Grimoon - Seven Lives in Super8

From writing songs just for fun to touring with Black Heart Procession, from early amateur microfilms to the monumental “Neera”, from the first artistic connection between Solenn Le Marchand and Alberto Stevanato to Macaco Records, all the way to their recording studio and "co-housing" life in the Veneto countryside: the story, the passion and the rise of Grimoon in a handful of questions and answers.

Hi Grimoon (Solenn and/or Alberto), how's it going?

Solenn and Alberto: all good, ready to hit the road on tour!

You're already fairly well known for a number of varied and enjoyable reasons, but could you briefly walk us through the essential milestones of your genesis (not least the story behind your name)?

Solenn: in 2002, Alberto and I very slowly and timidly started writing songs together; by mid-2003 Claudio joined us on accordion and piano, and by the end of the year Andrea on violin, Erik on bass and Samuele on drums had also come aboard. In April 2004 our demo "Demoduff" came out and we started playing shows. In 2006 we released "La Lanterne Magique", in 2008 "Les 7 Vies Du Chat", and in 2010 "Super 8 + Neera".

Grimoon was the name of one of my cats, all grey and a big sleeper. The full name would be "gris moon", where "gris" means "grey" in French and "moon" is, well, "moon" in English. So, "grey moon".

What is your intent, specifically? What were you thinking about while writing your first songs (later collected on your debut demo "Demoduff", ed.)?

Solenn: at the start it was all just a game — I'd never played anything in my life... I wrote a bit, but I'd never even come close to a microphone or the black and white keys! Then one day Alberto asked me for a hand writing lyrics for one of the bands he was playing with at the time, Libra. And one day I wrote something in French and I "had to" sing it. That's where our first songs came from, and shortly after that we decided to call ourselves Grimoon. At first it was all play, all lightheartedness... then we started liking the songs and wanted to see how they'd sound played with a full band. They sounded good... so we kept going and recorded "Demoduff", which originally wasn't even meant to come out: it was more of a demo tape that we liked, so we ended up releasing it on our own label, Macaco Records.

Alberto: I used to play with Libra, a rock band. Whenever I brought in slower songs they'd get rejected or misunderstood, and over the years all those "rejects" built up into a small repertoire that Solenn and I set off with. Then we did a lot of work together with the other members, chosen from among the best musicians around us.

From the very start I wanted a lineup like this one, I knew that given my attitude it could work. Few chords, lots of heart and plenty of imagination. I was thinking of a band rich in sounds, so we could add colour to our songs.

What experiences fed into the band? And how did the two backgrounds come together — Alberto's previous bands (Libra, Travolta) and Solenn's own background?

Alberto: with Libra I worked and played a lot, I had some important experiences and collaborated with some very good musicians. That was my base for a long time. With our last album, "Il viaggio di zebra", we'd reached a level of maturity where we were credible and aware of what we were doing. Then things didn't go the way I thought they would. At the time I was playing with Libra, Travolta and Grimoon, and I wanted to put together a musical collective where people could play together and grow within a wider group, even under different names. We even set up Macaco. But it didn't turn out that way! Misunderstandings and jealousies arose. At a certain point I realised I had to go my own way and work on the Grimoon project, where, together with Solenn and the others, we share a more constructive and less hobbyist vision of music.

Solenn wasn't a musician, but she was young, full of energy and imagination. She's a daydreamer, but she's also determined and has a very passionate view of culture. She didn't know how to play, but that hardly mattered — she loved films and music. She wanted to live an alternative kind of life, and we committed ourselves to making that happen. Even now, our life is music and short films.

And with what intent did you then "gather" the rest of the band's members?

When we used to organise, together with a lot of other musicians from the Venice area, "I martedì al Vapore" (a historic indie music series, ed.), I got the chance to meet plenty of bands. So by the time it came to put the group together, I already knew a lot of people. Also, the spirit in which Grimoon was born was an experimental one. From the very beginning we'd get together to bring guitar-and-voice pieces to life. The experiment was magical, the songs kept growing and the enthusiasm was high. After a year we decided to become an actual band. Personally, I've always pictured Grimoon as a collective, and it's no coincidence that the core lineup has often expanded to include many musicians. Lately, the excellent singer-songwriter Alessandro Grazian has also been joining us on piano and guitar. The aim is to eventually become a really large group.

