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Nouvelle Vague Return to Australia for Three Exclusive Shows · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah hi my name is Melanie Payne I'm a singer
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: in Nouvelle Vague I've been singing with them forever hi.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Hello I'm Phoebe Kilday also a singer of Nouvelle Vague
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  Speaker 2: and I've been also singing with them for quite a while.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes.
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  Speaker 2: Amazing.
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  Speaker 3: Fantastic.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you, girls. You guys are coming back to Australia
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  Speaker 4: for three exclusive shows. What do you guys remember from
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: last time and what do you hope to do this
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  Speaker 4: time around?
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  Speaker 1: I'm very excited to come back and do, like, those
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  Speaker 1: show in beautiful venues because we've played the Metro in Sydney,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: for example, but, like, very long time ago. Like, it was,
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  Speaker 1: I think, the first... We've played in Sydney. And otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: we've been doing festivals, so big outdoor, you know, kind
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  Speaker 1: of afternoon events. So Frenchy, so chic. So I really, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I'm really glad we're coming and we're doing proper night
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  Speaker 1: gigs in, you know, in proper clubs. I think it
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  Speaker 1: would be much, you know, much more rock and roll.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we also have this great, we have a great
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  Speaker 2: lighting person with us. He does fantastic light, so that'll
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  Speaker 2: be really a good chance to exploit, to see all
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  Speaker 2: the great things he can do, so that's exciting too.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, oh, fantastic. It sounds like a show that you
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  Speaker 4: can really feel with all senses.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, exactly.
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  Speaker 4: Lovely, definitely. And Nouvelle Vogue has always had this incredible
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  Speaker 4: ability to take songs that people think they know intimately
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  Speaker 4: and make them feel completely new. What do you think
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  Speaker 4: is the secret to making a song like that unfamiliar again?
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  Speaker 2: I think making it really far from the version that
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  Speaker 2: you know, you know, like musically and so therefore bringing
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: out and putting a new light on the song and
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  Speaker 2: bringing out maybe some more of the meaning behind the
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  Speaker 2: lyrics that maybe didn't come through in other versions, you know.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I think Marc Collin always says, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you couldn't even really hear what they were saying in
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  Speaker 2: the original versions of some of the songs because they
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  Speaker 2: were quite punk versions and the music was quite loud
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  Speaker 2: and the lyrics weren't always cutting through. And now we're
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  Speaker 2: presenting the songs in a real different light where the
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  Speaker 2: lyrics really break through. And also Melanie and I like
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  Speaker 2: to interpret them in, you know, different varying ways, bringing
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  Speaker 2: out a bit of humour where we can.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. You know, just playing with the lyrics a lot.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. I think that.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if there's a secret, but definitely what
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  Speaker 1: worked with Nouvelle Vague is that we treated these songs
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  Speaker 1: as like our songs. Like it's not like it wasn't really,
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  Speaker 1: At first, it was, of course, a cover project, but
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  Speaker 1: it was a bit like creating.
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  Speaker 3: A whole soundtrack, a whole.
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  Speaker 1: Album, a kind of strong sound and soundscape with all
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  Speaker 1: those covers and make them as if they were part
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  Speaker 1: of the same album, which was cool to think that Cure,
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  Speaker 1: Depeche Mode, The Clash were all on the same album
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  Speaker 1: and were all doing it with a girl singing in
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  Speaker 1: brazil you know stuff like that yeah so yeah i
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  Speaker 1: think the concept was pretty strong and uh it was
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  Speaker 1: just not oh let's do a cover of this one
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  Speaker 1: and a cover of this one it was just like
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  Speaker 1: create a story around all those songs.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah definitely i definitely feel that as well um because
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  Speaker 4: you guys have um reimagined some of my absolute favorite
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  Speaker 4: songs and when i first heard Nouvelle Vague, you know,
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  Speaker 4: it's like really what more can you do to these
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  Speaker 4: songs to make them sound incredible? But somehow you guys
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  Speaker 4: managed to make them just have a different sort of
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  Speaker 4: feeling and still sound incredible. Yeah, it blows my mind away.
