Fans of dancey, electro pop will definitely find Pegase a must add to their collection.. considering it’s Thanksgiving here in the states, and I’m feeling a bit droll, I’m gonna skip a heavy intro and just jump ya’ll into the interview… Oh, and as an aside… those who don’t know what “pegase” means, here you go, “PÉGASE is a code to compute the spectral evolution of galaxies. The evolution of the stars, gas and metals is followed for a law of star formation and a stellar initial mass function. The stellar evolutionary tracks extend from the main sequence to the white dwarf stage. The emission of the gas in HII regions is also taken into account. The main improvement in version 2 is the use of evolutionary tracks of different metallicities (from 10-4 to 5×solar). The effect of extinction by dust is also modeled using a radiative transfer code.”
As a Francophile I must first and foremost ask you who your favorite authors are?
I read a lot when I was a teenager but one day I stopped reading. I don’t really know why. I like a lot of books, it’s the same with music; I like many songs, but few albums, and there are fewer and fewer artists that I like each time, for each song, each melody.
There’s an author that I’ve read continually throughout my life; it’s a pleasure to read each sentence, to feel each adventure every time. It’s probably because I live in the same french city as him, maybe I have the same inspiration. When I was kid I lived one year in front of a beautiful house where he lived. At this time it was an important moment in my life, so I think that’s why I’m attached to Jules Verne.
Your music is very dancey… I love dance music. As a dandy I am attracted to everything that is self involved. When I look across the dance floor I see a thousand self reverential movements that die instantly and I get off. Why do you love dance music?
I love that because I think it’s one of the only moments where people can be together. I love to see people speak with their body.
The best emotions can’t be talked or explicated. Dance is an universal language and a form of freedom. I don’t really think about that when I do my music but if some people want to share my music with others and if it also happens to affect them personally, then I’ve accomplished something. The Flashdance movie gives me the desire to make the girls dance.
Where does an American in Paris go for coffee and not get shunned?
There are so many places…
Hailing from France, is it intimidating realizing you want to make dance music when so many fantastic artists have done that ahead of you? Or are all French children blessed with the knack of knowing they are “special” and can do whatever they wish to do?
It’s particular to be french, we don’t really have a musical background, we had some genius like Serge Gainsbourg but we invented nothing. It’s hard to make pop-rock music in the UK but it’s in the culture. It’s the same with hard-rock or hip hop music in the US.
I think it’s an advantage for french musicians, we don’t have any complex, we can mix dance, rock, soul, pop, and techno into our music. I think it’s similar in Australia. The only credibility that we have in France is very young. It was born 10 years ago with Daft Punk, the world understood that french people can make electronic music very popular globally. 20 years ago there were only a few bands who sang in English, it was impossible to have a deal with a major company if you didn’t sing in French. But today we can touch the world, so it sounds fresh, we can give something personal, something French, with no rules and a kind of musical freedom
Who do you look up too?
I just got back from Brazil and I played after a band called Copacabana Club. It was the best gig that I’ve seen in a long time and I fell in love with the music and the girl who sings in the band.
Where in France are you currently living and what do you love most about your city/scene?
I live in Nantes, a city on the French west coast. This is a wonderful place, very eclectic, and full of charm. In collaboration with the artists Anoraak and College, we’ve created the Valerie Collective with my band Minitel Rose.
There are also very good folk and rock artists such as Papier Tigre, or a younger band called Von Pariahs.
Rhum For Pauline is my favorite pop band in Nantes, this is a project of the Minitel Rose’s drummer.
I just sign them on my label FUTUR and I will produce their first e.p.
What do you think about your American audience? What do you think about all those Midwesterners that wanted to rename French Fries “Freedom Fries”?
When I look the myspace stats, I see that there are more Americans listening to my music than french people.
I can’t explain and I’m really proud about that, because I was influenced a lot by the American culture.
I hope that I could live in the US one day.
About the fries, if they don’t change the french kiss for the freedom kiss, it’s ok for me.
Tour plans?
Pegase is a solo project so I only did dj set by the past, exept an exceptionnal live gig in Stockholm that I did with a mysterious wolf who played keyboard with me.
When I mix, I love to play a lot of style of music, to make people crazy. But I had to refuse a lot of live shows last year, so I worked on that.
I asked the help of the Rhum For Pauline’s and Minitel Rose’s drummer, he will play guitar, synthesizer and electronic percussion’s with me.
With this live duo, I could play live now. I just want to play into nice parties, nice places, I don’t want to do all.
But I like to travel, it’s one of my best inspirations.
Will you ever come grace America with your sweet sweet sound?
I hope soon, I would like to find an American label first.
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