Published in Time Out Istanbul

December 2006

Forget the Shadows, there’s a new CD on at the hotel bar: postmodern French cover outfit Nouvelle Vague may well be the ultimate in contemporary irony for the young adults of the new Millennium, but their success over the last couple of years has proved that they are more than just a flash-in-the-pan cover band. While presenting their own dulcet brand of new wave and bossa nova versions of ‘80s electronica and punk anthems, the band are putting the revs back in revisionism. Simultaneously retro and avant garde, Nouvelle Vague, founded by musicians Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, are fresh from the release of their second album ‘Bande à Part’, a follow up to their first-rate eponymous debut. Praised by the likes of Blondie and Mick Jones, and declared better than Depeche Mode by none other than Depeche Mode themselves, chic-sters Nouvelle Vague couldn’t be more à la mode. Vanessa Able talks to Marc ahead of the band’s 9th December Istanbul gig.

Can you tell us a bit about the origins of Nouvelle Vague, and what your intentions were for the band when you first started out?

The main idea was to prove that all the post punk and new wave bands had actually written really beautiful songs. I was 14 in 1982, and I never listened to the likes of the Beatles when I was young: for me the classic pop songs were coming from newer bands like the Cure, U2, the Stranglers and Joy Division. I think that a lot of people have forgotten about the songwriting capabilities of these bands, as now we are more focused on attitude, sound and energy of the production; I wanted to show how these bands’ songs are beautiful when you keep only the words and the melody.

Were you surprised by the band’s success?

Of course: the first album was meant to be a project with my friends. I did the album for myself initially, because I wanted to hear the songs played in that particular way, and because I’m a big fan of all of these bands. I was sure that people in their early to mid-thirties would be quite interested in the project, but I didn’t expect at all that the new generation would be into it. What is interesting is that more and more young people are coming to the show, and I don’t really understand why! It’s very strange!

Because they don’t remember this music from the first time around?

Yes. There are a lot of people who like Nouvelle Vague, who don’t exactly know that we are a cover band. Of course, there are huge hits that are covers, like ‘Heart of Glass’, but they think that many of the other tracks are our material. In Paris, many people even think we are a British band: it’s very strange. Perhaps this is because we’re not a really typical French band, being signed to a British label and touring abroad a lot.

Can you tell us something about your new album, Bande à Part?

It’s a real follow-on to the first album, but we have tried to change the rules a little bit. We wanted to do something a little bit different from simply taking new wave and backing it on to Bossa Nova. I think it’s a more personal album, as I’ve really put a lot of my own personal ideas into the arrangements and the production. Plus, we feature a male singer. It’s the same idea as the first album, but I think this one’s very different, much richer.

Do you ever get feedback from artists whose music you’ve covered?

Yeah! In fact, we heard from most of the artists we covered on the first album: we met Mick Jones (from the Clash), we got some good feedback from Terry Hall from the Specials, from Martin Gore from Depeche Mode, the guy from the Dead Kennedys… It was very surprising and very good to see these people enjoy our covers. We also heard from Vince Clarke (from Depeche Mode). He really liked ‘I just can’t get enough’: he said he thought our version was better than the original.

And from the new album?

We got some good feedback from Blondie, from Debbie Harry for ‘Heart of Glass’…

Have you heard from Bono yet?

No, no, not at all! (laughs) But most of the time feedback is indirect, or we get it a long time after the event. Sometimes we just meet people by chance: recently when I met Terry Hall one month ago in London. He was doing a DJ set and we were due to play after him, so it was a good opportunity to talk. He said he really liked what we did with ‘Friday night…’ and that he wanted to come to our show and sing with us.

Have you ever played together with a band you’ve covered?

Only with the guy from Tuxedo Moon. He joined us on stage in San Francisco to sing ‘In a manner of speaking’.

There are quite a number of female vocalists associated with Nouvelle Vague. Do you all tour together?

Most of the time, we just bring two singers. There are two different possibilities: there’s Mélanie (Pain) and Phoebe (Killdeer), and there’s Gerald (Toto) and Marina (Celeste). It’s really a question of budget, and we do a lot of gigs, so it’s almost impossible to have all four singers on at the same time.

So which of your singers can we expect to see in Istanbul?

Mélanie and Phoebe.

This will be your second time in Istanbul. As a band, how did you find your audience here the first time around?

To tell you the truth, we weren’t very happy with the audience. They were nice and the gig was okay. But it felt like a lot of very trendy people who just went to the show because it was Nouvelle Vague’s first time in Istanbul. We thought that they didn’t exactly know the band, or the album, so we weren’t very very happy; but I’m sure it’ll be better next time.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

I just bought ‘Tender Buttons’ by Broadcast, an English band. I’m listening to a lot of different things: electronic stuff, real ‘sixties soundtracks…

Which musicians would you most like to work with?

I’m lucky because I’m working on a new project, like Nouvelle Vague, and I just asked a lot of my ideal singers to work with me: Cibelle, the Brazillian singer, and Skye from Morcheeba; I also asked Dani Siciliano, the girl who sings with Herbert. I’m not really interested in working with old singers; I think it’s good to have people from the new generation.

Your current singers are quite young, aren’t they?

They are about 26, 27.

Not quite of the generation that would have experienced your cover originals the first time around…

Yes, it’s true. They knew almost nothing about New wave.

So your name makes reference to a movement in French cinema…

In a sense, yes. It works both ways: also as a reference to New wave and Bossa Nova music. But it’s true that I’m a big fan of cinema too, especially of Jean Luc Godard’s work.

Which is your favourite Nouvelle Vague movie?

‘Pierrot le Fou’ by Goddard.

Why?

Ooof! Because it’s so real! It has total freedom. And I like the actors Jean Paul Belmondo and Anna Kerina, and I also like the soundtrack and the colours of the pictures, and the mood of the movie: it’s incredible.

In the ‘80s you used to play with musicians who went on to form other acts like Air and Alex Gopher. Do you still see these guys?

We meet up sometimes, but not so often. I just saw the guy from Air one month ago, but it’s not like when we were young, of course. I haven’t seen Alex Gopher for a long time now, maybe two years. However, we are in contact: we are very happy to see each other, should the opportunity arise, and to have a little chat about music or something.

Do you feel like you all have a common root?

Maybe; it’s interesting that we have all played together in the past, and finally we are all now doing totally different music. We were all together in Versailles, and we were part of the same musical culture in the ‘80s, and culture in general. But we all have different personalities, and so are now doing quite different things.