Victor is a young skinhead singer and gig promoter from Paris, with tight pants, a strong voice and the heart in the right place...
Hi Victor.
You played Malmö this spring with Maraboots in what became one of your last
gigs... I thought you guys rocked! Did you enjoy yourself and what did you
think of Vindicate This! and Gutter-fucking-snipes? And tell me a little about
why you split up Maraboots?
We had a
great time with Maraboots in Malmö even if that ended pretty bad with the
police at the end of the night (skinhead way of life innit’?/ed.). I'd Like to
thank in name of Maraboots once again all the great people we met there , and
that shared with us a moment wich was clearly one of our last, as a band. We
were surprised to play with Guttersnipe because it's one of our all-time
favorite bands and we all thought they didn't played anymore !! Lots of people
there in Paris were jealous and therefore we're gonna try to bring them to
Paris for sure ! Vindicate This was one of the latest good discoveries for us
and we were honoured to play with'em , great band , great people. When we came
to Malmö, we already knew that it will be one of the last Maraboots shows as
Mathieu (original bass player) and Vincent had already planned to move to
Australia for some years. So that's mainly why we stopped playing. The band was
going slow and without the original core , the band won't ever be the same...
You seem to
be very busy with Lions law is that correct? What are the plans the nearest
future, releases shows and so on?
Maybe this
is part of Maraboots ending because that's true we nearly play every weekend
with Lion's Law. We try to enjoy and take advantage of all these invitations
all around the world ! We already recorded 8 songs that'll be out soon on a
10" , we're actually working on the cover. There may be some split 7"
out during 2015 too.. Keep posted!
I know you
also started some other projects tell us about this...
Well , i'm
always up to do some Oi! Oi! Music , So i can't resist when someone ask me to
start another band. I've got lots of band projects now, the main act is called
Rixe, french-singing (what i like most and what i'll miss without Maraboots)
Nabat-like band. We have a rough 80's sound, the idea comes from Max (guitarist
of Youth Avoiders) , i hope we'll be able to make you listen to something
really soon. I also recorded 2 songs with a Portuguese friend in Lisboa when i
was on holidays , this must be out soon on a 7" on Bigorna Records, the
band is called Atlantes. But my biggest wish is to start a new stuff over
Maraboots ashes , with Nico (drums) and Alex (saxophone).. Come on guys !!!
When did you
get in to punkmusic and when did you realise that Skinhead was your way of
fucking life?
I had the
chance to grow up in a "Rock'n'Roll" family, my father listened to
Slade and my brother were big AC/DC fans. When i was 12, my brother gave me an
ACDC and a NOFX tape, these were the only one i've got. But France is not a
"Rock country", even more in Paris' suburbs at school so
"rockers" stayed together and we started to go to punk shows with the
craziest guys in school and met some redskins and some Sharps in punk gigs.
When i turned 15 i shaved my head and started as a young red-skinhead. In Paris
there was a big war between RASH and SHARP , older people from RASH Paris used
to tell me that SHARP Paris were nazis and greyzone... Wich was obviously NOT
true at all. So when i realized that.. Well i left this gang of liars to
embrace true skinhead culture with the rest of the boys and girls.
With
Maraboots your were SHARP and also with Lions law you seem to take a stand
against the ultra right and fash... But you guys still seem to like som more
"incorrect" kind of bands and happily pose in their t-shirts. Have
this caused you any missunderstandings or problems?
Of course,
this started when we did a rip-off of an EvilSkins song as our anti-racist
anthem , you understand the irony in it? We're french Oi! lovers and we are
SHARP and decided to take a stand against racism as bands and as individuals,
but we all know what we think and therefore we allow ourselves to wear t-shirts
of bands that were not "politically correct" in the 80's but no
racist stuff. And the 80's were what they were, we can't imagine and compare
those days to nowadays. I don't think there's nothing wrong in it if you stay
true to yourself.
You also seemed
to get in some silly internet fight with the usual cunts... Tell us about this!
Well, i
don't Like to argue over internet but of course some of my mates couldn't help
themselves when people started to talk bullshit after i appeared in Beyonce's
vidéoclip (fucking pride I would do the same if asked for Swedish equivalent
Veronica Maggio!/ed.) , i agree it's really awkward situation but that was
acting...plus that was a pretty funny story.. I don't care about what people do
in their private life , if they love to dress themselves as Orcs during the
weekend or if they love to wank themselves in their boots , i don't care , it's
their private life!
In your old
webzine you and Silvio reviewed Vindicate this! and said something about one
song got you the feeling of being about "the end of a homosexual
friendship" or something like that. Did this song have a strong personal
effect on you?
