While the French dub scene is undoubtedly burgeoning, the lack of mainstream success and radio airplay for groups as talented as High Tone, Zenzile, Lab°, Improvisators Dub, Ezekiel and Kaly begs the question: are French dub groups the victims of geographic discrimination? The answer appears to lie worryingly close to home. France is one of the most centralised countries in the world, which basically means if your group's not based in Paris you'll have a hard time breaking through. So the continuing existence of Lyons-based dub act High Tone and dub rockers Zenzile, from Angers, is all the more praiseworthy!

Zenzile and the post-rock scene

Strictly speaking, High Tone and Zenzile - who both emerged from the alternative punk rock scene in the 80s – have only one thing in common and that is their passion for dub. However, both groups take a radically different approach to their musical style. While High Tone play the techno-dub card to the max, Zenzile prefer to align themselves with the 'post-rock' scene, integrating a broad range of musical influences into their work.

Vince and Mathieu, two of Zenzile's five members, explain that "We're not on a 'strictly dub' quest any more. When it came to recording our new album, Totem, we decided to do something that corresponded to all five members of the group. And that meant integrating all our individual influences. What we came to realise was that rock influences are absolutely latent in our work. On our previous albums we were wary about doing anything that wasn't mapped out in advance. We were a bit too scared to experiment with 'accidents' and wander off the beaten track! But this time round Vince really pushed us to explore any mistakes that happened in the studio. It has to be said, though, we had time to prepare the album and work properly for once. Things were really hectic with our previous albums as we'd always been in the middle of a tour! I think on the whole we've made Totem a very eclectic album, but it's also pretty coherent!"

Committed Zenzile fans may still be slightly baffled by the new direction the fivesome have adopted on their new album, however. Totem is marked by the arrival of American poetess Jamika Ajalon, who guests on the openly philosophical track Box and the David Lynch-influenced Change. Meanwhile, Sir Jean (singer from the group Meï Teï Sho) powers out some angry Afro vocals on Axis of Evil, berating American president George Bush's views on terrorism. Stepping outside a "strictly dub" format, Zenzile launch into a sort of radical post-rock experimentation that one would imagine more in keeping with a group like Tarwater. But then Zenzile's desire to push back the borders of instrumental reggae is exactly what keeps the French dub scene alive and kicking!

Unlike the British and Jamaican dub scenes (both increasingly taken over by machines these days), the French dub scene revolves around the value of real musicians playing live. Indeed, French dub is thriving on the live scene right now with fans packing out concert venues and record sales continuing to mount steadily. Mathieu, from Zenzile, is pleased to note the arrival of a new dub generation in France. "Over the past five years or so," he says, "a lot of young groups have been coming up to us with dub demo tapes – which is a real step forward because before they were totally focused on reggae. The only problem is persuading young acts not to copy what existed before, but create their own distinctive sound instead! Personally, I've always found it perfectly ridiculous for French reggae groups to copy their Jamaican counterparts. At the end of the day reggae's a totally local folklore. We have to face the fact that we're from Angers-49, not Kingston, Jamaica!" 

Talking of tapping into local mentalities, what will it take for dub to explode onto the French mainstream? Mathieu remains convinced that "dub will remain a 'niche market', as they say in the music industry. OK, so that niche has existed for over 40 years now, but that doesn't mean to say it's lost its niche status. I think one of the main problems with marketing dub is the lack of vocals – that completely throws record company directors! They don't know how to work it at all and we have a real problem with getting exposure in the media. Whatever happens we're not bothered about being 'big in France'. Our priority is to make a name for ourselves worldwide. We went out and played in Montreal this summer and we attracted a really broad audience – there were fans aged from 7 to 77 in the audience! People our parents' age came up to us after the show and congratulated us on our performance. And that's something that's really rewarding, believe me!"

High Tone's keyboard-player Antonin agrees with Zenzile's international approach. "We asked our tour organiser to get us gigs abroad in May, June and July this year," he says, "We've been touring in France for over five years now – and it's got to the stage where it's become a bit too much! I pretty much agree with Mathieu when he talks about dub as a 'niche market', although I have to say I'm personally pretty comfortable in that niche. We've had a fair amount of media coverage in France and we manage to draw a pretty broad mix of fans to our gigs. Our public profile's going up slowly but surely and we're pretty happy with that. Having said that, however, sales figures on the dub scene do vary a lot."

High Tone and the electro scene