Lætitia Sadier

Nick Dwyer

All right, I’m very excited to introduce our next guest. As the singer for a band called Stereolab, she was essentially the voice of a young generation of young, independent music fans and a band that offered a really, really incredible pre-Internet window into so many amazing musical worlds. Stereolab were a band that went on to be sampled by some of the world’s greatest beat makers, Madlib, MF Doom, J Dilla, absolutely huge fan. Although sadly, on an indefinite hiatus since about seven years ago, still is releasing incredible albums through her solo career. It’s an honor to have her here at the Red Bull Music Academy. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Laetitia Sadier. How are you Laetitia?

Laetitia Sadier

I’m good, thank you.

Nick Dwyer

Nice. OK, it must be noted that today’s journey to get here to the Academy included a train from the UK.

Laetitia Sadier

Yes, among other means of transportation.

Nick Dwyer

Once upon a time, France was your home — not quite Paris. Whereabouts were you born?

Laetitia Sadier

I was born a stone’s throw away from Paris in Vincennes, where they have the horse tracks and the zoo and the castle, things like that. Yes, I guess I always knew my place. I’m a suburban.

Nick Dwyer

It’s a real Parisian to be, “That’s not Paris.”

Laetitia Sadier

Yeah, I always felt there was a lot of that. The Parisians, like intramuros, had a mentality that was… Sorry, it’s very sweeping generalizations, but they do hold some truth. It’s quite bourgeois and bitchy and that kind of thing. Also, if you dared stick your neck out as an artist, you were taken out and shot immediately. I felt Paris, intramuros, was very castrating and I didn’t have a place here, alas. Though I love this city and I have many friends here.

Nick Dwyer

I tell you what, we’ll find out more about this part of the journey very soon. I thought it was a great idea to kick off with a track. This is something taken off an album called Dots and Loops, which was released, I think, in 1997. A track called “The Flower Called Nowhere.”

(music: Stereolab — “The Flower Called Nowhere” / applause)

There you go. Stereolab, “The Flower Called Nowhere” from an album called Dots and Loops. Listening to that right now, what does that take you back to when you hear that particular track?

Laetitia Sadier

Oh my God, a whole world. I’m transported. It’s nice to hear that track, thank you for playing it. I like it. It takes me back to a time in Köln, in Cologne, where we recorded with our friends Jan and Andi from Mouse on Mars, and how fun it was recording with those guys in that big studio that was once a, I don’t know, a cognac factory or something with a very, very, very high ceiling. Yeah, and of course hearing Mary [Hansen, Stereolab member who died in 2002] is quite emotional. They were not all fun, but this one was really quite delightful.

Nick Dwyer

One thing that we were talking about just before this started, which I found very, very interesting is — we’ve got to say thanks, because you delved into the archives in preparation for this talk today and pulled out a whole lot of records from the label, a whole lot of rarities from Stereolab. We were listening to this stuff before and you were saying that you very rarely, if ever, revisit and go back and listen to the recorded material from Stereolab. Obviously when you’re onstage, you’re re-performing it, but in terms of going back and listening to the music that was recorded, you don’t do this so often. Why is that?

Laetitia Sadier

Tim [Gane, Stereolab co-founder] and I were a couple for 14 years and I basically learned – he was my musical formation and that was my music school, the Tim Gane music school. Fantastic person and everything and fantastic musician and composer, but I think there were some bad habits in there. One of them was that you make a record and then you put it somewhere on a shelf and you never listen to it. You’re just constantly moving forward, making the next one. “OK, that one’s done. Next one.” Our records were written and recorded very quickly. Of course all the love and care and attention went into it, but we didn’t ponder over these for years, like, say, Broadcast would or My Bloody Valentine.

There was no preciousness around making records. They were just like churning them. We were just churning them, like literally on a conveyor belt. I know it might sound shocking to some of you, perhaps, who might have fantasies, but we would write 35 tracks, sometimes more, and in the studio it was like, “OK, do all the drums and then next.” Do all the 35 drums, 35 bass, 35 keyboards, 35 guitar, churning them literally in what I was decrying, perhaps, in my lyrics, which is this kind of automization of production. It was very automatic, but somehow that’s how we did it. It wasn’t a democracy, either.

Nick Dwyer

We’ll find out a bit more about that later one because it’s definitely something I want to talk to you about. Now that you’ve got distance from… There’s distance from Sterolab now. It’s been, what, seven years since the indefinite hiatus? Are you trying to find some time to revisit that music now?

Laetitia Sadier

I haven’t, Stereolab’s music particularly. I’m not going to be at home and sitting in my kitchen and playing a Stereolab record. I won’t do that. But sometimes I’m in a car with someone and they’re playing a Stereolab record. I’m like, “Hey, we’re a good band, huh?” Yeah, and even with my own material I’ve made six albums, three as Monade and three under my own name. I don’t know why it is, if it’s an insecurity or something, the fear of “I might be shit” or something. I don’t know, I haven’t analyzed it. I’m 47 years old now, so maybe coming to the autumn of my life, and it is a time to reflect. I’m sure it would do me a lot of good to sit down and listen to everything and have a lot of pleasure in doing so.