As i didn't
wrote the review about Vindicate This! , i'll ask my old friend Silvio to
answer it . Just wanna say that i miss those webzine-days !
Silvio: - Well
it wasn't me either, it was actually Mathieu, because we were 3 persons
involved in Vengeance. It didn't remember that he said that one of Vindicate
This! song reminded him of "the end of an homosexual friendship", but
you should take that as a compliment I guess, because we loved homo-oi! when we
were doing Vengeance. We were like writting tons and tons of bullshit all the
time, it was never too serious. I do remember though that we said about a lot
of band that they had a "homo" sound. That's basically how we would
explain that a band sounded melodic. To us, Lion's Law was an homo-oi! band,
Maraboots as well, for exemple. We actually had some kind of a ladder to
describe how melodic a band was, going from "homo" to
"faggish", faggish usualy being reserved to extremly homo-erotic
"white ballads", Sleep Well My Brother by Ken & Stigger being
probably the most faggish song we ever heard (fair enough although a bit
dissapointing – was hoping you bursted out in tears sitting listening to the
record/ed.).
What are
your favorite bands, past and present (and all kinds of music if you like to)?
To be
honest, that'll be a eclectict list as long as a hobbit's foot , but i'll try
to sum up. I surely don't list all but for me classics are : Warzone ,
L'infanterie Sauvage, Rose Tattoo, Snix, Zakarrak , Champion , Komintern Sect,
Roots & Boots , Caméra Silens ,Nabat, True Colours , Survet Skins , ACDC ,
Cobra, HardTimes.
Nowadays i'm in a big American-oi! period: So i'd say Battle Ruins, Hammer and the nails, Noi!se, Brassknuckle Boys , Patriot, Victory. In Europe i sure keep my ears on bands Like Rude Pride from Spain , Grade 2 from England and now their compatriots from Last Crusade. From France you have to listen to Traitre (Lille) and Syndrome 81 (Brest) (played Malmö – loved them/ed.)but apart from these bands i'm really waiting for some new typical french oi! , it's been boring nowadays!
Nowadays i'm in a big American-oi! period: So i'd say Battle Ruins, Hammer and the nails, Noi!se, Brassknuckle Boys , Patriot, Victory. In Europe i sure keep my ears on bands Like Rude Pride from Spain , Grade 2 from England and now their compatriots from Last Crusade. From France you have to listen to Traitre (Lille) and Syndrome 81 (Brest) (played Malmö – loved them/ed.)but apart from these bands i'm really waiting for some new typical french oi! , it's been boring nowadays!
You also put
up gigs right? When will you book Vindicate This!? Tell us about what you have
arranged and your future plans.
Good
question ! We'd love to but we're actually having a rough time organizing gigs
, money issues, venue issues (the biggest problem) . Otherwise gigs in Paris
nowadays goes really good , people show up and don't start stupid fights as
they used to do ten years ago! Our scene is clean and good!
I've noticed
on lot of your pictures from gigs that people stage dive a lot. Is that a
common skinhead pride in France? In Sweden it’s mostly associated with
hardcore of the Schyman Era (Gudrun Schyman is a Swedish politician, a bit like
our Thatcher except she is generaly good and she never really had any power).
Oh Well ,
i've always seen people stage diving in Oi! gigs in France , it is surely
related to hardcore but it's now part of our scène too!
Do you like
any swedish bands?
Of course !
But i still don't understand a shit of it ! I'd say Projekt 9, Antipati ,
Gatans Lag , Perkele , Agent Bulldogg , Sabotage, Guttersnipe and Vindicate
This !
Could you
think of having a Pitbullfarm poster on your wall at home?
OH HELL NO !
I hope this answer is pretty clear!
Do you like the system? I fucking hate it... Do you
have any theories or practical tips for me about how to overthrow it or should
I just forget it and go back to my oi!oi! records and drink some beer?
I think the basics of being a skinhead is, as
Criminal Class said it before , fighting the system of course. We may seem
useless as we don't take a political stand but being out of the norm is already
a big fuck off to modern society ! I personally am being pessimistic about
society, everything's going wrong ... Beer is a good cure to forger these
problems, but not to solve them..
Do you like Rancid and have you heard their latest
record?
I Like rancid and i think the last album is good but
for me the best thing they have ever done was covering NOFX on the Rancid/NOFX
split !!!
Any final words for the Swedish punk, skin and
herbert community?
I can't wait
to come back to Sweden , to play or maybe in May in Malmö for the oi! Gig !
Keep on doing excellent bands. All eyes and hears and headed north .
