a chat with You Said Strange

You Said Strange are a psychedelic post-punk outfit from Normandy, France who took the journey to New York this spring to play at the New Colossus Festival. Consisting of Eliot Carrière (vocals, guitar), Matthieu Vaugelade (drums), Hector Riggi (guitar), and Matthieu Forest (bass), You Said Strange played sets at three different venues during their time at the festival.

Underground Zine got to sit down and chat with some of the members of the band on Sunday before they played their final set of the festival at Arlene’s Grocery. We discussed their shifting approach to recording, local French bands, the value of a crowd’s energy, Angry Birds, and the peculiar nature of aviation. Keep reading to get to know the band!

I appreciate you both taking the time to talk to me. Thank you for being here! So far you’ve had two shows with New Colossus, how have they been feeling?

Mattieu (M): It was great. It’s totally different from what we can experience in Europe or France. In France, the crowd, they listen, but they are pretty shy. We don’t express a lot of emotion, you need to “hey can you give me a smile or…” you know? Like “can you show whether you like my music or not?” because we don’t express that much in France.

But it’s tough for us because there’s 200 bands playing, so it’s fast. With showcases, it’s only 30 minutes, you don’t really have time to do a sound check, so for us it’s a bit tough but is a good way to learn how to do things differently. And the crowd is great!

The energy is more valuable than the details.

I was actually going to mention that. I got to catch a little of your set at Berlin on Thursday, and something I really noticed was how leaned in the crowd was. It was also a wonderfully packed house. Did you feel that energy on stage as well?

M: The changeovers are very very fast – like fifteen minutes – and in France, we’re very used to maybe one hour to do all these things. So it’s harder to get into the show, but once you’re in it –

Riggi (R): Right, yes, when the show starts, nothing matters except the crowd, and that’s a perfect example, Berlin’s show. First show in New York with gear that is not our gear that we rented. What are you supposed to do when you only have five minutes left over before the show starts and your gear doesn’t work? You start the gig anyway. We’re gonna do all we can, and the crowd was crazy!

M: And in the end it worked! The energy is more valuable than the details. And the second show was yesterday at Piano’s. Way more comfortable, with more space. We had a little training night at Berlin so we were more ready yesterday, and tonight is going to be even better!

Arlene’s is a great venue!

M: We didn’t have the chance to go to all the venues from the festival, but Arlene’s was definitely my favorite. Well, I love the Pianos atmosphere as well, that you have a downstairs and an upstairs and you can switch the atmosphere.

R: I think Pianos is the place we hang out the most. It’s very good.

You guys haven’t played a show in New York since 2022. How does it feel to be back?

M: Well, last time we were here, that was 2022 supporting a French band called Slift, at Elsewhere Hall in Brooklyn. So totally different. The capacity of that venue was probably 500 people, the stage was big, and right now it’s more like showcases, so totally different, but it’s really good to be back and can’t wait to be back again!

R: Yeah the expectations were completely different back in 2022.

I like in that kind of venue, like Pianos, when there’s no stage beyond the floor so there’s no separation between the artists and the crowd. To me it means we are all on the same boat and the listener is the same as the player.

It totally is a different feeling! I had noticed that you guys have played such big venues back home in France and on other tours, and these are such intimate spaces.

M: It’s important to enjoy both. You have to be able to enjoy both because it’s a different crowd, and you need to be able to give the same to people whatever the place.

R: And also, me personally, I like in that kind of venue, like Pianos, when there’s no stage beyond the floor so there’s no separation between the artists and the crowd. To me it means we are all on the same boat and the listener is the same as the player and I like that, there is no rule –

M: – there is no line.

R: Yeah, yeah. No separation.

That’s a beautiful way of putting it.

It’s been about a year since your latest release (Trade Your Soul EP via EXAG’ Records). I wanted to talk a little bit about that. What inspired you guys to continue the Thousand Shadows story and release these bonus tracks as their own EP?

M: It’s bonus tracks, exactly. Volume I and Volume II of Thousand Shadows was a project of two, three years. And this EP was the conclusion of that because there were some tracks we were not brave enough to release on Volume I and Volume II. And there was a new process we had that we wanted to experience, this process was just to be faster. For Volume I and Volume II we had our own studio, and we had all the time we wanted to work. For the EP we wanted to close this chapter, but we wanted to do it fast. So, for example, for My Own God we wrote and recorded that song in like two days. It was really fast but it was super cool to be fast.

It’s a bit challenging but it’s good to challenge yourself when you have the chance to.

R: It was a different way to process the work, and I think we really just wanted to finish it faster.

M: Go straight to the point!

R: Straight to the point. And it was great to learn to write a song that way without moving stuff around again and again.

M: We put a release date and we needed to respect this release date, so we were like “okay: in two weeks we need to send everything, so let’s record it” It’s a bit challenging but it’s good to challenge yourself when you have the chance to.

Is there anything on the horizon for either new music or new tours coming up? What’s next for the band?

M: Well we started to work on the new record a few months ago. So we’re working on the new record! But we are not in the process of ‘we want to do it fast!’ as we did for the EP, now we want to take time.

