me a bit about this band? Have you released anything so far? Are there any similarities with Les Autres?
I started An Ocean Of Embers in september 2017 with Elsa Muller on vocals.
I lost myself in various projects during years from electronica to ambient post-rock but i wasn’t really satisfied with my productions apart of Extreme Shoegaze, the experimental project i made with my friends Pascal Riffaud and Camille Michel.
In 2012 i felt like coming back to shoegaze. I have a lot of demos that i’m now ready to finalyze.
There will be four digital singles before releasing an album. I self-released two of them on Ovvk Recordings and i’m looking for a real label to release the album on vinyl or CD.
The singles are available on Bandcamp : https://aooe.bandcamp.com/
And i’m currently working on a Moose cover to be released on The Blog That Celebrates Itself in August.
An Ocean Of Embers have probably similarities with Les Autres in the manner of building harmonic progressions. I have reflexes acquired during these years in the band.
++ Are you still in touch to this day with the rest of the band? What are you all up to?
Yes, specially with Olivier, the singer of the band. He released recently a very good indie rock album on Jigsaw Records with his new band Megrim.
https://jigsawrecords.bandcamp.com/album/pzl137-megrim-families
Morgan, the bassist, was in the excellent electronica/IDM band Mils in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. He also produced M83 who were fans of Les Autres in their teenage years. He has now an experimental electronic project named Bertùf, focusing on circuit bending recently.
David, the drummer, is a photographer now. I’m not sure if he’s still playing music.
++ I heard that Les Autres will be having exciting news very soon with a limited 7″ single coming out. Tell me about that! Which songs will appear on it? When was it recorded? When will it be available?
It’s out now ! It was released on Fissile, a label releasing only lathe cuts. Therefore it’s a very limited edition. The label is led by Stéphane from the band Acetate Zero, one of the best french bands in my opinion.
All tracks were the last ever recorded songs after our album in a period when we were including new influences in our music : slowcore, early post-rock, minimalism… The lead track sounds a lot like Slint’s Spiderland while the two other tracks sound a bit like Gastr Del Sol and Bark Psychosis. This last track is only available on the digital version of the single on Ovvk Recordings : https://ovvkrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/my-friend-henry
++ Let’s start from the beginning. Like what are your first musical memories? What was the first instrument did you get and how?
I can’t tell for the other members but the first vinyl i bought was Talk Talk’s It’s My Life in 1984 and the first indie vinyl i owned was McCarthy’s Keep An Open Mind Or Else. McCarthy is still one of my favorite band ever.
I bought a bass at the age of 17. I was working in a factory at that time and bought it as soon as i saved the money !
++ Had any of you been involved with other bands prior to Les Autres?
Actually the three other members met when they were only 16 or 17. They started to play under the moniker Stern. Their music was already very good in my opinion. Their style was Cold Wave but with a slight touch of Jangly Pop wich made their sound original and interesting. Some of their recordings are available on the band’s Bandcamp.
Meanwhile i was playing in a band in Nantes for which i wrote my first songs. After i moved to Rennes , three members of this band ended in a band called Crash who made an album and opened for House Of Love, BMX Bandits, The Frank & Walters…
++ Were all of you originally from Rennes?
All except me from Nantes.
++ How was Rennes back then? Were there any bands that you liked? What were the good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?
We were friends with the twee pop band Des Garçons Ordinaires and Guitare Boy who made a split flexi single with Stereolab. Also with In Sense, a band very Too Pure oriented musically who never released anything officially but whose members ended up with our bassist forming Mils.
Rennes was the city for indie pop in France in the early 90’s. A nice place to live with a lot of gigs in bars. The classical venue for indie gigs since the 70’s was Ubu and there was an indie record store, Rennes Musique, where local bands could sell their demos.
++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?
The other members started when they were like 16-17 years old, a few years before i moved to Rennes for my studies. Two of them were in the same school if i remember well.
As soon as i was in Rennes, i pinned an ad at university. The drummer saw it and they called me. The funny thing is that they wanted to recruit a female singer playing guitar and i was a male bassist. But it worked so well between us that we decided that i would learn how to play guitar.
