Two French rock bands recently
performed in the city as part of the
Bonjour India Rock Tour 2017. In a series of 11 exceptional concerts in different cities, the bands shared the stage
with homegrown rock bands.
The band members tell
Willie Gordon Suting about their
experience in ‘beautiful’ Shillong
French rock band Last Train was recently in the city as part of the four-month-long Bonjour India 2017-18 tour. Band members, but first childhood friends — vocalist Jean-Noel Scherrer, guitarist Julien Peultier, drummer Antoine Baschung and bass player Timothee Gerard — say they are inspired by different sources such as 60s rock music but also pop music or electronic or even movie soundtrack.
“As soon as the music is interesting and well-arranged we are listening to it. We are big music consumers in daily life so everything can possibly inspire us,” the members said in an email interview.
The band, which was formed in 2007, shares its experience of performing in front of the music aficionados in Shillong.
How was the experience performing in Shillong?
Performing in the rock capital of the country was a great experience. People love their music here which is a really a nice thing.
How were the audience?
The audience turned in full numbers to the club, which is a big compliment for us. We loved the way they participated with us in each of our songs.
Do you plan to perform here again in future?
Definitely! The Indian Tour is our biggest tour outside of France, so we are really lucky to stay in this huge country for almost three weeks, try new things, and then go back to France, with a different point of view of the world, because we will always have a part of India in our hearts!
What is the band up to nowadays? Any upcoming gigs?
We will end our tour for this year this month and after do a break to compose and record the second album. We’ll try to tour a bit abroad to export our music outside from France so maybe why not coming back to India?
Have you listened to any Shillong band?
We hadn’t heard bands from here before. But we got to play with Dossers Urge and they were great. We’ve discovered really good bands on this tour.
How did you find the culture and beauty of Meghalaya?
It’s a beautiful city, the natural beauty here is just so amazing, the travel to Shillong was a visual treat in itself, would love to visit Meghalaya again.
Hailing from the city of Strasbourg, Colt Silvers comprises vocalist Tristan, bass player Nicolas, guitarist Florian and drummer Julien. The band, which produces intense indie electro rock, has been termed as the French Alt J by the popular magazine Les Inrockuptibles. Colt Silvers started gaining popularity beyond France within a year of their inception with the debut release ‘Night of the Living Robots’ in 2009. Their latest album Swords, co-produced and mixed by the Grammy nominated Fab Dupont received rave reviews. The band was recently in the city. Bassist Nicolas Lietaert speaks about the group’s experience in Shillong.
How has the band’s sound evolved over the years?
We used to create only in practice room. It was more urgent and punk in some way. In time we have incorporated more electro and focused more on the ambiance of songs, in a cinematographic way. So it might have gotten less punk and more ambient I guess. More world music too, thanks to the use of computers and all the sounds we can explore
How has pop culture influenced the band?
We met at a fantastic film festival in Strasbourg in 2008 and found out we had in common not only this love of sci-fi and horror movies but also a rock n’roll background that we could mix together. So we tried to make rock music, but always starting with a movie vibe to it, for example we covered movie themes like Gattaca or The Fountain, our first album’s name night of the living robots was a tribute to Zombie movies, and we also worked on a ciné-concert show of blade runner all re-written by us.
How do you feel about electro-pop making an impact over the years?
People around the world are familiar with rock bands adding electro and hip hop sounds to their music now, it’s been that way for quite some time so I think I do not come as a shock.
How was the experience working with Grammy nominated Fab Dupont (on the latest album Swords)?
Well the experience was surreal, when you get the opportunity to collaborate with such big legends, it is always an honour. They were extremely humble about the collaboration and we learnt a lot in terms of music from them
How was the experience performing in Shillong?
Shillong was a fantastic experience for us, the people here are extremely hospitable and warm, they were in full numbers to support us, the city has got a very western vibe to it and people really love their music here.
How were the audience?
The audience were electrifying in shillong, like I mentioned they quite understand their music and follow all kinds of genres. It was good to see them come out in numbers and support us. We really loved performing here. The crowd was great, they started dancing pretty soon and seemed to be well acquainted with what we do. I saw people singing the lyrics along with us. It’s a great feeling for us when it just connects right away like this, it seems natural and encourages us to play a better live show.
What is the band up to nowadays? Any upcoming gigs?
Yes, we are playing this huge orchestral live set this we’re releasing this week. We are very excited for that. It’s a huge challenge and we are very proud of this experience. Then we will go back to writing our next record.
Have you listened to any Shillong band?
We played with Dossers Urge in shilling and that’s the only band we have heard for now. But we have been playing with an indian band in every city this tour, some really raw rock bands. We believe that there is a rock scene here, and young Indian dudes love to play loud guitars too.
How did you find the culture and beauty of Meghalaya?
It’s a beautiful city, very calm and peaceful. The people here are very hospitable. Hope we get to come again to this part of the city and perform again.