Click for full size (image reference: Les Plastiscines)
This quartet of young Parisiennes released their first album, “LP1”, in February 2007, and the month later, the girls figured on the cover of French music mag ‘Folk & Rock’.
The record contained thirteen songs spanning over a mere twenty-eight minutes, and being inspired by bands like Strokes, Ramones and Libertines, the majority of them rely on three chord combos creating that characteristic, adrenaline inducing sound we all know from the later half of the 70’s.
What, however, one may inquire, inspires four French girls to start a rock band drawing on a genre that, we must admit, saw its glory days disappear even before they themselves were born? In addition, I’ll invite you to take on this challenge: give yourself half a minute to name drop at least five French acts that isn’t Phoenix, that isn’t signed under an electronic label, and who is still alive. Exactly.
- Well, when I and Katty started playing, we were so tired of the music that was played at the time in Paris, like mainly hiphop and R’n'B… we really wanted to do something different, something that wouldn’t bore us. And then at some point we got into bands like The Hives, Kings of Leon, The Libertines, and they really caught our attention. When we saw them play, we thought: “Hey, this is what we want to do, this is the kind of stage we, too, want to be standing on.” The simplicity of their music felt so refreshing, something we felt that we could draw further on, says guitarist Marine.
- Precisely, adds bass player Louise. The English music scene showed us something that we felt didn’t really exist in France – as in, you don’t have to have studied at the music conservatory, and been a musician for twenty years before you have the right to start a band.
Right, there you go. Honest and plain enough a reason, and we get some insight into how the contemporary French music scene is regulated. And they have a point, surely. I don’t think that in any other country in Europe, and perhaps in extension, the world, are classical concerts so frequently visited as they are in France. A sense of fine musical traditionalism is definitely given full protection. Now, then, how did Les Plastiscines begin their rise within the musical hierarchy?
- Already when we started playing really small gigs, the media paid us attention. Gradually, we received more acclaim, more recognition and so on, until we ultimately got signed under Virgin France, says Marine.
Understood, but to immediatly take on another angle what regards the musical success of Plastiscines: four, let us say gorgeously looking, Parisiennes who with full charisma and tons of energy enters the music scene may, we can assume, gain acknowledgment for… well, for what is image, for what symbolises young wealth, looks, fashion and sexuality? Let us be honest, here: was it just a fluke, perhaps a temporary concession conditioned by a small gap in time? Plastiscines have, after all, been referred to as BoBo ( bourgeois bohème), namely, upper class kids who pretend at being rockers.
- Ehn… look, we are kind of sick and tired of having to face this form of criticism. Being girls, we naturally get to hear things that, most probably, a guy band wouldn’t hear. We are not rich kids, and we are not poor kids, and frankly, I can’t in any way see the connection between the music of Les Plastiscines, and the social background of the members…people so often make assumptions that couldn’t be further away from the reality, and we’d just prefer that they listen to our album instead, says Louise.
- It must be understood, that we play and make music because that is what we like doing… ‘LP1′ is a reflection of us, Les Plastiscines, and the way we were when we started playing as seventeen year olds, and that is precisely what we wanted it to be. We went in to the studio for two weeks, recorded, and then we said ’stop’: this is us, now. And anyone who says that the music isn’t good enough, well, that’s up to them… We find ourselves to have done a good job, because the album that some would complain over, is exactly what gave us the chance to play in Stockholm, in New York and so on… and I think that answers all criticism well enough.
It surely does. Though the album is short, the songs sometimes a bit too catchy, and the genre passé, Les Plastiscines is nevertheless a band that in some way or another interests listeners. The music was made to make people happy, and reading reviews, blogs etc on the internet, fans are unanimous in their verdict: Plastiscines equals good energy. Producing another album in the same vein as ‘LP1′ seems, however, to be playing with risky business, seeing that a) it looks a hard task to once more inspire listeners with an identical punk/rock album and b) the difficulty of renewing a sound that hasn’t really changed over the last thirty years. Les Plastiscines means, however, that the band will take a new turn in their development.
- Well, just as the first album was a reflection of us, then, the coming material will have changed accordingly, seeing as we have changed as individuals, and we have grown more skilled musicians.
They are playful little things, these young rockers, and given that you have the time to look up them up, take a chance on this. If for no other reason than simply being able to name drop ONE French band, the next time someone gives you the challenge.
Plastiscines myspace
Plastscines on Wikipedia
Youtube: performing the leading track Loser
tmG
