French four-piece The Sunday Sadness are the very definition of an ‘en trend’ band in 2019. They mix influences of electronic music, emo, pop, and hip-hop and they look very cool. Formed through social media, the band have just released their self-titled EP and look to release an album in the summer. We caught up with vocalist and writer Matthieu Kirby to talk about their unique sound, their influences and why social media is important in music today.
RAMzine: How would you describe The Sunday Sadness to someone who hasn’t heard of you before?
Matthieu: I guess it’s like hip hop, 80’s electro-pop, but with an emo influence.
RAMzine: So did you grow up listening to 1980’s music, I’m guessing you don’t remember it…?
Matthieu: No, I didn’t grow up with it but I found out about it more recently. French artists like Kavinsky have that kind of sound. I know that’s not from the 80s, but it emulates that style. I and Miguel are fond of a style of music called ‘vaporwave’ [downbeat electronic music using samples] as well as 80s film soundtracks.
RAMzine: Is that a very French thing? A lot of famous French artists, other than Gojira of course, have the electronic sound like Daft Punk and Kassius…?
Matthieu: Actually, the vibe in France right now is very much hip hop…
RAMzine: So does the emo influence come from what you have listened to recently?
Matthieu: Definitely. Emo influences from bands like Bring Me The Horizon, My Chemical Romance and Escape The Fate. That sort of thing. But again we listen to electronic music a lot still so that’s why we like to mix it up.
RAMzine: Would you compare it to Bring Me The Horizon’s latest material? Is that where rock music is going these days?
Matthieu: It’s definitely going that way, yeah, and I love the new album. Fun fact – the director who did their ‘Nihilist Blues’ video also directed our video for ‘Someone’. All of the band love their new record too.
RAMzine: What’s next after the EP release?
Matthieu: So we are focusing on the release of our EP release on February 15th right now, and we are almost finished our first full-length album too. I think it should be out in the summer, and then tour after. No plans as of yet but we would like [to have some]. We have never actually played outside of France before!
RAMzine: Will the album be a continuation of the EP?
Matthieu: Definitely. There will be a lot more rap and hip-hop vocals. More of the same but more refined. It will be the same vibe though.
RAMzine: Is the style of your videos a creative decision of the band?
Matthieu: It’s almost 50/50 with us and the director. We do like to work on the visuals, but it also fits in the vision of the director. I feel visuals are important to a band. All the potential attention you can get just on a video is just a huge part of the music.
RAMzine: Do you feel the 80s influence is due to well-catalogued streaming services?
Matthieu: Yes, people seem to discover new bands, like us, every day.
RAMzine: Is it true the band was formed through Facebook?
Matthieu: At first, it was just me. I wanted to start a band and sing. I couldn’t find anyone in my area so I posted on Facebook things like ‘does anyone in France want to start a band?’ and someone commented, John, the main songwriter. We started talking and sending each other song ideas, things like that. We live about four hours from each other. Then two other friends joined the band. But he was a stranger for a long time. We didn’t actually meet until our first video shoot! But now I can officially say he is my best friend.
RAMzine: What advice would you give to start this kind of band?
Matthieu: I think the very thing that made us invest in it was that we had to create something unique. At first, we were just copying emo or metalcore bands. It was ok but we just felt like some ‘other band’ so we tried adding some other influences. So my advice is: create something unique!
RAMzine: So finally, where does the name The Sunday Sadness come from?
Matthieu: We were searching for ideas and we knew we wanted something that evoked sadness and nostalgia. And yes, Sundays are pretty sad. It’s kind of like you are still on holiday but you have work, or school, in the morning. You can’t be happy being off for this. So it just stuck.
The Sunday Sadness’ self-titled EP is available now. You can read what we thought of the latest issue of RAMzine.
