Getting to Know… Vilaine Tracks | Interview 🎤

Highlighting interview No. 194 on The Musical Hype is intriguing Le Mans-based punk/rock band, Vilaine Tracks.

Ask yourself this question.  How many punk bands do you know that utilize the saxophone 🎷?  Likely, you answered, very few if any. Well, friends, we have found one in Le Mans-based punk/rock band 🎙 Vilaine Tracks.  Naturally, this fact alone makes them quite unique.  According to the band, “We believe, and so are the friends/people who listen to our music, that it fits perfectly, especially when we play live.”  Now that’s just awesome. The members of this distinct collective are 🎙 Arnaud (guitar, band leader), 🎙 Thierry (bass), 🎙 Ben (saxophone), and 🎙 Vincent (drums).  So, with some background out of the way, we proudly present 🎤 Getting to Know… Vilaine Tracks: Interview No. 194.

Starting things off, for those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes Vilaine Tracks distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

🎤 What makes us unique is the addition of the saxophone and the harmonica on our punk/rock music style. Indeed, even though it is uncommon to hear saxophone in a punk/rock band, we believe, and so are the friends/people who listen to our music, that it fits perfectly, especially when we play live.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Vilaine Tracks form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

🎤 VILAINE TRACKS is based in the city of Le Mans, well known from the world-famous car race. The band was formed was formed around Arnaud, (guitarist/band leader) and Thierry on bass in 2016. They were later joined by Ben on saxophone and then Vincent on drums in 2018. The initial visions and goals are still the same: enjoying playing together, recording our music, and, also, playing in decent venues.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

🎤 As stated earlier, our goals have not really changed. However, since we are proud of our last EP (💿 Sunny Grave, which was selected, among more than 30 French bands, by French Rock Magazine Rock & Folk, equivalent to Rolling Stone in UK/US, for a review in its local bands section in the May issue), we are targeting the recording of a new in 2022.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 VILAINE TRACKS likes rock and Ppnk Music, getting inspired from The Clash or the Ramones to Franz Ferdinand or the Foo Fighters. Joey Ramone and Joe Strummer are the 2 main rock influencers of our band leader Arnaud.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative. 

🎤 2 years ago, we played in a bar right in the middle of the old town of Le Mans. When we started setting up, the bar owner was surprised to see all the gear we had and he told us that we had to play very quietly, in order not to get complaints from the neighbors. That was one of our worst gigs since we had to play with restraint. Obviously, prior to the gig, the bar owner did not take the time to listen to our music…

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?  

🎤 This is not an easy question, as in the band, we don’t share the same opinion regarding our favorite song. Anyway, I would rate 🎵 “No more zeroes” as one of our favorite songs, again, due to the addition of the saxophone with a good sounding sax solo.

Closing things out, what is Vilaine Tracks currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎤 We are just out from a long weekend where we met for the first time this year (due to the lockdown). Obviously, we enjoyed a lot playing the whole weekend. Having fun, playing songs from our setlist was on the agenda but we also took the time to explore new ideas our band leader Arnaud has worked on the last couple of months. Talking about recording, a new EP is definitely coming. That is a target we have in mind for next year. For this year, we are now targeting a couple of gigs from September in order to promote our new EP, 💿 Sunny Grave, available on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Deezer. The band can also be followed on Facebook. 

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.

Getting to Know… Vilaine Tracks: Interview No. 194 🎤 [📷: Vilaine Tracks, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype]