French duo Camion Bazar come in hot off the back of a run of singles on their new ENEMY DANCE label.
Delivering an hour and a half of high octane House and Techno in their signature dynamic and energetic style.
INTERVIEW
Hello Camion Bazar, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Bolting Bits alongside your new MIXED BY? We’ve been enjoying the singles you’ve been regularly delivering on your new label ENEMY DANCE. For those yet to hear the label could you please tell them about the concept behind it and how you would best describe the sound it embodies?
The concept is to release one single every 1 or 2 months and remixes of these singles. Enemy Dance is because the released music on it, is so good, that even our enemies will dance. It’s a lil’ joke. But also the word “Enemy” stands for the fury that we have inside us.
It embodies a raw sound born from jam sessions, close to techno, sometimes with a touch of electro and sometimes with a spark of rave house.
So far we’ve been treated to original music from yourselves, Camion Bazar, which is a duo made up of Italy’s Benedetta & Frances’ Romain. How did you meet and form the Camion Bazar guise?
We were both living in France, 15 years ago. We wera having different lives, but this we had in common : the love for party. And music. And party again :)
We met at (suspense) a party! Actually an after-party at a friend’s.
Part of the Heretik crew was there, very loud music & more. In an instant, it was a match.
We started hanging out together every weekend, exploring the nightlife together and started to dream together about better parties, as the parisian vibe at that time was a lil bit boring. Sooner we started throwing our own events and after a few years we created Camion Bazar, which at first was a van/dj booth. Turntables, sound system, loads of vinyl and scenography : we had our own floor on many events and festivals. And then everything evolved, years after years. We went from djs, to producers, musicians, label owners, curators, residents …
You’ve been on the road performing live as part of your ‘alteration’ tour and what we can see from videos online the shows are extremely dynamic, exciting and spontaneous. Can you talk us through the set up, how the live show comes together and what have been some highlights so far?
Creating a live show seemed natural, since Romain is also a drummer, a bass guitar and a guitar player, not bad with the piano & other instruments. He also had a fusion psychedelic rock band, back in the days. After a few years of production, we had enough content to create a live set. We already had some hardwares and we bought a few more (our set up is : TR8S + MS-1 + Minilogue + Bass Station + drum pad + 2 mic + many effect pedals + a clone of the TB303 + guitar + Ableton to centralize everything). It was inspired by our last EP “Alteration” house and techno stuff but with a hint of psychedelia. So the live act also have a story : it’s about a person doing acid at a festival but for once, s.he forgot about the fun and after some strong hallucinations, s.he started to look and feel the nature all around. And to actually care about it, its importance and then mixed feelings came up : happiness, but also sadness for the climatic change and then fury for all the bad political decisions against nature, corruption & so on. And s/he decided to go violent and fight the power. This is a quick sum up.
The premiere as FEB 2023, and the tour ended a few days ago, MARCH 2024. It never stopped evolving, we changed the tracklist, changed the many phases of improvisation, some devices, some lyrics, also some instruments, our acting on stage, we gained some self-confidence. Our last performances were amazingly accomplished, and finally, we are proud of it. And can’t wait to be back on stage with a new one.
Highlights : the premiere of course, at la Machine du moulin rouge, in Paris, with all our friends and family.
Doing th elive at Fusion festival in Germany, fav place on earth, it’s the reason we believe in party and music and alternative society and that all of this is not just entertainment. But art, something deep, sacred, militant and how it can pass down very important values.
Pete the monkey, strong emotions and a turning point, the live set started to get better after that time.
360 sound experience for the Sound Biennale in le Mans, under a dome with a 360 sound system. Our best acting on stage.
Station last FEB, our own Voltage residency, great guests, sold out + after. Great perf.
Last one : electronic peak, in the mountains. The most accomplished.
We’ve been given a little insight into some upcoming happenings for ENEMY DANCE, there’s soon to be some remixes on the horizon of the singles you’ve dropped so far. Are you able to share any news exclusively with us on who we can expect to hear remixes from?
We have our forthcoming single ready for April, then we’ll be dropping the remixes every month (except for summer period). Starting from May. The artistic direction behind the remixers choice was : elegance, spirituality for dancefloors and no mega hands up in the air drops :) with a touch of gloom. Stay tuned.
W’ere also told that you’re in the midst of planning a new live show, entitled ‘Out Of Control’, an aptly hedonistic title for what we can imagine to be a continuation of your already wildly energetic shows. Can you tell us a bit about this?
Yes, we’re working on a new live show, actually an album + live show.
“Out of control” is our new “phase” :) The Alteration phase is over. Now we’re entering this new one, which will take place during spring and summer, not through the live act (which will be ready for 2025). But through our summer tour and DJ sets and event curating.
It will be messy, raw, with loud sound systems and great guests and performances 🙂
Any plans for a bigger project to showcase your wider range of influences like an album project of will you continue to stick to the singles format for now?
Exactly yes, album project it’s on its way!
We’re now into the creation time. More info coming soon. We’re touring a little less starting from now, to be more in the studio. It’s so refreshing, to be able to have different periods in the same year, every week it’s different from the previous one.
Any other live show/DJ related things you’d like to share with us?
To sum-up :
spring/summer : out of control tour with djing and party curating + remixes releases.
fall : Voltage residency will be back
winter : album release + live show premiere and tour
And lastly, can you leave us with one bright and blossoming track to listen to as we enter spring time?
