Étienne Daho’s Art Rock Festival Performance: A Reflection on Inspiration and Creativity

So we had to wait until the 41st edition to see you, your neighbor from Rennes, on the stage of Briochine Art Rock. How do you explain it?

Because this is the first time I’ve been asked to come! I have known this festival for a long time. He has a very good reputation in the music industry. I almost came with it Jane Birkin the last time she played there, in 2022. In the end, it didn’t happen. I know she really enjoyed this date.

The festival has given you carte blanche. Is it that easy to write?

This is always wonderful because you get a space that you can fill with whatever you want. I liked working with Alice Boinet (programmer of Art Rock), she gave me a lot of freedom. It allows me to have a kind of palette of artists that I appreciate, as much in pop as it is in rock, but also in photography and cinema. There will be plenty of special moments, such as the “Rennes is still rockin” evening, based on the Rennes scene (Les Nus, Frakture, Complot). The passing of Frank Darcel (who died suddenly on March 14) obviously things have changed. So we organized the night in a slightly different way.

For me, the special figure of Saint-Brieuc is Xavier Géronimi, alias “Tox”.

Frank Darcel, was he the one who introduced you to the Cotes-d’Armor when you were young?

Sables-d’Or, Plessala, Plurien… I got to know all these places thanks to and with Frank. We spent a lot of time there. really. It also led to an album (“La Notte, La Notte”, released in 1984) and even a song (“Tombé pour la France”, 1985). These are memories and places that are strongly connected to him.

You did very little in concert in Saint-Brieuc during your career (1992 and 2018). How do you see this city?

To be quite honest, I don’t know Saint-Brieuc very well. For me, the famous figure of this city is Xavier Géronimi, alias “Tox”. He’s a fantastic guitar player, a true genius. I worked with him a lot in my early days and, more recently, on the album “L’Invitation” that we did together in 2007, and on several tracks from the album “Les Chansons de l’innocence rediscovery” , in 2013 Tox is a free spirit.

After the Zénith tour, which started last November, you are now going to one festival after another. Do you have time to write and write at the same time?

Tours are a very physical and very special thing. When I get up, the day is set by the time I go on stage. My head and body are completely focused on this, there is nothing else I can do. There is a two-hour concert on stage. You have to keep going and keep going well. There is a whole physical preparation.

When inspiration comes to you, how do you grab it? Do you have tools, reflexes?

I spend my time recording bits and pieces of things that pop into my head. My cell phone is very useful for this. I always have a notebook with me. I write down things that I often cannot read again because my handwriting is very legible. I can fill an entire notebook for just one song. I write a lot and in the end keep very little, which gives the impression that the texts are simple and that I wrote them very quickly. So, for some songs like “Ouverture” or “Roman inachevé”, this is true. For others, it takes me a lot of time. I am very inspired by Anglo-Saxon rhythms. However, when you want to write in French, it becomes more complicated. Finding the right word, the right sound, the syllable that falls in the right place… To achieve something that is fluid and gives the impression that it was always thought of that way, it takes a lot of time.

In your creative process, do you put limitations on yourself?

I impose places on myself. It is important to me to leave your everyday life behind to focus completely on the project you are doing. When I’m in Paris, where I live, I can’t work. There are too many requests. I have been a refugee several times in the past: I lived in New York, in Lisbon, in London for fifteen years, in Ibiza, in Barcelona… voluntarily , for work. It’s not always easy because it’s lonely sometimes, but it allows you to be yourself. When you are all alone in an unfamiliar place, you take in things differently. We meet people we wouldn’t meet anywhere else. Abroad, anonymity allows me to meet people I would never have met in France.

Each song is inspired by something that has affected me. If I haven’t experienced it, it doesn’t make sense.

And from a technical point of view?

I impose writing schedules on myself, otherwise it won’t come. Sometimes things happen – very rarely – in a rather spontaneous way. But, in general, the best performance is achieved by being disciplined. Even if it is very boring. This is true for many people. I think a combination of work and motivation gives the best.

In the end, what you write is what you experienced?

There are. Each song is inspired by something that has affected me. Each record is connected with a familiar feeling. I don’t know how to write about fictional things and it doesn’t interest me, especially. What interests me is trying to capture what I felt. It makes the song more authentic. And then, she is much more full of emotions. If I haven’t experienced it, it doesn’t make sense.

Practical

Carte blanche to Étienne Daho, Sunday May 19, in Saint-Brieuc, as part of the Art Rock festival. Premium price: adult, € 42. From 5:30 pm: Global Network, Lou Doillon, Étienne Daho, Eddy de Pretto, Irène Dresel. Information on www.artrock.org