Les Trois Accords: «It's not about making people laugh, it's about originality».» 

Paleo Festival 2019 - Lauriane Pipoz

Les Trois Accords is an extraordinary Quebec group. Made up of four musicians, this lyrically delirious rock band has a knack for not only releasing albums, but also shows, that breathe fun and good humor. Before their concert at the Paléo Festival in Nyon, two of their musicians, Charles Dubreuil and Pierre-Luc Boisvert, answered a few questions about their original compositions and musical choices.

This meeting was an opportunity for them to tell us about their desire to honor humor and self-mockery, but also to underline the fact that their compositions were not made «just» to make people laugh. It's all about making music, music they like - rock music - and music that sounds like them, since their primary aim is to have fun. As their latest album expresses, A lot of fun (2018), and above all, as their live show on July 25 clearly showed: jumping around and having fun, the band has lost none of its early superbness. Meet musicians who love to show, tour and are proud of what they do.

Le Regard LibreDo you think the Paléo audience will understand all your lyrics?

Charles Dubreuil: We've never had an accent problem when we've toured Europe, but sometimes a vocabulary problem: there are regional peculiarities, in terms of words or turns of phrase. But audiences rarely discover us in concert.

Read also | Paléo: The Quebec lexicon for «paying the piper» at the Village du Monde

Why the musical choice of rock with humorous songs? Does it go well together?

C.D.: We've always wanted to do rock'n'roll. I don't know if we're humorous. Of course, there are songs that make you laugh, that make you smile, but we don't want to make people laugh the way a comedian would, for example. The mechanics aren't the same: a comedian writes with the aim of making people laugh, whereas we write and make music from an angle. We're more of a rock'n'roll band, singing songs in French: we fit that description. But not just as a rock'n'roll band, but as a French-speaking rock'n'roll band. Simon is perfectly capable of writing in English - he's already proved that on several occasions - but we're more at home in French. It has nothing to do with a political choice, it's just cultural.

Pierre-Luc Boisvert: But if we ever write in another language, that doesn't mean we're at war. (Laughter)

C.D.: That's right, it's just the best strategic choice for us, our best market.

Is rock really strategic right now?

C.D.: Since the Three Agreements work, yes! (Laughter) I think there's room for everyone. I don't mind seeing different styles on the same night, and I don't mind seeing different styles on the same stage. They're simply different languages.

How do you choose the angle of your songs? Is it just one person who composes?

P.-L.B.: Yes, it's Simon, singer-songwriter. He's our lyricist, he does 100% of the songs! As for us, the four of us come up with the music together. Sometimes he has the idea for the melody, but the official form of the songs as you listen to them, that's what we do afterwards.

And he also wrote Open your eyes Simon?

C.D.: So for this song, we were in the studio in Quebec, and Pierre-Luc and Alexandre (editor's note: the fourth member of the group) started singing a chorus criticizing him on his own staging of the show. And he had a flash from there: that's how we conceive most of our songs. So the song was written from that angle - because it is an angle - which we thought was pretty cool: that of a band criticizing itself while something's going on. At live, This idea really comes into its own: the two guys singing, Simon receiving the criticism and explaining his position on it. That's the kind of flash Simon looks for when he starts writing each of his songs: the aim isn't just to make people laugh, we're looking for things that are original.

And for song lyrics like I love your grandmother?

For this one, too, it's really a flash: it was the initial flash, and a good one, since it then became the theme of the whole album. We deconstructed it into a story: a young boy meets his friend's grandmother. We then discover with him all the problems this creates.

On each album, you have a different angle: is it something that comes naturally or do you discuss it beforehand?

C.D.: The angles started with «Grand Champion».» (editor's note: their second album) which was written about obsessions: it's about someone extremely motivated in all spheres of life, a great champion. It was even clearer with In my body, where even the cover was in line with the idea, and every song was about the body. Now, with I love your grandmother and even more with The joy of being gay, We just wanted to go somewhere else: we made music and enjoyed ourselves. That's what came out of A lot of funThat's what we kept thinking about all through our days in the studio. In the end, we realized that this was really the concept of our album: all the songs revolve around this general idea.

Have you always accepted Simon's ideas easily, or was it difficult at first?

P.-L.B.: Ah, sometimes I need a little more explanation! (Laughter) Ca arrive qu’il m’explique un texte et que je lui dise: «Bon, O.K., mais est-ce que tu peux corriger quelques phrases?» Parce que si je ne comprends pas, ça peut arriver que d’autres mecs ne comprennent really not. It's no good if people don't understand the songs: some things can of course remain mysterious, but the main message has to be clear enough.

C.D.: C’est un devoir de clarté que nous rappelons justement maintenant à Simon. C’était quelque chose de moins nécessaire dans les deux premiers albums. Avec des thèmes plus spécifiques, c’est intéressant parfois de retourner à la table de travail pour clarifier certains points. En général, c’est plutôt facile à faire. Il n’y a qu’une fois où nous avons ressenti le besoin de s’auto-censurer: c’était une chanson qui parlait d’homosexualité. Nous n’avons pas voulu la mettre sur l’album; ce n’est pas parce que nous ne voulions pas traiter du thème, mais plutôt parce que nous ne voulions pas que le message soit détourné, par exemple dans des cours d’école. Quand nous avons sorti un album au complet là-dessus, nous avons senti que nous étions prêts à traiter vraiment le sujet. Pour nous, c’était vraiment fait dans le respect: nous avons eu l’impression que sous cette forme, les gens allaient se l’approprier d’une autre façon.

In the Francophone tradition, there are times when there are serious songs and times when the songs are rather funny. Do you feel there's been a revival?

C.D.: Even if we're not music historians, yes, there are phases. Moments when music is lighter, when serious music will come across as almost snobbish. It's really cycles of coolnesswhat is cool changes over time.

Interview conducted in collaboration with Jonas Follonier.

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Photo credits: © Paléo / Lionel Flusin