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  Speaker 4: And what you were saying about lyrics as well, Love
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  Speaker 4: Will Tear Us Apart, that's what I listened to and
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  Speaker 4: I thought there's some lyrics here that I never thought
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  Speaker 4: Ian Curtis actually said. But because you guys are singing it,
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  Speaker 4: I could hear it.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, and we're so lucky to actually sing all
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  Speaker 2: these songs because there are really some great lyrics in there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: It's fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: We're loving it as well. Every time we go, there
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  Speaker 2: we go. We can really enjoy it because of the lyrics.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: For us as singers, yeah. It's funny, people.
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  Speaker 1: I think when we sing those songs, I've never had
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  Speaker 1: this image of like, oh, I'm singing a song of
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  Speaker 1: Depeche Mode or, i'm singing i never think about bands
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  Speaker 1: like i was on stage we performed them as if
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  Speaker 1: it was like you know we both have yeah so
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  Speaker 1: it's like exactly i do the same kind of work
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  Speaker 1: um on stage with my own material than with the
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  Speaker 1: covers i never had this image of like you know
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  Speaker 1: wow that's so interesting that's.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah and.
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  Speaker 4: You're taking music from bands like Joy Division, The Cure,
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  Speaker 4: The Clash and Depeche Mode and turning it into something
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  Speaker 4: incredibly sensual and almost cinematic. Do you think the emotional
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  Speaker 4: core of those songs changes when they're stripped away from
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  Speaker 4: their original sound?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think so, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I think something different comes across, maybe a bit deeper.
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  Speaker 2: It's like maybe it's less focused on the energy and
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  Speaker 2: how can I say it? Oh, you know, you do
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  Speaker 2: get different things. I mean, we get it from audience,
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  Speaker 2: from the public when we meet them after the show
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  Speaker 2: sometimes and they.
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  Speaker 3: All say, oh, well, I never knew. You know, they realize. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: they realize that, oh, that song actually, you know.
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  Speaker 2: And it's great that songs can do that, that interpretations
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  Speaker 2: can do that, can bring out new light and make a,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think even the original writers of the
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  Speaker 2: song and the singers, uh appreciated as well because they
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: go oh yeah why not yeah well.
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  Speaker 4: That was going to be one of my questions did
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  Speaker 4: you guys have you guys obviously had a few of
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  Speaker 4: the original composers or singers reach out to you guys
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  Speaker 4: after you sung their songs.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah we met even we met a few like we
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  Speaker 1: i remember singing with the guy who wrote in a
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  Speaker 1: manner of speaking uh in san francisco he came to
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  Speaker 1: the show Like I think we had a lot of
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  Speaker 1: good comments from Martin Gore from Depeche Mode. Like some
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  Speaker 1: of the band completely ignored us.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: You know, normal. But we had some really cool contacts.
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  Speaker 1: Like we even met like one of the Clash, one
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  Speaker 1: of the Stranglers. Oh, my gosh. In a festival, which
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: is cool. That is so cool.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, that's awesome. That's incredible. And is there a Nouvelle
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  Speaker 4: Vague song where you actually prefer your version to the
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  Speaker 4: original or would that be sacrilege to admit?
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  Speaker 2: I can't say that.
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  Speaker 3: That's fair enough. Bring that up.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, it's funny because a lot of us.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we didn't grow up with those songs, listening
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  Speaker 2: to those songs, you know. So a lot of them
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  Speaker 2: I discovered through Nouvelle Vague. So it's funny as well
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  Speaker 2: to think of it that way, whereas like nearly I heard,
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  Speaker 2: you know, like the Nouvelle Vague versions kind of first.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So it's also funny to think about it that way.
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  Speaker 4: And Phoebe, what sort of music did you, were you
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  Speaker 4: inspired by? Did you listen to growing up?
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  Speaker 2: Uh so also eclectic but I was really into like.
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  Speaker 3: Jazz blues soul hip-hop.
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  Speaker 2: Uh funk yeah I wasn't really new wave Melanie was
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  Speaker 2: more grungy girl yeah yeah yeah so she was more
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  Speaker 2: the grunge I was more soulful yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Wow so interesting uh Melanie who were some of your
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  Speaker 4: influences Melanie.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was like a lot of PG Harvey, Pixies,
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  Speaker 1: like I was the grunge scene.
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  Speaker 3: L7, no? L7?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, all the first kind of.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of Nick Cave and stuff like that.
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  Speaker 1: So I was like not so far musically, I think.
