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Cheap Wine interview with Valentin Lallart & Valentin Contestin

December 14, 2013

Cheap Wine interview with Valentin Lallart & Valentin Contestin

Grab a bottle of wine, fulfill your pipe and enjoy the ride. Here are Cheap Wine and they play heavy blues rock!


Valentin Contestin – Guitar
Mathieu Devillers – Vocals, Theremin
Valentin Lallart – Bass
Louis Morati – Drums

Would you like to talk a bit about your background?

We are four people living in the countryside of northern France between fields and forests. We know each other mostly from the high school. We all played in different bands before we started with Cheap Wine. The band is composed of Mathieu Devillers (vocals, theremin), Louis Morati (drums), Valentin Lallart (Bass guitar) and Valentin Contestin (guitar).

Both Valentin’s are answering your questions.

What’s the story behind Mystic Crow’?

Actually the LP is an EP. We played for two years almost all the songs until we had to change our drummer. Then we kept working on the songs for one year with the new guy and made a lot of improvements on the songs. The EP was recorded in one week. We recorded all together in the same room except for the vocals. We had a lot of fun and we cannot wait to record a new one.

 

What kind of equipment did you use?

We record it at “Chateau des Rochers”, Montataire, 20 minutes from our home. We used a seventies Ibanez guitar, a seventies Rickenbacker bass, a homemade theremin and many effects I don’t know about, some pedals (wah wah; big muff…) and Zebra painted drums.

“We just love to listen to the heavy music from 60s and 70s and we try to play as powerful as some people did back then.”

How do you usually approach music making?

We have a stock of old lyrics we tried to put together to make a song. It’s a very long process to write one. Except for ‘Stay Strange Express’ which was written by Brock McKibben, a good friend from Ohio. We can’t talk about a concept we just love to listen to the heavy music from 60s and 70s and we triy to play as powerful as some people did back then.

The album was released by Celebration Days. It’s a festival with its own label, if I’m not mistaken? 

Indeed, the festival was the beginning, some friends gathered to help people like us to promote their music from all around the world. Thanks to internet it’s much more easier now. The festival gave birth to an association which gave birth to the label. We were their first try, and many others will come, haha!

Are you working on something new?

We have many songs unreleased, and with time our sound is evolving, we are also influenced by jazz music. Right now we are looking for an organ player. Always looking further.

What does the name “Cheap Wine” refer to in the context of the band name?

Few years ago I’ve been to America with the president of Celebration Days Records, met some friends we’ve met at the first Celebration Days Festival. The first day my American friend asked me what I would like to drink (I was too young at that time to buy alcohol in USA). I told him I would like to drink some cheap red wine and he came back from the store with a huge bottle of wine brand called Cheap Red Wine. Few drinks later Cheap Wine became our name.

Were you in any other bands?

Yes, we were in other bands, but none of us want to talk about that, haha!

How is the local scene in your part of the world?

No local scene in our town, but Celebration Days has a partnership with some places so we can see our “far away friends” play. We can name French bands like Karma Sutra, Wolves and Moons, Subway Cowboys, Swinging Dice, Buddy Hemlock, Old Moonshine Band, Dirty Deep, Brain Pyramid, Tricératops, Aqua Nebula Oscillator. And from abroad, Prisma Circus, Hanami, Yossarians, Syd Arthur, Jouis, Electric Smoke, Grand Mammoth. Check the lineup from Celebration Days Festival and you will find the people we like, haha.

What are some bands/musicians that have a big influence on you?

Sir Lord Baltimore, Josefus, Free, Taste, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Toad, Mount Rushmore, Hendrix, Zappa, Fresh Blueberry Pancake, Joseph, Captain Beefheart, Deep Purple, Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Arzachel, Bach, Thelonious Monk, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Fairport Convention, Captain Groovy and the Bubblegum Army, Highway Robbery, Pink Floyd, Strawberry Path, Blues Creation, Leaf Hound, Groundhogs, Power of Zeus, Samuel Prody, Robby Basho and thousand other amazing bands. It would take hours to name them all.

How about gigs?

Our first tour lasted three days with the band Prisma Circus from Spain. We leave tomorrow for Spain to play two gigs with them. You can expect us anywhere, haha. We will be in England around February or March. We’ve got a friend who is doing the booking for us, so we will see. Right now we work on the new songs.

Thank you. Last word is yours.

We don’t have a lot of vinyl anymore so you should hurry, haha. We would love to travel and play in new places. If you have any information just tell us. You can be certain the live music is greater than the vinyl. It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine, we say thank you. Keep on doing your work. Stay Strange! Valentin Contestin and Valentin Lallart

Klemen Breznikar


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