Five weeks after my first gig ever on guitar we were supposed to open for Blur at Ubu but hopefully for me it was cancelled a bit later 🙂
++ Why the name Les Autres?
Nobody remembers how it was really chosen but i think it was by opening a dictionnary randomly.
++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?
During most of our career we had a rehearsal room where to play at least two nights per week.
Usually someone, most of the time Olivier the singer, would come with a basic chord grid and the song was built jamming around that base. That’s probably why our songs were known for having complex structures for a pop band.
++ And how did it happen that some songs were in French, some others in English? What came easiest to you?
On the studio demo the guys made before i joined the band (I’ve Lost Everything I Held) all the songs were in english. But Olivier was more cumfortable writing in french. After the first single we all agreed that english worked better on noisy pop. We all wrote lyrics for the band. In particular David, the drummer who was studying english. He would either write his own lyrics or translate Olivier’s ideas.
++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?
At the beginning of the band we were often compared to Pale Saints and The Boo Radleys. But our sound evolved dramatically a bit before our second single Hoppy, progressively being more influenced by american bands. And i would say that on the album the main influence was Codeine but also Idaho, Sonic Youth, Swell, Pavement, Gastr Del Sol, Shellac… Even Don Caballero !
++ Just out of curiosity, what would be your favourite all-time French indie bands?
I don’t know if you know that one : Carmine. They were fantastic.
Acetate Zero are great too and they’re still playing !
++ Your first release was a 7″ on Cornflakes Zoo (Zoo 1). Do tell me how did you end up signing to this label and how was your relationship with them?
In spring 1992, when our sound was evolving to shoegaze, one of our demos came to the ears of Martial Solis who was running the fanzine Onion’s Soup. He was living in Bordeaux and knew Stéphane Teynie, the owner of Cornflakes Zoo based in the same city.
Living in Rennes, we didn’t have a close relationship but things were working well between the label and the band.
++ This first 7″ was “Belle Est Ta Journée” that had two songs. It was recorded at Studio Son Colombier. Was it your first experience at a proper recording? And how did that go?
The other members already had an experience in studio before when they recorded I’ve Lost Everything I Held, a recording that i like a lot.
On the opposite i think that the sound on the first single was awful and the engineer did a very bad work. I have master copies on cassette and i’ll remaster this single soon as i’m in the process of remastering chronollogically everything we’ve done.
That bad experience in studio is the reason why we decided to record everything by ourselves after that. The second single which sounds far better was recorded in Olivier’s kitchen on a 4 track cassette recorder.
For the album we bought a 8 track tape recorder and recorded in the caves of a castle.
++ And do tell, who is in that picture of the sleeve?
Nice sleeve isn’t it ? I think she was the little sister or cousin of the designer. The sleeve is nice. We loved dit. Disappointed with the sound but at least the design was nice, in the like of Sarah Records.
The funny thing is that for the album cover, Morgan, the bassist, had a crush on that photography in an exhibition. Well, the photographer, a girl our age, actually photographed her little sister too.
++ Your second 7″ came out again on Cornflakes Zoo. Wondering how was your relationship with the other bands on this label? Did you happen to play with them often? Was there some sort of scene?
Yes there was a label festival two succesive years in Bordeaux and a in Paris shortly before the recording of the album. We played with most of the french bands of the label. Olympia and Des Garçons Ordinaires were from Rennes too.
++ Afterwards you released your album, “Le Retour À La Lune”, in 1994. How was the album received? Was it much different recording an album than the singles?
The album was pressed in 1994 and released in january 1995. It was well received by most of the press but the sellings were poor because the label ended in 1995 just after the release (it started again in 1998 with the release of Shrink by The Notwist).
Yes, you’re right it was very different. We wanted to have a total control on the sound so we recorded and mixed the album ourselves on that 8 track tape recorder. We knew that a lot of great albums, like the first Swell, were recorded on that kind of recorder.
We took our time to record the album, two months to record nine songs.
