MAY 10, 1981 : INDOCHINE IS FORMED
SEPTEMBER 19, 1981 : FIRST CONCERT
2020: 40 YEARS
Five french presidents. Stupid wars as always. Revolutions, evolutions, regressions too. Technological advances, social advances, an end to the death penalty, marriage for all. And then the terrifying irruption of populism, of terrorism… Massive migrations, repeated economic crises, blatant lies, Chernobyl, undeniable climate change, and the tensions it generates, the COVID-19. We saw a wall fall in Berlin, and we tremble to see others erected in Mexico, Greece, or Hungary. We’ve gone from nothing to minitel to bebop to internet and smartphone … the world in 40 years.
INDOCHINE has accompanied all this. It has also witnessed all this, in its own way, never head-on, but knowing how to get its message across against intolerance and obscurantism. So much has happened, we’ve lost so many friends, we’ve seen the arrival of punk, new wave, indie rock, hip-hop, techno, house, electro, the disappearance of vinyl, and then its return in force. But INDOCHINE is still there, sounding out the eras, the only and last ones.
40 years, for a rock band, that’s unique. In France, of course, but also elsewhere. Of course, there’s still the Rolling Stones, since Keith Richards is immortal, but it’s no offense to them if we point out that while they deserve all the respect they can get for touring again, they’ve been performing their sixties and seventies repertoire for 40 years now.
INDOCHINE, for their part, have never stopped moving forward. Thirteen studio albums. Many live performances and other special projects. Concerts in Peru, Scandinavia, Vietnam, Canada, Europe, and unstoppable cycles: new album, tour built on it, with vintage hits. This is how they have perpetually renewed their audience, adding generations of audiences. At each of the concerts, the front rows are 15 years old and have just discovered the group with the new hits “La vie est belle” or “Un été français”.
The last rows were there at the time of “L’aventurier” or 20 years after “J’ai demandé à la lune”. It adds up in perennial strata, in combative legions. Nicola Sirkis is the first to see it, the success of INDOCHINE is irrational and unclassifiable. It was built on an informal community, mixing all ages, certainly, but also all social classes. A community solidified by the constant rejection of the media; as if, after being inflamed for their youth and their aesthetics, which in the era of the “3e sexe” (“third sex”), they had not forgiven them to last, to recover from the dramas, and to abstract themselves from the obligations of celebrity. They forged such a strong bond with their audience through songs that took into account the social and sexual realities of adolescents, shows that were excessive but sold at below-market prices, and albums with an ever more thoughtful and elaborate aesthetic.
40 years old. It’s a milestone that deserved to be looked over one’s shoulder for a while, before moving forward again, towards a fourteenth album.
INDOCHINE has invested a lot of time and thought to make this unprecedented anniversary a firework of events. The band’s singles hadn’t been compiled for a long time. So it’s the best in two volumes: the Singles Collection (2001-2021) which will be released on August 28th, followed by the Singles Collection (1981-2001), in November 2020. The first one is enhanced with a brand new unreleased track: “Nos célébrations”, recorded in London, at the legendary Rak Studios, in the last few weeks, and already requested by the radios that have had the chance to hear it. On Volume 2, new surprises are expected…Everything was remixed by Mike Guzauski to harmonize the sound and put it into images by Erwin Olaf.
A documentary film is also in preparation.
Besides, it wouldn’t be INDOCHINE if there wasn’t a live show. In May, the band will announce an exceptional tour in 2021, five stadiums in France: Paris, Lille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille. This Central Tour will be, as usual, the occasion to present a special show, with new staging. The group in a central position, circular screens, an innovative staging process so that nobody loses a crumb of the show, not to mention the surprises.
The 56 singles will be played, in extenso or in medley, during two and a half hours of concerts and for prices ranging from 50 to 80 € per seat, according to the band’s tradition and struggle to offer the maximum visual and sound emotion, for the lowest price imaginable.
Enough to gently bring INDOCHINE to 2022, and a future original studio album. Always looking ahead.
#1 Most Radio Played French Artist in France
#1 In France and Belgium
Sales Record of the Decade
New Single & Video “3SEX” by INDOCHINE X Christine and the Queens OUT NOW
