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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 18 November 2007 09:23 |
25 years, its hard to believe that Trisomie 21 has been a musical force for that long. And their sounds are just as crisp and moving today as they were then. To celebrate their longevity T21 has recently released a 2 disc box set consisting of a live album and rarities spanning the first half of their career from 1978-1981. Recently we got the chance to chat with Philippe Lomprez about 25 years of T21, the business of music, the upcoming T21 tribute album and where do they go from here.
Congrats on 25 years of music! How does it feel to be as successful as you have for as long as you have in music?
PL. Time is a rather unpredictable notion. 25 years of career can sound crazy. All I hope is that people don’t judge us on our longevity, nor on the number of releases we made in our repertoire, but sincerely on the music we make. We focus on the present, far away from the emotions of the past which could make us faint.
The first part of the box set is a retrospective of rare material. How did you decide what songs to include?
PL. Simply based on the importance that these tracks have for Trisomie 21, for the expectations from the scene and the importance our audience give them.
What made you want to focus on filling this album up with more of you're rare and unreleased tracks?
PL. Such rarities played a key role for the future of Trisomie 21. And even if these tracks were not released back then, let it be concert intro tracks of working songs, unfinished cuts or ghost tracks…
The live disc in the set Rendez-Vous en France, was recorded during the Happy Mystery Tour. Why did you decide to focus on that particular tour for a live album?
PL. That tour happened for our 25Th anniversary. Nothing was really planned, we just realised it while on tour. And since this is a good album, well enough reasons…
After being together for so long, you must have some fond memories.What are some of your favorite moments on tour or in in the studio?
PL. We are by essence a studio band, we prefer the creative process to the live performance. Composition moments when everything clicks and takes shape are magic. It’s also a way for us to meet other musicians that we choose to work with for one same cause. With time, we also realised that by playing live we could also explore another side of our music by reworking our songs and upgrade them according to our feelings. The encounter with our audience is also something very important for us, naturally, without show—off. We are very accessible after our concerts to our fans and we refuse the « star system ».
In they past you have both worked on other side projects. Are other things you're working on other than T21?
PL. Nothing else other than Trisomie 21 counts in our eyes…
You also have had a tribute album of your work done, Followers in the Moonlight, what artist contributed to the album and how did you decide what materials to put on the album?
PL. Todd Jones in the USA, played the role of art director on that project. That tribute is open, it symbolises well our attitude.
Does it ever feel odd to hear others interpretations of your work?
PL. When somebody decides to make a cover version, the song becomes somehow their own and they do whatever they feel with it, we give them entire freedom… Usually we won’t comment the covers we hear. But overall, there are interesting interpretations…
Why doesn't T21 ever tour the US? Are there any plans to maybe one day come state side?
PL. We will play the USA as soon as we get the opportunity to do it ! Hopefully for the next studio album, who knows ?
The business of music has been making massive changes over the last few years, going more and more electronic. How do you feel these changes will affect artist in the future?
PL. Technologies are taking a larger and larger part in our everyday life. The same happens to music. The main change is commercial : music has become a usual consumption product. We are far away from the original notion of the artist. I think that the majors are mainly the ones to blame. They wanted to make easy money. Technology also played its role in all this, technologies offer to some users some artistic sensations, at least they live it this way, but one has to sort the gold amongst the dross.
Now, we have no solution to give, but it’s not to the artists to find it, we have a different role to play. So the attitude of the people will play a key role in all this.
After being in music for 25 years, you've seen all different sorts of fads and trends come and go. what do you see as the future of electronic music?
I can’t say. As far as we are concerned, our next album will have a more human dimension. We always said that technology had to service humans and not vice versa. Technology can be a way for us to discover new emotional horizons , but let’s keep the human aspect in the core of the structure.
Who are some of your favorite newer artists?
PL. We don’t listen to much music actually. It can sound strange to you, but it has always been like this since the beginning of Trisomie 21. This said, for our « the man is a mix » project and the following remix works we worked on, some re-mixers really impressed us with their work. I for example think of some French artists like Jack de Marseilles, Milimetric, My Park, celluloid, Parker lab.
Whats next on the horizon for T21?
PL. In 2008 we will release our new studio album. It’s our top priority right now, we are totally focusing on it as we speak. Concerts will probably come next…
Anything else you would like to add before we wrap?
PL. I want to thank all American fans for their faith in us, they are more and more through the years. I can only guarantee them of our sincerity in our work and invite them listening to our future releases . They know that we are constantly struggling against the natural human trend to take the easiest way. We hope to meet them some day and play over there and share some words and feelings in direct without go-between…
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 18 November 2007 09:23 )
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