The French have always produced world-renowned musicians, particularly as far as classical and electronica are concerned, but many people outside the country would be hard pressed to name a famous rock band from France, let alone an ‘alternative’ one!
Step forward vocalist and guitarist Mathias Court, second guitarist Frédéric Wah, bass player Martin Dupraz and drummer Julien Louvion, collectively known as PÆRISH (based on a character from the 1995 film Jumanji).
Court, Dupraz and Louvion met and began playing together as a trio five years ago (they were originally called Crackity Flynn) while enrolled at a Paris film school (the latter studied sound engineering, Court and Dupraz film production). Wah was later added to the lineup in 2015.
I congratulated Dupraz on the band’s recent success (if being a Spotify phenomenon wasn’t enough, “Undone” is now being played on Seattle’s alternative rock radio station KNDD, also known as ‘107.7 The End‘).
“Thank you! The support from Spotify and the community has been amazing and we are very appreciative… We released another song on Spotify called ‘Then People Forget,’ which sounds pretty different to ‘Undone,’ and that’s cool because it shows people what PÆRISH really is. We are working on a plan to release more music shortly.”
Any new songs put out over the coming months will almost certainly feature on the quartet’s upcoming debut album, Semi Finalists, which does not yet have a release date.
“The title comes from a song taken from the LP,” explains Martin, who lists The Burning Heads, Dead Pop Club and Uncommonmenfrommars as his favourite French acts (PÆRISH are also heavily influenced by American bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer and Blink-182).
“We love this title because we always felt like we’d never win anything here in France; we’d always end up in second place because our kind of music is not very popular here… Obviously we’re really happy with ‘Undone’ and its success on Spotify, but we really want people to enjoy the other songs we wrote too!”
What themes do the guys like to address in their songs? “We all come from small towns in France, except Fred who was born and raised in Paris, so Mathias’ lyrics talk a lot about coming to a big city like Paris and discovering the life there. There’s also songs about girls, growing up and friendship – all the themes that matter when you’re 27.”
The single “Undone” can be purchased from iTunes.
For more information on PÆRISH, visit their official website.