I’m sorry, there’s talks of re-releasing some the Stereolab vinyl albums that we did with Elektra Records. I think there’s seven albums. For contractual reasons, it’s pretty messy and complicated at the moment, but we’re looking into remastering and repackaging all these albums, which aren’t available anymore. We’re waiting for that thing to be released through the label, that they let go of our material, basically. That was going to be my moment of sitting down, listening, remastering. But it’s taking a while. Yeah.

Nick Dwyer

One thing about that track in particular, there’s been a lot of very notable fans of your music, who in their own worlds are giants. In particular, a whole lot of hip-hop artists, the ones that dig deep into a variety of different music. For a lot of them, they all sing the praises of Stereolab, and in particular Pharrell has spoken in many interviews about how that song in particular is one of his favorites. In certain interviews, I think he goes into a bit too much detail of why he enjoys that song in particular. Does any of it cease to amaze you, where the music that you’ve created has ended up and where your voice has found itself? You create music, you let it go, and then 15 years later or nine years later it comes back to you in strange and wonderful ways.

Laetitia Sadier

I guess we’re all possibly musicians here or artists and that’s one thing that’s certain, is that you don’t own it. It’s not something you possess. It’s not because you create a piece that it’s yours. I think it’s a bit naïve to think that, because it definitely escapes you. You’re just kind of responsible for putting it on earth somehow, and then beyond that it’s just going to make its way. And I think one has very little control over that. That’s a good thing, too. When it comes to Stereolab, I think it’s just music for the music lovers. Yes, music lovers are everywhere. There’s not maybe a lot of them on this planet, but they will be found in all genres of music, I believe. I think there was always a universal quality to our music. Kids like Stereolab, somehow. Like Bob Marley or something, everybody likes “Jammin’.” I think there’s a bit of that in our music and it does translate.

Nick Dwyer

I think in order to talk about Stereolab, we need to go back a few steps. We need to talk about a band called McCarthy, but we even need to go a bit earlier and find out about these early days of Laetitia Sadier. Growing up in the suburbs of Paris, when was the first moment you really fell in love with music, growing up in Paris?

Laetitia Sadier

Actually, if I may say, it was in my mother’s womb. I heard this over and over again, that when she went to the opera I would go bananas. Probably going, “Turn it off!” Apparently I reacted to music even then. I remember as a small child, music was magical. The world would stop whenever I’d hear a song on the radio that I liked.

Nick Dwyer

What were these songs that were making you stop?

Laetitia Sadier

Well, there were two in particular that I vividly remember. One was “Heart of Glass” by Blondie. I had to stop whatever I was doing and just listen and soak it up. The other one was “Don’t Say It” by Wings. I love that song. Also, back in the late ’70s, Jean-Michel Jarre made this record called Oxygène. I remember really digging that also. I think I loved melodies in particular, so yeah.

Nick Dwyer

I’ve read in a couple of places for you, as you became an angsty or not-so-angsty teenager, whichever, but some form of a teenager, music was very much a refuge for you. Tell us about Laetitia and her teenage years and the role that music played in your life.

Laetitia Sadier

Indeed, I was very angsty teenager, and my life was a misery and music was my only source of joy, apart from maybe one cat that we had in the house. We lived in America with my family for a while. My dad worked for IBM, so the whole family got exported to Poughkeepsie, upstate New York. I remember my first dollars I had, I went to the record shop, and I did not know what I was buying. I had no idea, because in them days, you didn’t have the internet where you go and listen to something and go, “OK, I’m going to buy that.” So I just took any record and I bought it, and it was Billie Joel, which I didn’t particularly like. But I had to buy a record. I guess this obsession with music and records was early onset.

In 1981, in France, the FM wavelength was opened up to anyone who wanted to start a radio station. Imagine the FM wavelength, you and I, we’re going to start a radio, and we’re going to play our records. You had a fantastic variety of radio stations. It’s the only time in my life where I get to hear so much good music on the radio. It was fantastic. I remember a radio called Bebop, for instance, and they played only great stuff from out of this world. The first thing I did coming home from school was get to my radio and listen.

Nick Dwyer

When would you say was the first moment that you really connected with music lyrically, where all of a sudden these lyrics really were impacting you and influencing you?

Laetitia Sadier

If I dare say, I think the Smiths. I know I’m not the only one. They were big. That’s where lyrics actually started to mean something.

Nick Dwyer

What was it in particular about Morrissey’s lyrics, and what was he saying in particular, be it politically, socially that resonated with you?

Laetitia Sadier

Firstly, it was like, “Wow, there’s someone who’s more miserable than me.” That felt good. That was kind of cathartic in itself. Yes, he talked about sexuality, which of course is of concern to every human being, but never really expressed in honest ways. Of course, socially he was a lad from the estate, I think. Not that I lived on the estate, but as a suburban and someone not socially considered as particularly anything good, then there was also a resonance there — which I think with most people, that’s the thing, is that most people are suburbans or not from the heart of Paris or from the Queen’s family or whatever. Yeah, he created some resonance and managed to connect with people in a fantastic way, and also very eloquently. I learned so many English words thanks to him, and I read Oscar Wilde and I became vegetarian and all that.

Nick Dwyer

At this point, young Laetitia from the suburbs, listening to the Smiths, loving the lyrics of Morrissey, still quite angsty, wanting to start a band yourself. You wanted to start a band, but it was difficult to start a band in Paris in those times, right?

