My blog became the official media partner of the 5NDREAS Festival and my task is to fill in the remaining 5 weeks of wait with something interesting. And what could be more interesting than reading about the bands that are about to play on the stage at Feierwerk Kranhalle in Munich? Yeah? Let's have another one today.
The most mysterious act of the whole festival as One Last Moment hasn't releases anything yet! But it's not like they are debutants. Maxime Picquart and Laurent Boile met when Goodbye Meteor needed a drummer and now they've survived the meteor saying goodbye and are ready to show the world their new music. Or almost ready. Why Goodbye Meteor had to break up? How is being in a band like being in relationship? And why is French linguistic law bad for post-rock artists?
The French duo said that the post-rock society is the kindest in the music world and it certainly was true about them as well. I had real nice talk with the two. Let's go!
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ŁŚ: You’ve been invited to the 5NDREAS festival. I’m not surprised, Andreas always says he loves Goodbye Meteor’s music.
Laurent Boile: In fact, he asked us if Goodbye Meteor could play. Like one last gig. I told him that unfortunately it was impossible, we were definitely over. But also that Maxime and I had new music.
Maxime Picquart: It was a year ago and it was the real beginning for our new project.
LB: We had to find a name, we had to make pictures, set up social networks. We’d started some things before that, but it was just music. At first, we said to ourselves: “We have time, maybe we’ll release something in five years or so”. But because of him, we had to take everything more seriously.
MP: It will be our first ever concert as One Last Moment. Exclusively at Andreas’ festival.
ŁŚ: And now you are the most mysterious artist on the lineup. Nobody knows what to expect! Are you still working on the material?
MP: We have around one hour of music already written and at the moment, we are arranging all the instruments.
LB: It’s quite different right now. In Goodbye Meteor, we made the songs all together, four people in a rehearsal room. Me and Maxime, we think that it’s now easier to control the project, to write the songs, and to have other guys on stage to make music with us eventually. So now we make music together, we record, we arrange, we mix, we produce, and when the final product is quite finished, we will invite other people to play with us.
ŁŚ: Are you planning to expand the band after you have the material?
LB: No, just for the shows. We have them chosen already, but we haven't practiced together yet. In a few weeks, we are going to have a rehearsal session for five days.
MP: In the future, we may consider expanding the band, but for now, it will be only the two of us. Like Oh Hiroshima, there are just two of them in the band [Jakob Hemström and Oskar Nilsson - author’s note], but it’s four or five people on stage playing live.
LB: Yeah, and we work more efficiently in this way too.
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| Oh Hiroshima, indeed only two people |
ŁŚ: I've never been in a band and I've never created any music really. So it is always interesting to me, how the mechanisms between people in a band work while creating music. When there were four of you, it had to be more complicated, right? But also, a lot of ideas can evolve into more interesting results. How is it with you?
MP: Making music as One Last Moment was not easy at first, because I was not used to being the only melodic instrument in a band. I had always played in bands with at least one other guitarist and a bassist. So it took me a few weeks to understand how to build and structure a track without them.
LB: I think it's still fairly easy for us, since we have known each other for seven years now. I think we have a connection. It often works in the same way: Maxime starts with a guitar riff and I immediately know what he wants. To be honest, we need only a meeting or two to create the structure of a song. We’ve rehearsed less than ten times and we’ve already got a full hour’s worth of music, because afterwards we work on the arrangements on our own.
MP: We have a real connection. We talk to each other and we know that we can say everything we want and that we will be treated in a respectful way. Laurent is a really understanding person and it's really easy to work with him.
LB: And I have a chance to play with the best guitarist in the world. For me, Maxime is the best.
ŁŚ: Maxime, is Laurent the best drummer in the world?
(both laugh)
LB: Of course, he's not the best guitarist in the world. I'm not the best drummer in the world, but for us, it really feels that way. It’s like when you are in a relationship, maybe the other person is not the most beautiful person in the world, objectively speaking, but for you, they're the best one.
ŁŚ: So you are saying that being in a band is like being in a relationship.
MP: Yeah, definitely. And I think that it's why Goodbye Meteor came to an end. We weren't made for each other. When we eventually split, we were quite sad about that.
LB: And it took some time for us to get back on our feet and start something new. But we play music that we love to play. It's the music we love to listen to. It’s the music we feel most comfortable when it comes to writing.
MP: That is our kind of music. We have both been musicians for many years and have played in various bands, making various styles of music. But post-rock is the genre that feels like we were made for. All the feelings, all the emotions. And it is the kind of music I listen to at home now. I discovered post-rock when we started Goodbye Meteor, only then. Before that, I had only seen God Is an Astronaut and Sigur Rós live, but it was ages ago, and I did not listen to this kind of music back then. But now, it is definitely the music I need to listen to and to make.
Sigur Rós playing in Lyon in 2013, perhaps Maxime was somewhere there in the audience?
ŁŚ: So you came from outside of this post-rock world and now you consider it yours?
MP: That's it. Sometimes, and it’s not only about music, it’s also true in different contexts, sometimes you need some time to get to know yourself and understand who you really are as a person. It's what happened to me with post-rock. It was like a discovery. A revelation.