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  Speaker 1: I can really, yeah, connect.
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  Speaker 2: Relate.
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  Speaker 1: But the same, it was the songs of my older sisters,
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  Speaker 1: like all the.
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  Speaker 3: Joy.
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  Speaker 1: Division and everything, it's just a generation above me.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. That's so cool. And after performing
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  Speaker 4: these songs for so many years, Melanie, are there any
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  Speaker 4: lyrics that have taken on a completely different meaning for
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  Speaker 4: you as you've gotten older?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think I was thinking the other day
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  Speaker 1: that it was like an old dress. Those songs, they're
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  Speaker 1: all like old dresses that you really like but then
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  Speaker 1: you you know you know you change so you wear
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  Speaker 1: them and they fit a little bit weird so you
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  Speaker 1: just cut them short them up a bit or do
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  Speaker 1: something and i think my song are evolving like that
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  Speaker 1: for me too like i remember singing love will tear
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  Speaker 1: us apart for example and really think about one big
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  Speaker 1: breakup i had in my life and now i don't
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  Speaker 1: sing it that way i just sing it as a
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  Speaker 1: more philosophical way of seeing life and and beginning and
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  Speaker 1: end as a whole like you know so yeah i
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  Speaker 1: evolved like i yeah i.
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  Speaker 5: Think so songs in the changing of course yeah i
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  Speaker 5: think that's really interesting when uh songs that people have
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  Speaker 5: sung for a long time take on these new meanings
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  Speaker 5: and all completely.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, either eradicate the original meaning that they had for
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  Speaker 4: them or take on a new one or, yeah. Phoebe,
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  Speaker 4: do you have that as well?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and again, I see it, I mean, yeah, because
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  Speaker 2: we change, evolve, obviously, bodies, minds change. Developing, hopefully. And so,
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  Speaker 2: for sure, I think looking back, you pick up on
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  Speaker 2: different things. And you're affected by different things. Also, it's
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  Speaker 2: funny when we're also talking to the audience, you know,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of.
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  Speaker 3: The fans also bring their own kids along.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And some of them were like, I was born on
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  Speaker 3: Nouvelle Vague. I was like, okay.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that beautiful?
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  Speaker 3: Perfect.
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  Speaker 2: And they're like 18 years old and they love it.
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  Speaker 2: And so they get, you know, they get to hear
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  Speaker 2: these songs again through different, I mean, there's so many, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: different angles on the whole thing.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. And it spans generations. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: That's right.
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  Speaker 1: I love it.
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  Speaker 4: That's wonderful. And your latest album, A Date With Depeche Mode,
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  Speaker 4: takes on some incredibly iconic songs. What was it about
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  Speaker 4: Depeche Mode's catalogue that made you want to devote an
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  Speaker 4: entire Nouvelle Vague album to it?
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  Speaker 1: I think it was one of Mark's favourite band ever
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  Speaker 1: and I think, like The Cure, I think it's fascinating
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  Speaker 1: how they're still relevant today and they're still touring and
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  Speaker 1: they're still bringing all this new generation and not losing
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  Speaker 1: their soul. I don't know, there's something really timeless about them. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And I think Depeche Mode is so many songs. It's
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  Speaker 1: such an incredible, you know, yeah, catalogue of songs that, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: so I think that was the idea to just maybe
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  Speaker 1: focus on one band, which we've never done before. So, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I love that.
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  Speaker 3: I love them.
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  Speaker 4: And I'll wrap it up with one last question because
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  Speaker 4: I know we've got to go. If someone has never
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: experienced Nouvelle Vague live before, what do you think they're
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  Speaker 4: going to discover about these songs and about the band
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  Speaker 4: that they simply can't get from listening to the records?
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  Speaker 1: I think they're going to have fun. They're going to
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  Speaker 1: love it.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, exactly. They come and enjoy it.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: It's just about enjoying and celebrating these great songs, really.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we have a lot of fun on
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  Speaker 1: stage and I think we bring a lot of second
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  Speaker 1: degree and little, you know, little, spice.
• 12:38
  Speaker 6: A little yeah yes exactly oh girls I wish I
• 12:44
  Speaker 6: had more time um it was fantastic speaking with you
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  Speaker 6: both and we're so excited to see you guys here
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: soon yeah
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having us thank you