Formula Indie Sessions : Interview with RedLight
RedLight is a project that started almost by accident, just a few friends experimenting with demos in a home studio, mixing all the music we’d grown up with — from blues to hip hop, from new wave to grunge. Over the years it became a real band, a space where we could blend emotions, noise, melody, and raw humanity. It’s DIY at its core, but with an identity that has sharpened with time.
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
My earliest memories of music are tied to school — listening to songs with friends, trading cassettes like they were treasures. The first artists that really marked me were Europe and some French pop my parents played, but also The Cure, which opened a completely different emotional world. Later, around 1988, I became obsessed with Iron Maiden — that was a turning point, discovering the intensity and imagination of heavy metal. From there I dove into hip hop with Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys, and eventually into the whole grunge wave. All those phases built the foundation of who I became as a musician.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
It really started the moment I managed to play a few chords on guitar. From that point on, the main objective was creation — writing songs, exploring ideas, trying to express something personal. I was never interested in playing covers; what excited me was building something from scratch. Songwriting has always been the true love, the real driving force behind everything I do.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
RedLight really took shape the day we realised our demos sounded like a band. Our first album, Crash System Control, was honestly an accident — ten songs written without a plan, all DIY, all very different, unified only by the voice. Since then we’ve kept moving across genres depending on the moment and the inspiration. With our latest album HomeWorks, we focused on ten songs driven by melody and guitar, something cohesive and easy to bring on stage. The project has always stayed true to its roots: instinctive, honest, and independent.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
I’d describe it as a mix of alternative rock energy with electronic tension and emotional melodies. It sits somewhere between Pearl Jam and the Chemical Brothers, with touches of indie, new wave, grunge, and all the music we consumed growing up. It’s raw, melodic, atmospheric, and always built on feeling rather than rules.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
That you don’t need perfect gear to create something honest. Working at home, without pressure, forces you to focus on emotion instead of perfection. The moment I stopped trying to fit into standards and started trying to sound true, everything changed.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
A guitar, a microphone, and Pro Tools — that’s the core. Over the years, Dapé has sharpened his skills in recording and mixing which gives us more and more freedom. We work through demos first, exploring ideas without limits, then selecting the ones that fit together as an album. The home studio is our lab — essential to the RedLight identity.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Lately I’ve been listening a lot to Fontaines D.C. — their intensity, their poetic edge, and the way they shape atmosphere with just a few words really resonates with me. I’m also into The Sprints, their raw energy and immediacy feel incredibly refreshing. Both bands have that mix of urgency and authenticity that always pulls me in.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
Everything I write comes from lived experience — the passing of time, nostalgia, evolving relationships, inner duality, darker mental health themes, and moments of clarity. I don’t write fiction; I write fragments of life, mine or the ones I observe. That honesty shapes the whole artistic vision.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from my work?
I hope listeners feel understood. I’m not trying to deliver a specific message — I’m trying to create a mood, a space where people can project their own stories. I try to paint situations, almost like little scenes from a film. The lyrics are often very cinematic: descriptions of a vision, a feeling, a moment suspended in time. If a line or a melody resonates with someone and helps them navigate something in their life — even briefly — that’s already huge for me.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
That music is freedom. It’s a place where you can be fragile, nostalgic, angry, hopeful — and it’s all valid. It also taught me patience: songs need time, and often the best ideas emerge when you stop forcing them
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Any venue where the audience is close enough to feel the energy. I love intimate places, but of course playing a big festival with people singing back would be incredible. we would also love to play abroad, especially in England as i ve lived a long time in london, that would be a dream come true.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
I think I’d go straight to the artists who shaped my teenage years — bands like Pearl Jam or The Cure. They were huge influences on the way I approach emotion, atmosphere, and songwriting, and working with any of them would feel like closing a circle that started a long time ago.
But honestly, I’d also love to collaborate with any strong rock band from the Marseille scene. There’s something raw, honest, and spontaneous here that I really connect with. Sharing ideas with musicians from our own city — people who carry the same energy and the same background — would feel just as meaningful as working with any big name.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music?
Everything we’ve ever released is available for free on Bandcamp — our whole discography.
You can also find RedLight here:
- Bandcamp: (link) https://redlightofficial.bandcamp.com/
We also have a few CDs for physical collectors, but the idea has always been the same: there should be no barrier to listening to what we create.
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
To keep creating honestly, to keep exploring new textures, and to push our live show further. I’d love to collaborate with unexpected artists, release more music freely, and let RedLight continue evolving without losing its identity.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
That behind the layers, the noise, and the guitars, there’s just someone trying to express real moments and real emotions. I hope they discover sincerity, and maybe recognise a bit of themselves in the music. I also hope they feel the energy when we play live — that sense of sharing a good, raw rock ‘n’ roll moment together, where everyone is part of the same experience.
Clip Idea of Mine:
