Helluvah talks about her upcoming album, “Lonely Riots”
Band picture by Laurent Caron Hello Helluvah, thanks for your time. Would it be possible to introduce your musical project to our readers? Hello!!! Thank you! Helluvah is my musical project, but I’ve been working with the same producer and musician, BobX, for a decade. He’s on stage with me. I’d say it’s an indie rock project influenced by my love for the Anglo-Saxon music of the 90’s and the 00’s mostly, bands and artists such as PJ Harvey, Interpol… and the 80’s culture of Bob with bands like The Cure for the arrangements. There are some little bits of electro, drum machines and keyboards for instance. And a couple of electro pop French songs. How would you describe the French indie rock scene? I think it’s a bit less effervescent than it was in the last decades because now kids don’t listen to indie rock anymore. And there are less venues than before but still, there are plenty of great bands and artists. I’m a child of the brit pop era and many people of my generation, and the younger generation, the teens who discovered the Strokes, MGMT, or Foals later, stuff like that, they’re really into indie rock. And we have some famous psychedelic bands here, like the Liminanas. You're releasing songs in English but also sometimes in French. Do you have a preference? Writing in French was a challenge, and I like it. But my heart goes to singing indie rock in English! I don’t know how to do indie rock in French. I saw that you have already played overseas (USA, Canada, Germany, Belgium)... With a worldwide pandemic going on, it must be hard not to be able to go on tour. Any dates already planned for the end of this year or maybe 2021? It’s a disaster for musicians. It was already hard to get gigs, and it’s gonna be worse. But that’s where you sell records and where people discover you... Now, we’re working on a tour in France in February. I really hope that venues will reopen. We’re just doing a showcase for the release of the album in Paris. 25 persons max. That’s sad. I really don’t know when we’ll play again in Europe… Your upcoming album, “Lonely Riots”, is about a breakup and all the feelings it can bring. Is this theme inspired by a personal story? Yes definitely! I think that, apart from getting sick or dealing with a bereavement, breaking up is one of the worst things someone has to get through. Your world falls apart. There is a real, and sometimes long, process of recovery.
Any funny story from your writing or recording sessions? We have recorded at Bob’s place, in the countryside. He lives in a former nightclub! It was summer, it was very hot, so we let the door opened. We had to redo some voice recordings because we realized we could hear the cat mew and scratch. She was sitting on a box of cables. The last words are for you. If you have any other projects in the making or a specific message to convey, feel free to talk about it! Thank you and... WEAR YOUR FUCKING MASK!!!!!
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