Laetitia Sadier

I think it would have been a miracle. OK, I believe in miracles, but I did try repeatedly and I just found people with big ankles, but no real creative nerve and that was really frustrating. In the end, it was clear that I needed to leave this environment and export myself.

Nick Dwyer

In terms of making that journey and finally living that, as certain as the history books will tell, a certain performance from a UK band happened, a band called McCarthy. What can you tell us about that? We’re going to listen to a track right now, but you were a big fan of this band? Did you have posters on the wall? What was your relationship to McCarthy before this one fateful night?

Laetitia Sadier

I discovered McCarthy on one of those radio stations. They were called RTH 99 Rock [says in French]. Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? I think what called me was the melodies in McCarthy and the beauty of the music. There was a certain radicality also in the lyrics, which I did not necessarily capture all of it, because a lot of it was ironic. It was very extreme left wing, but they did have song titles like “Antiamericancretin.” It was like, “Do they mean it? Don’t they?” It’s very British basically, whereby you say the contrary to what you think and you have to turn things around to get the, you know. Certainly the music was totally sending me out there.

Nick Dwyer

The show was in Paris, they came to town?

Laetitia Sadier

Yeah, they came to town. There was this guy called Stephan Bismuth and I hope he’s still around in Paris. He invited bands to play — like, pop bands — to play the New Morning, which was traditionally a jazz club. I remember seeing a double headline bill in quite a small jazz club. It was My Bloody Valentine and Happy Mondays, double headline in a jazz club in Paris. Isn’t that crazy? Aren’t you drooling? Anyways, so we had also McCarthy came through, so of course I bought a ticket, and also the Wolfhounds. You had the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and you had the Wolfhounds and McCarthy. There was lots of great bands coming through, which I was always there at the front.

Nick Dwyer

We’ll listen to a track right now. This is McCarthy, “Red Sleeping Beauty.” What can you tell us about this track?

Laetitia Sadier

It’s beautiful and it’s red.

(music: McCarthy – “Red Sleeping Beauty”)

Nick Dwyer

That was McCarthy, “Red Sleeping Beauty.” What’s interesting about this night we’re talking about, it just so happens that you went, you saw the band perform, you enjoyed the performance and then you met the band afterwards. If you could tell us what happened next?

Laetitia Sadier

Are you calling me a groupie?

Nick Dwyer

I never said you were a groupie. A McCarthy enthusiast.

Laetitia Sadier

One, two, can you hear me? Actually, there was a support band before that went on and on and on and on and they were awful. We were all dying in there from this bad support act and I remember seeing Tim, he was in the audience wandering around with a big spot on his nose. I just went to speak to him and said “Hello.” It was great because they had the day off the day after, and I said, “Well, I’ll be your guide in Paris. Here’s my phone number,” because we didn’t have mobiles in them days. I remember, I was like, “Is he going to ring me? Is he going to ring me?” I waited all day by the phone. And he did ring and, yes, the rest is history.

Nick Dwyer

You were obviously an excellent tour guide.

Laetitia Sadier

Exactement.

Nick Dwyer

Next thing, you found yourself heading to London, and I don’t know how long after that that tour was, but you joined the band, essentially.

Laetitia Sadier

Yeah, I joined the last five minutes of McCarthy. When I moved to London, which was in September ’89, they were recording. And Tim knew that I wanted to sing and he’s like, “Oh, sing on the record,” so I did end up singing a few backing vocals on the record. We did one last tour with McCarthy and the Chills from New Zealand, and then the group parted. I believe that Tim wanted to have more control over the music and he felt it was the right time to start something new. I think Malcolm, the singer, was quite happy also too, to be doing something else. It was really that at that time where McCarthy were becoming a bit more popular because the Smiths were very popular and somehow they could be tied in with that. Really, they weren’t far from their first American tour, but they split before that.

Nick Dwyer

Is it a fair assessment to make that with McCarthy it was almost like the politics were the most important thing for them, secondary was the music? If you enjoyed the music that was just the cherry on top, but they had a message.

Laetitia Sadier

Yes. Yeah, and I think maybe that’s what Tim wanted to get away from, because Tim’s priority was the music and not the politics, so there’s probably a point of tension right there. Malcolm was a very dedicated politicist, if there is such a word. He certainly wanted to change the world and he felt that politics is the tool that humans have to do so. It was very logical, very rational and logical, sometimes a bit too rational and logical I think, compared to how wonky and warpy reality can be. You can’t just cut everything with a knife, precisely.

Nick Dwyer

To you being around Malcolm and the lyrics of McCarthy, did that play a large part in influencing a future Laetitia Sadier lyric-writer?

Laetitia Sadier

Absolutely. Absolutely, because he sat me down and he said, “Don’t ever talk about your heartaches in a song.” Somehow it was like a threat. You know, like, “Or I’ll kill you.” I was like, “Alright then, better not.” Indeed, for years, it’s true, I never talk about my heartaches. Actually, I do now, but don’t tell him, OK?

Nick Dwyer

For so many years, every time you’d go to write the lyrics for a new Stereolab album would it be Malcolm appearing on your shoulder saying, “Remember what I told you!”

Laetitia Sadier

Exactly. Exactly. I really got his point. I was also politically motivated and quite an angry youth, really.

Nick Dwyer

Can you paint us a picture, because around the very end of the ‘80s, 1990, when the Stereolab story is beginning, very interesting political climate in London. I believe Thatcher was still in power. What were you arriving to from Paris in London? You were already angsty and politically charged and there were, I guess, a lot of things to be even more angsty about in London almost.

