Caravan Palace

Caravan Palace are a French band with a strong Electro Swing and Gypsy Jazz vibe. Before they even released an album, they were touring and attracting fans wherever they went. Soon they had built up such a big fan base that an album became inevitable and they released their first irresistible single, ‘Jolie Coquine’.

We were intrigued to find out more about the band, consisting of Sonia Fernandez Velasco, Arnaud Vial, Hugues Payen, Camille Chapelière, Charles Delaporte and Antoine Toustou. BBM spoke to one sixth (Hugo aka Hugues Payen) of Caravan Palace to hear all about the inspiration for their music and just how they came up with that random band name…

Hey! How are you? What have you been up this week?

So fine! After touring for the last 3 months, we have a break for 10 days…

So what was the first thing that went through your mind when you woke up this morning?

Personally am in Brittany, so my first thought is, of course: “how is the weather today?”

How have you guys been preparing for your upcoming tour? Are you excited?

We had the time to prepare while… touring! We have been on tour since the release of the album in France (March 5th), so we work on the little details we don’t like for now, and that we’d like to improve for the autumn for our gigs in the UK and Germany.

We heard from some of our team that you rocked Secret Garden Party. How was it for you?

Great, as always! We were there two years ago, and we knew that it was a special venue, with a special audience, and, of course, special moments! We had the chance to be in a full band configuration, which never happens when we play abroad, so it was even more special!

What’s your summer been like so far?

Exhausting, but fantastic. We lived everything that can happen during that particular season, from cancelled gigs because of storms, to huge crowds under the sun. It’s always an adventure and a chance to do our job during summer!

Your sound is very unique. Where do you take your inspiration from?

The result of a crossover is often something particular. Our own inspiration comes from the thousands of hours listening to swing music on one side, and dancing in nightclubs on the other side. And, strangely, both of them accommodate quite well, with a little work!

How would you describe your sound to festival goers who might not have heard your music before?

Electroswing results of the crossing between 20s and 50s swing music and contemporary electronic music. It sounds like our grand parents dancing on a Daft Punk song, if you prefer!

What can fans expect from your new album ‘Panic!’? How is it different from the last?

When we made the first album, we “only” knew a little part of swing music, the jazz manouche side. For this album, we discovered unknown artists (mostly American) and moods of that genre, and tried to “arrange” it with our new tastes in electronic music, which is a very lively music. It results in a wide variety of sounds and textures, a lot more than in the first album.

We love the first single of the album ‘Clash.’ What were the thoughts behind the single?

When we started working on this song, we were to build it around a “carnival” theme, but we soon realized that it sounded more like a battle, in a ring with a speaker presenting the fight! We often say that “Clash.” is “the meanest song in electroswing”!

You started out as a band of three and had to recruit more members via Myspace… How did you recruit them?

“Recruit” is maybe not the most appropriate term for that! When we registered on Myspace, our main idea was to find a singer, and the day we registered, Colotis Zoe wrote us that she’d adore working with us! She went to a gig we had in a Parisian bar a few days later, and here we are! Toustou was a friend of a friend of a friend, who was told that we were looking for a “machine man”, and contacted us via Myspace. Chapi, the clarinetist, replaced the guy we chose for that, and he stayed! Paul Marie Barbier (in the band for only 9 months), a very talented vibraphonist and percussionist, was also one of our first “fan” on Myspace, and we always knew that we would work with him one day.

What were you all doing before you formed the band?

Charles, Arnaud and myself have worked together for almost 15 years now, so we had the time to do plenty of things together: we had a jazz manouche band for five years before founding Caravan Palace, and each of us worked with the other for electronic music projects.

You sprang to success quite suddenly, through playing gigs in France. How was that journey for you as a band?

Totally unreal! But nobody knows what we look like, so we always could do shopping, or going to holidays without being bothered! We had the chance to play on the biggest stages, in front of the biggest crowds, and be invited to the most prestigious ceremonies thanks to that success.

What has been the highlight of that journey so far?

The whole adventure! Everyday is a surprise and a pleasure. We have the most beautiful job in the world, and we never forget it!

Your last album sold more than 150,000 copies and peaked at nr 11 in the French charts. What are your hopes for your music in the UK?

The best, of course! The English audience is really different from the French one, and you can never know what’ll happen when you are a little Frenchie in that historically musical country! The UK doesn’t “need” our ideas, so it’ll be a great honor if we have at least a critical success!

How do you see your sound developing in the future?

We know that we have a lot of ways to explore, a lot of new textures to discover, and songs to compose, for electronic music is always re-inventing itself. But it’s quite difficult for us to know what’s next, until we don’t have time to work on it!

Your songs are generally quite upbeat. What kind of a feeling and atmosphere do you want to create for people listening to them?

The evident bridge between swing music and electronic music is dance. That’s why our songs are so “danceable”! After all, we make “swing music for modern clubbers”! But we also like working on cinematic atmospheres, and down-tempo songs, because we have the time to develop ideas and melodies, and let the voice and instruments exist.

Do you feel jazz music is genre often neglected in contemporary songs, or are there any other artists who you feel channel a similar vibe?

I couldn’t say that, when you see the success of Melody Gardot or Jamie Cullum. They play quite a traditional jazz, but they do it in a modern way, with modern words and modern tools for doing it. Concerning the crossover between swing and electro, there are plenty of artists doing it since the last five years, and a whole scene now exists, in every big town in the world, with concerts and parties.

How do you feel you have updated jazz to give it a modern edge?

Jazz never died! In France, jazz manouche has always been present in minds. It is our grand parents music, but artists like Sanseverino or Thomas Dutronc still play it, and very successfully! In the crisis times, people rediscover what was the fundamental message of swing music, “have fun”, and transpose it in their own all-day life. So jazz is and will always be a modern music… since the world is in a crisis!

Where do you hope to go with your music in 2012? Are you planning any tours outside of Europe?

Our French tour will finish at the end of November, and our English and German ones too. We won’t have time to go outside Europe, for we want to be fully available for our public and medias.

How did you find the process of writing the new album? Do you all generally agree as a band when it comes to deciding which tracks make the cut?

We are 4 co-composers with our own home studios. The process consists of making music on our side, and then send the sketches via email to the others. When they answer positively within an hour, it smells good. But we are a democratic band, so everyone has the right to say what he thinks and decide to work, or not, on a song.

What are your plans for 2013?

A whole year of touring abroad! We should go to the USA and Canada on February, and come back if everything goes well. We’d also like to play in Asia, Australia and South America, as we’ve never been there until now.

And lastly, how on earth did you come up with the name ‘Caravan Palace’? It’s quite random!

Random, huh? In fact, it’s quite a logical name: “Caravan” is a jazz standard from Duke Ellington, and “Palace” refers to a famous Parisian nightclub of the 80s. If you add the reference to gypsies, in opposition with huge hotels and luxury, you have ‘Caravan Palace’!

By Anna Tabrah