07/11/08
Text: Yann Perreau (interviewer), Thomas Méjean (assistant)
Photographers: JC Dhien
You may have heard about them: The New York Times recently called them "one of the best thing that has happened to rock 'n roll in the last ten years." N.M.E. and other tabloids and papers now love to publish photos of them.
"They are said to be pretty, the sort of prettiness that makes the boys in the front row blush"—a precise label for these four. Musically speaking, they have already been compared to the Ramones and Blondie. But the Plasticines are, also, just four girls.
Four very young French girls (their average age is twenty) with no career plan, just a good D.Y.I. rock 'n roll story that reminds one of the glorious years of punk music. Their bio could read something like this: "The Plastiscines met in high school. They play rock music, and they obviously drink beer—while remaining pretty.” Typical Parisians chicks? Maybe not. The story is more complex, as Anthem found out through an absurd discussion at the Pasadena Make Music Festival this month.
Yann Perreau: Where does your name come from?
Katty: From the Beatles' song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." There is the word "plastiscines" in it. The Beatles, in fact, is one of the first bands that we discovered rock music with... and why rock can be important.
Y: And the polemic about this song?
K: Yes, yes... about LSD.
Y: Is this linked to [your name]?
K: No, not at all... [laughs]
Y: What are your references, your musical influences, apart from the Beatles?
K: We very much like the Ramones, the Strokes, the Libertines...
Anaïs : Arctic Monkeys!
Louise: As well as some 60s and 70s bands...
A: Electro!
K: We like Nancy Sinatra, in fact—many 60 singers.
A: Incubus!
Y: How did you meet?
K: We met, Marine and I, in high school.
L: English class, I think.
K: Yes, English! In fact we began to chat together as we were sitting next to one another. We began to go to gigs together... And at a Libertines concert, we met Louise through a friend. She is a bassist, and we were missing a bassist in the band. She arrived 6 – 7 months ago. Funnily enough, she had seen the ad we had put on MySpace...
Y: By the way, do you know the Ukulele Girls ?
L: Yes, there is quite a big buzz about them in Paris, no?
Y: What is funny is that it’s a band of four girls, just like you. I find it very interesting. What are the connections between girls when you are four in a band? How do you work together? Who writes the lyrics? How does it function a band of four girls ?
L: The same as a band of four boys.
Y: I mean are you a girl band? Are you defined by the fact that you are four girls?
A: Yep. For what it means, definitely.
Y: Did you want it to be only girls in band?
K: Well, originally it wasn’t that we wanted necessarily to be four girls. It’s just that we knew each other and that we decided to do a band together. We met Louise by chance and it happened like that. And when Anaïs came, and we wanted a drummer, it was the same. But it wasn't planned [our from the beginning] or anything.
L: Anyway, we don’t consider ourselves as a typical girl band.
K: Well, that’s what we are but...
L: That’s what we are, but we are a band before being a band of girls.
Y: What do you think about the rock U.S.?
A: We love it.
K: We very much like the Kings of Leon, the Strokes...
Y: The Ramones?
K: The Ramones, obviously. All the New York bands... What came out of the States in the 70s and 80s... Even the bands from the South!
Y: So you have a new album coming out?
K: Its in preparation... We made some new recordings a few days ago, and it’s in preparation. We have also written new songs, but we don’t have any date yet.
Y: well thank you
All four band members: Well, you’re welcome!
Y: By the way, do you like it here?
A: Yeah, it’s dope. Just a bit too hot.
L: It changes from the Fête de la musique in Paris.
K: It is much hotter.
L: And much more organized. It smells much less the merguez...
Translated from the French
