So Frenchy So Chic in the Park comes to Adelaide this weekend as part of the Adelaide French Festival, bringing a slew of talented artists to Pinky Flat on January 12th. Bringing their fusion of surf, psych and pop music, layered with unbeatable style, through to the event is Juniore – an act we find out more about below….
You will be performing as part of the Adelaide French Festival – how long has the show you will be bringing to it been in production/the making for, and what is exciting you the most about it?
We’re so very excited to be playing in Adelaide! It will be our very first concert in Australia. We’ve been touring for a few months, since our album release in March. It’s a wonderful challenge for us to play abroad, meeting a new audience, people who might not understand French, and not travelling with all of our instruments – it’s a great learning experience and it’s also quite liberating!
Can you tell us a bit about the sort of impression you initially wanted to leave on your audience with this show, and how the show has progressed since you first started performing it? What’s been a significant highlight of the performance or change that you’ve undergone with it?
It’s no easy task, to define what impression you want to give an audience. I reckon it’s never exactly what you expect! For us, I think we’ve narrowed it down to mostly two things – first, we know how lucky we are, we’re always happy to be playing together and to share that moment with an audience, familiar faces or people we’re about meet (and because I can be fairly shy, I have to remind myself how important it is to get that message across) and secondly, we’re here for people to have a good time too, to help forget their ennui, to entertain and to dance! It’s our greatest ambition, making people dance. We love when people slow dance to our songs.
Have you been able to take this show elsewhere in Australia (or on tour around the world) in 2017, or is this a new one for 2018?
We’ve never been to Australia! We’ll be playing in Melbourne and Sydney as well. This year, we were lucky to play in Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and Turkey. We hope we can continue to see new places in 2018.
What has drawn you to bring this sort of music to life?
We worked on our album for the last couple of years – I think it matches our original vision, as it really is a mix of all our favourite things : mopeds and striped shirts, eye-liners and rolled cigarettes, Batmobiles and leather boots, soda pops and The Addams family.
If your show is more of an homage production, what drew you to your topic and where do you how to expand on this theme or platform moving forward?
I suppose you could say we pay homage to all our favourite artists and musicians and film characters – we mix and match, it might not always make sense, but the possibilities are endless!
With a New Year of music and creativity upon us, what is exciting you the most as a performer moving forward?
I think the most difficult thing for a band like ours, is simply to continue to exist. It sounds very dramatic, but it’s not always easy to keep things balanced. Together, we always talk about the importance of being independent, and finding a way of living in music’s “middle class”. And also, it’s very much like being in a romantic relationship, you never know how long you’ll be together.
We’re all in our thirties, and some of the girls who have been a part of Juniore have had to leave for other things – like work with better earnings or getting married, having children. I think it’s become part of our DNA now. Being solely driven by our desire to play music and make things together. It’s quite nice, actually. The most exciting thing would be to continue to have that feeling this year… and possibly forever!
Can you describe your local music scene as it is now for musicians making the sort of music you are? Would you say that French music of this kind is surging forward?
Yes, there’s definitely a new scene in France. It’s very stimulating! If I had to define what I think we have most in common, I’d say it’s the way we all mix and match improbable things – music and films and fashion – and find a way for it to make sense.
If this show is to be an audience member’s first Juniore experience, what do you hope they take away from the experience?
I hope they have a really pleasant time and dance til it hurts.
—
Juniore performs as part of So Frenchy So Chic in The Park at Pinky Flat in Adelaide on January 12th. For more information, check out their website, here!
———-
