Making
their way to Australia in February as part of the Good Vibrations
line-up is French outfit Yelle. With just the right recipe of
Frou Frou, fun, and pop sensibility they’re bound to give
audiences a wow of a time. The Blurb caught up with Frontwoman
Julie Budet and asked her what makes ‘Yelle’ yell.
For
those of us who don’t know Yelle – can you give a
sentence about what makes you tick?
I would say that the word FUN is the best answer.
People who like us tell us that our music is fresh like lemon,
our style too, the videos, the “new generation” communication
via myspace and stuff... and our live show, which is a lot of
fun too, for us at least!
And your essence?
Being spontaneous and sincere. I mean, our music
is a mix of a lot of influences, so many, from the past, from
now, and it’s not easy to classify us in a precise style
so the best thing we have to do is just doing it with energy and
love. Cause we love music, and people. I am not sure to answer
very well by the way, i have to improve my english...
You started your myspace in
2005 and you were approached by a label shortly after that, can
you describe that journey or transition from an artist to a worldwide
phenonemen?
True. We have been contacted by a label very soon
in our “career”. But that contact is not the reason
of our album. It’s helped about promotion etc, but we would
have done the same music, even as totally indie. About the story,
yes, it was crazy! Just a few days after we uploaded the first
song on our myspace, life changed! Lots of crazy messages, that
contact with Source (the label)... yes it has motivated us a lot,
for sure! A big door was opening, and in 2005, Myspace was so
unknown in France!
Watch
the clip for "JE VEUX TE VOIR"
Your songs are fantastic ditties behind great euro- electro beats.
These we ‘re guessing are about love, life and boys, what
are they are about and how do you go about writing a track like
“Je Veux Te Voir” or “A cause des Garcon”?
The songs are written by GrandMarnier (myspace.com/gdmarnier)
and me. The lyrics are very important for us. They seem very light,
and they are, but it’s all about fantasy. Playing with words
about the real life of a 22 years old girl, sex, friends, sport,
boys, girls, death too... It’s always written in a funny
way. Our songs are always written very quickly, with a lot of
spontaneity, GrandMarnier do the main work, and then we ping-pong,
to improve them a bit and go, we record it.
What is your key for
attracting universal appeal as you seem to have tapped into it
quite nicely?
Oh thank you! I do think doing happy live shows,
being cool and friendly are ones of the reasons... i guess. And
i am always nice with the journalists so they spread the word
ahahah!
It’s natural, i am like that, thanks to my parents.
Can you describe your feelings
when you’re performing on stage?
On stage... i am feeling super good. Like when the
bell rings at school and you are free for one hour. I love playing
with GrandMarnier and Tepr, we give a lot of energy and people
feel it, so they answer, and we give more, etc, etc. When we don’t
tour, i miss it a lot. I am scared about that non-touring period
which is coming.
What’s your favourite
thing about travelling and visiting the cities that you have so
far?
We love traveling. We are just back from a one-shot
show, in Miami, for Art Basel. We are tired, but we love it so
much. Discovering cities, countries, people, food, culture...
it’s so essential. We learn a lot. And we try to organise
the tour to have time to visit. For example, about that last one
month US tour, we ask to travel with a van, all arround the states.
It was so wonderful, so much better than staying in airports for
hours...
You are
noted as liking Australian fashion labels – ‘Ksubi’ and
‘Sass and Bide’ come to mind, when you visit
a country do you specifically go in hunt of cool labels? What’s
going to be on your itinerary fashion wise while you’re
visiting Oz?
I am not really hunting fashion. I love it, but
i am not a big digger. I love when brands love our music too,
and suggest us some stuff, like Ksubi, so sync-spirit! I hope
to meet them again on the next Australian shows. But i don’t
know what else yet.
How much do you think fashion
and music are aligned at the moment and why is this so do you
think?
Today music is not only music. The record is no
more here so people need more, need to see things. That’s
why merchandising is going so good, that live shows are doing
well too, and why people are sensitive to the style, the videos,
the graphic stuff arround a band. And this is also a “new
generation” thing. We grew up in a “logo-childness”,
lots of brands, lots of cool tv shows (Saved by the Bell and The
Fresh Prince means A LOT for us). So for us, it’s just natural
to love clothes, graphism, and stuff from that skate generation.
Ok, i am far from your question now! Sorry, so, yes, it’s
the same about fashion, for us. It’s our lifestyle, a package,
not only music, not only fashion, ALL!
Yelle
tour in February as part of the Good Vibrations Festival line-up.
Visit www.goodvibrationsfestival.com.au
for ticket and event information in your state.
For
those of us who don’t know Yelle – can you give a
sentence about what makes you tick? 
You are
noted as liking Australian fashion labels – ‘Ksubi’ and
‘Sass and Bide’ come to mind, when you visit
a country do you specifically go in hunt of cool labels? What’s
going to be on your itinerary fashion wise while you’re
visiting Oz?