Animal Triste's Interview

– To start, can you tell the genesis of Animal Triste?
Mathieu P. (drums) – It happened in 2 steps. The 1st one was Yannick, Fabien and myself. At the end of a concert at Kalif, we were having drinks and said to ourselves we couldn’t hear the music we loved. So, instead of being bitter, we said “we’d better do it”, just to avoid saying it was better before. After a while, the human being here on my right [Cédric] told me “hey your songs are cool, you can’t remain this way and should play them in rehearsals”. And he started to play the bass especially for the project, since he was guitarist-drummer, but no bass player. Then our friends gently joined us because we needed them.
Cédric K. (bass) – I think it’s summarized well.
– Is being 6 a trouble to play concerts?
Mathieu – No, but it can become a pain regarding hygiene. (laughs)
– I can imagine some show programmers made you proposals to play in reduced line-up to lower the cost? Do you refuse categorically?
Mathieu – Of course. We start 6, we remain 6. The aim of freedom in this project is that nobody can tell us what to do, neither artistically, nor concerning the line-up. And if tomorrow we want a sax, well we’ll add a sax and we’ll be 7. Stuff like Morphine was really not bad.
– So, six men... and no woman?
Cédric – No, because we’re misogynistic. (laughs)
Mathieu – It didn’t happen. We have Mathilde at spotlights, as soon as we can have her, an extremely gifted young woman.

– It sounds a bit resistant when you make rock music in 2022, isn’t it?
Cédric – That’s for sure. It’s the idea of the project.
Yannick M. (singer) – We don’t risk our life either, but meanwhile it’s...
Mathieu – Militant, more than resistant.
Yannick – Kind of the wrong way.
– What’s the golden age of rock according to you?
Mathieu – It’s tomorrow. Reputedly rock’s always been dead.
Cédric – It keeps on resuscitating.
Mathieu – They said it was dead in the seventies with disco, and then punk arrived. They said it was dead in the eighties with new wave, and then grunge arrived. Now, the new movement is slow to come but there’ll be one.
– And what’s the country of rock?
Mathieu – That’s dividing. It’s a real good question. For me, Americans. More precisely California, West Coast.
Cédric – Our shared references are rather based in that area.
Yannick – We have Anglophiles in the band too.
Mathieu – And then Australia.
Yannick – Nick Cave.
– The French rock band?
Mathieu – It’s a challenge to say that, but I would answer Noir Désir.
Cédric – For what they did, yes.
Mathieu – Even though I can’t listen to them anymore, but... Obviously it ain’t Téléphone, hands-down.
Yannick – At the moment it may be Gojira.
– A bit more metal than rock though.
Mathieu – Yes, but that’s guitar and distortion. Anyway, metal is rock.
– That’s a broad debate.
Yannick – You see Frustration, Hangman's Chair, JC Satan... These bands are manners of defending the idea we have about rock. Or the young generations like Mnnqns in Rouen or You Said Strange in Normandy, even though it’s on the margins. But this music’s made for the margins anyway. When it becomes mainstream it becomes Coldplay, then it’s a pain in the ass.

– Night of the loving dead comes very quickly after your 1st album (barely more than a year). Is it the continuation?
Mathieu – I think so. In the 1st one, we threw stones in the air, and now we can aim. We took the same team, the same method, but we worked the songwriting much more.
Yannick – We found the jigsaw puzzle box, with the template.
– And how’s the template?
Yannick – Everything is more thought out, the lines are refined. The 1st one was an outline, now we have something more instinctive.
– What’s different from its predecessor?
Yannick – The way we composed, the way we made it.
Cédric – And then shared experiences.
– Do you consider releasing your next albums at the same pace?
Yannick – We’ll try to do one after the other rapidly. It doesn’t only depend on us, but yes.
Mathieu – When you treat yourself, no need to wait.
Yannick – And then the artistic creations are often more interesting in times of chaos in the world, and at the moment we got more than we bargain for.

– Yannick, you’re the one who writes the lyrics, do you do it particularly carefully?
Yannick – I do. I pursued studies in English because I loved English rock music. I learnt English while singing over the Pixies. What was cool here was to write lyrics in the same time as everything was being built, during a very short period. Many joint obsessions come up from one text to another.
– Yes, I’ve noticed connections from one text to another.
Yannick – I’m glad you’ve noticed.
Mathieu – As for us, we noticed afterwards. Because he is secretive...
– (teasing) Actually you just don’t listen to him!
Mathieu – We do.
– In this 2nd album I’ve noticed a religious tendency. Are you believers?
Cédric – No, but the voodoo theme came to us during this recording.
Mathieu – We became creatures of the world of the afterlife, we became zombies. There was something inflammatory, almost Satanist... And rock has always played with those codes.
– Blues, originally.
Mathieu – Yes, crossroads and that. This is fascinating. And we start to talk about voodooism, to incorporate a little voodoo music in ours.
Yannick – These are creatures of the night: werewolves, vampires, Baron Samedi. The moon lights up the night, whereas the sun lights when it’s daytime already, so the moon is better.
Mathieu – I didn’t think of it this way but it’s nice.
– What does the title "E.V.I.L" mean, since it is written as an acronym?
Yannick – I like the idea that everybody invents their own meaning. There’s no signification, it’s something graphic.

