In the heart of Geneva, Switzerland, Mindless Crowd navigates a competitive music scene with grace and determination.
Balancing their musical pursuits with professional responsibilities, this independent band pours their souls into a collective passion.
Alexandre and Julien steer the ship, managing both the creative and administrative realms. Lucas and Gael delve into the technical intricacies, crafting visuals that complement their sonic artistry. Together, they sculpt songs through collaborative improvisation, led by Alexandre’s creative vision and buoyed by Julien’s lyrical prowess, enriched by his literary background.
Their latest single, “Star Chaser,” offers a glimpse into their evolving sound, drawing inspiration from the timeless rock of the 70s, infused with a contemporary edge. Rooted in personal struggles and triumphs, the track emanates a motivational spirit, a beacon of light in the midst of darkness. Influences ranging from Gorillaz to Pink Floyd shape their unique sound, a tapestry woven from diverse musical threads.
The recording of “Star Chaser” witnessed a departure from convention, as the band embraced a challenging shift in tonality. The result is a testament to their willingness to venture beyond comfort zones. Noteworthy, too, is their choice of cover art, a bespoke creation by local painter Nathalie Marti, radiating raw emotion and homemade authenticity.
As they chart a course beyond this single, Mindless Crowd is poised to unleash an album, a testament to their unyielding dedication. Live performances will be their medium to share these musical journeys, and each note resonates with the joy they find in playing together. They’re no longer the hesitant musicians of yore, but a confident force, eager to spread their contagious love for music, one concert at a time.
Happy: Tell us about where you are from? What’s the scene like in your neck of the woods?
Mindless Crowd: We’re from Geneva in Switzerland. The scene is a bit competitive over here. There are a lot of good musicians but not so many scenes to play. The life of a musician can be a bit tough;that’s why we all have professional activity besides, and we are investing a lot in our common passion which is our music project.
Happy: What are you up to today?
Mindless Crowd: Today’s plan is to work for our next album. The single “Star Chaser” is the teaser of the path we want to take from now. We’ll perform for some concerts over here and go to record at the end of the year and at the beginning of 2024. We want to release the next album for the first half of 2024.
Happy: Describe an average day?
Mindless Crowd: We’re an independent band for now. Alexandre (lead guitar) and Julien (lead vocal and guitar) work a lot with the administration of the band and the creative part.
For the rest of the band, Lucas (drums and backing vocal) and Gael (bass) work a lot on the technique aspects such as the videos, editing, the posters and more. We share a lot of our tasks.
Then obviously, we work together on our songs. We always start our sessions by an improvisation that may result in a song much later.
Alexandre is for most of the time the conductor for the creative aspects of the songs. Julien supports Alexandre for the creative process with some refreshing ideas, and then we all work together from there.
Julien is the lyricist; he takes a lot of his knowledge from his literature studies to touch on some social topics
Happy: What kind of music did you listen to growing up that influenced you musically?
Mindless Crowd: We like a lot of kinds of music. We used to really like 70’s rock, but, growing up, we still like this kind of music but with a touch more modern.
Happy: How did the band come up with the concept for “Star Chaser”?
Mindless Crowd: Alexandre, the lead guitarist, arrived with an idea.
We worked a lot to find the best way possible to respect his core concept and add the best of our personal touch to elevate the song.
The concept of the lyrics came from the story of ourselves, and maybe of the band. Times were hard at some moment for us, personally and musically.
We were almost reborn from nowhere when we decided to dedicate so much time to our songs and the band.
We did fight against ourselves to achieve our goals in life. We know that life can be really dark sometimes and our song describes the fear, the luck, the courage and the strength we need to advance in the right direction.
Happy: Could you describe the creative process behind the songwriting and production of this track?
Mindless Crowd: The idea wasn’t to depict negative feelings in the fight against ourselves.
Instead, We wanted to deliver a positive motivational song. We really think that everybody can find his own path to follow.
We know that it’s easy to lose the main goal of our life if we don’t focus on it. The star: this uncatchable thing in the universe is the main leader. Sometimes, we have to find a good one for us to advance.
Also, it’s unnecessary to follow the star made for someone else. It’s something simple but hard to apply in life.
With great motivation, we can achieve things we always thought were impossible.
I conclude by saying that, for us, the hardest thing is not to accomplish a difficult task, or anything at all, but to find the strength to go out and accomplish it..
Happy: What emotions or experiences were the band members drawing from while working on “Star Chaser”?
Mindless Crowd: It’s motivational. It’s a feel-good song that wants to increase the energy of the listener. It’s a positive message for a dark topic.
Happy: Are there specific artists or genres that heavily influenced the sound and style of this track?
Mindless Crowd: We were influenced by artists like Gorillaz, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Dope Lemon and more.
We listen to a lot of different music. We can take the best of each style to mix it for our songs.
Happy: Could you discuss any interesting or unique techniques used in the recording or arrangement of this track?
View this post on Instagram
Mindless Crowd: The beauty of the mixing of this track is the difference of tonality from the main singing and the final part of the song.
It’s a big change from our previous songs. We tried to explore something we thought was impossible.
We were making songs only for the deep voice of Julien. We confronted this difficulty and now the high voice and the reverberated tone are clearly an important part of our style.
We also did something a bit unconventional for the art cover ; we hired a painter from here: Nathalie Marti. We met her around a drink between friends and when we saw her talent, we asked her immediately to draw our cover.
We signed for a single and album with her and we are so happy with the result. It’s really homemade and there are so many emotions in the painting.
Happy: Can you tell us about any memorable moments or anecdotes from the recording sessions of “Star Chaser”?
We started to create “Star Chaser” with the guitars to end with the drums. It’s a bit special but we took a lot of time to find an appropriate drum.
For the recording, we were really fast, we did almost every part in one shot. It’s a song with a lot of information but we have so much pleasure playing it that we recorded it really quickly.
Happy: What’s next for Mindless Crowd after the release of this single? Are there any upcoming projects or tours in the pipeline?
Mindless Crowd: We will advance our album; we want to release another single some month before to keep our fans up to date on our progress.
We want to make live concerts as much as possible to promote our new songs.
Happy: Lastly, what makes you happy?
Mindless Crowd: We love playing together and above all, we’ve been very good friends for many years.
We know each one so well, we could play eyes closed. At the start, We were a bit shy to show the world our songs but now we are so happy when someone tells us that our song is loved.
We’re no longer afraid to show our work and we strongly believe in what we do in music.
We like to think that our passion for our music is contagious all around us. We also like to share and receive the love we got from the concerts.
Live experiences are really a lovely moment we want to have as often as possible.
