French fancy

Making their way to Australia in February as part of the Good Vibrations line-up is French outfit Yelle. With just the right recipe of Frou Frou, fun, and pop sensibility they’re bound to give audiences a wow of a time. The Blurb caught up with Frontwoman Julie Budet and asked her what makes ‘Yelle’ yell.

For those of us who don’t know Yelle – can you give a sentence about what makes you tick?

I would say that the word FUN is the best answer. People who like us tell us that our music is fresh like lemon, our style too, the videos, the “new generation” communication via myspace and stuff… and our live show, which is a lot of fun too, for us at least!

And your essence?

Being spontaneous and sincere. I mean, our music is a mix of a lot of influences, so many, from the past, from now, and it’s not easy to classify us in a precise style so the best thing we have to do is just doing it with energy and love. Cause we love music, and people. I am not sure to answer very well by the way, i have to improve my english…

You started your myspace in 2005 and you were approached by a label shortly after that, can you describe that journey or transition from an artist to a worldwide phenonemen?

True. We have been contacted by a label very soon in our “career”. But that contact is not the reason of our album. It’s helped about promotion etc, but we would have done the same music, even as totally indie. About the story, yes, it was crazy! Just a few days after we uploaded the first song on our myspace, life changed! Lots of crazy messages, that contact with Source (the label)… yes it has motivated us a lot, for sure! A big door was opening, and in 2005, Myspace was so unknown in France!

Watch the clip for “JE VEUX TE VOIR”

Yelle.htmYour songs are fantastic ditties behind great euro- electro beats. These we ‘re guessing are about love, life and boys, what are they are about and how do you go about writing a track like “Je Veux Te Voir” or “A cause des Garcon”?

The songs are written by GrandMarnier (myspace.com/gdmarnier) and me. The lyrics are very important for us. They seem very light, and they are, but it’s all about fantasy. Playing with words about the real life of a 22 years old girl, sex, friends, sport, boys, girls, death too… It’s always written in a funny way. Our songs are always written very quickly, with a lot of spontaneity, GrandMarnier do the main work, and then we ping-pong, to improve them a bit and go, we record it.

What is your key for attracting universal appeal as you seem to have tapped into it quite nicely?

Oh thank you! I do think doing happy live shows, being cool and friendly are ones of the reasons… i guess. And i am always nice with the journalists so they spread the word ahahah!
It’s natural, i am like that, thanks to my parents.

Can you describe your feelings when you’re performing on stage?

On stage… i am feeling super good. Like when the bell rings at school and you are free for one hour. I love playing with GrandMarnier and Tepr, we give a lot of energy and people feel it, so they answer, and we give more, etc, etc. When we don’t tour, i miss it a lot. I am scared about that non-touring period which is coming.

What’s your favourite thing about travelling and visiting the cities that you have so far?

We love traveling. We are just back from a one-shot show, in Miami, for Art Basel. We are tired, but we love it so much. Discovering cities, countries, people, food, culture… it’s so essential. We learn a lot. And we try to organise the tour to have time to visit. For example, about that last one month US tour, we ask to travel with a van, all arround the states. It was so wonderful, so much better than staying in airports for hours…

You are noted as liking Australian fashion labels – ‘Ksubi’ and ‘Sass  and Bide’ come to mind, when you visit a country do you specifically go in hunt of cool labels? What’s going to be on your itinerary fashion wise while you’re visiting Oz?

I am not really hunting fashion. I love it, but i am not a big digger. I love when brands love our music too, and suggest us some stuff, like Ksubi, so sync-spirit! I hope to meet them again on the next Australian shows. But i don’t know what else yet.

How much do you think fashion and music are aligned at the moment and why is this so do you think?

Today music is not only music. The record is no more here so people need more, need to see things. That’s why merchandising is going so good, that live shows are doing well too, and why people are sensitive to the style, the videos, the graphic stuff arround a band. And this is also a “new generation” thing. We grew up in a “logo-childness”, lots of brands, lots of cool tv shows (Saved by the Bell and The Fresh Prince means A LOT for us). So for us, it’s just natural to love clothes, graphism, and stuff from that skate generation. Ok, i am far from your question now! Sorry, so, yes, it’s the same about fashion, for us. It’s our lifestyle, a package, not only music, not only fashion, ALL!

Yelle tour in February as part of the Good Vibrations Festival line-up. Visit www.goodvibrationsfestival.com.au for ticket and event information in your state.

Ruth Bailey

 

Posted: March 15th, 2009 under FESTIVALS, INTERVIEWS, international.
Comments: none