Silmarils, who hail from a suburb south of Paris, emerged on the French music scene in 1995, establishing themselves as one of the major rock revelations of the year. But the group has actually been around a lot longer than that. Silmarils's six members - David Salsedo (vocals), Brice (trumpet), Jean-Pierre (sax), Jimi (guitar), Aymeric (drums) and Côme, the most recent recruit (bass) – have been playing together since the late 80s when they formed their group at the local lycée.

Silmarils went on to develop an exciting type of rock fusion, incorporating a broad range of influences into their sound. Despite their interest in musical fusion, Silmarils were pigeonholed in the early days of their career, critics cataloguing them as ersatz Rage Against the Machine or Red Hot Chili Peppers wannabes. Indeed, French journalists tended to dismiss Silmarils as an opportunistic band uninterested in playing their own personal style of music.

In spite of such accusations of opportunism, Silmarils went on to prove their worth on the live scene, playing hundreds of gigs up and down the country. Indeed, the band spent nearly five years of their career playing the bar and youth club circuit and performing at fringe festivals, before even setting foot in a recording studio.

One of the band's early gigs took them to Ireland, where their energetic rock sound went down a storm with local audiences. And Silmarils actually owe their big break to a Scottish producer, Peter Murray, who picked up on the group when they played at Le Bataclan in Paris. With Murray's support and encouragement, the group ended up going into the studio and recording their debut album, "Silmarils" (released in '95). The name Silmarils was soon on everyone's lips thanks to the controversial video they filmed for the single "Cours vite". But the clip, which featured French porn stars Draghixa and Julia Chanel, was judged too raunchy for French television and banned by the censors.

Following the release of their debut album, Silmarils embarked upon a massive promotional tour and recorded a live album while on the road. (This thoroughly heavy-metal influenced opus would hit record stores in 1997). Meanwhile, the band kept up an exhausting schedule, performing a staggering 150 dates in all, which included appearances at a number of major music festivals including "Les Eurockéennes" and "Francofolies". Silmarils went on to support legendary U.S. rock band AC/DC at a gig in Bordeaux and this, together with their banned video clip, assured them instant notoriety, boosting sales of the band's first album over the 100,000 mark.

Having built up an excellent reputation for their live performances, Silmarils were soon invited to hit the road with the group Sugar Ray. The band accompanied Sugar Ray on the European leg of their tour, which ended with a memorable finale at the Garage Club in London. Word of Silmarils's live skills spread like wildfire in professional circuits and the band were booked to support major international stars such as U2, Therapy?, That Petrol Emotion and big-time American rappers Public Enemy.

Given Silmarils's increasingly high profile it was only a matter of time before David Salsedo, the band's lead singer and songwriter, was invited to write material for other groups. Following the Sugar Ray tour, Salsedo went on to write four tracks for Dolly, an up-and-coming rock group from Nantes. All four tracks appeared on the band's debut album and the songs "Je ne veux pas rester sage" and "Partir seule" went on to become two of Dolly's biggest hits.

Silmarils went on to release their second album, "Original Karma", on 16 September 1997. However, this second opus car, which found the group branching out in a totally different direction and experimenting with hip-hop, techno and groove influences disappointed many of Silmarils's early fans. "Tant que parle l'économie", the first single release from the album received relatively little airplay on French radio, but the following singles, "Karma" and "Disco", fared much better on the nation's airwaves.

With two studio albums and a live opus under their belts, Silmarils decided the time had come to make a bid for recording independence and they went on to set up their own studio, "Run Fast Record" in Ivry-Sur-Seine, near Paris. It was here that David Salsedo, the group's lead singer and songwriter, turned his hand to producing. Salsedo's early production work included the debut album by a French band called My Favorite Dentist is Dead. (Salsedo also co-wrote a number of songs on the album).

Silmarils went on to release their third album, "Vegas 76", in May 2000. The album was recorded in the group's studio in Ivry but mixed in Los Angeles by Mario Caldato Jr (a man known for his production work with a number of international stars including Blur and Beck). Silmarils flew out to the States to supervise the final mix of the album and met a number of leading American musicians, such as Alfredo Ortig from the Beastie Boys, who brought his percussion skills to the final mix of "Vegas 76".

"Vegas 76" marked a new turning-point in Silmarils's career. Featuring a softer, more mature sound, Silmarils's new album even found the group experimenting with certain pop influences (a move which certainly raised a few eyebrows amongst the group's early rock fans!) The first single release from "Vegas 76" confirmed the band's new sound. Combining a much less aggressive melody line with a vibrant Cuban brass section, "Va y avoir du sport" went on to become one of the top hits in the French charts that summer.

Silmarils hit the road again the following year and ended up devoting most of 2001 to their live activities.

While beginning to enjoy some success with their albums—the last one having sold 70,000 copies, Silmarils kept on being most renown for their live performances. With the same energy—and sometimes aggressiveness—as they can display on stage, the band recorded their fourth album "4Life" that was released in June 2003. The heavy guitar riffs and somewhat muscular rock’n roll were often mixed with hip hop elements such as on "Animal", a track resulting from the encounter between Silmarils and Mass—Joey Starr’s B.O.S.S. MC. The first single was called "On n’est pas comme ça" (That’s not the way we are).

June 2003