French Version

Interview Jean-Jacques BURNEL Sint Niklass (Belgium)
November 24th 2007
Cultuurcentrum of SINT NIKLAAS

1. On November 4th 2007 you played a gig with the Stranglers at the Roundhouse in London to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the day of your first appearance at this venue. It's been 30 years since you haven't played there...

   JJ : No, to be more precise, if I can nit-pick, it was to mark that same day 30 years before that we broke the record held by the Rolling Stones and The Who for the number of consecutive nights of the Roundhouse. We just wanted to mark this period of time, and you know the Roundhouse is a venue where we played several time with Patti Smith and the Ramones, we were the first group to play with them, and earlier we had been booed and thrown off of the stage, so we wanted to mark this occasion, and we were lucky enough to find the setlist we played 30 years before !

   AM : In 1977, isn't it ?

   JJ : Yeah.

2. Could you give me your impressions about this gig, was is like a feeling of déjà-vu ?

   JJ : No, not at all, because we haven't played a lot of these songs for a long period of time, but sometimes it's a pleasure to rediscover old songs and try to feel the same atsmosphere as before, but it's not always easy to have the same aggressiveness on some songs and the same feeling too, so you become the performer of your own songs, and that's a bit odd for me. Yes, there was a very good atmosphere, very hot like only the British fans can be, more brillant than others, slightly dangerous, it could have turned to danger, but it just went well. But for us it wasn't quite like we had wished because we had some technical problems...It was alright for the public but not for me...

   AM : you were angry.

   JJ : Yes...

   AM : Because of the technical problems !

   JJ : (laughing) Of course, but these things happen...

3. Did this gig remind you an anecdote ?

   It reminded me when we were Patti Smith's support band and her American technicians deserted the mixing console, we arrived on stage right on time, we played and realized after two, three songs that we weren't in the side fill speakers but only in the wedge speakers, so the audience began to boo us...

4. Could you tell me the difference between the "classic" electric gigs of the Stranglers and the acoustic gigs, like tonight in Sint-Niklaas ?

   It's very different, it's more relaxed, funnier, we play the songs that we don't play during the electric gigs and musically it creates more space. I guess French audience would have a better understanding in that kind of gig compared to the electric rock ones, I wish I could import this to France.

   AM : That's precisely the question I would like to ask you, are you going to play acoustic gigs in France ?

   JJ : Yes, I would like to, we are talking about it...

   AM : I think these gigs will be well received in France.

   JJ : You'll see and judge for yourselves.

   AM : Why have you chosen to do this kind of gig ?

   JJ : Once we tried these kind of gigs 6 or 7 years ago, and well yes, it pleased us, so now we tell our agents that we'd like to do these gigs more often, people begin to know about it so there are more offers for us. We don't play in rock venues. Yesterday we were in Bruges, and the venue was incredible, the most beautiful venue I have ever seen in my whole life, and we were in one of the most beautiful cities - the room was full, the sound was amazing and it is a venue where one can play opera without sound system.

   AM : Like in an amphitheatre...

   JJ : Yes it was amazing, a real pleasure and we were not under pressure, it's completly different from the Stranglers, and I think it proves the thoroughness and depth of all the songs we have written throughout all these years - all our songs are not "hard" ones...