Can't Bear This Party interview: "We won't ever turn troo pop punk"

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote a post pondering what Can’t Bear This Party would do next. Would they continue writing ‘progressive easycore’ (aka fast melodic skate punk with extras), or would they go down the dreaded hipster route.

It seemed like disaster had struck when the band broke up earlier this year but the good news is that not only are CBTP! back, but they are still as zany as ever! After I posted about their new song Lil Bowotomi, guitarist Quentin aka Sushi, was cool enough to answer some of my many questions over the weekend. I’ve cleaned up some of the ‘Frenglish’ (his word not mine) here and there. My questions are in bold. – Alanso.

GDAC - So to start, a lot has happened with CBTP! in the last few months. For a time it looked like we would never hear from you again. Can you tell us anything about the last few months, and how are things in the CBTP! camp now?

Quentin - Yes we were done, our guitarist Lino left France for Boston so we were a bit demotivated. After 6 months, we all really missed the band so decide to revive it! Lino won't play live with us but is still implicate in composition at this time. We already have friends to can replace him on tour.
We are about to record our upcoming album and will tour in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Russia this winter. We hope to reach UK and USA in 2014.

The new song, Lil Bowotomi, has really grown on me since I first posted about it. The lyrics seem batshit crazy, what the hell is it actually about?

It’s a long story dude…it talks about a booking agency from France who gets pretty famous American bands play here! We played for them with title fight and transit. These guys are really bitchy with local bands. We were not paid but we’re okay with that. But we expected to be treated with respect, we’ve never felt uncomfortable like this in any other show before! It’s a shame that foreign bands think French shows are all shitty like this, every single DIY promoter does a way better job. The song talks about the owner (of the agency).

What I love about your band is that you aren't afraid to mix up the genres and add different instruments. I often call you 'progressive easycore'. Did this happen naturally over the years or was it something the band always wanted to do?

I don’t know! It came naturally, it offers a lot of new ways to compose. I don’t think we use too much stuff, basically, it's still pop punk (but) in a different way.

And what is the songwriting process within the band? I've found it hard to get a band of 3 people to agree on things, how does it work with six French dudes who add xylophones and phone tones?!

I usually compose the songs then the others arrange their parts the way they like. But on our last song, it's our singer jean who composed the song. At first it was only 8 bit but I added pop punk part and beats! The singers write the melodies. We don't take CBTP too seriously, the goal is to have fun and play catchy and energetic music!

You guys do still seem to be having fun with the genre, I hope there aren't any plans to start writing boring indie-influenced songs to show how you are 'real' musicians who want to be taken seriously?

I know what you mean! We won't ever turn troo pop punk, even though I love some of those bands I think it’s just being close minded. You can show you are a real musician and play fun music.

I'm from Ireland, so I can understand how you guys could have grown up listening to lots of different genres without knowing that some people think you have to be one or the other. It's pretty mind blowing to me that there seems to be a great scene in France right now. I thought everyone there just played accordions and drank wine. How did you get into 'heavy' music and what is the French scene like now? What are some other good French bands?

Haha don't believe your cliché! I imagine you drunk, with red hair and wearing a kilt dude! (Chillingly close to the bone – Alanso)  I think every country has a stereotype of others!
There are more and more cool little bands in France. There has been ‘heavy’ music in France for a long time. Some (bands) are getting really famous like chunk! or BTM (Betraying The Martyrs) and I think it's really awesome!

So, I posted on skatepunkers.net that I'd be asking you some questions and there are some questions from the forum users there, so I'll pitch some at you. 

“Where did the name come from and what does it mean?”

I don't know dude! I don’t even have a good fake explanation for this!

“How old are they?”

We’re all 24 or 25 but Remi, he is 17!

"Are they ever going to visit their Spanish neighbors?”

I don't know yet but we would love to! It’s really not far from us…same for Ireland.

"Do they sing with that accent on purpose or did they just have bad English teachers?"

Our singer jean has a terrible accent even when he speaks in French! One day we’ll get accent auto-tune and your question will be obsolete!