INTERVIEW: FRANCK VIGROUX

1. How was your introduction to music? does it run in the family? was it in school, a particular friend or concert?

I saw a Pink Floyd concert on TV in the 80s and I loved the sound, I think it’s how it’s started.

2. Can you instantly name one album or song that is connected to a unique moment in your life? do you have many of those?

There’s so many, I don’t know, for instance I was listening to early Neil Young albums recently, such as 'After the Gold Rush' or 'Harvest', and I find it brilliant.

3. Name one artist, living or dead, that influenced your music-making the most?

All those I worked with in the past influenced me in many ways, there’s many.

4. Which is the one venue or place on earth you'd like to play? if you’d have complete freedom and budget how would you setup your dream live performance? your choice of guest musicians? which specific media involved (art installations, performance, film,...) ?

The most important is to have artistic ideas and desire then every project will find its own path and place or not, but I want to keep reasonable and humble. There’s many artists I would like to work with but most of them are not musicians, music is only half of my work. I’m already lucky enough to collaborate with great artists and I had the chance to play in many amazing places, if it continues well I’ll be happy with that, I think the act of giving a physical experience to people is fundamental. Otherwise I just take life and its experiences as it comes!

5. What is your favourite instrument of choice or piece of recording equipment? and why?

I don’t have anything favourite, all instruments slowly evolve in my studio, I pick up something and I try it , if it’s easy to manipulate and has its own character I can keep it for some years but not indefinitely.

6. Any artist or album that really blew you away in 2020?

No album blew me away to be honest. I have seen almost no exhibition and performances in 2020 for the first times in years...

7. Do you still live in Le Monastier? Isn't it somehow a paradox that such an apparently small community is home to such a vibrant electronic musician - that would eventually profit from the influence/inspiration of the big city environment, the urgency and chaos of contemporary life?

Most of the time yes but, well sometimes you don’t have the same perception when you are 'inside', having a step back gives you a different point of view. Also many great books have been written by authors who have never been to the places they describe, its down to a lot of imagination and likewise in music you are also fictional in a sense.

8. Do you have a strong stance on climate change?

Of course, but my answer is not a surprise right?, the fact is that it is not so simple. Humanity is growing fast and it’s a sort of poison, like Lévi Strauss said 70 years ago or something (note: not the jeans maker). There’s no simple solutions because political and cultural structures are complex. For instance I personally don't like hunting but why would I ask people whose hunting is their way of life to stop doing what they thrive for and brings meaning to their life? You only live once. Who am I to ask people to stop having children particularly in poor countries etc. Politic changes and any other changes in societies often means the employ of brutality, to move past the Anthropocene topic we first need to talk about Pedagogy. This is a long and complex discussion, it requires time and deepening of thoughts and concepts, it's very complex even if the house is burning we can't change so easily the diverse societies and psychology of 8 billions people. Otherwise we are just commentators and nothing is going to change.

9. What is your opinion on streaming platforms vs the physical record experience? do you still buy lots of records

I can’t believe musicians still don’t get any royalties, or get some peanuts, from all these platforms, that’s my first concern. Sometimes I buy records, I listen to radio a lot.

10. How did the Covid-19 pandemic impacted your life personally and how was it in creative terms and output as a musician?

Well, I spent more time in my studio than on stage and I have now a lot of music to release... but honestly I don’t know yet, it’s too early to really measure if its gonna have any strong impact. It is at its origin a sanitary crisis not an economic one, so the consequences are unpredictable. There are enough prophets and experts to comment on the abstractions every day, I leave to them this pleasure.