Paris (AFP)
"The idea is to have fun, for yourself, to support record stores, to support culture. With beauty. What's sexier than vinyl?", Exhibits Etienne Daho, sponsor of Record Store Day, to AFP. Saturday, event dedicated to independent record stores.
Q: The music, in confinement, was it a refuge?
A: "Music is the basis of my life. In confinement, I had more time to listen, quietly, without needing to do anything else. Active listening. Usually, I am all time in the studio, not at home. There, it was a luxury to jump off the bandwagon without guilt since everyone stopped. I listened, among other things, to the last Allah-Las, which has a vibration It was very beautiful, it was lunar, I opened the windows, I had the impression of being in August, in a deserted Paris, like in a film of anticipation. I have about 2,000 discs, which is not much, given my age and that I started buying it at 12-13 years old (laughs). When a record is not for me, I give it away. I am not a collector, but a + Completist +. When I love an artist, I need to have everything. To see how it unfolds, how the artist travels. Marianne Faithfull, for example, I have everything ".
Q: What is the idea of Record Store Day?
A: "The idea is to have fun, for yourself, to support record stores, to support culture. With beauty. What's sexier than vinyl?"
Q: What was the record store of your youth?
A: "Disc 2000 in Rennes, by Hervé Bordier. It was Ali Baba's cave, with a lot of American imports, very hard to have. I put down deposits every week to have these trophies 3-4 months I discovered the Velvet Underground, Syd Barrett. These are artists that I listened to on a drip. We lived with very few records. Hervé had this shop and had set up a kind of concert box, + Terrapin +, like the song by Syd Barrett, everything overlaps (laughs). I learned that he was organizing a concert by Nico, of which I was a fan. I stuck the posters in all the bars, which did not bother me (laughs) , except that I stuck them more and more crookedly throughout the day (laughs). And that's how I met Nico ".
Q: For Disquaire Day, you deliver + Surf +, a beautiful cover album ...
A: "We started it in 2004. + Surf +, it's going in all directions, in complete freedom. But the record company of the time was not frankly passionate. Their abandonment was a kind of betrayal . I was fed up with them and them with me (laughs). + Surf + didn't see the light of day. For Disquaire Day, we tried to recreate what should have been + Surf +. was beneficial, it made me dig into my hard drives of the time. It is not a buffer album, not a stopgap. Going out + Surf + today is a beautiful emotion, a beautiful surprise ".
Q: What is the story behind the beautiful title "Glad to be unhappy"?
A: "I knew Billie Holiday's version. I was working with an arranger, David Whitaker, who has since left us. He wanted to give me a gift with the string arrangements of a studio session at Abbey Road, singing to me. in front of an orchestra of 45 people. In English, a lot of stress (laughs). He wanted to give me this experience. It was fantastic ".
Q: Did you just work on Jane Birkin's latest album?
A: "We produced with Jean-Louis Piérot (ex-Valentins), we made the music and Jane the text. It's going to be an incredible album, it seems full of boorishness to say that (laughs). But we can have step back (laughs). It's scheduled for November ".
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