This is the last song
and it's called Netherworld.
Jostling down into the night
Down into the darkness
As the sickness enters my blood
Rebellion is mad
Netherworld Father of life
Netherworld My soul
Wicked murderers in the jungle I'm only watching inside man
He got balls
He ain't never made
I'm in a world I'm a writer in a world
To the land of the petite son
From the sacred sand ball
Sail out on an endless sea
And I sail in it golden
I'm a writer in a world I'm a writer in
a world
My soul on fire
Celebrate Rifles,
Celebrate Rifles,
I was live in the studio of Radio France Nancy,
especially for transit with Damien,
Damien the singer,
Damien who will join us later.
Yesterday,
the Celebrate Rifles were on the stage at Poilette,
behind Barine.
And then here is Damien approaching me.
Hello.
I'm going to...
I'm going to...
Of course Damien doesn't speak French.
It's logical,
we don't know why he would speak French
when he lives billions of kilometers away.
With Bill,
the leader of the gang of the Missing Links,
who was also on stage at Poilette last night,
we're going to follow a little conversation,
the classic game of quick questions-answers.
I asked Damien to briefly tell us the story of the Celebrate Rifles.
The Celebrate Rifles began in 1979 as a high school band,
L'Ecole.
I met them in 1980, in December.
I was writing some songs and I wanted to
do some demos and really no more than that.
And they had just left school and they wanted to do some recording,
try something different.
So we agreed we'd get together for maybe three,
four months and just do demos.
What we had in common was,
I guess,
Radio Birdman,
Patti Smith,
New York Dolls,
just rock and roll, really.
We were all
fairly different people,
but basically that one thing in common,
what rocks hardest.
We stayed together,
and six years later we're still playing together,
with music.
They decided to work together for 3-4 months
on music titles like Steel Radio Birdman,
Patti Smith,
David Johansson and the New York Dolls,
all rock'n'roll music.
As we can see,
they have been together for 6 years,
they continue to work together,
write songs and now they have to tour and
through music they manage to see the world.
Damien,
the Celebrate Rifles on stage is the classical rock'n'roll formation.
On some of the records,
there are brass instruments.
What do brass instruments become?
Is it episodic for recording some sequences in the studio
or do they have the habit of working with brass instruments?
When we record at home,
the auditor is a different world.
It's a very private kind of thing.
When you take a record home,
you don't watch the band performing it,
you don't listen to it,
you talk to the record and its talk to you.
We do different things to evoke different ambiance.
Live,
it's direct with a very linear relationship
between audience and performer.
It's very easy.
They are interested in adding things to the songs,
such as brass,
saxophone, oboe, cello, piano.
For them,
there is a difference between the studio and the band.
In the studio, we create songs,
we do some work,
because the relationship with the record is very private.
The person buys the record, he goes home,
he will listen,
I know that the celebrities must go to Paris in the evening.
From France,
we have the impression that Australia is the country of rock.
We have the impression that many
Australian bands are being listened to,
and that they are being played in Europe.
Is Australia really the country of rock?
Do we fantasize a little bit in France?
Is it just an impression,
or is Australia really a mainstay of interesting rock and roll?
There is interesting stuff in America,
there is interesting stuff in Europe.
The thing I see as the difference is that
Australians are not afraid of the electric guitar,
and they like to play electric guitars,
and they like electric guitar music.
Before anybody even speaks to you,
as far as making a record goes,
working in a studio is one thing,
working live when you are an unknown band,
the only way you can really communicate with
people is to get the kind of guitars up front,
rock hard,
rock well,
and it gets through,
it cuts through.
So what he says is that he thinks that
Australians are not afraid of electric guitars,
they like to play electric guitars,
they like to play hard.
And for them,
the important thing is that you have to work,
and when you are on stage,
you have to play with energy.
And in Australia,
the thing is that you have to work two or three years,
even before someone from a record company comes to you,
before you have a name.
So what happens is that they did that,
they kept playing,
and they think that in Europe and the United States,
there are also good bands.
But for them,
the difference is that being energetic,
being Australian,
they make the difference in the United States,
and he is sure that there are very good bands in
the United States that are less known than them,
because they are different,
as he said,
from the exotic.
Damien, thank you.
And long life to the Celebrate Rifles.
It is 6.29 p.m.
on Radio France Nancy.
You are listening to Transit.