ROGER-MARC VANDE VOORDE INTERVIEW. Part 3 : 1988-1991

D = doro
RM = Roger-Marc

THE OVERNIGHT DAY

RM : We wanted to try something else, we didn't want to be an electronic band anymore. We had a new producer (Nigel), a new keyboards player (Pierre), a real drummer … I don't know why, but we wanted to give up electronic music.
D : to be honest, I don't like this record very much. I think it miss some strong ideas, and it's got a kind of derision feeling that makes me uncomfortable.
RM : I like this album. The arrangements, the melodies…
D : what were the reactions?
RM : fifty fifty. The early fans were disappointed. Too much pop… some weak lyrics.
D : was Tell Me the very first song Martine sang in solo?
RM : yes… There is a demo version on Prime Story which is even better. It was just like Je T’ai Toujours Aimée, a magic moment. But we never succeded to do it again with Nigel.
D : Martine's voice reminds me Antena. She's not a real singer, always on the edge, and I think that's why the song is so unique and beautiful.
RM : To be honest, none of us was a real singer. Except Jean-Jacques, of course. I think he gave one of the best definitions of the band, saying it was a musical laboratory. Where people from various countries, various cultures, could meet and work together. Musical experiences in the studio, on records, around a cercle of people, who then tried to play it live on stage.

D : were you really involved in new technologies ?
RM : I was. Sounds were getting old very fast in those days, it was a real race for technology.
D : le Soleil des Voyous was better live in concert.
RM : that's right... Maybe Nigel cut it down too much…
D : was the LP released in UK?
RM : no, only the very first album was, in import.
I really like Stay, but it's a personnal story, something I wrote to Martine …
D : did she write songs too?
RM : she wrote Tell Me. It was a kind of answer.
D : what about Dominique Buxin ?
RM : I think he wrote about 80% of the lyrics, but we thought he wasn't as brilliant as before, so we tried to do our own stuff, and we got some terrible comments about that, saying that we were getting naive, missing the first LP quality... That's why we called for Daniel Darc then.

MARQUEE 1988 (live K7)

RM : Jean-Jacques has a video from this concert. But we have no pictures, because Glen's camera was stolen in London.
D : why is Pull Us Down uncomplete ? Some false notes ?
RM : no… no more than usual! (laughs). I guess I have the complete tape at home.
D : Did you have a drummer?
RM : no, we had the Atari, and a sampler.
D : there is a great feeling in this concert. Besides, it was your reunion with JJ.
RM : yes, although he appeared on the Overnight Day album. We were in London, I called him, asking what are you doing now, do you want to come along with us? he said yes, why not? and he did some backing vocals on Dis Moi, the very first track on the album.
D : Was it his idea to offer you to play at the Marquee ?
RM : yes, and we said alllrrrittte JJ, let's go! This is the fucking place where the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Bowie did play, and we gonna play here too, it's fucking great! Backstages are unbelievable. All the bands that have played here once did sign on the walls. You cant read anything anymore. Well, I told myself, here we are, man. We got to do it! It's now or never. We were all together, with a great equipment, a great venue, with JJ singing again with us…
D : is JJ only singing Winston & Julia ? Sometimes, it's not easy to know who's singing…
RM : no no no, Martine, Glen and I sing all the rest.
D : Glen was singing too?
RM : yes, my little brother Glen used to sing le Soleil des Voyous.

BLACK K7 (demos 83-87)

Gros Plan
RM : A friend of Dominique Buxin, Toto, is singing on that one. He came to see us in our cellar. Where we used to work.
D : was is a real cellar?
RM : well, actually, we almost had the whole house, and we built a small studio in the cellars. Many people went there. The Stranglers, for instance.

Take Your Gun
RM : Sounds like Frankie Goes to Hollywood (rires).

Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi (Jacques Dutronc cover song)
RM : we used to play it sometimes on stage. As an encore. So we recorded a 1980 version. Bubu wrote some new lyrics.
D : The lyrics are really great.
RM : Jacques Dutronc liked Polyphonic Size. You know that JJ and him did work together? One day, Dutronc got close to JJ and whisper to him: je t’ai toujours aimée… JJ told him: you really know that tune? and Dutronc said : yeaaahhh, I love it.

New York Un Soir
RM : it was a good song, but we never succeded to record it with Nigel. We made several demos between 1984 and 1987, but it never seemed to work out.
D : it has that japanese reference, the geisha.
RM : we used to play it on stage sometimes, I got some live tapes.

See You Sioux (demo 85)
RM : this is totally smashed stoned ! It was the end of a rehearsal. With my first band drummer, Melody… You should hear the original complete version. 12 minutes !

Dreams (demo 84)
D : it would be interesting to compare this song to JJ's version, Rêves, on Un Jour Parfait.
RM : scoop ! Do you know who produced this one ? Daniel B, from Front 242 ! He also did work on Happy Couples.
D : ? ? ? production is credited to The Poe on the Happy Couples single.
RM : The Poe was Kloot per W's father (laughs). But we did a whole session with Daniel. Just after the Walking Everywhere album.

