The Young Gods

The Young Gods play acoustic! Intriguing, especially once you consider that these legends revolutionized ‘80s music by putting some industrial sounds into their rock ’n roll. Are they going soft, or is it an early retirement, or what? I was really curious at the Swiss Cultural Center that night... But as soon as they started to play the first tune, “Gasoline Man” - a song that wore down three of my Walkmans on the way to school - I knew that the energy was there like it always was. Two guitars, a cithara and some drums filled the room and our minds.

Bewitched by an hour of a great show where, one by one, I heard all the tunes that had gotten me through my teenage years, I couldn’t wait to get outside and do this Take-Away Show. It’s always exciting and unexpected to get to do something with your idols, I guess.

First, right in the middle of the exhibition at the CCS, we filmed “Charlotte”, careful not to disturb the strange installments of second-hand books on shelves. Bernard slips under a cone of wool threads, which was strictly forbidden by the artist and therefore the security guys...

The second song was filmed in front of our presidential candidates. Segolene was smiling—she didn’t know at the time—and Bayrou stared kindly at the Gods while they sang “I’m the Drug”.

We wanted to do a traveling shot in the street, but as the ones who were holding the camera and microphone, we decided that Gasoline Man is not a song you walk to. So we filmed the song almost running (backwards) in La rue des Rosiers, passing by falafel stands where some people there cheered them on: “Bravo, U2”!

We spent a nice moment with the Gods. Alain Monod told us it was the first time he had ever played in the street... and he loved it.

The Young Gods are on tour at the moment—and if you want to know why David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Trent Reznor, or The Edge are such big fans of theirs, go check them out!

Alexandre Perrier