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Jean-Yves Prieuer AKA Kid Loco. Parisian
exponent of well you could call it trip hop, whose album A Grand
Love Story debuted over here at the same time as some record
by Air or something, so limelight is not exactly his natural shade.
Persuaded to take up the decks, he mooched into town in a fog of
Marlboro smoke as a surprise addition to the Moloko tour, and what
with being top deejays ourselves, we thought we’d make the boy welcome.
And tell him what the pitch control is for.
What do you think of the UNKLE record?
(long silence... clearly he’s thought
about this one) I don’t like the hardcore track, Blackcore?
I don’t know what it is. Some tracks are good but maybe it’s too
much. There’s no real songs, it’s much more like "I can
do this — listen to me" and it’s not funny at all.
Style over content?
Yeah, and it’s a mistake because Mo’Wax
used to be great when it was funny, you know? But today it’s a little
bit pain in the arse. I know friends of Tim, the guy who used to
do the drums in Unkle. When he was in Unkle he wrote a song, afterwards
James Lavelle took the song and asked a Japanese guy to do a remix.
So he takes the remix, asks Tim to do some more drums and then asked
a jungle producer to do a remix; and you had to wait three years
to have anything on vinyl. It’s very annoying. I think DJ Krush
left Mo’Wax; James Lavelle just thought about Unkle for too much
time. It’s a pity you know, because I’m a big fan of DJ Shadow,
a big fan of Unkle, but you put the two together and I am not a
big fan of this LP.
We really liked the Tortoise remix.
Yeah, even the Agent Orange remix is good,
the Can remix is good — all the remixes they’d done before are really
great.
But James Lavelle’s remix of The Verve
was awful.
It’s the same song, you know, just with
another beat. He did a remix of Hurricane #1, I think, and there’s
another mix on the CD by Terry Farley, and it’s exactly the same
as Primal Scream six years ago; a rock’n’roll track with just a
small beat with the bongos on it.
You’ve said before that you don’t make
music for the dancefloor — how have you ended tip as a DJ?
I’m not a DJ. I used to play guitar, and
I am a DJ for one year now because people asked me to DJ at parties,
or before gigs like tonight, and so I have to practice at home.
Before, I was just playing what I like and one time I completely
cleared the dancefloor playing hip hop records when everyone wants
something happier. So now I’ve changed a little bit, I try to be
more... It depends. When you start for a gig and play slow songs
they don’t mind; if you play after people have to dance, but it’s
different things, you know? The first time I DJed was for Stereolab
in Paris. I never saw the turntables before and each time I put
the needle on the record my hands were shaking like this (yes
indeed, shaky hands). Today, to be a DJ will change my music
for my next LP I think.
Was that just because you were in front
of a load of people?
Yeah yeah, I was just on the stage in front
of everybody. I was paid, and I feel stupid to be paid for something
I don’t know a thing about. I used to DJ at home with one old turntable,
for my wife — I pull a record, I take the needle out, take
another record; I’ve got time, it’s great. But if you are in front
of people you can’t do this. The first time I tried to DJ I even
put a record on and when I played it was the end of the song before.
But now it’s better.
You’re more comfortable with it now?
I’m not really comfortable with it, I prefer
to play live. I played live with Pulp in Finsbury Park, at the point
we played it was 13,000 people and I was not scared, but when I
DJ in front of even 50 people I have to drink beer before.
Do you play live very much?
No. Last summer we were playing in festivals,
but now we have stopped. We’ll play live next year on the next tour.
We are three on stage — one guy on bass, another playing keyboards,
and I play guitar and sing — but maybe for the next tour we will
have somebody on percussion. More live. because sometimes when you’ve
got computers it’s always the same song, which is boring at the
end of the day. There’s not a lot of vocals so I have to play lots
of guitar, and sometimes for me I feel like Carlos Santana and I
don’t play like him, that’s true. It’s harder on stage.
Have you started recording the next
LP yet?
