Breaky Boxes is an Indie folk band hailing from Rouen, France. Founded in 2014 and with more than 150 shows under their belt, the trio currently consists of:Jean François Moortgat (Lead vocals, guitar, bass drum, keyboard), Brice Sibille (Vocals, bass, synth, floor tom, harmonica) Valentin Queval (Vocals, mandolin, electric guitar, tambourine) Drawing inspiration from American and Irish folk culture, the band finally released their first EP From the Shelter on March 28th 2018.
But that’s not all! The band has also won earlier this year the contest of one of the biggest festivals in Europe: the Sziget Festival. The Breaky Boxes were indeed able to qualify themselves brilliantly during the various stages of selection. Out of 500 applications, the band has not only won the hearts of Internet users, but also of a renowned jury composed of Virgin radio, Soonvibes, Point Ephemereand Sziget Festival. Check out From the Shelter below!
We managed to catch up with the band as they talked about their latest EP and more!
So how has the release of ‘From the Shelter’ gone down so far?
We are so happy about it! Indeed, our public and the people who came and saw us during our
gigs seemed to enjoy it very much. Also, many good things happened to us since “From the
Shelter” was released. It feels like we truly express ourselves and show who we really are in this
EP. And people are more and more concerned about us and our music.
Can you tell us something about the release no one else knows?
Well a fun fact about this EP is that each song that appears on it was composed and recorded, by
ourselves, in only two months in our own studio. We indeed all live under the same roof.
And another fun fact is that the “Shelter” we talk about in the title of this EP is actually our house.
It is really a shelter for us when we are not touring. A safe place to practice and record our music.
What’s your favourite track from the EP?
It is a difficult choice you’re asking us to make, but if we had to choose, it would be ‘Land of
Brothers’. Not that we less like the others, but this one is special for us.
It is the first track we wrote on this EP and we truly put our guts into it. It is a song about
travelling, and brother ship that can come from difficult situations. I would say this is a song
about the three of us and what we live all together, as a band.
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
We never really thought about it but since you are bringing that up, maybe Mumford and Sons
would be an amazing start… if it is possible for us to dream a little bit!!
Most seriously, we will be playing with a great band called Sons of the East this August in Paris.
It would be fun to do some music together, for sure.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
Brice (bass, floor tom, keys, harmonica and backing vocals) went to see the band Panik in a
venue called the Trabendo in Paris.
Valentin (mandolin, guitar, tambourine and backing vocals) saw Henri Salvador, an old French
artist, when he was a little child in our hometown, Rouen.
And I (Jeff // acoustic guitar, kick, piano and lead vocals) first saw ACDC in Paris a decade ago.
What do you get up to in your spare time when not working on music?
Well nothing extraordinary I have to say. We spend our time like most of young men do. We go to
shows, we spend some time with our friends and we travel a little bit, when time allows us to do
so.
We are really hard-working guys. Living out of your music is not an easy job, so we put as much
energy as we can into our music and everything it involves. We try to enjoy our free time as much
as possible and we try to get some rest.
Will you be touring at all this year?
Of course we will, touring is the heart of this band. Since we created Breaky Boxes, we have been
playing gigs all around France and a little bit over Europe. Being on stage and playing our music
to decades, hundreds and even thousands of people is precisely why we’re working hard every
day.
There is nothing like a crowd, clapping all along to your songs and singing all the words. We
would never stop touring, as long as we can.
What was it like winning Sziget Festival France?
To be honest with you, I am not sure we fully realized right now. What we know is that it feels
really good and that we cannot be grateful enough for the people who have been supporting us
during this amazing adventure. We would not be playing on the Europe Stage of this incredible
fest without our public behind us.
It is an absolutely amazing experience, and we are more than happy to know that everyone trusts
us to do something great on this stage.