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!
