French producer under many guises, Arnaud Rebotini, Zend Avesta and Black Strobe, has recently released a new album called Music Components on Citizen Records. This time he uses his real name to sign a project using his collection of early synthesizers and drum machines to produce an album of very Detroit inspired techno. He has been taking this new project to clubs for an improvised live performance of man and machines for a truly dynamic dance-floor experience. The next performance will be taking place for the annual ‘Fete de la Musique’ party at Batofar, Paris and will be streamed live on Awdio.com. We caught up with Arnaud in his studio to find out more about this iconic producer.  Read the interview

Awdio: Let’s start at the beginning, I read somewhere that your first musical passion was rock and hard rock.
Arnaud Rebptini: No that’s not entirely true because if you look at my musical influences, when I was a kid I listened to what my father listened to, which was a lot of soul, funk, American rock, The Stones and all that. And as a kid I was really into electro-funk: Herbie Hancock, Afrika Bambaataa, the beginnings of hip-hop. These were my first loves. More hardcore music came much later.

Where you in any groups?
I joined some Death metal groups. Noise groups like Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, groups around at that time. Then I sang in a Death Metal band, but I also made electronic music during this period.

When did you decide to really concentrate on electronic music?
I don’t remember a specific time or a decision, when I discovered ‘Hardcore’ music I also discovered LFO’s first album and early Warp releases, so for me these were two different types of music, I wanted to make music, I always listened to very different things without necessarily seeking one specific identity or style. I think the advantage of music is that you can wonder about.. I don’t recall a moment when I decided, I just wanted to make music, and as I wasn’t a trained musician, electronic music was a practical way around this…

Your music is very ‘Body’ oriented is this conscious?
It’s not especially conscious, I do make more experimental music that isn’t danceable as well, sometimes people ask me do so something I don’t produce what they expect. I try to stay free, it’s true that the latest album is very club orientated, and Black Strobe has had some very ‘clubby’ periods, which is what we will be getting back to, something very danceable. If you take for example a virtuoso guitarist who performs a guitar solo, this can often be quite painful to listen to if you’re not a guitarist yourself. What I try to do is to use music to fill the holes in language, a rather laconic idea, to express something that can’t be expressed through words. That’s why I sometimes find it difficult to write lyrics. I always try to express something that others can understand.

Speaking of lyrics, the song I’m a Man is quite telling…
Yes I chose that Muddy Waters song, as I thought it was quite funny since these days the difference between sexes is less apparent, so arriving with this macho song, which didn’t shock anyone at the time, and is now quite provocative. Yes they’re quite silly, a little macho but very funny. It’s the story of Blues, of Rock n’ Roll, of guys who boast about being the best lay on the planet, irresistible to any woman.

You have 3 very different personalities that represent different styles, Arnaud Rebotini with Detroit techno Black Strobe for a New Wave 80’s sound and Rebotini which more rock. Is it important to keep these identities separate?
I didn’t really think about it consciously but it’s true that the Arnaud Rebotini project was very different because it was a techno project, I’m working on Black Strobe because I do want to return to a style of music that’s more composed, a bit more melodic, a bit more New Wave as well, more influenced by the 80’s, so I will be using that identity (Black Strobe). This is really what I’m working on at the moment.

Is Black Strobe  still a collaboration between you and Ivan Smagghe?
No I’m continuing the project with other musicians who will join me on stage or on the tracks, a percussionist/drummer and a guitarist who plays electric guitar with me on stage.

You produced Salm’s debut album, is that a new branch of work for you?
No not really…I just didn’t have the time before I did a lot of remixing.. it’s something that I love, I really enjoyed working with Salm, it was very interesting to work with them.

How do you work when you do a remix for another artist?
Personally I hate doing remixes that don’t sound like the original, so to do a remix it’s really re-arrangement so that you can recognize the original.. if a can’t then I usually refuse, unless of course it’s very well paid (laughs)

Do you enjoy performing live on stage?
Yes it’s something I enjoy and music profit is more and more linked to live performances. It has always been attractive to me, it isn’t something that has ever worried me and I’ve generally enjoyed it.

Your new project (Music Components) is based around live performance, why is that?
The idea to start with came from a demo that I did with the two drum machines and 3 synths that I use on stage, and the idea was that every time I performed it would be totally different and improvised. Then I started to structure it a little, the same sounds kept coming back. The idea was that I would never record the tracks but only play them live. So I sent the demo to Fred from Citizen who said ‘listen, your tracks are really good, lets do an album’ So the idea really comes from a desire for playing live and finding a way in which I could express myself the best live, yet at the same time have something that remains dance-floor club music.

Is this live performance still improvised?
Yes it is constantly evolving, last week I added another track, a little reference to a disco classic.., I play 3 tracks from the album and the rest is pretty free,  because I can’t have all the synths on stage, as I am very dependent on the possibilities that the machines offer, so a created tracks especially for the stage which can evolve or change. So there’s plenty of room for improvisation.

Is there anything that disappoints you about the music industry?
I’m a realist, or maybe a little too blasé for that. I’m not at all pessimistic, ‘people these days’, ‘it was better before..’ you have to just live with changes, I actually like the challenge of just dealing with things as they are.

Are you comfortable with the way we listen to and buy music today?
It’s not a matter of being comfortable, you just have to live with how things are. When I was 15 you had to go to London to buy records, now you go onto Myspace you can find all the ‘in’ groups over there (in Britain) that are hardly talked about over here, in a few seconds. You can have access to everything. So perhaps things have less value. Now everyone is a bit of an artist.

We’re living in a DIY culture, doesn’t this access to the tools to create give more of a chance people to develop their talents?
I don’t think it will bring us more talent, to get there you really have to want to, and it’s been a while since there are ways of recording music.. before you could pick up a guitar and be a folk singer, now you can buy a laptop and make minimal house.

Why have you decided to live in Paris and not Berlin or London like many other French musicians?
Because I love Paris, I have my life here, my family, I’m not a great traveler. (laughs)

Do you have any advice for budding producers?
Voluntarily cut back on the possibilities available. Now that we have access to everything, for example you can write a symphony on a laptop, or black metal or techno or Austrian folk music…So you have access to all these sounds, all these possibilities, but in the end creativity isn’t about that.

This is what you have done in your new album, you are going back to the source
Yes, although many producers would dream of having all these machines, but I did make a conscious decision not to use certain tools on this record. The concept is based around a certain number of snyths and that’s it.

Interview by LS

Music Components is now available on Citizen Records
www.myspace.com/arnaudrebotini

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