Nothing. I did a lot of remixes this year
and I’ve got more to do when I come back to Paris. I will end everything
in January and start working on the next LP, but it’s a complete
blank, I have to say.
Can you choose your remixes, or is it
all record company stuff?
Yeah, because I refuse a lot of remixes,
lots of people ask me. Sometimes it’s strange, you know? Who got
the bad idea, but sometimes it’s interesting, when it comes from
the band; like Pulp. When Jarvis Cocker was in Paris he did a radio
show and he played two of my tracks, so a friend gave me a phonecall
and the day after somebody at the record company asked if they could
give my phone number to Jarvis, and one day after he was phoning
me. When it’s like this it’s great.
Sometimes it’s the record company and the band don’t know a thing,
so if the track is great why not? But I did 30 remixes this year
and with nearly every band I am friends with them so I am lucky
because I could do a lot of remixes just for money but I don’t need
millions.
If you really like a band do you find
it difficult to touch what they’ve done?
Yes. I’m a big fan of Beastie Boys and
Primal Scream, I think if they asked me to do a remix I’d say "No
thank you sir. Next time." It depends on the track, but
if the track is really good and I’ve got a good idea, why not? For
example I did a remix for the Pastels and it was easy for me because
they are a rock band (ever heard them called that before? us
neither) and I just take the vocals and do another song, like
a producer. If it’s a little bit like me or I fit in the same area
it can be difficult.
What attracted you to the Pastels?
At the end of when I was recording my LP
they asked me to do a remix. I said yes and asked for lots of money
and they said we are not so rich, so I said I don’t mind but I want
your singer to be on one of my tracks. Katrina said yes, so I sent
a tape and one week later it was finished. She came to Paris, we
played the song two times in my main room and then went to the studio
to record the vocals. It was the last track done for my LP, I was
searching for a singer for one track and asked lots of French singers,
but to have them first you’ve got the lawyer before you can hear
anything, so I say I don’t want to work with them. It was really
easy with the Pastels.
Do you think you’ll work with them any
more?
Maybe, I don’t know. I want to do a guitar
band with Stephen and the guy from Stereolab. Just guitars.
You said on MTV that the compilation
Le Flow didn’t represent French hip hop very well. Where
has it gone wrong?
It’s not that it doesn’t represent, it’s
hip hop made for the kids. All those records are in the charts,
you know? It’s like Puff Daddy for me. Puff Daddy can be great —
I’m a big fan of the last one with the Jimmy Page guitar, it’s funny,
that’s all. But I’ve got three daughters and the older one is 15
years old, they listen to this kind of music and the words are stupid,
the music is stupid. They use samples, but if you work with computers
you’d say I don’t want to use this kind of sample. If you don’t
understand the words maybe it can sound OK. For example there’s
one song with just the name of a TV series; in ten years nobody
will understand what it is. They’re just copying US hip hop.
Who’s Kid Bravo?
That’s my name before, when I was a punk.
I had to change the name to protect the innocent.
How do you justify being called Kid
Loco when you’re clearly neither very young nor very fast?
I’m sorry? Before, my name was
Kid Bravo so when I started doing music alone I wanted to change
the name a little bit. I saw a commentary on TV with a guy doing
the locomotion. Loco sounds a bit like Bravo, you know? And Kid
— well I’m not a kid anymore, but everybody’s telling me I look
so young. It’s like Kid Congo from the Cramps — he’s not a kid,
it’s just a name. I’ve got millions of different names, so maybe
next LP I will change.
A Grand Love Story was released
at the same time as the Air album. Do you rate their work?
I don’t think a good thing about them,
I am always telling shit about them. I was a big fan of Premier
Symptomes — the compilation of the three singles — and now they
just play with synthesisers and for me it’s just empty music. And
I think the words are stupid: there’s one song where they have three
people to sing the words. There are four words in the song.
As somebody connected with the Yellow
label in France, what do you make of the whole Bob Sinclar thing?
