Interview: Suuns live @ Point Ephémère, Paris

Concert information

We first heard about Suuns when the french Route du Rock festival unveiled their 2011 winter lineup. We started listening to the bands and caught on fast to Suuns' new album "Zeroes QC" that came out in 2010 on Secretly Canadian.

When we learned that the Montreal band were playing in Paris for the Folamour night organized by our friends at Super!, we had to meet them before their concert at Point Ephémère.

These guys are definitely one of our live indie rock favorites for the start of 2011. They'll be back this summer in Paris for Villette Sonique 2011 - free and open air concert - meaning you have no excuse not to be there! Until then, here is our interview of the band and the track "Armed for Peace" played live.

Artist

Suuns

Suuns were born during the summer of 2006 when vocalist/guitarist Ben Shemie and guitarist/bassist Joe Yarmush got together to make some beats which quickly evolved into a few songs. The duo were soon joined by drummer Liam O'Neill and bassist/keyboardist Max Henry to complete the line-up.

Last year, Suuns entered Breakglass Studios with Jace Lasek of the Besnard Lakes co-producing and engineering, and recorded their first album. The group wanted to create something that couldn't be pigeonholed as simply indie rock. "Jace definitely had a huge impact for bringing to life the big sound of the band and being open and willing stretch out any idea we or he had," Ben explains.

The resulting Zeroes QC is a warm yet dark, propulsive collusion of pop, post-punk and experimental rock – one that allows the group to musically shapeshift without losing any of the sense of tension and unease that runs throughout the record. During tracks like "Gaze," tightly wound guitars and bass ring and buzz atop Liam's metronomic, powerhouse drumming, with Ben's cool, detached vocals acting as a nervy counterweight as he delivers falsely assuring lines like, "Don't you be yourself, you are someone else."

Often his close-miced sing/speak is as metronomic as it is melodic; in "Arena" Ben's rhythmic "What-choo, what-choo"'s are reminiscent of Suicide's Alan Vega as he leads the band's death disco groove into a bloodbath of razor-sharp guitars, while his icy, hushed delivery in "Sweet Nothing" is almost as motorik as the song itself. Most impressive, though, is how Suuns effortlessly sculpt memorable pop songs from experimental building blocks, frequently using noise and space as actual hooks.

All of this amounts to a great first album – one that is as timeless as it is thrillingly modern.

more>>>

Label

Secretly Canadian

Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana.^[1] It was started in 1996 by Chris and Ben Swanson, Eric Weddle, and Jonathan Cargill. Their first release was a re-issue of an album by June Panic. Weddle later left and formed his own label, Family Vineyard.

[More info on Wikipedia]

more>>>

Venue

Point Ephémère

The Point Ephémère is truly unique. Facing the Seine river, this former warehouse is one of the coolest place to chill out and hang out with friends drinking cheap beers and listening to the edgiest sounds. More than that, the Point Ephémère is a temporary creative interface, pushing for artistic crossovers and multidisciplinary exchanges. You want to see an urban art exhibit or a vjing show ? The Point Ephémère is THE place. Militant, huge, beautiful, avant-gardist, this venue should become your favorite spot.

more>>>

Promoter

Super !

L'agence d'épopées musicales! SUPER! fait tourner la crème des artistes indies en France. De Deerhunter en passant par Liars ou The XX, quand SUPER! a choisi de soutenir un groupe, on ne peut que faire confiance en leurs goûts sûrs et affirmés.

D'ailleurs, ils sont les auteurs d'un des meilleurs festivals d'hiver à Paris, le festival Super Mon Amour, un évènement moderne, à taille humaine, avec des artistes innovants; entre têtes d’affiches confirmées et jeunes loups de l’avant-garde musicale internationale.

more>>>

Styles