R: Yeah it’s kind of the early process.

M: We really need to pass some steps with the next one, so it needs time. We are trying to start a new collaboration with a new person. This record won’t be out until 2027 I guess, so we have time! The process is changing a little bit. The base of the songs are more based on Eliot now, he’s the lead singer, and we just booked a studio in France, so it’s going to be part of the process for sure. Between now and the new record we are probably going to release old stuff that has already been out that feels like we can do a new chapter with those songs because we changed; we’re changing a lot, all the time.

we changed; we’re changing a lot, all the time.

R: Some of them are like ten years old!

M: Yeah, and it feels like we want to record them again with the new textures we have now.

R: There’s one called “Salvation Rain” that we’re playing at New Colossus. I think we just fell back in love with that song that we forgot and didn’t play in eight or nine years.

M: “Salvation Rain” was written in 2015.

R: Yeah, I wasn’t even in the band!

(laughter)

M: So ten years ago we wrote that song. And it feels like “woah, we would love to play that song again with the confidence we have and the new tools we have.”

Well I’m looking forward to hearing stuff as it gets released, and looking forward to hearing “Salvation Rain” tonight. What I love so much about your lyrics is you write such haunting imagery but it still has such a potent sense of hope in it. I’m curious about what keeps you hopeful?

Eliot: My daughter. My daughter keeps me hopeful not because of what she does but because I have to make everything better for her. The human being is destructive but it can also be a carrier of hope. And of course music, music saves lives…

it’s a really sweet feeling that at the end of my life I could remember that I played in front of my dad in New York City. Not everybody can say that, you know?

Again, I’m really excited to catch your show tonight. I also heard that you have some family coming which is so exciting!

R: Yeah! It feels sweet. Remi—who is with us right now managing the band—is my brother, and my partner, his partner, and our parents [all] arrived in New York last night. My dad is retired and when he learned that we would be in New York he booked the family here. They arrived last night, and it’s a really sweet feeling that at the end of my life I could remember that I played in front of my dad in New York City. Not everybody can say that, you know?

We are far. It’s a long journey to come here so it’s not easy for everybody, so I feel really lucky.

On the topic of it being a long journey, you have long flights getting here and getting back home. How are you filling the time on your travels?

M: Me and Remi were sitting together and on the screen that you have on the seats we found that there is an Angry Bird game. And I think on a 7-hour long flight we played [for] 5 hours. We were just doing a competition, Remi and me, to see who was going to finish first. We played kid games and we had food and we slept like kids.

That’s not a bad way to pass the time!

M: And then my partner arrived last night and she told me she spent a lot of time writing her book!

R: I didn’t sleep well because I found out the day before we left for the U.S. that we weren’t on the same flight. So they all took one plane and I took one other but it was four hours after.

On your own?

R: On my own, yeah. So I was by myself, but I’m used to it so it was okay, I just didn’t sleep.

M: Did you watch movies?

R: I watched like four movies, yeah. I watched the new Alien one. I only watched bloody movies so I think the people on my left and right were like “what is he doing?”

E: I think this is the first time I’ve flown six hours without listening to an album, reading a book, or watching a movie. This time I just took the time to enjoy drinking bad red wine, chat with my friends, and occasionally asked myself if being in the air in a huge machine with a huge tank of kerosene at an incredible speed was reasonable.

I was curious what some of your favorite artists have been that you’ve seen here at New Colossus, if anyone stands out to you specifically?

R: We were at Pianos yesterday and [Bibi Club] played at 5 or 6. It was a duo, and there was a guy playing a guitar, there was a drum machine. I tried to say something to them but sometimes as an audience it’s hard to go to see the artists and say “thank you for what you did.” If they can hear me, thank you for that show, it was totally insane and I loved it.

M: I also saw a band called Pons.

E: Last Waltzon, Bibi Club, Pons, and Glimmer!

sometimes as an audience it’s hard to go to see the artists and say “thank you for what you did”

Are there any songs you’ve had on repeat lately?

M: We made a New York City trip playlist! That’s all the songs we listened to in the car and during the trip.

R: For me it’s more just an album. Sharon Van Etten, she just released one maybe a few weeks ago, and I keep playing it.

E: Lately I’ve been listening to the Sinéad O’Connor album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got a lot! I know it’s an old one but it really obsesses me.

The last question I have for you guys: I was curious if there are any local bands from back home that you’d like to platform for our readers, that maybe they can discover?

M: The scene in Normandy is really rich!

R: I would say SERVO, they’re good friends of ours.

M: There is Metro Verlaine. Slift, of course.

R: But they don’t need us!

(laughter)

I have a good friend called Arthur J. Reptilian, he sings beautifully and we’re good friends.

That’s a good list!

Thank you so much you guys, I appreciate your time!

R: Thank you very much!

You can keep up with You Said Strange and the progress of their new music on Instagram @yousaidstrange. If you enjoy their work as much as I do, consider supporting the band by buying their music or merch! We can’t wait for You Said Strange to come back to the states and share what they’ve been working on.

words by maddie