Take a walk on the B-side: Birdy Hunt interview

One week ago, we told you about a French rock band, Birdy Hunt. We were lucky to go to their gig and we also had the huge privilege of getting in their truck to do an interview.

Firstly the gig, the band lived up to its reputation. Indeed, it was very dynamic and lively! The fans and the band jumped about and danced a lot, and we should give a special mention to Manu, who really got the crowd going! Birdy Hunt finished the gig with the traditional punchy rendition of Outkast “Hey Yah”, which actually sounds better than the original.

truck Birdy hunt walk on the b-side interview

the famous truck

Walk on the B-side: Could you quickly introduce us to the band's members who are present here?

Marc: There are three of us; I'm Marc, the singer, Marius is the drummer and Manu plays Keyboard. The other musicians are Luc and Nicolas, the guitarists, and Thomas who plays bass.

Manu: The band was created in 2007. At the beginning there were only 5 members, and I wasn't one of them. They were together for two years and the style was more Garage rock. Then, two years later I joined the band, and it's only really been two and a half years that we've been doing tours and gigs.

Why did you choose the name Birdy Hunt for the band? In english, it means that you are a kind of hunting girls...

Marc: It also means birds hunting [laughs].

Marius: In fact it's because of a friend of Nico the guitarist who is a painter, she signed her paintings by Blondie Birdy Hunt so we thought that Birdy Hunt sounds cool and we used to hunt “bird” at this time so it was funny to use that name… [laughs]

Marc: We have never been a band which attract groupies...

Who compose the most in the band?

Marc: We compose all together. We have a studio in Gennevilliers in France where we gather the six of us and try to come up with something then, most of the time I write the lyrics. Nico helps me too to see what we could keep or not in the lyrics. We work like this.

Marius: We do the arrangement together, none of us come up with a song, it's a collective work. We really work together.

Manu: We don't rehearse alone, we do it together during rehearsal, in circle we rehearse and we come up with something.

Marc: The trap when you're a group, is that become a sort of group made-up of other groups of which you are fans, so it is better to have several people around with different influences.

Why did you choose to come to London ?

Marc: It's not the first time that we come to London. When we started to form the band in 2007, Manu wasn't in the band yet, we came to London for a month in 2007. We had fifteen dates, we really did our first tour, then we also really formed the band at this time, because we didn't know each other really well. I only knew Luc and Marius, there were also Nico and Tom, who are not here, who already knew each other, then we started to form the real band. We love this city, it feels like home when we are in London, we often have opportunities to play. We try to come back at least once a year.

Manu: We come back even more in the future. We are also in London to meet people that we hope to work with in London.

Birdy hunt interview concert Walk on the b-side

As we say, very punchy band !

You launched an EP in 2011, are you going to launch a new album soon this year?

Manu: We do fewer gigs mow except these two gigs that we did in London. It has been four months now that we have been composing, we are going to do an album. We would like to record it in London. We probably are going to work with an English Producer who has worked with Robbie Williams.

Fingers crossed !

Your second EP seems quite different from the first one. Why this turn of direction ?

Marc: When you make an EP you need to immerse yourself in some kind of ambiance, then you see what happens. For this one, we went in January to my place in French Brittany.

Manu: It is a peaceful place so…

Marius: That's why we made more calm tracks.

Marc: We worked on tracks with pop bases and classical guitars, then, when we got the outline of the EP we reworked it with electric guitars. But for the next EP we want to make something different.

Manu: We tried to stay consistent on each EP and even if there is different atmosphere they work together.

Yesterday (01/11) you played at the Bull and Gate, was the audience
receptive ? Is there a difference between French and English music fans ?

Marius & Manu: Yesterday was cool !

Marc: It depends on which part of France you go to. There are places where French people are really receptive and some other where they are kind of uptight...

Manu: In Paris for instance !

Marc: In London, there are so many bands that it is always gratifying when people love what you do. Plus, this is great to play for people who actually understand the meaning of your songs. We sing in English so there is always some kind of barrier with French people while here we can joke, speak half english, half french between songs and take ourselves not so seriously !

Birdy Hunt during the gig.
Manu's hair stuck in the strings of Nicolas's guitar.

Yesterday, there was the Mercury Prize ceremony. Alt-J have been named winner of this year with their album An Awesome Wave.
What do you think about that ?

Marc: What I really would like to know is what happens when you tape ALT plus J on your keyboard ? [laughs]

Marius: It's a delta ! That's why their logo is a triangle.

Manu: This is the Illuminati !

Marc: Actually, I listened to it, but I don't really fancy it.

Manu: I'm not so into that triangle trend.

Marius : Anyway, we're happy for them

Marc: Yes of course, we are ! But the thing is that when you compose you don't really listen to other bands.

Marius: We are not so aware of the last released, latest music news. I try not to listen so much music so I can keep making my own stuff.

Manu: It is always better to isolate yourself, to disconnect from the world.

Do you have other dates of concerts scheduled in London ?

All: Not for the moment.

Manu: You should ask Kevin, our manager. (To Kevin, also in the van) Kevin, any others concerts in London ?

Kevin: Yes of course ! At the O2 Academy. [Laughs]

Marius: We may play in Brighton in January.

Kevin: This is not 100% sure at the moment, it is in negotiation.

Manu: The thing is that we are currently composing. We had an opportunity to play here so we took it but we didn't try to find more gigs to play.

Marius: But in 2013, there will be for sure !

Marc: Actually, if we are in England it's because we are going two days in Oxford to make to do preproduction. It's the first step in studio to try to adapt ourselves in case we have to record in England in December, to see if it's cool or not.

Marius: If it's not cool, we dissolve the band ! [Laughs]