We wanted to experiment. That’s why there are tape samples on the album. And we wanted the album to sound coherent like a concept album, like a soundtrack.
Most of the engineering was made by Olivier and Morgan but all of us were involved and would give ideas on the sound, on how to set a guitar amplifier, how to equalize etc…
++ I keep seeing a trend with the art for your records, some evocative photography. Who took care of the art/design? Was it you or the label?
On the first single the label did the job. But on the second single and the album we decided everything about the artwork and Morgan did the design.
With the remasters i release on Ovvk Recordings i try to create designs that work with the artworks our records had in the 90’s.
++ There is a split 7″ with two other bands, Antiseptic Beauty and Mosaic Eyes on the Contrast label. I’m quite curious about this label as it was based in Belgium, which is not that common I’d say. Anything you could tell me about them? How did they contact you? Did you ever meet ?
The label was led by Thierry Nollet and Nicolas Cendrowicz. They were also involved in a european indie radios network. Thanks to them everything started for us because they recommanded the band to Martial Solis from the fanzine Onion’s Soup and who later played one of our first demos to Stéphane Teynie of Cornflakes Zoo.
This demo was our first shoegaze demo recorded in spring 1992 in an attic on the 4 track cassette recorder of Des Garçons Ordinaires. If i remember well ! This 5 tracks demo will be the next remaster i’ll release after the summer. Three of these tracks were re-recorded later for our first single and this split single on Contrast International.
Sadly we never met the guys of the label. We owe them a lot ! We were very happy to be on this split single. Mosaic Eyes and Antiseptic Beauty were excellent bands and so was the label.
++ Your last proper release came out two years ago on Jigsaw Records. It was called “Backwards” and it was a collection of bits and pieces from different releases and recordings. This is still available and it may be a good introduction for people to your music. How did this release came about many years after the band’s demise and why decide for this sort of compilation instead of perhaps one that included all your previous releases?
I contacted Chris of Jigsaw when i was looking for a label for my new shoegaze project wich wasn’t named An Ocean Of Embers yet.
Chris is not that much into shoegaze and i think that my project wasn’t ready at that time anyway and i didn’t even have a singer.
But when Chris heard that i’m an ex-member of Les Autres he told me that he remembered well the band and that he was interested in releasing unreleased material if there was some.
It was cool to see a CD release of the band 21 years after our last one. The only thing i regret is that the remasters i made weren’t as good as the ones i’m technically able to make now as i’ve studied sound engineering meanwhile. That’s why i remaster step by step all the band’s material on Ovvk Recordings.
++ What is Ovvk Recordings? I notice you have the intention to rescue old recordings of Les Autres and some other side projects? Where do these recordings come from?
Ovvk Recordings is a digital label i started in 2010 with a friend who makes music under the moniker Triton, a nice ambient electronica project. When we started we wanted to release music mainly from various electronic styles (IDM, Glitch, Drones…). But when i started the band Extreme Shoegaze and when my friend had to leave the label, i decided to focus on everything wich is related to noisy and experimental guitars.
Ovvk Archives is a sub-label where to release things that were related to Les Autres in the 90’s, side and solo projects and friends projects.
One of the next releases will be an excellent Guitare Boy demo.
++ One of this releasas is a CDR called “Ubu 1991”. I notice that you, Jimmy, don’t appear on the band credits. You weren’t in the band yet in 91? And how was that gig? how was that venue?
I joined the band in november 1991. I think that this gig was good for the band to increase their fame locally. The soundboard recording is excellent. Sadly we don’t have many live recordings like that.
++ Another one is “I’ve Lost Everything I Held” and “Garden” from 1991. I’m quite curious, why weren’t none of this Ovvk releases out back in the 90s? Or maybe they were in different formats? Maybe on cassettes?
Yes exactly. I’ve Lost Everything I Held was a demo tape, recorded in good conditions in studio. One of the best recordings of the band in my opinion. The demo tape was sold locally only and sent to venues and labels.