– How do you carry out several bands at the same time?
Mathieu – You don’t sleep a lot. But it’s great. The bands feed each other. The idea can circulate like a ball in a football team when you know each other well. It’s just exhausting because the timings are tight, between la Maison Tellier and Animal Triste, because everything’s released in the same time.
– How far can you carry out 2 projects alongside?
Mathieu – It’s balanced. Some years there will be more of one, or more of the other... The joy of meeting again will always remain the same.
Yannick – The only guidelines are it pleases you. It must make sense, both the music you make, and the people you make it with.
– Mathieu joined la Maison Tellier: how did it occur? And why?
Yannick – It was in Spring 2021.
Mathieu – We’ve known each other for so long. I’ve been a fan of this band since 2006, I know all the songs. The guys asked for me because their drummer wanted to do other things. You can imagine I didn’t think twice.
Yannick – The thing was written, it was a question of timing, it could happen, it was just normal in fact.
– Are Fabien, Cédric and Darko going to follow?
(laughs of the 3)
Cédric – When can you do with 2 bass guitars? 1 drummer, 2 basses, that can do an interesting post-rock band.
Mathieu – You need to set up another project.
Yannick (to Cédric) – You could come and play percussion. That must be thought, but everything is possible.
Mathieu – How many would we be? 8 on stage!
Cédric – Maybe for a Maison Tellier super event, it would be a happening!

– I propose you to have a look at the list of the albums reviewed in japprecie. Which ones do you like? Well this list is in 3 sheets and half, so this is perfect for the 3 of you.
Mathieu – Here I’ve got a Other Lives that I take. I’ve got No Money Kids that I had listened to, found it cool without que j'avais écouté, que j'avais trouvé cool without looking deeper. Jil Is Lucky I know his drummer well, but didn’t listen.
Yannick – Ah I remember, we met them quite a lot.
Cédric – I’ve got you.
Mathieu – I Am Stramgram we should have opened for him and it didn’t occur.
Yannick – Well I’ve got Tom McRae. "What a Way to Win a War" is it on this one?
– Yes it is.
Cédric – Bror Gunnar, we share our sound engineer with him.
Mathieu – Ah, Puts Marie hey! Fred Lomey, our tour operator, got them. Eiffel too by the way.
Yannick – I’ve got William Z Villain, I like that. The guy a bit one-man-band, blues-folk...
Mathieu – Tamino isn’t he the Belgian playing like Buckley?
– Yes, but not only.
Mathieu – Not only, you’re right, he did a very good cover of Chris Cornell, "Seasons", which is not an easy song to do.
Yannick – Rover, that album was good.
Mathieu – Ah Exsonvaldes, oh boy! I played a lot with them, those were nice guys. The Mission, Yannick, didn’t we listen to that? With the dead guy?
– He’s not dead!
Mathieu – I mistake for somebody else.
– Their singer Wayne Hussey has a very hoarse voice, it’s very dark, lots of guitar, very rock, and it speaks of religion a lot too. That’s why I drew a parallel with the last Animal Triste.
Mathieu – Nick Cave said: “I’m no beliver, except when I’m writing and making songs.” I like the ‘holy’ side.

– Do you have other artists to suggest to Appreciators?
Mathieu – At the moment there’s a thing about the band Night Beats. What were we listening in the car my friends? The late Mark Lanegan.
Cédric – His life and work.
Mathieu – I’m encouraging to read his bio. Chelsea Wolfe. A band from Rouen who’s called Ellah a. Thaun. I fell back into Gallon Drunk. I’ve got plenty to listen, I didn’t do all my homework. Yannick, you said I should listen to Manchester Orchestra.
Yannick – Yes, I like that.
Mathieu – And, to be discovered, it’s three-four years old, an album from a band who’s called Muzz.
Cédric – Yes, that was great. And like I told you I fell back into Fontaines D.C. (the 2nd one), really cool.
Mathieu – I’ve downloaded the compilation of Murat, about people doing covers.
Yannick – And then Nick Cave.
Cédric – His life and work.