|
Eux Autres
 |
Hailing from the indie-rock
heaven of Portland, Eux Autres are indeed a peculiar band.
Siblings Heather and Nicholas Larimer's early influences
range from mid 90's indie-pop-rock to 60s French yè-yè
singers, cooking them in the distinctive Portland way
thank to producion work from Janet Weiss and Jeff Stuart
Saltzman. As a result, their first self-produced album
"Hell is Eux Autres" is that king of rough-at-the-edges-soft-in-the-middle
indiepop records that stays with you for longer than you
may have expected, and indeed one of the most peculiar
indiepop records of 2004. We tried to discover why. |
As a brother and sister duo you must
have been compared at least once to the White Stripes. Apart
from the fact that you are obviously much more good-looking
and well dressed, what do you have to say about this?
Heather: Thank you for the compliment. We sound nothing at
all like the White Stripes, and it's kind of frustrating that
people's memories are so short and narrow-there have been
many great boy / girl duos in rock history, most of which
we have more in common with, such as the Vaselines, the Spinanes
or Quasi. Musically, we probably owe more to the Carpenters
than any other duo, although we're a little more well-adjusted
than they were. Also, with the White Stripes it seems like
Jack White is the mastermind, and with us it's much more egalitarian.
I wonder what are the dynamics in a sister-brother band.
Did you listened to the same records as teenagers? When you
realized you could start a band together? Do you ever fight
over the band?
Nicholas: Yes we very much listened to the same music. We
have been sharing records for years. When Heather was a teenager,
she turned me on to many cool bands, whereas now I introduce
her to more bands, both new and old. We once decided that
if someone played 100 songs and had us each rank them according
to how much we liked them, our rankings would probably be
identical-that's how close our taste in music is. I don't
think two people could have any closer taste in music.
We realized that we could start a band when I moved to Portland.
Heather lived in a house where a band practiced, and had recently
learned the drums. We started playing Guided by Voices and
Blondie covers when we were bored. Then we realized we should
just become a real band.
We do fight-sometimes very loudly. It can be embarrassing.
But we've never broken any instruments over each other's heads.
We fight in the privacy of home, like a good dysfunctional
family.
Around here Portland is known for being a wonderful city.
Rock-wise but not only. What can you tell us about life in
the city and about the indie scene there?
Heather: Portland is the greatest city in the US, except for
maybe New York, but Portland is much easier to live in. The
food is good, the coffee is good, the music is good, the landscape
is good, the people are good. The bands here are very talented,
and there are more moving here everyday. The indie scene has
many different rings to it, little micro cliques. We know
lots of people from the music scene, but don't really have
a band-related clique. I hang out with mostly people who do
other things-writers, artists, chefs, etc.
Is your family name French? Is that where French influences
in your sound comes from?
Nicholas: Our family name is Scottish, although it is fun
to pronounce with a French accent. When we discovered 60s
French pop, it felt like a revelation. People were experimenting
with strange sounds, and the girls were very stylish but didn't
have perfect voices-people like Brigitte Bardot or Chantal
Goya. So we were inspired by the stylishness and artiness,
but also the simple beauty of the pop songs. Also, we found
the way they often sing in poor English liberating; we thought,
hey, we can sing in sloppy French, too. Of course we also
like French film and French wine. Our mother is a major Francophile,
so we probably inherited it.
 Your
sound is quite puzzling and peculiar, it's a kind of rough
indiepop music that not many bands would risk playing. How
would you define it?
Heather: We don't think of it as risky-I mean, we sort of
have no choice, it's just the sound we hear in our heads.
We are very influenced by early 90's indie rock and also by
60's pop, but we don't sound exactly like either one. We would
love it if people heard our music and couldn't tell when it
was made-that it would be timeless or universal.
You both seem very young. Have you played in any band previous
to forming Eux Autres?
Nicholas: We're not that young. We have both played in other
bands, but not very extensively. I was in a band in college
and Heather was in a band called Cherchez La Femme with Sarah
Dougher and contributed to Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks,
singing on their two records and at some live shows.
How did you get in touch with Janet Weiss? Do you like
most Sleater-Kinney or Quasi? I can't quite make up my mind.
Heather: We love both bands. They are both incredibly original,
very, very talented. I might enjoy Quasi more at a party,
but listening alone to Sleater-Kinney gives me goosebumps.
We met Janet through friends. Portland is small; I knew Janet
for a long time before we asked her to do the record. We had
a bunch of songs and she had a studio in her house, so we
shyly asked if she would record a few songs for us. She listened
to our demo and liked it and helped us out. We are very grateful
that she did-she worked really hard to get it to sound how
we wanted. But so did Jeff Stuart Saltzman. He always gets
overlooked in the equation.
Has any label showed interest in your music? Do you get
to play around Portland?
Nicholas: We do play around Portland, but not as much as many
bands. We have had some label interest, but no record deal.
Things are very bad for labels here-not much money being handed
out. Your best bet is to do it yourself, and luckily, we had
enough resources to do that. Come and get us, Italian labels.
We want to tour!
Heather, being a girl drummer in a rock band what are your
reference points? Mo Tucker, Janet Weiss, Meg White?
Heather: I don't think I drum anything like Meg White. I wish
to God I drummed like Janet Weiss, as I really believe she
is the best drummer in the world. Mo Tucker was very cool
and inspirational. Currently, this drummer named Christina
Files is amazing, and so is Julianna from the Quails. But
unfortunately, I still admire the men drummers, too. My favorites
are Gary Young (Pavement), Hal Blaine, and Brian Downey (Thin
Lizzy).
Who writes Eux Autres songs? Do you sit down and do it
together or do you have specific chores when it comes to songwriting?
Nicholas: We each take turns with parts. Usually I write the
guitar part and often Heather writes the vocal melody. Sometimes
Heather will sing a guitar part and tell me to play it. She
thinks I'm the better lyricist, but she writes lyrics, too.
I suppose the more referential ones are by me and the love-obsessed
ones are by Heather. Pretty much every song is written by
both of us.
Where do you think you will be 5 years from now?
Nicholas: God knows where we will be in 5 years. Hopefully,
in a villa in Tuscany, owning the resurrected AC Fiorentina,
and having a home recording studio, sort of like the Stones
mixed with George Clooney.
Since we put a Eux Autres photograph on the site many of
our readers wrote to know if Heather is engaged and if she
would accept long-distanceproposals.
Heather: I am engaged to a nice Italian-American named D'Ambrosio.
Nick, however, is fully eligible and would love to marry a
real Italian girl. He lived in Florence for a year and developed
a strong liking for Italian ladies. (He'll kill me when he
reads this!)
Salvatore
Links:
Eux Autres Website: www.euxautres.net
Eux Autres@indiepop.it: bands/euxautres.htm |
|
