French electro-swing band Caravan Palace, fresh off their third album (<|°_°|>), is coming to Cat's Cradle Friday May 27. The French band made headlines last fall when it was one of the first bands to perform in Paris after the city's terror attacks. Arts & Entertainment Editor Jenni Ciesielski talked with violinist and vocalist Hugues Payen about his musical influences, touring in Europe and America and the first concerts after the Paris attacks.
Daily Tar Heel: Who would you say your musical influences are?
Hugues Payen: Of course, every swing artist. We’ve been on tours and we've come to consider every artist that tours with us as an influence because they’re all so unique. We’ve had a lot of distinct twists. For the electronic music aspect, it’s always changing, because electronic music is very unlikely and changes every day. Every one of us loves something different, and we all feed off each other. One thought, one album. It’s authentic.
DTH: How would you say your third album differs from the other albums you’ve produced?
HP: I’d say that for the first album, we had no reference and we didn’t know where to go and what we had to do. So it was quite naive and childish of us. For the second one, which was jazz, we wanted to reverse and check everything and to pretend that was it. For the third we realized that music is better when you do what you really like, what you really love, and that’s all. So for the first time we really wanted to mix what we really listened to every day and also the what we had done before. But before that, we just walked in the dark because we never knew what was the next step. For this one, we knew exactly what we wanted and of course it’s never what you want, but I think that we made something very, very accurate to what we love.
DTH: How is touring in America different than doing so in Europe?
HP: We’ve toured in the United States and North America for six years now, and when we began Caravan Palace it was a little light in the eye of the public. The public was watching, which was very interesting. When we toured in Europe, they loved it because they knew what we did and they had a passion for swing. But in America there’s not those eyes — because swing is not so very public — so it’s a discovery for them. It’s fun to introduce people to this kind of music, and we love it. I think it’s wonderful because it’s a dream for a European musician to play in America.
DTH: What is the best part about touring with the group?
HP: What’s best in it is to be able to always find the trust and way to be together to give the public something fresh and something different every night. And when you can succeed in doing it, it’s incredibly good to tour. At the end of a tour we always have been able to do that and every night, people have come to us and said "Wow, we heard the best things all night."
