I’m Lise, bass player and singer in the band Pythies. I write the music and lyrics.
Hi, i’m Chloé, the drummer, I also do backing vocals. I joined the band in February this year.
I’m Louise, I play guitar in Pythies. I live and work in Paris. I’ve been playing bass for nearly 20 years, Pythies is my first project as a guitarist.
Favourite moment of the year?
Lise : I think it was when we got to play Paris, even if we’re from there it’s quite rare when play a show in the city, so it feels very special each time, and it was the last show with Alice, the now ex guitar player, so it was even more special.
Chloé : When we toured in Italy last February we played in Isola d’Elba right beside the beach and took a dip after the show in the turquoise water
Louise : /
What’s your dream festival & who would you love to perform with?
Lise : I would love to play Levitation in France, and Sick New World in the US, each year the line-up is just crazy. I would love to open for Kim Gordon or PJ Harvey.
Chloé : I think I would really like to play at Sziget Festival (Hungaria) and it would be a dream to perform with Korn.
Louise : I would love to play at Summer Breeze festival in Slovenia. It’s on a very pretty site near a river. Also Les Nuits de Fourvière in Lyon France, and we would open for Nine Inch Nails.
What’s your take on AI and fake bands flooding streaming services?
Lise : I think AI is disgusting and I hate it, it’s extremely bad for the planet, and it’s ruining the Art industry. However, I do think the fake bands thing won’t last cause eventually, people will always want to see live music, an that’s something AI will never be able to produce, no one wants to see robots playing a show LOL.
Chloé : I think it shouldn’t be used in everyday life and also in music. There’s so many people creating music, using AI is really not needed and it has a pretty bad ecological impact. Also the pourcentage of money that goes to artists is already so low, we don’t need fake bands flooding the space.
Louise : Pardon my French, they are crap. I’m not sure they’re a real threat since the public still wants to hear good music. At least that’s what I hope.
Physical vs Streaming. What’s your opinion on how they affect the music industry now & the future for both?
Lise : As a Gen Z, streaming services helped me discovering lots of different bands, without spending hundreds of euros on vinyls I couldn’t even listen. I later bought tons of CDs, but I do think it’s a great way to explore. The problem of course is how the artist get absolutely no money from it.
I love vinyls and CDs, but when you’re young and broke, you don’t want to spend 30 bucks just to listen to 8 songs, and that’s the average price of a vinyl right now, so it makes music difficult to access to the lower class, and I hate that.
Chloé : There’s a small comeback on vinyls I think, I wish there was more on physical in general. It’s a direct way to support artists, we earn a lot more when someone buys a CD or vinyl than with streaming.
Louise : /
People are making noise complaints when moving into properties near live music venues. What would you do to keep both parties happy?
Lise : I think that you shouldn’t move into neighborhoods known for being loud and feisty if you want to be in a quiet and family friendly area. Just move tot the suburbs, and leave us the city.
Chloé : Tell the plaignants to move haha.
I find those people quite annoying cause usually they know they are moving to a noisy area and still complain about the noise. There’s plenty of quiet neighborhoods in Paris. It’s hurting the venues that were here for a while and a lot of them had to close or reduce the number of show because of that.
Louise : I think people who want a calm neighborhood shouldn’t move near live music venues. Gentrification is very hypocritical : people want to be in a lively / fashionable area, and the second they are annoyed by other people talking in the street at midnight, they call the cops. That’s how you destroy live culture. More and more venues are closing in France for these reasons and it’s very sad.
What’s your take on shows with mobile phones being banned? Is it good for concerts to be documented or are cameraphones too intrusive?
Lise : I understand where does the want of mobile phones being banned come from, but I feel like form small bands, a single video on social media can change lives. For bigger band though, I completely understand, they should only allow film cameras.
Chloé : I don’t mind phone during our shows. I think that it’s necessary to have shows documented for “young” bands, it can be relayed on social media and help the community grow. I also can understand why some artists are banning phones during their shows, maybe to feel more connected to the audience, no screen between them.
Louise : I’m not famous enough to be annoyed by smartphones in my face lol. I think most of the times when bands apply a no smartphone policy they are quite bitchy about it. Just let people be.
What song do you wish you’d written and why?
Lise : Wish by NIN. The lyrics just resonate with me at a very intimate level, and I think it embodies the feeling of being disconnected to everything really well. It’s just a masterpiece.
Louise : I wish I had written While my guitar gently weeps by the Beatles. It’s one of my favorite songs in the world. Any Beatles song would be good actually.
Chloé : /
What’s your favourite tour story?
Lise : I don’t have many crazy stories cause I don’t drink alcohol, but the west coast tour we did in the US last fall was probably a whole story in itself.
Chloé : I don’t know if it’s my favorite but when I started touring with Pythies we had a 99 Mercedes Sprinter and it broke down before leaving Paris, a mechanic managed to get it started and running again but we had to start it “manually” for 2 days by pushing it while one of us got in 2nd gear. It was definitely something.
Louise : Most tours are really fun ! You get to laugh a lot. Years ago the guys I was touring with had a few drinks and decided it would be a good idea to run around the hotel naked with hangers in their butts. The next morning we went down to have breakfast and the hotel staff started laughing hysterically when they recognized my bandmates. They had just been watching the security cameras. That was really funny..
