Interview: Cotton Claw

When we interviewed Cotton Claw, it was just after their belated soundcheck for their release party in Paris. Excited and a bit stressed/tired by the evening, the four producers hailing from Besançon were kind enough to sit down for us and took the time to answer our questions.

After some wanderings on the internet to prepare my interview, I stumbled on that picture with the key-words "Cotton claw".
Thought that was a nice way to begin this interview.

Let's talk about that recent change of image. So, who was kicked out the four-piece band?

Zerolex: That's Lilea Narrative. He wanted to pursue his solo project and was tired of just slow jamming.

More seriously, could you tell us more about your monikers as they are quite peculiar - is there any story behind it?

Zerolex: I'm Zerolex. There's no real story behind it, I just had to find a name.

Zo aKa La Chauve-Souris: I'm Zo aKa La Chauve-Souris. There are lots of stories behind - way too much actually!

Lilea Narrative: I'm Lilea Narrative. Not that there is a story behind it, but I wanted something that sounds womanly. I stumbled on Lilea - which is a Scandinavian surname I believe - and I wanted to associate it with something a bit contradictory. I found the sounding of the association and what it evokes me pretty cool. Oh and I'm a man for the record.

YoggyOne: I am YoggyOne. It actually comes from the Yogi Bear cartoon by Hanna and Barberra - I was really fond of it as I was a kid. And during my teenage years I was fan of the rapper Doseone. And... This gave way to my moniker!

How did the project has been born?

Zerolex: Lilea was associated with Besançon's venue La Rodia (ndrl- La Rodia provides cultural programs supported by French Culture and Communication Ministry). He had a year to develop a project and that's how he united the four of us.

You describe yourselves first and foremost as a live band. So how do you set up your performances? I guess that being for in the band requires somekind of organisation, but do you give way to improvisation while playing live?

YoggyOne: About the creative part, we all compose music together. We gather some materials separately - loops, ideas of melody... Then each of us adds something in the process. But all in all we create tracks all four together - like a conventional band really.
About the live performances, we dispatch all different parts. Most of our materials come from synths, reworked drum parts, recordings... To perform our music we all play on the same instrument that is a controller with pads. Our songs are thus cut in parts and we put it in the controllers. Then each parts goes to the person who feels like playing it at this moment. There is no assigned duty - the parts shuffle so as to be as fun as possible for everyone.
We improvise like a drummer does - rhythmic subtleties, little breaks now and then, etc. But the structure is fixed because we ought to have marks between us - especially since we barely see each other as we're playing. When we play there is always a risk taken that force us to be fully aware of the track, how it has been written, etc. Therefore our lives are framed but we have space within that frame to improvise.

So if you were a "conventional" band, which instrument(s) would you play?

Zerolex: I'm a former drummer so I would pick drums.

YoggyOne: I used to play the drums as well so that would make two drum sets - quite boring ugh? Otherwise I would like to play the saxophone.

Zo: I would have like to play the piano.

Lilea (mimicking Zo): I would have like to play the piano.

Zo: So that makes two drum sets and two pianos, rad!

You have participate in l'Operation Iceberg led jointly by Switzerland and France, you have won le Prix Chorus (a price giving way to a grant to help develop a musician's project), and you have just released Volutes few weeks ago worldwide. 2015 is pretty much your year, what else can we expect?

Zerolex: Lots of gigs!

YoggyOne: We're touring in many festivals this summer and we will step by the Netherlands and Switzerland - and more great dates ahead. We are also already working on what's coming next. We are willing to tour and promote this album as much as possible, but in the mean time, we are already thinking at new stuff.

Speaking about making music, how do you compose ? You're all having a solo project as producer in the mean time, so do each one of you brings his know-how?

YoggyOne: Of course each of us being producer aside influences our way to compose as a band: each one of us brings his touch and his way of working.

Zerolex: And likewise, working all together influences our way to compose on our solo projects.

So what do you listen in the Cotton Claw Mobile driving on the road?

Lilea: We're listening to Flako's latest release, Clark, new Romaré, a bit of SBTRKT...

Zo: When we're together, we generally listen to things that inspire us or the latest releases.

Lilea: An we're not only listening to electro music.

And if Volutes had to be sum up in four tracks, which ones would it be?

YoggyOne: Hold Up

Zerolex: Leaps and Bound.

Zo: Hornets.

Lilea: Grainy.

Follow them on the road: