#28 Tapes’n Tapes

When you listen to Tapes ’n Tapes, you hear two things—two features that, to say the least, really catch your attention. One is the semi-electric guitars, tight and sharply played, that build up around the tensed voices. The other is the energetic and intense drums that punctuate with a jolt and impose their nervousness on each song, driving and shaping the rest of the music.

When we came to meet Tapes ’n Tapes, who were messing around in the lobby of the Hotel Amour, we knew that we were missing at least one of those two features: electricity. Thus, we put everyone on percussion and rhythm, asking all of them to hit, tap, and bang wherever they could.

It all started in the basement, where we begged the waiter to open the stockroom for us so that we could swipe some cases of beer. After this, we positioned ourselves around the foosball table. Hit!, tap!, bang!, and then we took to the street.

There was a pretty noticeable paradox: the drummer, the one creating the greater part of the group’s energy, is the smallest one. Once we left, we decided to give him something to play with, so we bought a pair of sticks and picked up one of those anti-parking poles off the street, which another member of the group lugged on his shoulder.

Midway through, we ran into The Spinto Band. They put together a little cheerleader act with Daphné from the Canal+ TV morning program, who came to do a report about us (that’s her cameraman in the shot). The traffic was so crazy that Vincent Moon almost got run over three times, all while the guys from Spinto danced in the background. Tapes ’n Tapes decided to give a few kicks to the scaffolding, then finishing the song under a lingerie ad. It was a bizarre, rather bounteous moment. We finished off by calming down a bit as they sang the ballad “Omaha” in front of La Cigale, just where all the Kooks fans were waiting.

It was strange - almost like a condensed story of all the Take Away Shows at once.