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The Tribe : "Ain't No Friend Of Mine"
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In memoriam 1988-1990
One of the rare Garage-Punk bands of the Eighties era in the notorious No-Man's Land of Rock'n'roll, namely Paris, France (... Paris may be the Capital of "la Mode" but, never a Rock country with very few notable exceptions: you got to have guts to play R'n'R and French are notorious to have none!), The Tribe was formed in the very fall of the year 1988 by a chance meeting between hard-core fans in the audience of the only Paris concert to date of the original Chesterfield Kings.
After only a few months of rehearsing, they came as a total surprise and started a buzz during a free street concert on National Music's Day in June 21 1989, their first public performance on the campus of one of the city's world famous Universities: Jussieu-Paris7. Soon afterwards they played their first official gig as a band at St. Germain La Grange's Youth Community Center lost somewhere in the parisian suburbs where they even signed autographs for a few fanatical girls (! ). During this "historic" concert, they were filmed on 16mm for posterity (...the film now appears to be lost!) by future famous french documentary film maker Cédric de Bragença, of La Source Productions, then a yound student in Photography and later winner of numerous documentary film prizes. Despite the out of the way scene, numerous "fans" started following them, passing the word around. They personnified at the time one of the rare parisian band in the "Garage-Punk" movement, with all out Fuzz guitars and dressed in total black gear from head to their Beatle booted toes, wearing long "bowl" haircuts and a medallion like their 60's Garage idols, the great Music Machine!
A first home-demo was recorded in the living room of one José Ortuno, member of a popular vintage Rock band from Bordeaux (... one of the few french cities with a true R'n'R scene! ). The demo was made without a drum set for lack of space, on a 4 track machine with a beat box (!); nevertheless, despite rudimentary means, they achieved a notable adaptation of the Sparkles' classic Garage song: "Ain't No Friend Of Mine", complete with a reverbed 12 string guitar, via the Swamp Rats version. Their set was then made exclusively of selected covers in the obscure american sixties' Garage-band repertoire, rediscovered not long ago on private record compilations like the "Pebbles" series, "Mindrocker", "Boulders"... and the new series recently released by leader and co-founder of the band Astro's then amigo, mister Tim Warren (who was at the time married to french bride Caroline Ayache, daughter of french Press mogul Alain Ayache and later the girl friend of Stiv Bators' last days when he lived in the center of Paris! ) : "Back From The Grave", a compilation soon to attain Cult status among the Garage cognescenti the world over. The set included: "No reason To complain" (The Alarm Clocks), "24 Hours Everyday" (The Headstones), "Nothing" (The Ugly Ducklings), "Have Her For My Own" (The Go-Betweens), "Don't Send Me No Flowers" (The Breakers), "96 Tears" (? & the Mysterians), "Soul Searching" (The Litter), "Hey Little Bird" (The Barbarians), "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White" (the Standells), "Nobody Spoil My Fun" et "Tripmaker" (the Seeds), "Make You Mine" (The Shadows Of Knight), "Wild Man" (The Tamrons), "Come On Over" (The Marauders), "It's A Cryin' Shame" (the Gentlemen), "They Prefer Blondes" (The Banshees), "The Witch" et "Strychnine" (The Sonics), "Born Loser" (Murphy and the Mob), "City Of People" (The Illusions), "It's Not Easy" (The Swamp Rats)... At the time, they were one of the only bands to tackle such a specialised repertoire; most bands were dealing with the more fashionnable Metal-Fusion, pre-Techno Acid-House "baggy" sounds and Rap!
Even before they could really record in a proper studio, they were invited by mere reputation to open for major band of the french "Alternatif" scene: The Shifters (who were then signed on "Boucherie Productions" and destined to the top! ), in the banner of the trendy rock all-nighter back then: "Paris se dévisse", which was about to introduce bands from the new Seattle "Grunge" scene to the parisian audience, at the world famous Rex Club (... Brian Wilson recently played there in July 2007! ) in front of a crowd of 900+ people for only their second or third official gig! Despite (or because of) their inept skills, the bands' dynamic presence and enthousiasm won over the public, pissing off the Shifters pros in the process... Label execs and talent-scouts present in the audience didn't waste time in leaving them their visiting cards but, the group being the painful purists that they were, prefered to postpone auditions in order to progress a little.