++ Then there is the “Stern EP” which dates from 1990 and that also you have released as a CDR. This might be the earliest recordings by the band? Or not? Are there earlier ones?
There might have been earlier recordings but i think that everything was lost…
++ Back in the 90s you were very involved in the tape compilation scene. You appeared on so many of them. How did that work out? How would one end up on these tapes? How was the process?
The first we were involved in was released by In The Limelight a local cassette label. It was ran by Thomas Leyrie who saw us on stage. We owe a lot to him too ! This label did a good job for the indie french bands in the early 90’s.
After our first single, labels would simply contact us to have us on tape compilations. There was this international network of tape labels owners, fanzines writers. All these people would write to each other. There was this « pen pal » spirit you know, thanks to fanzines mostly that would put people in contact, by leaving an adress or a phone number. It was before the internet. It was a nice period. Most of the time mails themselves were little pieces of art. Mail art.
++ And from the many tapes that you appeared which one would be your favourite?
My favorite tapes we were involved in would be Bedroom Palace on Lo-Fi Recordings and Shattered Fragments on Fluff because Hood were on them long before their success.
Whirl-Wheels on CD was great too. It was the first ever release on ShelfLife Records ! A must-have. We were happy to be on CD with Boyracer, Penelope Trip, They Go Boom !! Bands that we liked a lot.
++ There are a few that I would love to know more, probably you don’t remember them, but if you do, what do you know of the “In the Limelight” tape? Who were behind it? Or the “Garage-Flowers” one?
I told about In The Limelight. About Garage Flowers i don’t know much apart that the guy was german and Baby Talk was basically a fanzine if i remember well.
++ Then there’s a curious compilation called “Shopping in Rennes”. Is that an all Rennes bands compilation perhaps?
Haha exactly ! Emmanuel, drummer of Des Garçons Ordinaires made a remix of our song Outside My Ken on that one. Long after the end of the band.
++ Are there more unreleased songs by the band?
There are some unfinished songs, unreleased versions and one live soundboard recording from a Cornflakes Zoo festival. But almost everything that was recorded on demo or in studio was released in some form. Some were removed by me from the band’s Bandcamp because i now wish to release them in better quality, better remasters.
The remaining unreleased songs are unfinished demos or rehearsals. There are rehearsals of songs we were working on for a second album when our sound was evolving to Post Rock. I’ll release them someday.
++ There are so many songs by Les Autres, so wondering if you had to pick a top five of favourite songs by the band, what would it be and why?
Hmm , i’d pick songs from different periods then…
« Si Ridicule Maintenant », a song from our first shoegaze demo that i’ll release after the summer.
« Leave Me Alone » a shoegaze song wich was unreleased until the Backwards compilation.
I love the end of « Pourquoi La fin ? » on the second single, it sounds so tragic, very intense.
« Letterboxes Symmetry » wich is one of the highlights of the album in my opinion.
I love the album version of « Hoppy ». Love the idea that it’s a completly different version from the single. And a nice tribute to Codeine’s sound in someways.
++ Was there any interest from other labels? Maybe abroad?
Yes. From David of Liechtenstein Girl who was running the label Fluff where there were Aspidistra, Hood, Boyracer and his own band.
He took one track on his compilation Shattered Fragments and said he was interested in releasing an EP.
In the same period we had the opportunity to record in a 24 track studio at the University of Brest where a friend of us, Damien Bertrand, was studying sound engineering. He later produced the full lengh of Des Garçons Ordinaires and Clair, Newell…
The tracks we recorded there where probably the most shoegaze we ever made with the songs of Hoppy EP. They are on Backwards.
I’ll remaster all these tracks someday and put them together to make a coherent shoegaze album. The one that i think we should have released in 1993 on Fluff or elsewhere instead of releasing Hoppy and leaving the other songs unreleased.
++ What about gigs? Any anecdotes that you can share?
Yes. In february 1993 when we opened for The Wedding Present in Bordeaux.
Our van broke down on the highway outside Bordeaux and one hour before playing we were at fifty miles from the venue.
