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WORDS MONISHA RAJESH | PHOTO © FLORENT DRILLON
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TRAVELLER
PARIS
Get your dancing shoes on, folks.
The best band you’ve never heard of,
Caravan Palace, is back. Four years after
their eponymous first album accrued
a cult following for its unique blend of
electro swing and gypsy jazz, the quintet
is embarking on a tour, playing dates and
festivals across Europe – with a second
albumout to boot.What’s the inspiration
behind their crazy fusionmusic?We
caught up with the band’s violinist,
Hugues Payen, to find out...
Is it good to be back?
“We went a year and a half without playing
any concerts, so when we did some at the
end of last year, there was a real feeling
of liberation – especially during our
concert at La Cigale, where we found that
ambiance particular to Paris: amixture of
attentive listening and unbridled energy.”
Is your new album, Panic, very different?
“We’ve tried to vary the genre and take
it down some unexpected paths. The
concerts we did for the first album
made us understand our strengths and
weaknesses, so we’ve tried to develop the
former and rectify the latter.
“The basic concept is the same: tomix
electronic and swingmusic. Production
has developed dramatically since
our first album, so we’ve had to really
think about a newway to produce this
combination, while keeping the sound
and characteristic energy the public like.”
How did the band come together?
“Charles (bass player),Arnaud (guitarist)
and I were originally producing electronic
music, but we also played gypsy jazz at
bars and weddings.We were trying to find
a way to combine our two passions when
a filmproduction company asked us to
provide a soundtrack to a 1920s silent
movie. Our friends really liked what they
heard and
voilà
!We recruitedAntoine and
Zoé viaMyspace.”
Are you all similar in style?
“Our musical backgrounds are quite
different: one is largely classical and rock,
another funk, then jazz and even ska,
which shows that our collaboration feeds
off our differences.”
Who inspires you?
“Our influences come frombetween
the 1930s and 1950s.We’ve got a real
weakness for American swing and we’ve
liked gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt
As Parisian electro-swing trailblazers
Caravan Palace
return to the stage this month
with a new album, we find out why they’re tipped to be the hot sound of 2012...
Kings of Swing
Q+A
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