Photo by Emma Ledoyen
At TransMusicales de Rennes Festival 2012 we witnessed a wonderful show by the French indiepop band TEAM GHOST who a short time before released their great new single Dead Film Star. Now, in early 2013, the guys from Paris released their debut album Rituals. Time to talk to TEAM GHOST about their band history, dead film stars, the French festival, solidarity and of course hope and passion.
Please introduce yourself and TEAM GHOST to our readers.
Christophe and I formed TEAM GHOST about five years ago, then Félix (drums) and Pierre (bass) joined us. Benoit (guitars, synths) joined the band after having produced our 2nd EP. We released two EP on the great label Sonic Cathedral, and now we are about to release our first LP.
You are not a new band, but it took a while until you gained international attention. Why did it take so long?
I guess we needed time to find the right persons we wanted to work with. It’s very important to us to work with people we trust. Actually, we recorded the album quite a long time ago, but we wanted to find the perfect label. And we did it!
We saw your show at TransMusicales 2012 (great show btw!). Would you say that the festival brought you a buzz? As how important do you see TransMusicales for a band?
Thanks!! We had a great time and a lot of fun. This festival is very big in France, so it was great for us to play there. NIRVANA played there too years ago!!
In your single “Dead Film Star” you sing “you breathe the end for another dead film star” – what is the deeper meaning of the song?
Yes, the lyrics are “You breathe the air for the love of a dead film star”. Benoit wrote those lyrics. It’s mostly about being so much fascinated by a movie star you want to kill her. It’s kind of a tribute to JG Ballard’s novels. He’s one of our favorite writers.
France has tons of great musical acts, but only a few make it international. What’s the reason for this and what are your hot tips from France?
Well, I don’t really know… There are great bands in France, like YETI LANE, FORTUNE, ZOMBIE ZOMBIE, CHATEAU MARMONT…
Who influenced you most as musicians, as band and as persons?
SONIC YOUTH, JOY DIVISION, THE CURE, TANGERINE DREAM, ASH RAH TEMPLE, SLOWDIVE, DAVID CRONENBERG, LUCIO FULCI, DARIO ARGENTO, JOHN CARPENTER, HUBER SELBY JR and many many others!!
Is rock music only music to you or does it have a deeper cultural or political importance to you?
I guess it’s only music to us. We’re very interested in politics, but we don’t actually talk about it in our songs. Many other musicians did it very well, like BOB DYLAN, THE CLASH or GANG OF FOUR. I’m not sure we could do as good as them.
Currently the page “everydaysexism.com” raises a lot of attention. What do you think is the best way to fight sexism? What can each of us do?
The most important thing everyone must do is to react tightly when one is a victim of sexism in everyday life, in the subway for example. We need solidarity!
Back to music: what can people expect from TEAM GHOST in 2013?
We start touring in march, and then I hope we’ll play in summer festivals. So, a lot of gigs, maybe in the US too…
Last one: What do “hope” and “passion” mean to you?
Well, a LOT of things. These two things are essential.