After several other gigs, most notably at the legendary Gibus Club (the Paris Punk club of the seventies! ), the Tribe were finally noticed by Thierry Ardisson's cameramen (the country famous independant TV talk-show MC & producer; like a french masculine version of Oprah Winters! ). The cameramen, Jérémie Joubert and Jean-Philippe Loustalm, proposed to shoot a video clip while paying for the soundtrack's studio session. The band accepted and booked an afternoon in the now vanished "Luna Rossa" studios at Quai de la Gare on the Seine river left bank; today the site of Paris' new bourgeois bohemian district and late president François Mitterand's National Bibliotheque! They recorded an updated studio version of the Swamp Rats' arrangement of the Sparkles' "Ain't No Friend Of Mine" with double-tracked Fuzz guitar; a tune that has since came to be their rallying warcry! A couple weeks later, they all proceeded to shoot the video at 5.30 in the morning with 16mm celluloid cameras in the long metro connecting corridors under the Montparnasse train station, in Black&White contrasting colors to accentuate the band's sinister and dark Garage-Punk look, one day of February 1990 right before the rush hour! Then, projected on the wall, the film images were retouched, adding snowy fonts, then rescreened in the video format. The result was quite a striking effect!
Selected to be on the "Indie" news part as this week's national discovery on Ardisson's now Cult TV show: "Lunettes Noires Pour Nuits Blanches", in the eleventh hour the show was finally cancelled for lack of general audimat and obscure financial problems at the end of March 1990. What could have been the next Paris Rock band revelation falled short on it's feet! And, despite the camera crew's insistence, who were proposing to manage the band with a Major Label contract signing at hand, internal disputes which were undercurrent for some time within the group members' love/hate relations, caused the band to finally split: bassist Christian Guinet went on to join ex.Spider and the Flies' members (... another "pionneer" band in the Paris Garage-rock scene! ) to form the first line-up of Steve and the Jerks (who later had an LP and a few 45s out! ) then proceeded to co-found Garage-Psychedelic band: the Men in the Moon, with an ex. member of Bang! - the post-Tribe group formed by siblings Astro, leader and lead guitar-singer, and Olivier, rhythm guitar - , one Alex Tortora (aka. "Alec") on drums; Alec was himself co-founder of the Men in the Moon and a future member of Cécilia et ses Ennuis on lead Fuzz guitar, the french "Swingin' Mademoiselle" Beat combo who had an EP out on Dionysos, and one other on Get Hip! Together with Erwan Pirot on feedbacky Lead guitar (... and future singer-drummer of Paris "Freakbeat" band: Scope! ), they formed neo Mod "Pop-Art" influenced band trio (4th member, drummer Alex "Alec" Tortara left soon after the first 8 months...): Bang! (pre-Scope; please go visit their profile on: www.myspace.com/thevisualsoundscope)... And the rest, as they say, is "history".
(French version:)
Le groupe se forme lors d'une rencontre au premier concert des Chesterfield Kings à Paris (au Rex club) en Novembre 1988.
Après juste quelque mois de répétitions, ils créént la surprise et font sensation à la fête de la musique le 21 juin 1989 où ils jouent pour la première fois en public sur le parvis de Jussieu. Puis ils font leur premier véritable concert dans la salle J. Gohard, à la Maison de la Jeunesse de St. Germain De La Grange en banlieue parisienne où ils sont filmés par Cédric de Bragança, futur réalisteur de films primés de La Source Productions, alors jeune étudiant en Photographie. Malgré le côté "trou perdu" du lieu, de nombreux "fans" les suivent et ils font de nouveau sensation. Ils représentent alors, l'un des rares groupes parisiens de la mouvance "Garage-Punk", toutes guitares fuzzées et tout de noir vêtus par dessus leur Beatle boots, portant le cheveu long en bol et le médaillon à la Music Machine, leurs idoles Garage des sixties
Une première home-démo est enregistrée dans le salon de José Ortuno, membre d'un groupe de rock populaire de Bordeaux lors de l'été 1989. La démo est réalisée sans batterie, faute de place, sur un 4 pistes avec une boite à rythmes; malgré des moyens rudimentaires, ils réalisent une adaption remarquée, en guitare 12 cordes du classique des Sparkles: "Ain't No Friend Of Mine" revisité version Swamp Rats. Leur répertoire se compose alors exclusivement de reprises choisies dans le réservoir des obscurs classiques du Garage-Punk américain des sixties, redécouverts par des compilations comme "Pebbles" ou "Back From The Grave": "No reason To complain" (The Alarm Clocks), "24 Hours Everyday" (The Headstones), "Nothing" (The Ugly Ducklings), "Have Her For My Own" (The Go-Betweens), "Don't Send Me No Flowers" (The Breakers), "96 Tears" (? & the Mysterians), "Soul Searching" (The Litter), "Hey Little Bird" (The Barbarians), "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White" (the Standells), "Nobody Spoil My Fun" et "Tripmaker" (the Seeds), "Make You Mine" (The Shadows Of Knight), "Wild Man" (The Tamrons), "Come On Over" (The Marauders), "It's A Cryin' Shame" (the Gentlemen), "They Prefer Blondes" (The Banshees), "The Witch" et "Strychnine" (The Sonics), "Born Loser" (Murphy and the Mob), "City Of People" (The Illusions), "It's Not Easy" (The Swamp Rats)... À l'époque, ils étaient un des seuls groupes à s'attaquer à un tel répertoire spécialisé; la plupart des groupes se tournant vers la Fusion-Métal, l'Acid House pré-Techno et le Rap!
