Punk Planet: Chevreuil
Douglas Heaven takes a look at the French rock scene
There’s more to French rock than Serge Gainsbourg. For a time there was Sloy (1991–2000) who looked like they were going places after playing shows with Shellac and being invited on tour by P J Harvey. John Peel took a shine to them too, back in the day. But despite sexing up their sleazy punk sound with a bugle solo on their third album Electrelite (1998) it still ended up being their last. Carrying the Tricolore today are Chevreuil. Chevreuil are so French they don’t even bother translating their band profile. But no matter, the gist is clear:
“Tony C. (guitare) et Julien F. (batterie) commencent le groupe CHEVREUIL en 1998 ... 3 albums (“SPORT” – 2000, “GHETTO BLASTER” – 2001, “CHATEAUVALLON” – 2003) ... mentor STEVE ALBINI ... batterie mécanique/métronome ... le groupe inaugure la guitare magnétique, instrument hybride qui a un pied dans l’univers du rock et l’autre dans l’atmosphère de la musique électronique”.
Roughly speaking, Chevreuil tread the same territory as Battles, but they’re scuzzier and do without the squeaky vocals. There are also only two of them, augmented by multiple amps and, in case you missed it back there, a “magnetic guitar”.
All punk has roots in its fanbase, with many bands doing as much as possible to blur the line between band and audience. Lightning Bolt famously set up on the floor in front of the stage when they play, with the crowd usually bouncing into the drumkit. Chevreuil take a more academic stance towards inclusiveness.
Last year they collaborated with Professor Rodolphe Durand, chair of the Strategy department at the HEC Paris business school, on his latest book 'The Pirate Organization: an essay on the evolution of capitalism', which seeks answers to the questions “what connects sea pirates of the 17th century to the pirate radios, cyber hackers, and biopirates of our times” and “how does piracy relate to the evolution of capitalism”. True to the spirit of the project, Chevreuil wrote a song to accompany the book and released it under a Creative Commons license. For their part in the enterprise the band were profiled in the Financial Times, an outlet not well known for its coverage of punk rock.
Since we’re in France this week anyway, it’s also worth checking out Sincabeza and Pneu, especially if Chevreuil are your cup of chocolat chaud. All three have song samples streamed from their last.fm pages and Chevreuil’s song about pirating can be downloaded from www.organisationpirate.com/p/la-musique.html