Laetitia Sadier

Yes. I believe the Tories were still in power. It wasn’t Margaret Thatcher, she’d gone out, but it was John Major I think, or someone like that. Actually, John Major wasn’t too bad when you compare him to Tony Blair. Tony Blair was a worse Tory than this poor John guy. But it’s true, Great Britain was quite depressed when I arrived, and that’s when you had the wave of the shoegazers. Which, by the way, wasn’t a compliment. If you said somebody was a shoegazer, it was not a nice thing. Now shoegaze is actually a trendy, cool thing that you should strive to be. For me it’s a bit weird. So yeah, you had these guys looking at their shoes [making whining sound] with lots of pedals because they can’t sing and they can’t play and they can’t [makes whining sound again]. And some people say, “Well, Thatcher, she killed the nerve, the creative nerve and the edge. Now we just have these amorphous bands who play amorphous music with no spine.”

I’m really exaggerating, but just to give you a flavor of what I arrived to. Still, there were bands like My Bloody Valentine, but they had had their really exciting moment and they were moving towards maybe having the pressure to create something extraordinary, and it wasn’t happening. Really, what I arrived to, what was born, and this was happening with Too Pure. I don’t know if you remember this label. It was kind of notorious at some point because they had PJ Harvey, they had Mouse on Mars, they had Stereolab, they had Pram. They had some quite hot stuff at once. I remember we went out to gigs practically every day in London, which was for me such bliss. The grunge was going on and you had bands like Th’ Faith Healers, which I don’t know if it rings a bell with anyone here, but they were quite loose. They rocked and had this girl with long hair that would go like this [shakes around head]…

People in the audience would go like this [shakes around head], and it was extremely fun. It was about, “Come on, let’s do something fun. Let’s have fun. Let’s just loosen up and not be so serious all the time about everything.” They didn’t really have any political message as such, but I think the political aspect of what they did was pretty strong because it was kicking everyone up the butt and saying, “Loosen up. Do something. Get out there. Do your stuff. Don’t be stuck up.”

Nick Dwyer

In terms of you and Tim getting out there and doing your stuff, what was that moment where you both sat down and went, “Hey, let’s start a band?”

Laetitia Sadier

It happened very organically, whereby McCarthy shut down and Tim was writing songs straight away. He would bring them to me in a wheelbarrow. “Here’s 50 songs, write lyrics please and sing them.” [laughs] Yeah, it just trickled through. It was quite good because he had experience. Basically they were signed to different… I don’t know if they actually signed anything, but they were on September Records and maybe something else and then Midnight Records. Midnight Records was very alienating, whereby, “You couldn’t do this, you couldn’t do that.” Tim really wanted freedom of action, so he was like, “OK, we’re going to start our own label. We won’t have to give any accounts to anybody,” so we did start our own label. We self-financed our first record, which I brought here a copy.

Nick Dwyer

Should we listen to a track off that?

Laetitia Sadier

Yeah, I think we should, yeah. This was completely self-made.

Nick Dwyer

It was very DIY, this whole DIY thing.

Laetitia Sadier

Exactly, and that was the point of an indie band is that you did it yourself. You didn’t go to the boss. You didn’t go to the man. In fact, you said “Fuck you” to the man.

Nick Dwyer

Everyone’s friend David would do the artwork, someone would punch the labels, everyone in the crew had their role, right?

Laetitia Sadier

Yes, exactly. These are freezer bags, by the way.

Nick Dwyer

What do you mean by freezer bags?

Laetitia Sadier

They’re the ones where you can put your meat in and then you put in the freezer. It was the perfect size. I remember Tim and I going around London to record shops with a shopping trolley — not the shopping trolley like that, but the one where you do your market with, and we’d go and sell our records to the record shops. They all took them and there were no returns. This is actually quite an expensive item now.

Nick Dwyer

How many of these were pressed up originally?

Laetitia Sadier

Does it not say?

Nick Dwyer

Oh, it probably does.

Laetitia Sadier

It’s DS. DS is Duophonic Super-45s 01. I don’t know, I’d say maybe 1,000 but I’m not sure. Let’s have a little listen.

(music: Stereolab – “The Light That Will Cease to Fail”)

Nick Dwyer

That was essentially the first ever Stereolab release, “The Light That Will,” from this incredible DIY little project that you guys started up.

Laetitia Sadier

It’s “The Light That Will Cease to Fail.” I think, indeed, that was taken from a Surrealist book. Probably from Breton, someone like that.

Nick Dwyer

Can we get another mic please? OK, so I’m going to stop you right there. This is something that went on to play a large part in influencing a lot of future Stereolab tracks, was the Surrealist movement and also the Situationist movement. Do you want to talk a bit about this? How you stumbled across these influences in the first place and what was it about them that inspired you to put pen to paper?

Laetitia Sadier

I think Tim turned me onto the Situationist movement. I think he quite liked the aspect of things that are a bit nebulous. It’s true, reality is hard to seize and to put in a box and I think he didn’t like that. Probably what was attracting him to a movement such as the Situationists, who some might argue never really existed anyway. It was just the appellation.

Nick Dwyer

Am I allowed to ask for those in this room that might be like, “Huh?” Haven’t stumbled across that just yet. In a very short version could you explain what the Situationist movement was?

