Daniel Ingroff

M83 “Kim & Jessie”

Can a twenty-minute phone card reach all the way to France? Rebecca Balin finds out as she interviews Anthony Gonzalez, better known as M83.

Do you believe in love at first sight?
In what?
Love at first sight. Do you believe in it?
What? What does that mean?
What would be the French-to-English translation? Love at first sight?
Oh! Yeah, I do. I can fall in love easily because I travel a lot and I meet a lot of pretty girls. I can be crazy in love very quickly.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done for love?
I missed a lot of very good soccer games because I was in love and now I regret it.
People compare your music to something out of a John Hughes movie. Do you think he knows who you are yet?
I don’t think so. I’d like to meet him. Even though I don’t know what I would talk to him about because I’m very shy and I think I’d be speechless in front of him. He’s a very big influence for me. Especially on the new album. He’s one of my favorite directors.
What was your high school experience like?
I only keep good memories of my teenage years. It was a really good experience for me and being the age. It was very fun and definitely a good experience for me. I would spend my weekends with a good group of close friends and we use to party on Saturday nights. We had a band. Oh, and a lot of skateboarding. It’s been one of the best periods of my life so far.
What was your band in high school called?
The name of my band was called My Violent Wish. It was rock.
What’s your musical guilty pleasure?
Heavy metal! Mainly Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I really started to discover music and guitar playing through their music. I still listen to that kind of music while I’m driving. I like it.
What’s your writing process like?
My writing process is not really interesting. I’m a very bad musician so I always compose my music and it’s always the same process actually. I always stop to find the melody; I always work with my keyboards. I never compose music on computers. I only use keyboards and guitars to compose my songs. The main part for me is to find a good melody and after that I can add different kinds of tracks and go from there. I don’t know much about music so I’m just trying to do my best to be as original as possible.
You mentioned you don’t use computer software to make your music. Is there something dislike about using it?
I never use it because I like using my keyboards. Recently I bought some good software and I’m getting used to it and I’m trying to work on it now because I think a good thing with music is to find different ways to make it. So I’m trying to work differently for the next album because I’d like to bring something different each time. So for the next album I’m going to use software. But from this point I’ve never used any on my albums. So it’s a new thing coming and I’m learning how to use it properly. I’m always trying a different kind of writing process. I’m always doing the same kind of writing process because I’m not very good at music.
That’s the second time you’ve said that. I think you’re pretty good at creating music.
I think I’m good at writing melodies. Although I can play a lot of instruments, I’m really bad at playing them. But that’s alright. I can live with that.
How many musicians played on Saturdays = Youth with you?
I composed the music alone and for the recording process I mainly worked with two producers and a singer and that’s pretty much it. It’s not a lot of people actually. I don’t usually work with too many people.
Do you find being interviewed uncomfortable since you said you were shy?
I’m shy but it’s not difficult for me to talk to people. I’m getting better I think. I think that doing interviews helps me be more confident with myself, and I’m always meeting new people touring and playing live. So each time I play in a different city, I’m meeting different people. I really love California. It looks like my city in the south of France. It’s sunny and there are a lot of palm trees. I like the atmosphere. I like Los Angeles a lot, but I like plenty of places in America. For me it’s like a dream to go and tour America because since I was a kid all the movies I watched were from America. It’s like the American dream, and being on the road there is amazing to me—for a French dude.

M83 WITH THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, CARIBOU, GANG OF FOUR AND MANY MORE AT THE DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL ON SUN., JULY 20, AT THE GIBSON AMPHITHEATRE, 100 UNIVERSAL CITY PLAZA, UNIVERSAL CITY. 1 PM / $37.50 / ALL AGES. DOWNLOADFESTIVAL.COM. M83’S SATURDAYS = YOUTH IS OUT NOW ON MUTE. VISIT M83 AT ILOVEM83.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/M83.