A rockin' Detroit/Oz-style band...from France?

If this sounds like an unlikely prospect to you, you obviously haven't had a chance to check out Holy Curse. These guys combine aggressive, in-your-face sounds with surprisingly melodic songwriting in much the same way as the New Christs, and their singer Eric spits out lyrics with a Younger-esque vengeance.

Their second album, Hereafter, arrived in my mailbox with a note from no less of a personage than the Iceman himself, Deniz Tek, that said tersely, "Nice guys. You'll like 'em." And the Iceman weren't just whistlin', either! Hereafter is undoubtedly one of the best records I heard last year -- dark, driving, intense -- and its predecessor, Living With a Head, is no slouch either (just check out "Amsterdam").

Chatting with bassplayer Vinz on the Divine Rites List led to a request for an interview. Thus, one night I found myself in the I-94 Bar with four-fifths of Holy Curse (new guitarist Paul was absent -- probably had to go to work at the record store he runs) following a band rehearsal. Besides the fact that these guys (fortunately) speak much better English than my pathetic attempts at Pidgin French (right, Vinz?), their conversation is a tapestry with a lot of threads running through it: pride, humility, brutally frank self-assessment, a lot of humor (much of it self-directed), enthusiasm for their music...and a profound fondness for the fruit of the vine (they definitely seem at home in a Bar).

K: The liner notes to your albums don't give a lot of information about the guys in Holy Curse, and I understand you just got a new guitar player, so to start with -- who's in the band?

Pascal: A bunch of five ol' farts, good for nothing but always make more noise, say more bullshit and drink more wine.

Vinz: Eric sings, Pascal and Paul play guitars, the rhythm section is Mr. Manga on drums and me on bass.

Manga: AKA "The Tribal Actor."

K: When and how did you start playing together?

Pascal: Actually, we still can't play together!

Vinz: Present lineup from June '99. Band started end of 1994.

Manga: It's gonna be the 20 years' anniversary of our meeting with Vinz in June 2000. Moving, isn't it?

K: Who are some of your musical influences?

Pascal: Neil Young, Kinks, Posies, New Christs, Social Distortion, Mott, Radiohead, Pink Fairies, Queen, Frank Sinatra, Eagles, Fat Boy Slim...

Vinz: Cut the last four of Pascal (I HATE Sinatra!), and add the Nomads, the Ramones, the Posies. And the Saints, of course. For they all write good and catchy stuff. And also Dr. Feelgood or Mick Green's Pirates for how tight a rhythm section should be. Old stuff, mainly.

Eric: The highball recipe -- a big splash of Motor City (the Five, Sonic's Rendezvous Band, Stooges) and Australian energy (Birdman and legacy) mixed with British invaders (from the Pretty Things to the Deviants -- I love them so much!) and Americans invaders (from the Remains to Love), then some N.Y. punk ice cubes (from the Velvets to the Dolls). When you're down with this, it's afterhours drinking (Coltrane, Sun Ra and Akosh S).

Manga: My life was changed in 1980, when Vinz let me know the Ramones, the Cramps and the Clash. I also discovered by this time the Dead Kennedys and Aerosmith. Apart from rock, I still enjoy listening to Nino Rota's Fellini movie soundtracks and Tom Petty. [INTERVIEWER'S NOTE: It's nice to talk to someone who understands the difference between rock and Tom Petty.]

K: Deniz Tek said Holy Curse opened some shows for the DTG his last time in Europe, and he spoke very highly of you. What was it like playing with Deniz?

Pascal: Ask Eric, he still hasn't completely recovered from our show in Le Havre.

Eric: Man, what can I say? These guys (Deniz, Todd Eagle and Tony Horton) were ever so nice. And of course, Deniz asking me onstage to sing "New Race" along with him in Le Havre -- I've sung this song in the shower for 15 years and when I got there, I couldn't remember half of the words, but I guess it was OK. Deniz liked it and for me, well, you know what they say, "a dream come true."

Vinz: I was like, "Wow, we've still got a lot to learn."

Manga: Less impressed than the others, because of unculturedness. I was struck by the kindness of the guy.

K: Hearing your stuff and some of the other French bands on the NKVD Violence Inherent In the System comp has been quite a revelation for me... I had no idea that there was such a vital rock scene in France. How has the scene there evolved over the years?

Pascal: It's getting desperately harder and harder every day. The situation here in France is dramatic. These days rock'n'roll is the music to despise and no one wants to bet on that horse. That means no good conditions to play, very few gigs and no label. Rock'n'roll is in a dead end street and we're walking straight into the wall. Fortunately, a heroic resistance exists! Independent radios, fanzines and new cool web sites keep on fighting the music industry's Big Brothers. (Thank you all!)

Eric: Pascal said it all; it feels like being Don Quixote, alone and kicking asses.

Manga: As an incurable optimist, I believe in the return of the Big Wheel.. I'm quite sure that our time will come.

K: Are there any French bands in particular that you'd recommend to overseas listeners?

Pascal: Not one as good as Holy Curse.

Vinz: Try the Backsliders, they deserve it.

K: What's Holy Curse's connection with [promoter/Divine Rites Records label chief] Didier Georgieff?

Pascal: We're in love with him (sexually speaking).

Vinz: Sonically speaking too

Eric: Best breakfast in town and THE COUSCOUS.

K: There's a lot more dynamic variation/"light and shade" in Holy Curse's music than in many other high-energy bands'. How do you go about writing material?

Pascal: It really depends on the mood I'm in. The songs I write are definitely a reflection and a distortion of how I see life. You sometimes go through weird periods with ups and downs, and if you're lucky enough, maybe a good song will come out of it. There's no pre-established scheme for writing a song, and I believe that the more honest you are, the better the song turns out to be. You can't say, "Hey, today I'm gonna write an MC5 kinda tune or a song 'a la Beatles.' I just jot down whatever comes through my head and if it sounds like the MC5 or the New Christs that's good, but if it sounds like Holy Curse that's much cooler!