L’Amour (first version, demo 1986)
RM : we made it with Nigel in Brussels. Actually, this is the very first version. Don't you like this song?
D : well… I don't like the rhythm. it's static. There's no beat.
RM : it sounds like a remix.

Everybody needs your sex (1986)
RM : one more Daniel B production. This kind of rhythm sounds very much like Front 242. I remember, in those days, we gave a sado maso concert… Martine and Ann were all dressed in leather, holding whips. We were all dressed in black… Kloot had a sado maso girl friend who came on stage to be whipped while we were playing... (laughs).

Earcom
D : Seems that Buxin wrote a song in javanais (kind of weird french slang) called Earcom, did you record it?
RM : yes, we made a demo. It was impossible to sing it. Terrible… (laughs).

Hartaway
RM : I think Martine used to sing on that one. But we never released it.

Groove
RM : I think it became Bateau ivre.

Seen in your eyes
RM : lyrics were written by Daniel Darc, sung by Martine, but we never recorded it.

Mon Fils (demo 87)
RM : it's Dominique Buxin's voice. This is the only time he did it in the whole Polyphonic Size story. He was really down, because his wife had a miscarriage... Mon Fils, mon Sang, mon sperme… is talking about that. One night, he came to see us during the third album sessions, we all got drunk, and we recorded that. The next day, I told Nigel : I think we got a real great song here. He listened to it and said: ??!!? what's the hell is this?…. (laughs).

New York (demo 87)
RM : it's a demo, recorded live with a real drummer… A maroccan guy named Hassan. Well... maybe I should release it one day in a salsa version (laughs).

P SIZE 1989

RM : We played two times on the JJ's Un Jour Parfait tour. Lyon and Bourges. But it didn't work very much. Not enough to plan a 15 dates french tour. That's a problem with Jean-Jacques. He's got a real solo potential in France, but things never seem to work out…
D : It was a strange idea to have the same backing band (the Purple Helmets) playing with JJ, Mona Mur and you. Like in a music-hall.
RM : yes… it was partly for financial reasons.

PRIME STORY

RM : We asked Daniel Darc (former Taxi Girl singer) to write some lyrics, but we knew each other for quite a long time. We were even there during the Seppuku sessions. It was the Stranglers connexion. He agreed right away.
Luc (Van Acker) and I were recently looking for old stuff at home, and we found something unbelievable… When Daniel was supposed to write our lyrics, we could get into the studio without anything!… I found a fax he sent us one day with the very first verse, ending like this : OK... to be continued on the telephone! (laughs). Can you imagine that? We were in the studio, to record the vocals, and he sent us only one verse! (laughs). I can't believe it! He's a real artist…
We wanted to get a new contract with a major, so we did a new 4 songs session with JJ, and tried to get a deal. Eventually, EMI Belgium said they were interested, but they said we should change our name. Polyphonic Size sounds too old, you got to get a new audience, they said. So we choosed Triumvirat. And then, looking at the picture sleeve, we thought it sounds a little bit heavy metal. But it didn't work anyway. EMI gave it up. But we still wanted to carry on, so we did a new session with a couple of tracks, including Round & Round, and 2 or 3 more songs still unreleased, with one sung by Martine. We tried to get a new deal to release a compilation, but Martine was pregnant, and then Alice was born, and I was tired of hanging the baby in flight cases… and money was becoming a real problem, so I said: it's over now. The compilation (Prime Story) is there, let's stop here, leaving a good memory to everybody. I didn't want Polyphonic Size to become pathetic.

FIN

D : but you didn't only stop Polyphonic Size. You also stopped making music.
RM : definitely…. Anyway, whatever you do, if you want to do it right, you got to do it 150 %. If you do it less than 100 %, it's not worth it. But to do it 150 %, you got to love it. If you have the chance to do something you love as much as a hobby, you must do it 150 %. Because there's nothing else you fucking have to do.
And then I told me… We had some great times. We made records, did our own thing... We could die tomorrow. So I said, let's try something else, and I got totally involved in computers. That's partly because of this Martine and I got separated. I was working all day long, in the United States or something, and she had to stay home with 2 little babies. Suddenly we didn't have anymore mutual project to stick together. It was really hard, I had some real bad days…

EPILOGUE

RM : it all began with Nagasaki Novo cover version. And then, a couple of months later, Dominique A covered Je T'Ai Toujours Aimée. Then Kloot called me…. So I said, why not? And the kids kept telling me: come on daddy, we told our friends… (laughs). And I used to answer : forget it kids, if things don't seem to work out, forget it. But now is the time. We gonna do it. Kloot and I recently plugged some instruments. And one night, snap! I did the basic track of the song. And I'm sure it's gonna be alright now.

Recorded in Paris, 23 february, 2004, between 8.30 p.m. and 2.30 a.m.