The Sheriffs, an emblematic group of the French rock scene, have been giving occasional small concerts since 2012. This time, the five musicians have taken the plunge with a new album 23 years after the last one.
During confinement, "so as not to get bored", the Sheriffs rehearsed, exchanged and composed.
“This album is very Sheriff”, smiles singer Olivier Téna, “even if we talk less about parties and girls than before!
"
In 1998, the Sheriffs released their seventh album.
Before going their separate ways a few months later while on tour.
From the mid-1980s to the end of the 1990s, the Montpellier group was one of the leading groups on the French punk rock scene.
Twenty-three years later, they decided to reform and will defend their new album,
Grand bombardement tardif
, this Friday (8 pm) at the Victoire 2 room. Meeting with Olivier Téna, singer and author of the Sheriffs
Twenty-three years later, why the plunge into the deep end?
From 1999 to 2012, it was no longer a question of playing together.
And for my part, to sing very short.
It was all behind me.
And then in 2012, Michel the bassist who was in the association which manages the Secret Place room, suggested that we come together for a concert.
We accepted and we released a video of this reunion.
It was necessary to defend it.
So we played a few concerts, quiet, as a dilettante, for several years.
With this new album, are you taking another step?
In concerts, we played a song that had never been recorded in the studio.
We hesitated to throw it out on the Internet.
And then there was the Covid and the lockdown period.
So we found a way to fill the space and not get bored.
We finally had time to talk, to rehearse, even from a distance.
When you compose, you think all the time, you are always alert.
I rediscovered this pleasure that I had forgotten.
Was this choice easy?
No because that meant stopping everything we had been doing for years.
To remake an album and to defend it, that requires energy, availability.
We hesitated a lot.
Michel [Conegero, the bassist], privileged his work as team leader.
I was a stonemason after having done a thousand trades.
I thought it was worth a try.
How do you define this new album?
Musically, we are in continuity.
It's album is very Sheriff.
But I find it much better technically.
We manage to make an album sound in the studio, which we did not know how to do before.
It's linked to the experience and the stuff that has nothing to do with it.
The lyrics, for sure, don't talk about parties and girls like they used to (
laughs
).
But we keep talking about simple things.
We're not here to feel sorry for ourselves, because I think life is great.
Have the Sheriffs calmed down?
Before, we were young and stupid.
And fortunately, because idiots that dare everything.
We sucked, we didn't know how to play, but that didn't stop us from making albums and concerts.
If we had been smart, we would never have dared to do all of this.
Of course, we are more calm today, let's say that our bodies limit us.
We are always the same, without being the same.
Do you fear the reception of this album?
No, because the public has always been there during our few concerts.
I'm just a little scared physically because we're a little rusty.
Normally we have to string together about twenty dates in 2022. It will give us back the pace.
Until then, each year we wondered if we were going to leave for a few dates.
There, we are all in phase.
Usually I'm the most reluctant.
This time, I had a blast doing these songs.
We are happy with the result, very enthusiastic and concerned.
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