Vinz: In fact, Pascal writes beautiful-but-too-complicated-for-a-stoopid-bass-player songs. So I spend three months of rehearsals trying to cut the unnecessary stuff in the song. Then Eric changes the words and the melody to the song, and Paul makes unexpected chord changes. The result is on the records. On a more egotistical level, Pascal writes nearly all the songs and I make the hits, HAHAHAHA!

Eric: I don't write that many songs; check out for the stupid lyrics, that's me.

Manga: I'm just a drummer...sometimes, the others deign to listen to my suggestions, while rehearsing. Sometimes, they even accept to try them, but so far, none of my ideas has been kept. In order to stay in the band, I avoid to propose songs. I keep them for my soon-starting solo career.

K: Between Living With a Head and Hereafter, it sounds like you guys progressed quite a bit. The first one's a great rec, but certain tracks (like "Amsterdam") seem to stand out more than others for me, while the second one seems consistently stronger. Describe the making of those records.

Pascal: I think you're right, Ken. "Night Zoo" and "Amsterdam" are two of my favourite HC tunes, but some other songs on our first CD really stink! Years of practicing have taught us how to write better songs and avoid a lot of mistakes. At the time we recorded Hereafter, every member of the band had taken over the songs. I think everyone really gave the best of themselves
for that album (including the guests).

Vinz: We were impressed to go recording our first record, so we sound shy (and shit). You can hear it. Just like shy kids. The second one was more chaotic (on a personal level). There were tensions everywhere, inside and outside the band. We were not sure the band would go on after that. And yes, the songs are better, simple as that.

K: It was a big surprise to hear the string section on Hereafter, but it actually fitted very well with the music. Whose idea was it to add that?

Pascal: Vinz's.

Vinz: Wouldn't you try a string section, if you know they come for free? It was only by chance. I worked for a lady whose girl plays alto in this quartet. I asked them, just in case and it worked. And believe me, "The Auction" without strings sounds like shit. That's why we don't play it live..

Manga: My dream would be to have the strings live on stage, but we haven't yet had a chance for that. That's why I'm working on a big concert project that could afford it. I can't say more about it for now, but we'll let you know if it happens.

K: As I wrote in my review of Hereafter on the Bar, Holy Curse sounds like a band I'd love to hear blowing up against the back wall of a club someplace. How do your live performances differ from your records?

Pascal: Of course, it's usually rawer live than on record. But that really depends on the show. If we play in a bar, everybody's having a good time, enjoying our set, we tend to play more high-energy tunes and fast songs. On the other hand, if the audience is cold and standoffish, then we play more weird and less-obvious tunes (we know how to be arrogant too!). This kind of situation sometimes creates an osmosis within the band that leads to a great performance.

Eric: It's funny in a way; so many gigs facing such different audiences and you always feel like you're gonna wet your pants; but also, it gets the energy burning -- the real and raw experience.

Vinz: Right. Depends on what we had to drink, too.

Manga: Stage is my ultimate gas if it works. When I'm not too good, it's the most horrible feeling I know. Danger and adrenaline.

K: Do you have anything else released besides the two albums?

Pascal: Tons of singles, albums and box-sets...no, in fact we're not the kind of band that release three singles every month and four albums a year, including 200 Stooges covers live in my mum's bathroom. We're slow, perfectionists and always short of money to go in the studio. But if
someone's ready to pay, we're ready to change!

Vinz: A split-single, "Underworld of Love," b/w an alternate take of "Kinda Crime" by the Nomads. It was our first release. Yes, we're slow and always doubtful about our music, like "Is it good enough to blahblahblah..."

K: I was very fortunate to be able to hear the unmixed versions of "Too Much Paranoia" from Living With a Head, Radio Birdman's "Crying Sun," and the New Christs' "Born Out of Time." The Birdman tune in particular is a standout -- the best version of that tune I've heard since New Race's. Are there plans to release any of these, and when can we expect to hear some new Holy Curse music?

Pascal: We hope Didier and Divine Rites will help us with those songs. We're gonna spend a couple of days in a studio very soon to record several new tracks. Hope we can release them as soon as possible.

K: Any plans to tour the U.S. or Australia?

Pascal: That would be terrific, but we really need someone over there to organise things for us.

Eric: Hey what about both?

Vinz: Readers that would be interested, tour managers, please e-mail us!

Manga: Where?

[PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Interested parties are directed to holycurse@wanadoo.fr -- where you can also find out how to get their records, if there isn't a store near you hip enough to stock them. You can also write to Holy Curse the old fashioned way c/o W(h)izRecordings, 7 cit Germain Pilon, 75018 Paris, France. So there.]

K: What music are you listening to these days?

Pascal: Roger Waters' Music from the Body.

Vinz: Frank Black's Pistolero, Mike Ness' Cheating at Solitaire, and the Nomads' The Goodbye Look (this one for years).

Eric: All the stuff from my recipe of influences. Add Deniz and Mike Ness' solo albums -- shaken not stirred.

Manga: My snare made me deaf.

K: Since we're in a Bar -- what do you like to drink?

Pascal: As you're buying me a drink, I'll have a Highland single malt (Lagavulin or Talisker).

Vinz: I'll take a Caol Ila unfiltered single cask, a Czech Budweiser or a Burgundy red wine.

Eric: White wine to start with, then red, and then a glass of red wine, and if you don't mind, I'll finish this bottle and then maybe try this one and then...

Pascal: Oh, shut up, you wino!!!

Manga: Thank you! I'll take just like you, my friend.