When we came on stage there were already hundreds of people in the audience and we had to set everything on stage in front of them. Five minutes later we were playing without having done a proper soundcheck.
But everything went well and David Gedge told us kind words on our music after the show.
++ I see a very cool live video of you playing at a venue called Le Flore in Rennes, 1994. Here you cover the Lavender Faction, that is amazing really. It is not that common to see bands covering obscure bands. Were you big fans? What other covers did you use to do? And what are your memories of that gig?
No particular memory of that gig as it was only a small one in a bar in Rennes. But sadly, it’s the only video existing on the band.
We loved The Lavender Faction. Their Ride EP was fantastic. A good exemple of Noise Pop at a time when people weren’t using the word shoegaze. From My Bloody Valentine to Lavender Faction, everything that had noisy guitars was Noise Pop or Noisy Pop, an evolution of post punk through Anorak Pop etc…
Among the obscure bands we loved The Becketts, The Charlottes, The Nightblooms and many others.
During our career we only made three covers : Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix, Who Loves The Sun by The Velvet Undergroud and Ride by The Lavender Faction.
Sadly we never made a proper recording of this cover. There’s only an unfinished demo with no vocals.
++ And were there any bad gigs at all? Any anecdotes you could share?
Yes. A very good gig actually. The same month, in march 1994, we played at Arapaho in Paris for the Cornflakes Zoo Festival. I remember that we were reaching a very, very good level on stage as you can guess on this video in the bar. That gig in Arapaho was just perfect and we were very sober on stage. By sober, i mean like most of shoegaze bands we wouldn’t posture at all. The music alone would do the job. And our sound was perfect. In this period, the last year of the band, a soundcheck would last 10 minutes. We only had to play two or three chords and the sound was perfect. We had very good settings. I remember seing Codeine doing a soundcheck like that. John Engle playing two chords, Stephen Immerwahr singing La Vie En Rose a capella and it was done.
++ When and why did Les Autres stop making music? And what happened immediately after?
The album was released in January 1995 and in April Stéphane of Cornflakes Zoo told us he was cancelling the label. We were discouraged.
Morgan was already playing with Mils and David wasn’t satisfied with the way we were taking musically. He wanted to play something simplier, just something pop. Only Olivier and I wanted to carry on but we were so discouraged after putting so much energy in producing an album that we liked…
++ And have you been involved in any other bands after the demise of Les Autres?
Morgan made several albums with Mils, a band we became friends with.
And let’s say that Olivier and I are back with Megrim and An Ocean Of Embers. I’m very happy that it happens now in a period when people show interest for what we’ve done in the 1990’s.
In the 2000’s i lost myself trying to play IDM without any device, only softwares. It was a waste of time really.
But in 2010, everything started again when i started Extreme Shoegaze with my friends Camille Michel and Pascal Riffaud. It’s an experimental guitar band. I’m proud of this project. We’ve done good stuff.
++ Did you get much attention from the radio or press?
Not really. There was this magazine Les Inrockuptibles leading the french musical press. They hated french bands singing in english. So most of french indie bands were condemned to remain underground in France.
++ What about from fanzines?
Fanzines were cool. The exact opposite. They were a great support for bands like our. And they wouldn’t lose their time writing about bands they don’t like. They were positive, all the time.
++ And today, aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?
I have a passion for the golden age of cinema from the beginnings to the 70’s. I’m an absolute fan of Andreï Tarkovsky who is, i believe, one of the greatest artists of all times.
++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?
Hard to say. We didn’t really have an highlight…
++ Never visited Rennes (though I did stop by the train station on the way to Mt. Saint Michel) but would love to go one day, maybe I can ask for some suggestions? Like what are the sights I shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks I should try?
Haha, you should go to Brocéliande between Rennes and Vannes. It’s the forest of Merlin The Wizard ! And eat some crèpes 😉
++ Thanks again Jimmy! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I only want to thank you too Roque ! Thanks for the invitation. And people, check out An Ocean Of Embers and Megrim ! And Les Autres re-releases of course 🙂
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Listen
Les Autres – Ce Moment-Là
