29 f 12 shots from the fRoots
Rocket Launcher a dozen leading questions to fire at
Piet Maris of Jaune Toujours
If you were given the funds to organise a concert bill, who would the artists be?
I’d have The Clash (that way, I’d see them play live, once in my life), Manu Chao (one of the most sympathetic artists in the music business I ever met) and our own Jaune Toujours (so that we could all jam together).
Which totally obscure record do you most treasure and would like more people to know about?
Not obscure for us Belgians, but I guess all the more for audiences abroad is Belgian band T.C. Matic, out of which singer Arno made his solo career. They were a revelation to me: a raw but eclectic sound, never heard before, with lyrics in English, French and even some Dutch patois… Their LP Apache from 1982 nails it for me.
What was the best live gig you ever saw?
That will be a concert by La Mano Negra in the Brussels Ancienne Belgique: lots of up-tempo ska, half of the audience on stage jumping (and stage-diving) and a hell of a cover of the Clash’s version of I Fought The Law.
And what was the worst?
Hard to say, but in any case, I decided not to go see concerts in big venues any more, as bands don’t make me feel connect- ed to what they do there. Shows are direct- ed from start to finish, with visuals intending to divert the audience. But when I go see a band I want to experience real live music, with all the charms of not being perfect.
What was your own best ever gig?
I don’t know if it was the best, but the one we played for BBC Radio 3 at the UK Womad in 2007 was pretty rock ‘n’ roll: after heavy rains (turning Womad into Womud) and delays we miraculously managed to make it more or less in time to the stage, to have the sun come through during the con- cert, with thousands of people at our stage.
And what was your worst?
In very early Jaune Toujours years, we made it to the last round of a music contest. A short time before, however, our drummer unexpectedly passed away. We decided to complete the contest in his honour, but due to very bad monitor sound and lack of prac- tice playing with the stand-in drummer, we completely ruined it. Exit Jaune Toujours in contests.
What’s the professional achievement you’re most proud of?
I’m most proud of still being in music, after more than 20 years of a professional career, in spite of the fast evolution of how
music in today's society is experienced and consumed (loss of album sales, to name one thing or, less commercially expressed, the loss of the appreciation for albums and music culture in general) – not always easy to cope with all that.
What’s the most embarrassing thing you ever did in public?
On top of our disastrous playing in the contest I mentioned before, I wanted to play the Internationale on bagpipes, as it was the 1st of May. Under the heat of the spotlights, the reed of the instrument I bor- rowed got too dry, and only a poor screech came out. Exit my career as a bagpiper.
Which song or piece of music would you most like to have written yourself?
Bach’s Chaconne. Absolutely genius.
Who was the first musician or singer you were inspired to emulate?
In my early guitar-playing attempts, I tried to come close to Richie Havens’ perfor- mance at Woodstock, which made a big impression on me. I was convinced I had
seen him finishing with a second hole in his guitar. No emulation attempts on the accor- dion though, as from the beginning, within my limits, I immediately developed pretty much a style of my own.
Who was the last-but-one musician or singer you lusted after?
I don’t lust after musicians or singers, only after their music and singing.
If you had a rocket launcher, who or what would be the target, and why?
I’m an outspoken pacifist, but I think that politicians who make electoral profit out of instilling fear in people (and I have the impression there’s more and more of them these days) deserve at least to feel being pointed at. The same for business people making financial profit from that.
Jaune Toujours’ latest album is Europeana (reviewed in fR423). They’re about to do a few UK things – Balabam, London (20th March); live broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Music Planet (22nd), and Hootananny, Lon- don (6th April).
jaunetoujours.com
root salad
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