Learn more about Corbillard's new record!
Band picture: Vivian Barigand Hello Corbillard, thanks for your time. How have you been doing over the past few months? Hi Valentine! It’s always a pleasure to spend time with you guys at Distrolution! Last year was such a huge disappointment for us and for most of the people who dedicated their lives to live music, touring, recording, organizing events, attending to gigs and festival… For example, we cancelled about 60 shows in the past few months. And we didn’t get the opportunity to present our last album “Temps Mort”, released in 2020… It was also super complicated to meet, simply for rehearsal, or to compose new stuff, because of all security measures around the whole Corona-situation… So yeah, like lot of people, we had a hard time! :D Thankfully, it seems to slowly go back to normal! For those who have never heard your songs before, would you mind quickly introducing your band? Sure! Corbillard is a Belgium-based four-piece band, playing a mix of fast, dark, cutting-edge and sung in French punk-rock. We had the opportunity to hit the stages of numerous countries all around the world and play with our favorite bands ever. Plus a bunch of friends for the last ten years! Line-up changed a bit these last few years, but we found the right guys to fill the holes caused by departures of JonBeat and Flow. Nico (Year Zero) & Simon (Denied) joined us and brought their own craziness to Corbillard, on and off-stage! You've just unveiled a new record, “Corbillard Débranché”, featuring 14 old songs, in an acoustic version. What's the story behind this unplugged album? At the beginning of the pandemic, we were quite optimistic that it would only last a few weeks/couple of month max. After 6 months with no gigs, multiple cancellations and without knowing what the future would hold for us, we decided to use (wisely :D) that given time to try something different and record some kind of acoustic best-of, going through ten years of punk-rock. We listened the 4 albums and Ep that we made, and picked 14 songs that we could adapt and transform without losing their punk spirit. Flo & Simon started to rehearse that brand new setlist with their wooden guitars, till they were satisfied. Then we spent a few days in our home studio, to put everything on hard drive, and give the color we wanted to the songs! Any funny stories to share from your recording sessions? At the very beginning, this acoustic project was made initially to allow us to keep on playing during the pandemic, with respecting social-distancing and so on… It was supposed to fit the situation in venues more and meet the requirements of our beloved government. Then we decided to record it. Just 2 guitars, and 2 voices. In the end, we end up with an album in which we find: electric guitars, piano, organ, drums, percussion, you name it… We just CAN’T stick to the plan… :D Can we talk about the process of creating the artwork and the overall idea behind this visual? Yep! Since originally this project was supposed to be a live set, with “Flo & Simon from Corbillard playing Corbillard all-time favourites in a very different way”, we made a parallel with a ventriloquist telling the same stories but using a different voice through his doll. Others will say that it’s more Flo-sticking-his-right-arm-in-Sim’s ass-related. Pick the one explanation you like the most.
I’m sure you are, like a lot of people, missing live shows. Do you already have some dates planned for 2021 / 2022? So far only one, on December 4th in L’Entrepôt à Arlon (B), with our friends from Chump (Be) and La Solution (Fr). Hopefully things will get better soon and we’ll be able to fill our schedule quickly with a bunch of rad shows and festivals. And we’re dying to tour again. We miss the smell of our exhausted Ford Transit after 10 days spent on the road! To finish, what is one lesson you’ve learned that you think is important to pass onto other bands? To take things slow, without cutting corners. There’s no need to try to get everything too fast, without taking the time to build a solid foundation, with supporting local scene, promoters, events… Get involved. Be nice. Do for other bands what you’d like other bands to do for you! Thanks for your time!
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