Laetitia Sadier

I don’t know if it was actually such a movement to speak of, but it was built around a guy called Guy Debord, who was a very insightful guy into society. He was also very bitter, I think. But who would not be when you look at society and how it’s run and how it’s governed and the forces that govern our lives? Like capitalist forces and even the architecture? He was very sensitive to all that and wrote a classic book that’s very hard to read called La Société du spectacle.

Nick Dwyer

Which year did this come out in?

Laetitia Sadier

You and your years.

Nick Dwyer

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. We’ve talked about this before.

Laetitia Sadier

In the ’60s, La Société du spectacle. Do you know the ’60s? Anyone? If you read one page already, it’s like, “Wow.” Such an incision into all this bullshit. It’s quite scary actually, how we manipulate history and how buildings shape us and how we think, not to mention the media. Of course, he was very perceptive, and very good at pulling apart all the forces that influences. Of course, that’s very rich and I was really interested in that, because I am an idealist and I think we can improve the way we live. We could each achieve a better, fairer society.

Nick Dwyer

At that point in time when Stereolab was starting out, was that a conscious decision on your behalf to use the platform that you’ve been given to write about these sorts of things, about politics, about things that were going on in society?

Laetitia Sadier

Yes, of course. To me, there was no question about it. I think art is a real tool, a real political tool in the sense that it’s your way of acting and a way of bringing in ideas. In the late ’70s and in the ’80s there were a lot of political groups, it was no big strange thing. Gang of Four. But even in France we have Orchestra Rouge or Marc Seberg, who were very political. Even the fact of being in a band and deciding how you’re going to lead your life and being the master of your life is a political act. Really, I came from that school of things whereby I’m in charge of my life here.

Making my music and writing my lyrics brings meaning to my life. That felt absolutely fundamental to what we were doing, and we were doing it as matter of life or death, almost. I think some people pooh-poohed that. They just didn’t get it. To them, making music was, “Oh, entertainment, ha ha ha, for Saturday night.” It’s like, “No, it’s not a Saturday night thing. This is our life.” It was very serious, and at the same time, not very serious because we were just a very small pop band. We didn’t take ourselves extremely serious.

Nick Dwyer

We started off by playing some of this; this is the first release on the label Duophonic. But Duophonic was not just a record label that was for your own material, you were releasing music by other artists. I think what’s very, very interesting is, I think, what — sorry, here’s me going with the date again — but I think around about 1992, you released a compilation called Shimmies in Super 8. I think what a lot of people don’t realize when we’re talking about the history of Daft Punk is that Daft Punk the story actually began with you. Tell us about a band called Darlin’ and these young whippersnappers, these young excitable kids Guy and Thomas.

Laetitia Sadier

Guy-Manuel and Thomas Bangalter, they were friends of ours. A common friend had given us a tape by these two kids that were very young, they were 17, 18 maybe and they were called Darlin’. Darlin’ with an apostrophe. We thought, “That’s a nice track, fun pop track,” and we decided to do a little compilation, so we had Huggy Bear, who were very happening at the time. They were this riot grrrl band. I don’t know if you’ve heard of riot grrrl movement. Have you? You haven’t? You need to check your history. The riot grrrl were, like, basically a bunch of feminist women who were like, “OK, at gigs we want the girls at the front.” They even had women-only gigs and everything like that. It might have seemed a little bit silly, but unfortunately, there was a need for that because there’s still a lot of boys making music and coming to gigs and not a lot of girls.

It was a nice little kick up the butt. I remember the boys getting very defensive. “What’s this girls? What do they want? Well, they’re the riot grrls and they don’t shave their legs.” They were quite intellectual as well and they made good points and they had the energy to go [makes explosion sound], like this. We needed that. We needed that. Anyway, so you had Huggy Bear, who were a very exciting band with excited people in it and singing like this [makes yelling sound]. We had Colm, who was a band from Paris and we had Darlin’ and us. It was four-sided, two 7"s. I have to show you this. The body of Christ. [holds it up to the light] It’s pretty, no? This is also quite a rare object.

Nick Dwyer

Now worth a lot of money for Daft Punk completists, I believe.

Laetitia Sadier

Yes, possibly. That’s played on 45.

Nick Dwyer

Should we play “Cindy, So Loud”?

Laetitia Sadier

Yeah. I’m just going to put that on here. Let’s see how it goes.

(music: Darlin’ – “Cindy, So Loud”)

Nick Dwyer

Very rare Daft Punk as Darlin’. Guy on vocals, Guy-Man on vocals on the first track and I believe Laurent — the mysterious third member of Darlin’ — went on to become part of Phoenix, right?

Laetitia Sadier

Right.

Nick Dwyer

As Daft Punk folklore goes, it was the Melody Maker review of that EP where I think the reviewer was trashing them and he called it “Daft Punky Thrash,” then basically a year later they came back as Daft Punk, and yeah. Weird to think that that was all in the space of a year or two years, right?

Laetitia Sadier

Yeah, yeah, it was quite a quick turnaround.

Nick Dwyer

Did you stay in touch with them as they headed more and more into Daft Punk land?

Laetitia Sadier

I spoke to Thomas a few times, but we don’t hang out these days. But who knows.

Nick Dwyer

But hey, you played a part in that piece of French music history.

Laetitia Sadier

Yeah, yeah. Somehow, yeah.