And then there's the passion for the art of cinema, video art, and its connections with music and songwriting. Which comes first, in your view, cinema or music? Do you believe there's a spontaneous form of association between the two?

Solenn: for us, first and foremost there's art and the act of creation and expression, which then branches out into various nuances. Cinema and music both belong to the vast realm of things that have fascinated us for a long time. In Grimoon, music came first, even though cinema was always lurking in the background. So much so that, from our very first concert, we already had a short film for every song.

From the very beginning, every song on every one of your albums has been accompanied by a video, or rather by a short film that you make and produce yourselves. Where does the idea usually start, and how does it develop? Can you share any anecdotes about the techniques and the making of your videos?

Solenn: the ideas usually come from Alberto and me. There's no set rule for imagining the stories - sometimes ideas just pop up on their own, other times we really have to rack our brains! Normally the songs come first and the videos after. But that hasn't always been the case.

A few anecdotes... let's see... I should say we've been through pretty much everything! We shoot on digital or Super 8, live-action or animation, so the techniques are many and things change a lot from one to another. Making the new videos brought its share of funny situations, so to speak. For example, the video for "Orfeo" took ages to shoot compared to the others (3 days of shooting alone, which isn't much, but we also had 11 other videos to make in 2 months!). The cutlery kept falling over and over, and we were shooting in very cramped spaces. It was hell! On the other hand, the video for "La Ballade Du Pecheur Aveugle" was shot in 5 hours using sand. We had no ideas for that video, but I'd wanted to try sand animation for a while. We built a light box and I started playing with sand and light. In 4 hours I'd shot the whole video: I had a great time doing it! Another funny anecdote is from the shoot for "Mille Lumières". The video tells the story of a postman for the dead. One scene was shot at night outside a cemetery in a small village in the Treviso countryside. We were terrified some car would stop, or that the police would show up and mistake us for vandals wandering around cemeteries at night... whereas the scene of us cycling through Venice at night was actually quite fun to shoot.

Your short videos are therefore populated by purely invented characters, or by simple everyday objects brought to life (or used as models), yet they're nonetheless charged with a poignant, vivid romanticism. Do you see them as preludes to the masterful undertaking behind "Neera", your first feature film?

Solenn: our entire filmmaking activity stems from a strong desire to "do a lot with little". And that's certainly at the root of both our shorts and "Neera". Cinematic craftsmanship: inventing things, and reinventing ourselves... in the shorts we really love using everyday objects: it's amazing to see how they can take on an identity once you give them two eyes and a mouth! In "Neera" we went a bit further, using a lot of masks (which we also love) but fewer everyday objects, even though everything was still handmade from recycled materials (costumes, etc). But more than the objects and techniques, I think what really comes through in "Neera" - in a different way than in the shorts - is that same romantic, surreal streak that runs through much of our artistic work.

Alberto: the videos are by now an integral part of our live show. We always bring them with us... they're 50% of our art. That's how the project was born, and that's how it has to continue... Playing without videos, for us, is like going out with just one shoe on. Besides, making them is fun. As a kid I was really into model-making, and at 37 I still have as much fun building miniatures, puppets and so on. Our videos are romantic, but also playful.

A genuine showcase of inventiveness and literary twists, surrealism and mythology, "Neera" is, in our view, a must of contemporary indie production. How much work did it take, and how did you go about it?

Solenn: "Neera" was a colossal undertaking. 2 weeks of shooting with 20-hour days, but above all six months of writing and preparation and two months of pre-production, not to mention post-production, which took another two months. We worked non-stop... and on top of that, the band's activity didn't stop during those months, so there was hardly any time left for anything else! In the last few months before shooting we were doing 30 things at once... organization (casting, shooting, locations...), masks, drawings, set building, writing dialogue, costumes, and so much more. I was constantly on the phone or talking to someone... it was an extremely exhausting period, but also a wonderful one! Such great teamwork! And I'm already starting to think about the next one...