I don’t like the music, I’m not into house
music at all and for me it’s not serious at all.
Isn’t that the point?
Yeah, but what is funny today is all the
problems with Daft Punk, but it’s difficult for me to talk about
it because I know in this kind of story you’ve got the truth and
you’ve got all the stories all around. The two of them signed a
contract to do this track and for Bob Sinclar to do a remix for
Stardust. And today everything seems fucked up for Bob Sinclar can’t
release Gym Tonic on vinyl, the other Punk has done a remix
which has sold I think 400,000 copies and he didn’t earn a franc,
so it’s a difficult
Do you play your own records when DJing?
No, I don’t play them, but maybe tonight
I’ll play some remixes I’ve done at the beginning. It’s hard to
mix my songs because there’s a lot of music. I realised this when
I was trying to mix my record — I need more beats at the beginning
and less music. and I’ve done this in reverse.
Does this encourage you to write more
with this in mind?
Yeah maybe, or do another version for when
I DJ, just for me.
You’ve come through punk and hip hop
to get where you are today; where does your heart lie?
It’s what I do today, but I’ve got really
good memories from anything. I was 16 when I was a punk and I remember
every night when I was out. There’s not a great break between punk
and what I do today for me — I’m dressed the same. I don’t care
about the look I’ve got. I work in my studio and it’s a punk thing
— 'do it yourself' — nothing has changed. The music has changed,
but when I was a punk I was a big fan of the Supremes. I’m a big
fan of music. Punk for me was great for the energy but I was not
a fan of the Ramones or groups like this, and at home it’s hard
to listen to punk records. I was a big fan of the Clash, but I can’t
play their records today.
What was Catch My Soul like?
I did it 5 years ago. It’s kind of downtempo
but without really beats, it’s really acoustic. I was really proud
of this LP, but nobody bought a copy. The radio didn’t play it,
so the record company said "bye bye".
The Kid Loco LP was your first release
outside France?
The first time abroad. What is good is
that my dream was to have a record released in England. For maybe
15 years I’ve been reading the NME and things like this, so the
day I was single of the week I go to the drug dealer and bought
some drugs. It was great!
Do the French radio laws (stating
that at least 40% of the playlist must be French) work in favour
of a spread of French music, or just French artists producing US
rock music?
It works for people like commercial hip
hop, or for the people doing music for 50 years, like Johnny Halliday.
But the good radio stations don’t play this, they don’t care. In
Paris we’ve got two radio stations playing house music and techno
and there’s nothing French. It’s stupid this law because if you’re
French and you sing in English you’re not French, but if you’re
French and you sing in French you’re French. If you’re French and
you sing in Spanish you’re French, because when they made this law
a famous French band was singing half in Spanish, so they say it’s
French too. It’s a kind of racism.
Where’s the best record shop in Paris?
Rough Trade, it’s near Bastille. And you’ve
got a second-hand shop called Parallel (something French and
indecipherable) and you have to go every day, they’ve got incredible
things sometimes and not expensive. They have the really expensive
records but at a good price. I’ve been touring a little bit all
around Europe and it’s exactly the same — you’ve got the same
clothes, the same shoes, the same fast food — everything’s the same.
It’s really strange, ten years ago when I was going to London it
was to buy some creepers, you know? And today you go and there’s
no creepers anywhere, just tennis shoes.
Do you still find yourself searching
out record shops when on tour?
I try.
And do you check to see if your records
are in stock?
That’s the reason I don’t want my face
on a record, because I’m always in record shops, so if you are looking
at a record and your face is on it you are stupid. I think a guy
went into Rough Trade in London, it’s not a real name but for example
the guy from Oasis — but it’s not him, you know? — and when
he left the shop all the first records were all his own records.
And with this, he steals my lighter and strolls
off in the direction of the wheels of steel, refusing to play any
Rasmus and trying to get his head round the fact that the gig is
less than packed. Welcome to Norwich, our kid.
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