Interview: Cults live @ La Maroquinerie, Paris

Concert information

Cults was playing in Paris last February at the Maroquinerie, so we wanted to know more about them. You have to know that at that moment all we knew about the New-Yorkers was 3 songs on their bandcamp and a big hype surrounding them thanks to Pitchfork etc. By the way, Columbia Records (Sony) did not wait too long to sign them. So we met Madeleine Follin and Brian Oblivion and talked about the origins of Cults, their vision of the music and what they thought about cults in general.

Artist

Cults

Cults is the just recently formed lovechild of 21-year-old NYC film students and couple Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion. As opposed to many so-called ‘internet hype bands’ which seem to follow a ‘marketing plan’ and utilize the whole ‘mystery’ thing as an additional gimmick, Cults really did nothing much besides putting up a few songs on the artist platform Bandcamp and the major indie signposts such as Gorilla vs. Bear and Pitchfork went wild.

Sound-wise, Cults are really close to 60s girl groups such as The Shangri-Las and scandinavian twee pop, while you can definitely hear some hints of modern production techniques in their currently available works. According to an interview with Pitchfork, this direction of sound is a result of the different music backgrounds of the duo, Madeline coming from a punk background and Brian being into psychedelic surf-rock, leading to them listening to Motown-era soul music when they started dating.

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Label

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment, and operates as an imprint of the Columbia/Epic Label Group. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company.[1] Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound,[2] being the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of notable singers, instrumentalists and groups. From 1961 to 1990, its recordings were released outside the U.S. and Canada on the CBS Records label before adopting the Columbia name in most of the world.
Until 1989, Columbia Records had no connection to Columbia Pictures, which used various other names for record labels they owned, including Colpix, and later Arista (rather it was connected to CBS - which stood for Columbia Broadcasting System, the former owner). That label is now a sister label to Columbia Records through Sony Music; both are connected to Columbia Pictures through Sony Corporation of America, worldwide parent of both the music and motion picture arms of Sony.

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Venue

La Maroquinerie

Created in 1997, La Maroquinerie can welcome 500 music lovers. Its eclectic selection offers you the edgiest and the hottest of today s sounds. But you can also chill out at the bar / restaurant or at the covered terrace, combining a musical evening with gastronomy ! This truly is the finest of the Parisian concert scene, and the staff has always welcomed us with open arms... Great sound, lighting, atmosphere and musical selection. Word.

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Promoter