After almost a quarter of a decade spearheading France’s "indie rock" scene, Les Wampas were recently head-hunted from the independent record label Atmosphériques and signed to Barclay/Universal. The band were thus treated to a major-sized budget when it came to the recording of their tenth album, flying out to Stockholm to work with Pelle Gunnerfeldt (the man behind The Hives’ garage sound). The Swedish producer was clever enough not to dilute an iota of Les Wampas’ punky DIY approach. Unlike the band’s last album, Rock’n’Roll part 9 - which was a little too slick and over-produced for some fans’ liking - all fourteen tracks on Les Wampas sont la preuve que Dieu existe are pure, raw and unadulterated.

Didier Wampas is an indie veteran who has proved hard to break. Directors at Barclay spent two long, arduous months battling to get him to make a single suitable for play on prime-time radio. The sort of thing they had in mind was probably a mainstream duet with one of the rising French pop-rock stars of the moment. But, after due consideration, Les Wampas came out fighting with a hard-hitting, punk-infused anthem entitled U.N.I.V.E.R.S.A.L. (a thinly-veiled attack on major labels dominating the record industry!)

Hardcore Wampas’ fans can rest assured, it does not look as though the band’s signing to a major label is about to transform them into the mainstream dish of the day. The band’s new album revolves around their usual mix of modern love songs (Je me suis noyé, La plus belle chanson d’amour), surrealist diatribes (Elle est où ma loge) and more or less straight-faced tributes - a song entitled J’écoutais les Cramps (I Used to Listen to The Cramps) and a homage to the former French Communist party leader Georges Marchais.

In short, Didier Wampas - neither a real rebel not a complete clown - continues to serve up the kind of in-your-face rock he has been dreaming of since he was fifteen years old. Only he and his audacious band could go straight from the serious-minded Il n’y a que les lâches qui freinent to an ironic, tongue-in-cheek ditty dedicated to the group’s female fans. Je n’aime que toi (I Love Only You) is a declaration of love apparently designed to get Didier even closer to female sections of the audience during encores!

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 Listen to an extract from I Hate Switzerland

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