The group started out like many other teenage bands but their story turned out better than most. The four friends from school, who all loved the Pixies, started playing together for sheer fun. But their story really began one day after Mathias' knees gave in following a tennis accident: he had to put away his racquet and his dreams of becoming the next McEnroe and he picked up his guitar instead and started writing songs. He began busking, playing his own material in restaurants in southern French seaside towns such as Grande Motte and Plavas-les-Flots. His three friends soon joined him and they named themselves Dionysos, a name stolen from school philosophy courses. Mathias was fascinated by the image of Dionysos, Greek Bacchus and carousing God of Nietzche's tragedy. Even before he set up his group Mathias thought it would be a perfect stage name because it implied that absolutely anything could happen.

The early years

In 1993, Mathias Malzeu, born in 1974 in Montpellier (vocals, guitar), Eric Serra-Tosio (drums), Michaël Ponton (guitar), Guillaume Garidel (bass), got together to form Dionysos in Valence (Drôme). They were joined in early 1997 by Elisabeth Ferrer (violin, keyboards). When they decided to form the group they all agreed that no one was allowed to take themselves too seriously and that they should all have the right to their own creative space... and time to pursue their other interests: Surfing, skateboarding and video for Mathias, tennis and photography for Mike. As for Eric: building miniature football stadium models; Elisabeth: painting and playing music with her boyfriend; and Guillaume: computers and windsurfing.

When they played their very first gig in October 1993 the group had only been together for three weeks and had only rehearsed three times. They played half a dozen numbers at Café de la Paix in Valence and it went down so well that they decided they wanted to continue. Even though the tape of the concert was destroyed it didn't bother them that much.

They went on to record demos in 1994 and 1995, financed by a summer spent picking apricots. Concerts followed the demos and then an award led to a single. Later the Nova Express label offered to co-produce their album in English, "Happening Songs", which was recorded in a mere six days.

In August 1996, Olivier Vallon from Cascade Production received one of their demos and promptly signed them, eventually becoming their manager and tour organiser. At the time, Mathias was writing his thesis on Jim Jarmush for a masters in cinema and, full of good intentions, he planned on bringing it along with him to work on while touring. Unsurprisingly perhaps, he ended up abandoning his studies.

In 1997, Elisabeth Ferrer joined them on violin and keyboards and "Happening Songs" (Nova Express/Tripsichord) was released in March of the same year. A succession of over a hundred concerts followed (including festivals such as Transmusicales de Rennes, 24 INSA Toulouse…playing alongside groups such as Deus, Eels, Sloy, Little Rabbits…). Their song "Wet" was enjoying modest on-air success. For ten weeks, Dionysos were among the top ten groups on the fusion listing of rock radio stations. They were particularly popular with the Swiss radio station Couleur 3. From this breakthrough in Switzerland a collaboration was born with the Geneva label Noise Product and they co-produced a 10 track EP "The Sun Is Blue Like The Eggs In Winter", released in February 1998.

In that same year, they were selected by FAIR, a government sponsored cultural fund for the development of rock music. The fund supports fifteen groups each year and being selected enabled Dionysos to record new tracks for a future album.

In 1998-1999 most of their activity revolved around touring in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany. During this time they also toured alongside French group Louise Attaque, the Austrian group Sans Secours, and Les Despondents and Mary's Child. Les Despondents, Mary’s Child and Dionysos made a record together: "Soon, On Your Radio"  (Pandemonium/Tripsichord). The compilation featured titles such as "Caliméro" and "Dead Chips Party". The enthusiastic media coverage they received after 100 concerts led to Dionysos being approached by several record labels. At the end of 1998 they chose to record with the label Trema.

Work on a new album started swiftly and by the winter of 1999, following a fruitful telephone conversation with Norman Kener, they settled on him as their producer. He had just listened to their music and they were impressed by his instant enthusiasm. He was already full of ideas for their music. Dan Presley, nephew of the Memphis legend, soon started collaboration with him on production. He had already discreetly worked with, among others, Spain, Faith No More and The Breeders. They didn't set out looking for an international producer and would have chosen a French producer if they had found the right one. In April of that year, the five of them headed for San Francisco where they spent five weeks recording fifteen new titles for the album "Haïku". "Haïku"'s are short rhythmical Japanese poems, with a laconic and philosophical twist. Their lyrics combined simple yet sometimes quizzical prose, recalling surrealist automatic writing. Previously they had used English lyrics, but for this album Dionysos deliberately chose to write in French. Mastering was carried out in Paris in June 1999.

"Haïku" was released in France, Switzerland and Belgium on 7 September, selling over 30,000 copies.

They began touring France extensively in October 1999 to support the release of the album and the tour ended 170 concerts later. Meanwhile they took time out to release "Haïku folk", an unplugged version of some of the tracks from the album recorded over two days with friends such as Venus, Julie Bonnie and Dogbowl.

After some acrobatic stunts on stage on 16 March 2000, Mathias spent the next 15 concert dates sitting on stage with a broken ankle in plaster and had to remain sitting for the following 30 dates.

