Yes, it's all change for Les Innocents these days. After recruiting two new musicians in 1996 - Bernard Viguié (called in to replace the group's legendary bass-player Rico) and Christopher Board on keyboards - the French fivesome headed off to the U.K., recording the fourth album of their ten-year career with Jacquie Turner, an unknown sound engineer. Going into the Real World studios with a handful of half-finished songs, Les Innocents have produced a superb new album of high-quality pop, which is just off-the-wall enough to be interesting rather than irritating. If you want to hear about the group's new classics - such as "D'Hendaye à Collioure" and "Une vie moins ordinaire" - read on and enjoy our interview with Jipé, Jean-Chri, Michael, Bernard and Christopher.

Why did you choose to record your new album in the Real World studios? The Innocents' sound has never seemed particularly close to Peter Gabriel ...

Jipé : Well, it just happened that way, really. We wanted to work in a studio where we could record "live" and we'd originally thought about using the ICP studios in Brussels. But the studios weren't free at the right time. When we finished our mini-tour in the autumn of '98, we were all saying 'OK, it's time to get to work in the studio now!' and the ICP was totally booked up. The idea was to work on a series of elaborate demos. You know, get together and have a real brain-storming session like we were in a creative workshop, that kind of atmosphere … We wanted to work in an environment where you could get up in the morning and one of us would say "Hey, I feel like recording this today!" Basically, we wanted the whole thing to be like a holiday camp…

Why place so much insistence on having a "live" feel to your work?

Jean-Chri : Because that's the way the group is! We just fell into that way of working, in fact ... You know, in the early days of our career we didn't dare work like that - which was a shame, because the way things turned out, our first album wasn't as good as our original demos...

Jipé : But then again, we weren't really sure that this way of working would make our new album turn out better or not ... The way we went about working was we brought songs into the studio which weren't completely finished and then we'd rehearse them a bit together. Basically, we never really knew what we'd end up with.

Yes, it's all change for Les Innocents these days. After recruiting two new musicians in 1996 - Bernard Viguié (called in to replace the group's legendary bass-player Rico) and Christopher Board on keyboards - the French fivesome headed off to the U.K., recording the fourth album of their ten-year career with Jacquie Turner, an unknown sound engineer. Going into the Real World studios with a handful of half-finished songs, Les Innocents have produced a superb new album of high-quality pop, which is just off-the-wall enough to be interesting rather than irritating. If you want to hear about the group's new classics - such as "D'Hendaye à Collioure" and "Une vie moins ordinaire" - read on and enjoy our interview with Jipé, Jean-Chri, Michael, Bernard and Christopher.

Why did you choose to record your new album in the Real World studios? The Innocents' sound has never seemed particularly close to Peter Gabriel ...

Jipé : Well, it just happened that way, really. We wanted to work in a studio where we could record "live" and we'd originally thought about using the ICP studios in Brussels. But the studios weren't free at the right time. When we finished our mini-tour in the autumn of '98, we were all saying 'OK, it's time to get to work in the studio now!' and the ICP was totally booked up. The idea was to work on a series of elaborate demos. You know, get together and have a real brain-storming session like we were in a creative workshop, that kind of atmosphere … We wanted to work in an environment where you could get up in the morning and one of us would say "Hey, I feel like recording this today!" Basically, we wanted the whole thing to be like a holiday camp…

Why place so much insistence on having a "live" feel to your work?

Jean-Chri : Because that's the way the group is! We just fell into that way of working, in fact ... You know, in the early days of our career we didn't dare work like that - which was a shame, because the way things turned out, our first album wasn't as good as our original demos...

Jipé : But then again, we weren't really sure that this way of working would make our new album turn out better or not ... The way we went about working was we brought songs into the studio which weren't completely finished and then we'd rehearse them a bit together. Basically, we never really knew what we'd end up with.

As usual, your new album has a bit of a Beatles feel to it. There's a hint of "Obladi Oblada" on "Maubert" and "Une vie moins ordinaire" sounds rather reminiscent of "Sergeant Pepper's"...

Michael : Well, stealing's all part of the profession!
Jean-Chri : I think you can't help being influenced by the things which marked you when you were a child … Unconsciously, they stay with you whatever you do. "Maubert" just came out one day when we were sitting around the piano. A bit like "Une vie moins ordinaire", in fact, which sounded the way it does right from the word go.
Jipé : Actually, I finished "Une vie moins ordinaire" in the studio. In a way, you could say the song owes its existence to the happy, laid-back atmosphere at Real World...

The new album is a bit disconcerting on a first listen. In fact, I'd say you have to play it a second time before the songs really start to affect you - even when it comes to the catchiest tracks like "le Cygne", for example ...

Jipé : Films can be a bit disconcerting too, sometimes. Film-makers can surprise the viewer by using a different grain or playing with funny camera angles. We only had one thing in our heads when we went into the studio - and that was to avoid being sensible! We're lucky because the best thing about our sound engineer Jacquie Turner is that she never tries to force you into doing what's reasonable!
Jean-Chri : I think it's the sound which introduces an element of strangeness to the new album. There aren't that many high notes on it - in fact, it all sounds a bit low and muffled really... But we didn't start out with the idea of recording something deliberately weird.
"D'Hendaye à Collioure" is one of my favourite tracks on the album ...

Jipé (laughing) : Well, that's funny, because it nearly ended up in the bin on several occasions!
Michael : "D'Hendaye à Collioure" was the first track we recorded the first day we were in the studio ... We were really happy with it to begin with and then we got sick of it and ended up wanting to change it all the time ... Personally I really like the song now.
Hendaye, Maubert ... You seem to like using a lot of place names …

Jipé : Well, the thing is place names often sound really good. And, let's face it, French isn't always a very musical language. Jean-Chri : Using the names of French towns like Hendaye and Maubert means we can use syllables which really fit round the music...

(Question addressed to Jean-Chri): Have you been hiding a secret admiration for Joe Dassin all these years - I'm thinking of songs like "Les cailloux" and "Maubert"?

Jean-Chri : Well, I'm not the only one in the group! Recently, we even did a cover of Dassin's "Siffler sur la colline" live on stage...

Jipé : ... Yeah, just like they do in hotels in the U.S. But then, 14 does happen to be my lucky number...

Interview: Jean-Claude Demari
Translation: Julie Street