Hailing from Corsica and now residing in Paris, Casablanca Drivers have been delighting our ears for quite some time. But the band they once were isn’t the band they are today; a perfect example of a sound that grows just as we do. Now, their main aim is to have fun – and that is not only clear when you have the pleasure of seeing them perform live, but also from the energy on their latest album ‘Tabloid’, released on Arts and Crafts Mexico. I got together with Casablanca Drivers at Parisian bar Chez Jeannette shortly before their record release for an undisclosed number of glasses of wine to talk about their origins, their brief stint in NYC, and a secret album? Listen to ‘Tabloid’ below and read what the boys had to say.
Let’s start from the beginning?
Nicolas: Alexander and I met at University of Corsica; we were studying English and Spanish. We did have this passion, this common passion for music.
Alex: Yeah we started the band at university but we can say in a way that the band started another time and another time. It had different beginnings, with other members. Because when we started we just played like indie rock as teenagers. I don’t think it’s the same band today; it’s the same name because Nicolas and I have been together since the beginning.
I’ve never been to Corsica. What’s it like doing music there?
Nicolas: The music in Corsica is more traditional, so rock and roll and electronic stuff are not…
Alex: It’s starting, you know.
Nicolas: It’s starting, yeah.
Alex: What’s interesting is that everybody sings in Corsica. Everybody sings, everybody can sing. And everybody can play at least one song with the guitar.
Why is that?
Alex: I don’t know. People used to sing when they were working in fields and stuff. They had traditional field working songs, you know. That were called tribbiere. So everybody used to sing while they were working. When somebody dies, we all sing. When somebody is born, we sing.
Nicolas: Pretty much like the blues.
Alex: David sings traditional Corsican songs by the way…
David: Yeah, sometimes…
Alex: Sing one!
David: No no no (laugh). Especially when you go to Mexico or some place like this.
Nicolas: Once we were in Tijuana, playing a gig. Okay, cool. We were setting up the stage, sound checking… and out of the blue, we just took the microphone and sang like a whole song, traditional acapella song from Corsica. Very well. One of the best days of my life (laughs).
So your last album came out in 2020, and your new album ‘Tabloid’ is set to be released soon. As someone that has listened to a lot of your music over the years, you can definitely see an evolution. With this new album and in terms of the genre that you’ve evolved into, do you think this is a continuation?
Nicolas: To me it’s not a continuation, I think it breaks something, this one. There is a new area.
In your last album you have a song, I believe it’s the opening track, ‘At Carmelo’s’. The one in Brooklyn?
Nicolas: Yeah!
Alex: Bushwick!
Nicolas: We used to hang out there (laughs).
Alex: Yeah, when we made the song for the album, Nicolas use to live in New York and…
Nicolas: Hey hey! The full story, please. The full!
On the record…
Alex: It’s going to take two minutes and we never told that story before because it was too fresh. But now it’s old enough to be told. It’s okay. So it’s the first time, exclusive!
Breaking News!
Alex: So Nicolas moved to New York because his girlfriend was a lawyer and she had this opportunity to work in New York. So she brought Nicolas with her.
(everyone laughs)
Nicolas: She brought little Nicolas with her.
Alex: They lived in Chelsea, super nice flat. Everything was fancy. So Nicolas says, ‘okay, come over to New York, we’re going to compose a song.’ Because we had zero songs. I went there and while she was working, we produced songs and sometimes we went out for a beer and another beer. And on the Halloween night, we had the tickets to go see a show at Elsewhere.
Nicolas: Beach Fossils. And also Waaves.
Nicolas and Alex (in unison): and Kevin Krauter!
Alex: Anyway, the night before, we got really drunk. And we went home really late, and they had kind of an argument.
Nicolas: A fight.
Alex: So his girlfriend didn’t go to the concert with Nicolas and I, and we got drunk for like 18 hours, coming back home…
Nicolas: but like the relationship was dying anyway.
Wait, where are you guys staying though, with him in Chelsea?
Alex: Yeah, exactly.
(everyone laughs)
Alex: That morning we went home and we had to pack the stuff, because she’s saying ‘It’s over, I can’t stay with you anymore.’ So we moved from Chelsea to Brooklyn, Bushwick… because we had no money.
David: Took the Subway (laughs)
Did you hop the turnstile?
Alex: Yeah yeah yeah!! We ended up in a shithole, literally renting for $30 a night. There was like rats, shit in the bed, right? And this is where we made the album!
That’s beautiful. That’s New York. If you made the whole album in Chelsea, then you would lose a lot of street credit.
Nicolas: The American Dream.
Alex: The happiest song of the album, ‘Get Better’, was made in the shithole, right? And we went to that bar, Carmelos, because the beers were like a dollar, right?
Nicolas: Yeah, a buck, a buck with a shot. The beginning of Carmelos. It’s like seven years ago.
So no acoustic drummer when you play live right?
Nicolas: No, we used to, but now we want to be more electronic and more… more machine. And it’s easier to go to play in Mexico if we are the three of us without the drums.
Yea all my friends are drummers and they have to show up with their big ass backpacks to the afters.
Alex: Drummers are boring, anyway. (sarcastically)
David: Ooooh!
Nicolas: No they’re special, they’re special.
That’s going to be the headline. “Casablanca Drivers hates Drummers”(laughs). So if you could learn a new instrument, what would it be?
David: Drums!
Nicolas: After all that we said, it’s gotta be drums. Yeah they are boring but they are pretty cool to see! (laughs).
Alex: Drums.
(everyone laughs)
Do you have a favorite song to play live? Maybe you all have different answers.
Alex: No, no, we love the same songs. But some of them, they’re not released yet.
Nicolas: Because there is a story, actually. Brittany… I think we have to talk.
OK… just now, we are starting to talk… we are 15 minutes in but the interview starts now!
(everyone laughs)
Nicolas: Okay. We do have this album, ‘Tabloid’. But in Tabloid, it’s a seven-track album because there is a story behind them. We are journalists while the world is coming to an end. But we do have another record already composed and we play those songs live. So I think Alexander is going to agree but the best song we play live, it’s a song off the next record. Not in ‘Tabloid’, so sorry guys.
Alex: Because now when we’re making songs we also think about how we’re going to play them live. Because it’s really important for us not to be too focused on what we play and to have fun with what we play and with the crowd. The lives are better and better I guess for that reason because we’re having so much fun now.
Alternatively, is there a second that was most fun to produce, record, create, etc?
Alex: I think it’s the same song. You know why because… there’s something going on in your belly when you are creating something really cool and the faster you make a song…This song was created in one day.
Any French Bands you can recommend?
Nicolas: MAXBABY. He is our producer.
Is there a city you haven’t played before, that you would love to play?
Casablanca Drivers: New York City!