The French live duo, Chambord have been creating waves across the electronic music scene for some time and it is absolutely no surprise that their recent live stream has had over 100,000 views. Fundraising for Bye Bye Plastic, performed at a mysterious UNESCO site in France, the stream delivered some truly stunning material in a breathtaking location.
Tim and Pierre met in high school in the French countryside, and fast became friends when they discovered their shared love for music. Their first gig was at their end-of-school gala, and they have been playing together ever since. Their music has graced many labels including Flying Circus, Sol Selectas, ABRACADABRA, and Kindisch.
The duo’s latest release on Kindisch has caused quite the stir, and the label even gave their new signing carte blanche to choose their ideal remixers to complement their original works whilst making it their own.
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The pair met in school and their first gig together was an end of year show. I thought I would be cheeky and test the guy’s memory so I asked them if they can remember what they played at their first gig. Pierre answered, “it was a long time ago so I’m sure it wasn’t very structured. We played lots of different styles; BPM not very synced. I guess it wasn’t our best performance but I remember we had a lot of fun, and we tried to do the best that we could”.
I asked the pair what was it that captured their heart about electronic music all those years ago? Tim answered, “for me, I fell into electronic music thanks to my older brother. He was a huge fan of the sound of Ibiza in early 2000 and bought me every CD from Pacha or The Ministry Of Sound”. That is certainly something I am sure many of us can relate to, I know I certainly remember those very CDs. Pierre went on to add, “I have a classical background but the first time I listened to Electronic music it was Calvin Harris’s track, ‘Acceptable In The 80’s’. It was a whole new world for me”.
Tim and Pierre live apart, with one being in Paris and the other being in the countryside. I asked the pair when producing, are you having to send tracks back and forth or do they spend time in the studio together? Tim answered, “we’re not living in the same city anymore but we spend at least 2-3 days together per week in the studio. Before it was more than that, but we’ve adapted due to moving and COVID-19. The process is a bit different now but we’re still producing a lot of tracks”. I went on to ask the guys, where do they find the most creativity, in the city or the countryside? Pierre gave his thoughts… “it depends, it’s so subjective. In cities, culture is easy to access. We can find inspiration in people, streets or different music concerts, and we’re surrounded by friends, activities, and other stuff. So, when you are in the studio you try to be as productive as possible”. Tim added, “the countryside has a different vibe, you manage your day differently. You can work night or day or even both. Inspiration comes when it wants”.
“Covid forced us to re-focus on ourselves. Since Day one we’ve always wanted to work on our live show.”
I asked the guys if they take on particular roles in the studio and if there is any kind of preferred workflow to the tracks they write. Tim was first to comment, “as we said before, we do most of the stuff together, doing like a ping pong. Pierre is the musician so he’s more about creating melodies and chords. I’m more responsible for the rhythm and the final edit. Creating and editing are mainly what we do during our 2-3 days together. Piere went on the add, “our main challenge for 2020 and 2021 is to get an even better sound, so I’m spending more time on the sound processing which takes a lot of time and energy. I’m doing it alone because it’s very tedious and not very fun to do together. Tim is working on the daily work which is often not directly related to music but very important such as emails, admin, communication etc”.
The duo has now switched to a live show which they have really honed over the last year. I asked them why they made the switch and what their favourite things are about playing live… Tim answered, “Covid forced us to re-focus on ourselves. Since Day one we’ve always wanted to work on our live show. So, we saw this global pause as an opportunity. We spent a lot of time at the studio working on how to build it. We thought it would be a good idea to perform the live show on a video, take this opportunity to perform something new and something that is not very common in our scene. We gathered a group of friends, that we knew would be on board for this kind of project. It was quite an adventure, a really good one”. Pierre went onto talk about what they would like to do next with their live show, “we still have to think about a light version of this live show. We won’t be able to perform with this equipment every time, so our next step is to set something more straightforward but with the same feel and weight of a final performance. And, of course, we want to perform it at festivals or in concert halls. We hope to travel a lot with this live.
2020 has certainly been a year no one shall forget. I asked the guys what some of the positives have been to come out of this crazy year of the pandemic… Tim answered first, “the positive thing is the live show! It was our great adventure of 2020. We’ve also had great releases on super cool labels this year, and it is not over yet, so it’s been quite a special year for us”. Tim added, “even if we feel that it was a long time ago, we discovered Tulum last January thanks to ABRACADABRA. It was a great opportunity to be there, we met so many people, and we had a lot of fun”.
“We’ve had great releases on super cool labels this year and it is not over yet, so it’s been quite a special year for us.”
Before I left the pair to enjoy their day, I asked about what releases we can expect next… Pierre answered, “after Kindisch, we should have two remixes scheduled before the end of the year. One on Cosmic Awakenings for our friend and a very good DJ called Jaalex. And one on Wayu for DBra, a new talent from Bali”. Certainly, some great new music to look forward to there.
I would like to thank Tim and Pierre for their time and would like to wish them the best for 2020 and their very bright future in the electronic music world.
Chambord’s ‘Wonderland’ EP is out now on Kindisch. Get it here.