Nick Dwyer

I think we’ll go to a video right now. Let’s get back to talking about Stereolab. We’re going to watch a video for “French Disko.” This is from a UK TV show. We’ll watch it first and then maybe you’ll be able to tell us what the TV show was. This is Stereolab, again, sorry, me with my dates, I believe 1993, this is “French Disko.”

(video: Stereolab – “French Disko” live TV performance)

Can you remember where it was? What the show was?

Laetitia Sadier

Yes, it was as you recognize it, it’s The Word. It was on Saturday night. You had this guy, do you remember his name? Terry something, no?

Audience Member

No, but I remember he was always on very late. It was like 12:00, midnight.

Laetitia Sadier

Oh, that late?

Audience Member

Yeah.

Laetitia Sadier

I don’t remember it being on so late. Yeah, so it was a Saturday. It was quite a silly show actually, where they had competitions of who would eat the most maggots or something, that kind of stuff.

Nick Dwyer

Then performances by Stereolab.

Laetitia Sadier

Yes. Actually, the presenter, whose name I forget, he saw us at the Whisky A Go Go, as he said in his Mancunian accent, when we played in LA. He was supposed to go and see some other band and he was not on the guest list, so he ended up getting a ticket to see us, we were playing down the road. He loved us and he invited us to play on his show. I think that’s one of the only two times we ever appeared on British television live.

Nick Dwyer

It must be noted that the British music media definitely embraced Stereolab. A lot of the magazines wrote very fondly, a lot of the music journalists that liked to show off their deep knowledge themselves of all these music genres like krautrock and bossa nova could flex, “Oh, I get those references, blah, blah, blah.” There’s a lot of British press that were loving to write about you guys, as opposed to the French media, which really didn’t treat Stereolab that good at all. What was the relationship between Stereolab and the French music press?

Laetitia Sadier

I would describe it as disastrous, really. There was one magazine in particular called Les Inrockuptibles, not to mention them, who just systematically shat in our backs for 17 years. They would really, really lay it on thick.

Nick Dwyer

For what reasons?

Laetitia Sadier

I don’t know. My explanation is that probably some misogyny. I couldn’t help but take it a bit personal, unfortunately for me. Les Inrock used to be a very good magazine in the ’80s, where it was one question — a good question — and an answer. Answer, question, answer. They would rewrite the speaking of whoever they were interviewing. They were very good writers, I give them that. It was a very popular magazine, because you could actually learn something and have real insights about music and why people made the music that they made. It was very exciting. Over the years it went downhill and it wasn’t this question/answer format, it was more like an article where the journalist would speak about themselves most of all, and they were somehow the star, and you were just this [blows raspberry], half a line somewhere dropped here and there. That was a new type of journalism taking over, and not just in Les Inrocks, I think it was a general thing.

Yes, these guys were also aging, and aren’t we all? And it is difficult, but I think that when Stereolab started, they really liked us actually. But what they really wanted to do was talk about McCarthy, talk about the past, because the past was somehow better than the present and the potential future. That annoyed me, I remember. It annoyed Tim as well because he wasn’t there to speak about McCarthy. He wanted to talk about Stereolab. I guess there was an element of, maybe they were starting to hype us a little bit, but we weren’t ready to be hyped, because if you’re hyped and all of a sudden you’re a huge star and you’re not ready, then that’s when bands break up, or when your nervous system breaks up. And I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen it happen to people like PJ Harvey or the Cranberries or even Pulp, when they went from nobodies to all of a sudden being megastars. It’s just not good. You don’t want that, because it’s going to give you a nervous breakdown. I don’t know, maybe I said something wrong.

Nick Dwyer

Did they see you as a French artist or did they almost see — knowing a bit about your backstory and you’d spoke on a number of occasions about how you were somewhat disillusioned with the music scene back home, you went to London — did they see you as somewhat of a traitor? Was this the case?

Laetitia Sadier

Probably. A traitor. Yeah, I’m sorry, that’s what I probably was or seemed to be. But I just didn’t feel comfortable in France and I still don’t feel comfortable in France. I love visiting. I love France. I love my friends. I love Paris. But it’s funny, each time I’m on the Eurostar and we cross the channel and we land, like magically we’re in France, and my first thought is, “I really don’t miss France.” Maybe I’m one of those people who was really born in the wrong country, like some people are born in the wrong body or something. Nothing wrong with that. We all travel more and more and we all end up in different places more and more. You don’t live in New Zealand anymore, right?

These things are quite common, really. But Stereolab and the press, we didn’t have an easy story, even in the UK. Like most press — and I think that’s because a lot of journalists are lazy — they just make boxes with stickers, and they just throw you into a box. If you happen to not quite fit any box, “Ah, you’re annoying!”

Nick Dwyer

Then what they do is they create a new box for you with a term that they’ve decided for you, and in the case of Stereolab it was “post-rock.”

Laetitia Sadier

Oh, no, that was Tortoise. We were “retro-futurist pop.”

Nick Dwyer

I think in the CD selection somewhere in the world you’re also, I think that was a subset of post-rock.

Laetitia Sadier

Oh, really?

Nick Dwyer

Yeah, yeah.

Laetitia Sadier

Post-rock? OK.

Nick Dwyer

Retro futurist rock, right?

Laetitia Sadier

Pop.

Nick Dwyer

Pop. OK. Retro futurist pop.

