Formula Indie Sessions – Interview with Montevideo
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Listening to music tapes in my parents car.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
I was 11 when I started to play guitar, I quickly started a band with my schoolmates. I took guitar lessons for 2 years but definitely wasn’t good at learning songs, scales and reading music. My interest went quickly into writing songs and having bands. I was 13 when I started my first band and always have been playing in bands since then.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
Quentin (drummer) and Simon (me – guitarist and vocals) met about ten years ago, we briefly played in the same band but both had to move out to different cities a few months later. We decided that one day we would form a new band, and this happened in 2022, ten years later, when we finally reunited in the same city, Toulouse.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Our music has many influences : I’d say we have one leg in Great Britain and the other leg in the USA. We write funny lyrics and have a theatrical approach of music, like Talking Heads, Devo and the B’52s. We also have a post punk approach with guitar focused music, some noise experiments and are influenced by british bands such as Squid, Idles, Do Nothing or even Fontaines DC (that are not very british indeed).
We have two lead vocals, male and female; that sometimes could remind the Pixies and the B’52’s.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
I did understand that it’s way more interesting to write songs in a band, listening to other mates ideas instead of writing all the songs and arrangements by myself, even if sometimes I’m not super convinced at first.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
A guitar mostly, sometimes it starts with a drum fill or a melody that I sing on my bike.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
So many artists… It is hard to answer this one. I love indie british bands such as Adult DVD, KEG or Getdown Services.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
My personal experiences that influence my music are life, anytime and anywhere. Also very influenced by concerts and music I’m discovering everyday.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
I hope they are dancing, smiling and having fun, anything positive because we need that right now.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
You need patience, you sometimes need to fail to make it better the next time. And possibly fail forever haha.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
Le Bikini is the biggest venue here in Toulouse, I think any musician from this area would dream of playing there. I’d be super happy playing in any festival with a big crowd listening to the music, it would be amazing.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
I guess David Bowie, Paul Mc Cartney, David Byrne, Kim Gordon and Kim Deal
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
Our music is available on all platforms like Spotify, Apple Music; Amazon music, Youtube music and bandcamp etc.
https://www.instagram.com/montevideo.groupe
https://www.facebook.com/Montevideogroupe
https://montevideoband.bandcamp.com
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
We’re working on an album, that would ideally be released in autumn 2027. That’s a lot of work and investment, but I’d love to get good reviews from the national press.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
They’ll discover that we have very different songs, because of our wide influences. I hope they’ll have a look at lyrics too, we’re a french band and most of the audience here doesn’t take much care of the meaning of the songs, while we’re working hard on that point, making connection between the music emotion and words.
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