YELLE
The SiS Interview by Eliza C. Kane
Photos by David Morris

Quirky French sensation Yelle is better known to her friends as 25-year-old Julie Budet. She and her band – GrandMarnier AKA Jean-François Perrier (percussionist/producer/co-songwriter) and Tepr AKA Tanguy Destable (DJ/keyboards/co-producer) – sat down with SIS before a show at The Roxy to promote their successful dance record Pop-Up and to clarify why they are not just another '80s-throwback.

SIS: Welcome to Boston. How are you enjoying your American tour?

Yelle: It’s great; I have been here before. The second time is bigger than the first, and we are on the road driving around the US. We drive every night, so it’s really cool... We just came from New York and it was so hot! I did see the [foliage] when we drove here; the colors were very nice.

SIS: You’ve really gotten around Europe with various artists and tonight a West Coast band, Funeral Party, is opening for you. Who has been your favorite artist or band to tour with?

Yelle: I don’t know... We were the [opener] for Mika for three or four weeks – it was November 2007 in France, in Europe. It was really cool to meet him and to be the [opener] for him. It was really cool to play those parties because it’s really easy to share the stage and to share the life and tour with them. The life on tour is really hard because we are always in the bus and tired but it’s cool because you meet people every night. But it’s not -- you’re not at home, you know? You don’t have your little things, so sometimes it’s complicated, but most times it’s cool.

SIS: Have you noticed any significant differences between American and European audiences – either their reaction to your sound or their demeanor at shows?

Yelle: There are not big differences between the crowds in Sweden, for example, or in the US, because people really want to have fun and party and dance.
GrandMarnier: There’s more difference with French crowds. French crowds are really different from the rest of the world – a bit blasé. The French crowd is nice, but there are a lot of people more like journalists, you know.
Yelle: Analyzing the scene.
GrandMarnier: It’s not as simple, like here we just play music – we have fun, you have fun, we dance together. [In France] it’s more like, “Is it good?” like if they were writing an article or review just after the show. It’s strange. We have really good shows in France, but it’s different from here; here it’s more a party than a show.
Tepr: But this is not with the indie crowd in France. There is a young teenage crowd in France – they are here also in America jumping everywhere – but the indie crowd is analyzing us all the time. “Are they mainstream? Are they indie?”
GrandMarnier: Because in France, it’s not easy to be both, like kind of mainstream and indie, to be on a TV show and to play small venues. So you have to make a decision when you are in France: you are mainstream or you are indie – and we are both, and we want to keep that position. There are not a lot of bands using the two windows, mainstream and indie. So it’s not usual; we can’t be compared with a lot of bands in France.

SIS: And all of this started with one song posted on Myspace. Were you expecting this level of success?

GrandMarnier: No, actually we just began by putting online one song and then continued working on the album, so the band and the album progressed at the same time. So it was weird; we didn’t expect anything actually. We didn’t expect to play in all the countries like we are doing. It was a real project; it is a real project. We thought maybe Montreal – French-speaking cities.
Yelle: And we were thinking about progressing – Jean-François and I were just working together, and we met Tanguy – it happened really fast and it’s really strange because we were in Brittany, you know, in our little town, and we were thinking, “OK, maybe we will do a little concert – in Paris maybe – around France, and it will be so cool to get out of Brittany! So it’s crazy.
GrandMarnier: The main thing was really the Internet – Myspace and then forums and blogs and stuff. At the same time we were contacted by our label in France [Source-etc].
Tepr: Two weeks after [single] “Je Veux Te Voir” was up.
GrandMarnier: So it was more about the Internet in the beginning, and then live shows. We have been touring for two years and it’s growing. People spread the word. It’s great; it’s still progressing.

SIS: Your music is being called part of an 80’s pop revival. Do you like having that label?

Yelle: Not really because, of course we are big fans of the 80s and we try to use old sounds in our songs, but we don’t want to do old pop, we want to do new pop with electric stuff and we want to do something new and to have our sound, but sometimes it’s complicated with the label.
GrandMarnier: Actually it doesn’t mean anything speaking about 80s because we are using some things from the 80s, but maybe more because we are that kind of fantasy. You know, the 80s in French pop music, it was really, really free. Really kind of experimental sometimes with the sound and stuff, more than now. So it’s interesting, the 80s is more “fantasy.” The freedom, that’s the thing in the songwriting and the sound.

SIS: In current music and fashion trends you see a lot of the 80s motifs coming back, in Europe as well as the US. What do you think it is about this generation or this point in time that is craving that era again?

GrandMarnier: It’s not 80s, it’s more the 90s.
Tepr: It’s everything; music, fashion, the TV shows – Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Saved By the Bell.
GrandMarnier: It’s that culture, the Saved By the Bell culture and stuff. The triangles with geometric shapes.
Tepr: And smilies.

SIS: What kind of music do you think you guys will be making in ten years, or do you not like to think that far ahead?

Tepr: Tango.
GrandMarnier: Tango and polka. Because we’re gonna live in Argentina. Or Chile; we still don’t know.

SIS: Is there anyone you really hope to tour with or collaborate with?

Yelle: I’m a big fan of Dave Gahan, from Depeche Mode.
GrandMarnier: We are thinking about people, but it’s kind of a secret for the second album. We already have a singer though.

SIS: OK now each of you: favorite place to perform?

GrandMarnier: Je ne sais pas!
Tepr: Coachella was a blast. Definitely Coachella, maybe Sydney too.
Yelle: Or Montreal.

SIS: What are your plans for 2009?

Tepr: Maybe resting a bit?
Yelle: Holidays!
GrandMarnier: Working on the second album of course, and maybe working for other people.
Tepr: Maybe Julie will be acting in movies; I don’t know, we’ve been talking about that.
Yelle: [Smiles and shrugs.] Maybe!

SIS: And finally, when the 80s fad is over, what do you think will be the next big thing on the music scene?

Tepr: Tango and polka. Watch for it.