Laetitia Sadier

Or pop-rock in the instance of what we’ve just seen.

Nick Dwyer

We’re going to play another video right now. This is something that you particularly wanted to play as well. It was taken off an album called Mars Audiac Quintet, which, I’m speaking for myself and other people in this room and lots of people watching this video, this was one of those incredible albums. It was the first album that I discovered of Stereolab and it was one of these moments where for a lot of young people around the world, we really got opened up to a wonderful world of electronic music we didn’t know existed before, and these instruments like Moogs and Vox/Farfisa. It was like Alice in Wonderland falling down some kind of wormhole. We’re going to listen to a track off this right now. This is a track called “Ping Pong.” Before we watch the video, lyrically what is this track about?

Laetitia Sadier

Oh, sorry, it’s quite heavy. It’s basically about the cycle of destruction within the capitalist cycle of eating its own crap and engendering crisis and deeper in the war to repair everything, to get the economy back on track, produce, produce, produce, repair, rebuild and then another crisis. Except that now we’re at a stage where it’s not a crisis anymore. Can we call this a crisis? It’s not a crisis, right, because a crisis happens and then you either die or fall off the cliff or you change and you evolve and we’re just stuck. Since I was born, it’s been La crise économique. Now we’re just stuck, so I’m tending to think now that we are in a war. We are at war and there are people who are out there to suck our wealth, our energy, our work and make it as cheap as possible to reap the benefits for their own profit. We don’t even know that they are waging war against us. It’s a strange kind of war admittedly, but I think we’re just in the war at the moment of this cycle.

Nick Dwyer

We’ll watch this video now. This is definitely the subject matter what a 14-year-old is not thinking about, and then going back, rediscovers all this.

Laetitia Sadier

They should.

Nick Dwyer

Yeah. No, definitely. This is Stereolab with a track called “Ping Pong.”

(music: Stereolab — “Ping Pong”)

What are the lyrics of the chorus there? “Bigger wars, bigger slumps”?

Laetitia Sadier

And a “shallower recovery.” It’s funny, now I see what is the suitcase, he’s Mr. Capitalist who’s stealing our money. That’s what he is. Sometimes it takes a while for the penny to drop.

Nick Dwyer

Sometimes 21 years.

Laetitia Sadier

Oui. C’est la vie.

Nick Dwyer

Talk to us a bit about how the process of how a Stereolab track would come together at this point. You talked about this notion of Tim is literally in the lab, he’s gone away, he brings this wheelbarrow full of tracks to you and then you have lyrics. How do you go about writing for something like that? I guess, on the surface, if that was an instrumental, you’ve got such a sweet poppy soundscape and you’re like, “Right. I’ve got some subject matter for this one.”

Laetitia Sadier

As I said, music was not just mere entertainment to us. I don’t know if it’s because I was born in May ’68 or what, but I always felt quite, “Why are things the way they are?” Because there’s big discrepancies. To me it feels, I don’t know, it’s just not right. Things are not right, and when I see something that’s not right I want to put it right. Somehow I could never accept that people are so accepting of the status quo, which is serving them to a degree, but, in fact not even that much. OK, I’m a bit older now and I guess I have to accept that maybe the changes will come about in a slow fashion, but still I felt there I have a tool. And, I mean, music changed my life. I went to see some bands, I walked in a particular person and I would walk out a different person. And I did believe and had experience on very intimate levels the power of art at large. It’s not just music. It can be a movie.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with Mississippi Records. The guy who runs it has inherited 300 hours of filming by this 70-year-old guy who in the late ’70s and ’80s bought a little camcorder and he went to film an America that he felt was vanishing. Basically, he went to film poor people of America and how they lived and just how they played their music. It was mostly black people, but some white people also. Anyway, Mississippi Records made a presentation of some of these hours edited together. I saw this presentation of this America that was vanishing — not that poverty is vanishing, but that kind of people and ways of living, and I walked out, my brain was wired differently. I believe in the power of that. To me, what’s the point in going to see an exhibition that just does nothing to you, that makes you feel nothing or makes you think nothing or very little, our horrible thoughts, or disgusting thoughts? I want to see something that will make me react, has some grit, where I’m going to walk out a different but better person somehow, or more aware.

I felt it was important. It just felt very natural, in fact. It was not like, oh, scratching my head, “What shall I talk about?” No, it was like, “Well, this system is just appalling. We’re having to serve it when it should be serving us, and the governments are serving the system when they should be serving us.” All this, also, election thing, it just seemed like an absurdity that we all think, “Oh well, it’s democracy.” Actually no, it’s not democracy. It’s everything but democracy, in fact. There were notions such as autonomy, which seemed very important to me, that we have to strive at being autonomous. That means we give ourselves our own law and if everybody does that, then we’re all empowered of our own law and we’re more inclined to relate to each other in better ways. Sorry, I’m not explaining very well, but just as an idea rather than someone imposing the law on everyone.

Nick Dwyer

I think you are. One thing that must be asked, you were writing about these things 21 years ago and even 20, well nearly 30 years ago when McCarthy was around, you’re writing about these issues, and now more than ever before these things are so out in the open. Are you still as charged as you were 21 years ago to write about these things? Do you ever get to a point where you’re like, “What’s the point? It’s just 21 years have gone on, I’ve been writing about these things and nothing happens. It’s only getting worse”?

