Odezenne: «Our programming freedom is unique in Switzerland».»

Alix Caillet, lead singer of French alternative band Odezenne, was interviewed at the Montreux Palace, with a beer in hand, just hours before his colorful concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival on Saturday, July 9, 2022. With a light touch and a few laughs, he gives us his vision of Swiss festivals and audiences.

Le Regard Libre: This is the second time your band has come to Montreux Jazz. The first was ten years and one day ago, on July 8, 2012, on a free stage. How do you feel about your return to the festival?

AC: I have a twinge of sadness. Ten years ago, my sister Marie-Priska was a member of the group [ed. note: until 2013]., but she passed away in 2021. So, obviously, it casts a rather special spotlight on the evening. But overall, I feel very happy to be programmed tonight, especially alongside Diana Ross: I think it's the first and last time our name will be displayed next to her. It has to be said that the programming is very special at Jazz and in Switzerland in general.

Is there a difference with France?

Yes, we have a slight problem with programming in our country. All the posters are very similar. There's not a lot of risk-taking, compared to tonight for example. Between our band, Diana Ross and Tinashe, there's a certain freedom of programming that you wouldn't see in France. I also think that the festival is so well known that it can afford to offer this kind of delirium. And that's all the more true in view of the fact that our band's music is pretty open-minded.

Do you have a pre-concert ritual?

Not any more. We used to have a lot of them, but as our audience grew and gave us more strength on stage by singing our songs and shouting as soon as we stepped on stage, the rituals went away. I have the impression that these are things you do at the beginning to give yourself strength, when you have to go out and find your audience because nobody knows you. It's like entering an arena. You have to fight to get people to listen to you. But little by little, after ten years or so, you just want to go for it! Of course, you still get a bit of stage fright for a few seconds. But it's good stage fright, a desire to do well, to put on a good show.

If the stage is no longer an arena, what does it represent today?

Either a place of communion with our audience, at our own concerts. Or, at festivals, a place of contagion, because we're going to count on our community already present and try to offer the best concert so that people who don't know us will want to keep listening to us. An indoor concert is a place where you celebrate an album that everyone has already listened to and sung along to. At a festival, there will always be people who don't know you... We're not Michael Jackson after all. Even on a stage like tonight, with 2,000 people, we're going to have to find a new audience.

Do Swiss audiences stand out from French audiences?

Yes, he has the particularity of being uninhibited. In France, I think people are a bit more careful about the image they project when they listen to a particular artist. It's undoubtedly related to the history of hype whereas in Switzerland, I've always felt that people listen very carefully to the lyrics, and I think they switch easily from one music to another, in a free way. The proof: tonight's line-up. I've also noticed a great desire to party among you!

And are these differences felt on stage?

Yes, of course. You can see it in people's eyes, in the way they sing... You can feel it. After the concerts, we usually have a chat with the people who come to see us, to get a feel for them, and the feedback is always very kind and benevolent, which is great!

What do you think is behind this Swiss casualness - if anything?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I have the impression that there are fewer problems in Switzerland. In France, it's a bit gloomy at the moment with the social and political problems. Here, it's like arriving at Eurodisney! Not in the pejorative sense: I think it's a great opportunity. You can really see it. For example, in Switzerland, there are always parties and afters after our concerts, whereas in France, it's very different. I've spent some crazy evenings in Geneva and Neuchâtel, for example!

Some people will tell you that in countries in dire straits, people are more inclined to celebrate. And Neuchâtel isn't Paris, either... Nothing to see here: do you like Swiss chocolate?

I love it! When I come back from Switzerland, I always fill up for my mother.

Is there a Swiss trait you particularly appreciate?

Open-mindedness. And drug accessibility [Laughs]. Maybe that goes with it after all...

Write to the author: erica.berazategui@leregardlibre.com

Header image: Bordeaux band Odezenne © Edouar Nardon and Clément Pascal

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