Success

With "Western Dans La Neige", their next album, their musical choices became more pronounced: acoustic tracks became more acoustic and the heavy material became heavier. The title evokes the world of Sergio Leone, and the western films they love so much.

Another audible influence on the album is Steve Albini, a reference in American rock production: The Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, John Spencer Blues Explosion. The legendary sound engineer was already known for working on such ambitious French collaborations as Sloy, Les Thugs and Héliogabale. He clicked instantly with the group and the result was magic. Their manager had got in contact with Steve's assistant, sent him some demos, and following a single telephone call, the deal was sealed.

The recording took place over three weeks in Electrical's home-studio in Chicago. The group insisted on a live sound which would reflect the electric energy they create on stage. Mastering was done by Steve in the legendary Abbey Road studios - Steve's choice. They had enough material to make an album entirely in French or entirely in English, but they decided on a mixture of the two. For Mathias these languages are like two distinct musical instruments.

The release of the album met instant commercial and critical success and is clearly heading to become a gold disc. John Spencer, New York rock legend of the John Spencer Blues Explosion, showed great interest in the album requesting a copy after having caught them live. They ended up playing live together at the French festival Printemps de Bourges in 2002 and again in 2003, at Les Vieilles Charrues in Carhaix in July and at Le Rock dans tous ses Etats in Evreux and Roc’Han Feu in Pontivy, both in June.

Mathias, spokesman and main composer of the group, is also an artist in his own right. He directs short films and video clips (he shot a video for Dolly). At the beginning of 2003 he published a collection of short stories, "38 Mini Westerns" (Editions Pimientos). Dionysos is definitely a many headed monster!

The group began an acoustic tour at the end of 2002, which continues until April 2003 at which point they will resume their Western Tour. You should be able to catch them live at one of the many festivals they'll be playing in until the summer.

Mathias rejoined the rest of the band for a series of concerts in the summer of 2004 and this appeared to restore his self-confidence. After spending three weeks in Morocco to work on their new songs, Dionysos hopped across the Channel to record in the UK with producer John Parish (renowned for his work with British rock chick PJ Harvey). Their new album, "Monsters In Love", was released in August 2005. As the title suggests, the monsters Mathias Malzieu had invented for his novel raised their ugly heads again in the band's new songs. Meanwhile, Dionysos invited The Kills (a British band they had met at a festival in France) to guest on the track "Old Child."

After playing two dates in Morocco in June and a concert in La Réunion in August, Dionysos kicked off a new tour in October 2005, assuring a hectic schedule across France and a series of dates in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany. The group, who thrived live on stage, remained on the road throughout much of 2006, appearing at a number of leading music festivals such as Le Printemps de Bourges, Les Francofolies in La Rochelle, Les Francofolies in Montreal in June and Les Vieilles Charrues in July. The sixsome's vibrant on-stage energy proved a hit with the crowd wherever they played.

It seemed logical that, given their vibrant onstage energy, Dionysos should go on to release a live CD and DVD entitled "Monsters In Live" (a reference to their 2005 album "Monsters In Love") in January 2007. The DVD included footage of two Paris concerts - one at the Olympia in 2005, the other at Le Zénith in 2006 - as well as on-the-road highlights in Morocco, Auvergne and the U.K. and behind-the-scenes moments in Belfort, all recorded between November 2004 and November 2006.

Following the release of "Monsters In Live", Mathias Malzieu and his insatiable band continued their hectic concert schedule, playing gigs at home and abroad. Their international dates included a concert in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, and an appearance at the famous South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, in March.

On 5 March 2007, Babeth released a solo album entitled "Drôle d'oiseau."

Dionysos released their sixth album, "La Mécanique du cœur", in November 2007. The songs on this new album were directly inspired by lead singer Mathias Malzieu's novel of the same name, published a few days earlier by Flammarion. The novel and album recount the same fantastical gothic tale of a boy called Jack who is born one freezing cold night in Edinburgh with a ticking clock in place of a heart. All will be well if the young protagonist avoids powerful emotional shocks - but one day he looks into the smouldering eyes of a street singer and falls head over heels in love. The weird and wonderful characters from the tale were "played" on record by Mathias Malzieu (in the role of Jack) and his real-life girlfriend Olivia Ruiz (in the role of the street singer). Other prestigious guest stars who put in appearances on the album include the French slam artist Grand Corps Malade, Alain Bashung, Jean Rochefort, Emilie Loizeau and former French footballer Eric Cantona.

Dionysos embarked on a major tour after the album release, kicking things off with a debut concert in Geneva in March 2008. The tour continued through until July 2008 and included several dates at that summer's music festivals. Dionysos took an impressive stage set on their "Mécanique du cœur" tour with them, made up of clocks in every imaginable shape and size, in an attempt to capture the weird and wonderful atmosphere of Malzieu's novel. Malzieu had dreamt of taking his literary/recording venture one step further and turning "La Mécanique du cœur" into a film one day. Europacorp (the production company owned by the famous French film director Luc Besson) has now snapped up the rights to the novel and an animated 3D film is apparently in the pipeline. The film is to be written and co-directed by Mathias Malzieu in collaboration with 3D graphics experts Stéphane Berla and Joann Sfar.

July 2008