I came across the cool French band The New Princess while sailing on the web searching for something interesting and these guys are worthy of all our Exploders attention. Besides they can count on a legend like Nuno Bettencourt (ex-Extreme) as producer. Great! So I decided to exchange some chatters with their singer Philipp Duval. Here what he's told us...

Hi Philipp, we're very pleased to have you here on The Rock Explosion to ask something about your New Princess. How and when did you all meet and decide to form the band?
It's been a long time since we rock'n'rolled. My brother and I are the former elements of The New Princess. We were patient and never quit. The rhythm section has always been our weakest part until we found Gaelle (drums) a year ago and Donovan (bass) who was the last one to join us, six months ago. We knew that Donovan was the perfect guy to take the band to a higher level. He is a real genius.

Why did you choose New Princess as monicker? Who's the new princess?
First of all, it sounded good to our ears. And it was a token of respect to the best music from all time. Princesses are part of our history. We still look at the past with respect or disrespect, whatever. The "New" means that we want to bring something different, something fresh.

Listening your self titled EP I thought that your sound is an amazing mix between The Beatles, David Bowie, Queen, Prince, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana all elaborated in the sign of Saigon Kick attitude. Do you know the latter ones? In general, which bands of the past did influence you deeply, since the beginning of your career?
I remember Saigon Kick as a great band from early 90's. But sincerely, I was not into it that much. If you relate us to them it's probably because we have the same influences. Younger, we were really into The Beatles, Queen, AC/DC, Bowie, Elvis, Led Zeppelin. Then, Prince, Soundgarden, Kyuss, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson. We are big fans of music and we still love to discover new bands or great albums: Queens Of The Stone Age, Killing Jokes last releases are great.

How did you meet Nuno Bettencourt and how did he take the decision to help you in the production of your self titled CD?
It's a good story for the ones who don't believe in destiny. My brother, as a guitar player, fell in love with Nuno's verve. He met him in Paris as he was touring Europe for the Pornograffiti tour. Then, each year Nuno was coming to Paris, we would find a way to get a backstage pass. The time he came to promote Schizophonic (which is a great album by the way) we were about to leave for Boston. He gave us his phone number and from that time on we became friends. One year later, my brother and I were recorded eight demos and we sent him a copy. He called us back asking if we were happy with the sound. He proposed to mix some of the stuff. We went to Boston and L.A. to mix with him. A great experience.

How do you manage usually with the songwriting and the composition phases and how can you mix so different styles?
We work two ways. My brother come up with a guitar riff and we build the song on it. Or, I build up an atmosphere with machines and we work on the various elements to add. We never have a precise idea of how the song is gonna sound like at the end. We are more focused on spontaneousness. We don't think "style", we just let our inspiration go wherever. I usually write the vocal parts at the end.
Now that we have found our mates, we are going back to a full band songwriting. We jam a lot and come up with a lot of ideas.

Your Self Titled Ep is dated 2002 so I wanna ask you which are your plans for the next future, do you want to give to us some anticipations?
Our plans are obviously to perform live as much as we can. We have gigs in New York and Boston in November and December. Then, what's next we don't know as we're not signed yet. Our will is to get a deal that will allow us to perform in front of a larger crowd each show, and release albums, of course.

Philipp, I know you like visiting Italy sometimes, do you know some Italian rock band and in general what's your opinion about Italian people and culture?
Unfortunately, I don't know much about Italian rock bands. I wish we could tour there and I'm sure we would get to know the rock scene better. Our mom is Italian. Imagine that! Grazie Mama. Our heart is 100% Italian and we're really close to our family there. But, of course, we never lived there so we don't have any experience of the everyday life. All I know is each time I'm there, I have a great time.

I have been positively impressed by your EP's backcover artwork, figuring a naive women image with appearing and disappearing body. How come did you have this idea and who designed everything? If I'm not wrong, it makes me remember some Garbage video with similar effects.
Our ex manager introduced us to a designer. We came up with the name, the songs and some ideas but nothing precise. He worked on a few projects and we chose the woman. His name is Jean-Michel Tixier and he actually worked on the cover of one of AIR's maxi EP. He is really talented. If it reminds you Garbage video, I can't answer for Jean-Michel but I believe it's a coincidence.