LB: I discovered post-rock without knowing it was post-rock. Sigur Rós, I Like Trains, bands like those. But I didn’t know there was a post-rock scene, that there were post-rock festivals. I just loved to listen to that kind of music. And when Maxim called, I didn't know him at all at that point, and said they needed a drummer for Goodbye Meteor, I said I didn’t have time. I had a lot of work back then. But still, I asked what kind of band they were starting. Was it a funk band? Was it a metal band? Reggae? If it was anything like that, I would say no. But it was post-rock, it sounded like I Like Trains. Amazing.
ŁŚ: Laurent, in Goodbye Meteor, you played only drums, right? But it will change now…?
LB: You will see at the festival! In fact, we are working now on some arrangements. It's not just one guitar, one drum set anymore. There are keyboards, there are other things. I will have an electronic pad to launch some sounds.
ŁŚ: For people who know and love Goodbye Meteor, is One Last Moment's music going to be very different, or is it going to be more like a continuation of this sound?
LB: No, it's a continuation. With some things new, like the keyboard, for example, but the guitar sound will be the same because you can’t change your sound. I think people who love Goodbye Meteor will love the new band as well.
ŁŚ: And when can we have a taste of your music? So far, there is only a short teaser video online. Nothing else. Do you have a timeline for the project?
LB: When we started, there was no deadline. We wanted to take all the time we needed. And now there's Andreas. And Andreas changes things because we know we have to be ready to exist in November. We will try to release a single in the next few weeks.
MP: Just before the festival.
LB. We will TRY.
ŁŚ: So for now, 5NDREAS is the only chance to see you and to listen to One Last Moment?
LB: Exactly.
ŁŚ: You described Goodbye Meteor as “green post-rock”, music about the connection between human and nature, the balance between those. Do you have any kind of theme for One Last Moment as well already?
LB: It's red post-rock now (laughs).
MP: With One Last Moment, it is not exactly the same, but it is connected to nature as well. We will be talking about natural disasters on our first album.
ŁŚ: So now I have to ask if “one last moment” is a commentary on the situation humankind is facing right now?
MP: It can be taken in multiple ways. And that's why we have chosen this name.
LB: Yes, it should feel nostalgic. It's the last moment before something, perhaps before starting something new?
MP: And the thing is that when we were trying to find the perfect name, we were thinking about it separately. And somehow we still found the same two words we wanted to use. “Last” and “moment”. Only when we met again we added the third missing word. “One”.
ŁŚ: That’s amazing!
LB: Yeah, and it also can be taken as an abbreviation of sorts. The L in Last is like the L in Laurent, the M in Moment is like the M in Maxime.
ŁŚ: So now you need someone with a name starting with an O!
MP: An Oscar! (laughs)
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| One Oscar I can think of (photo by Syberia) |
ŁŚ: At 5NDREAS, you will already play as a four-piece band, right?
MP: Four, yeah, four. Today we booked the two other musicians. One bassist and one guitarist. We would love to go on a tour after we release our debut. Hopefully with all the connections we made as Goodbye Meteor, it won’t be that difficult.
ŁŚ: I think that when you get into the post-rock world, you find that it's not that big. So you actually know everyone after a second. A very close community of people.
LB: And very, very nice people too. I went to dunk!festival four or five times, but I have never seen a moment of tension. It's not that mentality. I went to Pelagic Fest two years ago and it was the same thing. And that’s also why we prefer to play in Belgium and Germany. In France it’s more difficult, because in France people don’t really listen to post-rock. Of course, there are bands, and there are people who listen to it, but when it’s instrumental, it can sometimes be a bit of a struggle… For example, I saw Explosions in the Sky in Belgium two years ago and I saw them in Paris as well a few days later. In Belgium, they played two gigs a few days apart on a big stage, and in Paris… I’m not sure it was a full house.
In France, it can be complicated if there are no lyrics in music. Lyrics are very important. Because in France in radio stations, there are quotas for Chanson Francaise. I don’t know the precise number [it's a minimum of 40% of songs with lyrics in French for a standard radio station - author’s note]. And when I contacted some small radio stations in France, showing them Goodbye Meteor’s music, they said: “Oh, good, but it's too long. Can you make a radio edit?”. Well, of course it’s long. For a radio, over 3 minutes is very long. But in post-rock 3 minutes is just the intro. In other countries, like the US, Australia or China, there are some radio stations that broadcast us. They never say it's too long. In France, it's quite difficult.
MP: Yeah, that’s why sometimes we think we need to find the right place to meet our audience
LB: Another example: we played at a festival close to where we live once. And it's a festival I have known for years. I’d played there with other bands playing reggae and pop, because I know the guy who organizes it. When it was the start of Goodbye Meteor, I told him: “I have a new band. It's a very good project. I'm sure it will be very good for this festival.” He agreed, but when he finally listened to our music, just before the event, he sent me a message: “There are no lyrics, there is no singer, it's instrumental! I'm not sure the people will understand.” And on stage, before we started the gig, this guy came on the stage, took the microphone and said, “I present to you Goodbye Meteor. It's a really nice band. There are no lyrics, but it's still a nice band”.
ŁŚ: I’m pretty sure Andreas won’t say anything like that in November!🦢
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One Last Moment will perform at the 5NDREAS Festival on Friday 27.11.
Save your ticket now (limited availability): https://rausgegangen.de/events/5ndreas-postrock-festival-0/
Check the event on FB: https://fb.me/e/8cyEexXaV
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