Avant même d'avoir vraiment pu enregistrer en studio, le groupe est invité à jouer l'hiver suivant la première partie des Shifters ( groupe "alternatif" du label Boucherie Productions) dans le cadre de la soirée rock branchée d'alors: "Paris se dévisse", au Rex Club devant 900 personnes pour leur deuxième ou troisième concert officiel seulement! Malgré l'ineptitude du jeu, le dynamisme du groupe sur scène emporte l'adhésion du public au grand dam des professionnels de Shifters... Des agents de labels présents dans le publique leur passeront déjà leur carte de visite mais le groupe, trop puriste, attends de progresser un peu.
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Après plusieurs autres concerts, notamment au Gibus, les Tribe se font finalement remarquer par les caméramen de Thierry Ardisson, Jérémie Joubert et Jean-Philippe Loustalm, qui leur proposent de tourner un clip tout en leur payant leur session de studio pour la bande-son. Ils acceptent et réservent une après-midi aux défunts studios Luna Rossa à Quai de la Gare (Paris 13è; avant le déménagement des studios derrière la Bibliothèque Mitterand à l'emplacement qu'on leur connait maintenant... ) où ils enregistrent: "Ain't No Friend Of Mine", devenu depuis leur titre de ralliement. Puis, ils tournent à 5H30 du matin leur clip filmé en 16mm en Noir & Blanc contrasté (pour accentuer leur look en noir! ) dans les correspondances du métro à Montparnasse sur les passages roulants, un jour de février 1990 avant les heures de pointe (! ). Puis projetté sur le mur, le film est retravaillé avec des fondus "neige" en format vidéo, repiqué par un caméscope; l'effet est saisissant!
Sélectionnés pour passer dans la rubrique "Indie" en découverte dans l'émission culte: "Lunettes Noires Pour Nuits Blanches", à la dernière minute, la diffusion sera annulée pour cause d'arrêt de l'émission en Mars 1990. Ce qui aurait pu être la révélation Rock de Paris, tourne court. Et, malgré l'insistance des caméramen qui proposent de les manager avec un contrat de major à la clef, les dissensions internes du groupe qui était à fleur de peau depuis quelques temps provoquent le split entre les membres: Christian Guinet ira rejoindre les rangs des ex.Spider and the Flies (autre groupe "Garage" pionnier de la scène post-punk parisienne...) pour former la première mouture des Steve and the Jerks puis co-fondera les Men in the Moon avec un ex. Bang!. Astro et son frère Olivier formeront le groupe néo-Mod d'influence "Pop-Art Sound": Bang! avec Alex Tortora aka. "Alec" à la batterie, futur guitariste-fondateur des Men in the Moon puis de Cécilia et ses Ennuis, et Erwan Pirot à la guitare Feedback, futur batteur-chanteur de Scope, le groupe freakbeat français qui vient lui aussi de splitter en Juillet 2007... !
En définitif, the Tribe n'aura eu qu'une activité éclair d'environ un an et demi, de novembre 1988 à Mars 1990 mais, il sera emblématique d'une certaine scène underground Garage totalement méconnu du grand public alors et précurseur de tous les nouveaux groupes de rock Ados actuels d'influence "Garage" et sixties si prisés par les médias de mode, et aura marqué d'une manière ou d'une autre tous ceux qui les ont rencontré: "Long live the Tribe!".I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)