Your videos are of course visible at every one of your concerts, as well as freely available on your website, but have you ever thought about collecting them and releasing them on DVD?

Solenn: it's planned for the near future...

Alberto: we've thought about it, and maybe we'll do it... but it's not the same as watching them live together with us. Live, we comment on them, we introduce them, they live with us in that moment. On their own on a screen, they lose the magic of the live show. They're not TV videos. If you think about it, in six years and more than 30 shorts, we've never actually managed to make a video for TV that truly represented us. We're just not capable of it!

So if we do put them on a DVD, we'd want to do it together with explanations of how we build the puppets, what goes through our heads, and so on.

Let's flip the perspective. Have you ever thought about scoring a short film, a theatre production, or someone else's video work?

Solenn: we've never had the chance to... partly because of all the countless commitments with our own projects (videos, films, concerts, writing new songs), but we'd love the idea!

Alberto: Nice... maybe in the future...

So we're back to the music: what accounts for this shift in mood between the exuberance (and numerous guests) of “Les 7 Vies Du Chat” and the wandering atmosphere (and more targeted guest appearances) of “Super 8”? Perhaps a move toward something more personal?

Alberto: we wanted to make a more personal record... one that would also close this cycle of orchestrations. In the future we want to do something different, we're already thinking about it.

The influence of chanson, or in any case of important, authorial songwriting, is truly prominent on “Super 8”. How do you render it live? Do you have any particular approach compared to the live sets for “Les 7 Vies”?

Alberto: Playing this record wasn't easy at first, but now we're playing every song except one. To honor some of the record's arrangements we brought in Grazian, who on piano and electric guitar helps make our sound richer. Violin harmonies and synths are at the core of this work, but there are also plenty of string, piano and electric guitar parts, which Alessandro plays live.

The discovery of, and collaboration with, Manuok has yielded a lot for you and your world. How did it come about?

Solenn: in 2006 we opened two shows for The Black Heart Procession, and Scott (Mercado, aka Manuok, ed.) was playing bass with them. We bought his record and fell in love with his music. So we stayed in touch with him and released his second album in Italy through Macaco Records. Then there were two European tours together and a great friendship that has borne, and continues to bear, a lot of fruit, not least the release of “Super 8” and Grimoon's US tour planned for this October.

Alberto: Scott is the kind of person you'd always want close by. We were lucky to have him with us on tour and on the record. He has a big heart, and a distinctive musical culture and sensibility. So does Giovanni Ferrario.

Macaco Records, the label you founded, has the honor and the burden of championing lesser-known acts from the Italian underground and beyond. Can you give us a preview of anything coming up?

Solenn: the next release will actually be Manuok's third album, “The Old Horse”, this summer! Then there are other things in the works, but it's too early to talk about them:

Alberto: over the coming months we'll also keep supporting Margareth, who are a wonderful band we think very highly of.

Your “move” with the crew and recording studio to the Veneto countryside is an excellent continuation of this conversation. Dinners and important shows, life and art, nature and music. Could we call it a radical and genuine convergence of all the elements of your journey?

Solenn: yes, the countryside we live in represents us a lot and lets us do exactly what we love: organizing events, socializing with tons of new people, having the space we need to rehearse and film, etc. Not to mention that we're also lucky enough to live in a really beautiful place with wonderful people and countless animals around us!

Alberto: The Rio Selva co-housing project is our home now, we were lucky to get this chance. It's a communal living project that brings a lot of satisfaction but also comes with its own commitments. Living together is beautiful, it's the alternative to individualism and loneliness. Together you can build a lot more beautiful things, because they're shared. Of course, we always have plenty to do these days!

You've toured, and still tour, a lot, including abroad. The second collaboration with Black Heart Procession led to a new mini-tour (May 2010), after the one in 2006. What are your upcoming travels?

We'll be playing in southern Italy in July, then on August 1st at Magnolia in Milan, and then at Giardini Sospesi in Padua on August 21st.

Ride the wave of great music

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