What do you think about internet, exchanging of mp3 songs and the webzines? Are you pro or against all this?
Internet turns out to be like the world. A lot of crap and hopefully some positive things. Knowing that people exchange mp3s doesn't stress me! If it can help some of the listeners to discover bands, go to their shows and support them, it's cool. But people should realise what a "career" involves in terms of time and money for a band. Webzines are part of the positive things. Bands need people like you, Bruno, because you're passionate about music, bands… and the net gives you the chance to exist and touch a larger crowd.

In your opinion, which are the best and the worst concerts in your career? Can you tell us something about them?
Every show is the best and worse for me. Actually, one was really bad and I wish I could erase that gig from my memory but I can't. Two days before that one, we had been performing in a great club, it was packed and we did very good. Then, it was time to play in that dirty small club, full of drunkard. We messed up all the songs, doubling all the tempos. It was a few years ago and hopefully a good lesson. The best show was this summer in Corvo (Azores), the first rock festival in that island. The stage, just by the water was beautiful and the crowd was amazing.

I really like the various atmospheres contained in a song as "Wrapped Myself": catchy chorus, angry vocals attack, etc. Tell me something about the lyrics and the sound of this song.
This song is about people that try to destabilize me. That's how the world works, I suppose, but sometimes I can't handle it. I wanted to dedicate a song to all the small minded people that keep criticizing or make fun of whoever tries to do his best to accomplish a dream or, at least, something. I don't blame them, they are the ones who look soured. All the songs from our EP were demos recorded at home with a light equipment. Then, we added the drums, bass & guitars. Nuno did a great job arranging the drum parts especially on "Wrapped Myself". He also had the idea of the French speech at the end of the song, which I wrote and recorded in his home studio in Boston.

How would you describe today's French rock scene? Is there any band that you particulary like and want to mention to our readers? I know bands as: Sparkling Bombs, High-School Motherfuckers, Tracy Gang Pussy, Undercover Slut...
To be honest, I'm not really into the French rock scene. But we have a special affection for High-School MotherFuckers, who are old friends. And I have to say that we were really impressed about their Ramone's tribute live performance. They are a good band !

Top five albums, books, movies and... Uhm, fave pornstars!
For the top 5 albums I'd say "Dirty Deeds" by AC/DC, "Bleach" by Nirvana, "Dirty Mind" by Prince, "Ziggy Stardust" by David Bowie and "Chinatown" by Thin Lizzy. As top 5 books… let me think… "Le Parfum" by Patrick Sunskind, "Dead Elvis" by Greil Marcus, "Poison Heart, surviving The Ramones" by D.D.Ramone, "The Book Of Illusions" by Paul Auster and "Paroles" by Jacques Prévert. Mmmm… top 5 movies… "Magnolia", "Man On The Moon", "Punch Drunk Love", "Godfellas", "Happiness". Favourite porn stars
Clara Morgane and Ovidie.

Choose between these two options:
Making music for passion gaining money or making music for money and fame: Music for passion amd getting paid for it. No doubt.
David Bowie or Marc Bolan: I would choose David Bowie for what he accomplished. What a career !
Rock against Bush or rock pro Bush: Neither 1 or 2. I hate politics if it's not for a good reason. I have a lot of respect for people like Bono from U2. He uses his notoriety to fight for his beliefs but when he is on stage he is there to perform, that's it.
Telling always the truth or telling lies for convenience: I would be more the kinda guy that tells the truth but all the truth are not good to tell, right ?
Freddy Mercury or John Lennon: Freddie Mercury is one of the best performer of all time. And he seemed to be a great human being.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds or Angel Dust: I'm a big fan of The Beatles. Plus, it's a great song. Even, if I really like Faith No More.

In your opinion which has been the best decade for rock music? Tell us the reasons of your choices.
The 70's were the best: Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Neil Young, Bowie, T- Rex, Janis Joplin and I forget a lot of great bands. That was really the time where music was a passion before being a product.

If you hadn't yet decided to become musicians what would you have done instead?
I wouldn't have been!

What is the craziest thing ever done in your life?
Try to make a living with music. That's the craziest thing I have done. But I don't regret it. The downs make you appreciate more the ups.

Ok Philipp, the interview is over. Thanx for the cooperation and I give you the permission to write here everything you want:
A message for you Bruno: I would like to thank you for being present on the net. You are someone special and I'm not saying that because you're Italian, I really mean it. I wish you the best for the future and please keep your passion for music alive. Thanx!

Intervista realizzata da Bruno Rossi e Margherita Realmonte
Tradotta da Margherita Realmonte