‘Click Interview’ with Je T’aime: ‘Je T’aime Is Such A Perfect Band Name’

French Dark-Wave / Post-Punk trio Je T’aime became a recognized formation in a rather short lapse of time. Dany Boy (programming, synth, bass, guitar & vocal), Tall Bastard (bass & guitar) and Crazy Z (guitar) last year accomplished two great new albums “Passive” and “Aggressive”. The albums reveal a passionate work mixing carrying, dark and powerful, guitar play together with elevating electronic parts. Albums were released on Manic Depression Records and Icy Cold Records (France) and will appeal for fans of The Cure, The Smiths ao. This band has an impressive potential and I would be not surprised to see them gaining a word-wide recognition in their music style. I’d a chat with the band.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I don’t exactly expect a Post-Punk / Dark-Wave band called Je T’aime. Where does this name come from and tell us a bit more about the set up and influences of the band?

Crazy Z: In the end, the name probably has nothing to do with the style of music we make, and everything to do with the romance we embody.

We want to reintroduce this French romanticism, after all anyone knows the meaning of the words “Je T’aime” around the world, and all the Parisian Love they suggest immediately explodes in your mind.

Tall Bastard:After spending the all night writing and recording our first song “The Sound”, being very tired and very drunk, we were so happy to have done it that we kept on saying : ‘I love you man, I love you’ so it stayed.

dBoy:The truth is that I don’t agree with your starting point. On the contrary, when I listen to Post-Punk, and even more so to Dark-Wave, I very often hear the singer talking about his love affairs. What I find strange is that this band name did not exist before we chose it. Je T’aime is such a perfect band name.

Q: Things went really fast for Je T’aime. In a rather short lapse of time you released three studio albums plus a live one. How do you look back on this fast evolution and what’s the input of each member in the writing process?

Crazy Z:In fact, we didn’t realize that. The self-titled debut album was released in 2019, and while we were enjoying it on the road, we were suddenly put on a forced hiatus by the pandemic.

Then the situation gave us plenty of time to write, compose, produce, and polish this new double album “Passive/Aggressive”. Moreover we cheated a little bit, as you might think we’ve released a lot of albums this year, but it’s really two parts of a double album. In any case, we didn’t feel like we were forcing the pace, we just go at our own pace.

dBoy:We are still a long way from artists like Saez who are able to release nine albums in a single year.

Tall Bastard: And now begins what this band was really build for: going on stage and meeting our audience  hitting the road.

Q: You last year released a kind of twins albums; first “Passive” and later on the year “Aggressive”. Each opus features ten songs while the artwork also is a noticeable element. What are these albums all about and what is it about the ‘Peter Pan Syndrome’?

dBoy:‘Passive-aggressive’ behavior is a set of so-called passive attitudes that indirectly express a hidden hostility that is not openly assumed or remains unconscious to the subject. The eponymous first album as well as this double album tells the story of a man who is a very bad lover, husband and father. His life is entirely defined by his fear of growing up, the famous Peter Pan complex. The passive-aggressive attitude is that of his daughter, who eventually hates him.

Q: What have been the different stages in the writing, recording and production of both albums? What have been the main challenges and difficulties you encountered?

Crazy Z:Generally, we take the equipment of our Parisian studios, we load it in a truck, and we leave on the Brittany coast, where we lock ourselves in a big house near the sea. Behind those closed doors, anything can happen. Lots of discussions, about music or not, big parties just between the 3 of us, and of course, lots of work. This is where the ideas for our lyrics, music, and album concepts are born. The hardest thing to manage?  I can think of two things. The fatigue because we chain the days and the nights without counting them. And the second one is the hysterical rhythm of dBoy which is unwavering when he has an idea in mind. We have just released a small documentary of 10 minutes relating all this on our Youtube channel. Go check it out!

dBoy:The biggest difficulty I see when composing is when Tall Bastard doesn’t have enough to make us Pina Coladas.

Q: You last year also released several video clips. What did you try to express by the clips and why are clips that important?

Crazy Z: Besides being the most used support by the public to discover and be interested in a new music band, we are also personally very interested in the power of the films, and in how to film something. So we take a lot of pleasure in imagining what we will produce as the next video material. As much pleasure as when we build a new album. There is no more music on one side, and video on the other. Both are expressions of our art and our stories, one like the other.

dBoy:We are lucky to be very well surrounded, especially by the team that Anaïs Novembre and Jean-François Verganti form within their video production company Albert & Marion, or the photographer and video maker Quentin Caffier.

Q: Je T’aime definitely appears to be a live band and I was really impressed you already played in different countries in such a short lapse of time. What means live shows to the band and what did you try to express on stage?

Crazy Z: So we were right to choose such a universal name from the start! (laughs). Simply, that was the very first and only rule of the band before we started anything in 2018: to make dance all the dark scenes all over Europe. And to make them dance, you have to gather them in one place. So in the end, live is what Je T’aime is all about.

Tall Bastard:Yeah, make our audience dance and smile listening to those old sounds we all like! We travel light to be able to go everywhere and play in almost any conditions!

dBoy:I always liked to compare the stage as a big pirate ship. It always pitches very dangerously in the face of the storm but must never, ever sink. If I had been a pirate captain I would have played very dangerously with my crew because I am an adrenaline fanatic, I always need more.