Laetitia Sadier

No, I still want to write about these things. I think maybe twenty years ago I was going head-on. I think it’s difficult because we’re faced with the human factor, and humans are vulnerable and they’re corruptible and they can be cowards and all sorts of things like that. It’s like, well, accept that, respect that, and how to bring people around to surpass, to surmount their cowardice our whatever it is that’s keeping us down there and keeping us from taking our power into our hands. The state of thing is normal whereby you have corporations who are going to want to suck the life out of the workers. That’s a normal thing, but what’s not normal, I think, is that people aren’t going, “Hey, what the fuck? This is my wealth. This is my power. I want it back.” This is where I want to be acting here, like as an artist, to think around just that point here. Not go, “Ah, the bad ones! The bad corporations!” We all know they’re terrible, and as you say that’s very out in the open. But what isn’t is our relationship to that and the way we react in the face of that, in the face of this open theft that is going on right under our eyes and noses.

Nick Dwyer

We’re going to play another track now, which I don’t think is that political, “Cybele’s Reverie”?

Laetitia Sadier

“Cybele’s Reverie.”

Nick Dwyer

OK. My French is terrible.

Laetitia Sadier

Reverie.

Nick Dwyer

Reverie.

Laetitia Sadier

You say that in English, a reverie.

Nick Dwyer

Oh, yeah, a reverie. I was about to say, my French is terrible, so I don’t know what the lyrics are about, because this track is actually in French.

Laetitia Sadier

And there’s no such word as “entrepreneur” in French.

Nick Dwyer

What is this track about?

Laetitia Sadier

It’s about childhood, and about my swing in my childhood. But don’t tell Malcolm from McCarthy, OK?

(music: Stereolab – “Cybele’s Reverie”)

Nick Dwyer

One more time, the name of that track was?

Laetitia Sadier

“Cybele’s Reverie.”

Nick Dwyer

Taken off an album called Emperor Tomato Ketchup. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of Stereolab fans that would hate me if I didn’t ask. Quite possibly the most incredible and imaginative album titles in the history of music from Stereolab, personal favorite Cobra Phrases in the —

Laetitia Sadier

Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night. Did I get it right?

Nick Dwyer

You got it right. Who came up with the album titles?

Laetitia Sadier

Tim did.

Nick Dwyer

Right, right, right.

Laetitia Sadier

My album titles are like, The Trip.

Nick Dwyer

Which I think, OK, with that response there you’ve taken me to a point that I wanted to talk about, which is, undeniably, for so many people around the world you were the voice of Stereolab. This was Stereolab to them. Obviously, the music side of things, which was Tim’s contribution, was a very, very large element as well, they were both equal. Yet, ultimately, it’s your voice on every track. But you’re not able to ultimately have a say in how your voice ends up. Is that correct? Is that what was happening at the time?

Laetitia Sadier

Yeah. As I said, it was no democracy, Stereolab. And that’s fair enough, but yeah, Tim took most of the artistic decisions in terms of writing, composition, arrangements, and I had no say. I did want to write songs. I had songs in me, certainly.

Nick Dwyer

It must be noted, you were playing keys. When you would perform live, you were playing which instruments?

Laetitia Sadier

I played the Moog. I can’t really play keyboards like that. I could play notes and go [makes crazy synth sounds]. That was a lot of fun, but I wanted to write songs. In fact, I discovered I wanted to write songs because I would dream of songs. I would go, “Oh! I wrote a song in my dream.” It was like a wet dream. I felt I had to have my own outlet, and the only way to have my own outlet was to, is to have my own band our my own formation — solo project, as they call it. Indeed, that’s how I formed Monade, and it took me three years to realize that I was in a band called Stereolab with my boyfriend, and I went off solo and I called myself Monade. Three years for that.

Nick Dwyer

Three years and then that penny dropped. Before we hear a track from Monade, I’d like to ask you if it’s okay, just how difficult is that a situation to be in? I’m sure so many other people in this room find themselves in a musically creative environment where they’re collaborating with other people and they get a say in what’s happening. You’re in a situation where it’s, as you say, it’s not a democracy, but it just so happens that person you’re collaborating with is also your boyfriend. How do you balance creative partner with life partner?

Laetitia Sadier

I found it very difficult. It’s another one of those things that sounds ideal, but I think it was far from ideal. Although we are collaborating, as we will see later on with another video, I just don’t want really to be in a collaborative project with my boyfriend. I was a bit traumatized by that somehow. I got over it, but it was difficult. I don’t know, I felt like I was more like an object rather than an active participant in this, and it wasn’t a nice feeling really. We were young and we’re insecure and… things were the way they were and it’s fantastic. I really learned lot, but it wasn’t always fun to be in that situation.

It’s difficult to stand at the front of stage and to sing your lyrics. It’s difficult to write lyrics, to write good lyrics. I was thrown into that role, because that’s what Tim didn’t want to do. Yeah, it’s difficult also to sing in front of people, so I had to learn all that on the spot. I’m very thankful actually that I did, but it was difficult. Tim was hiding away with his guitar. It’s like, if you have a problem, if you have a cold you can still play the guitar, but singing when you have a cold or you’re jetlagged and you just arrived and you have to play a show, it’s going to show in the voice, much more so than it will show in your keyboard or your guitar. You’re more exposed as a singer, and I felt that I was doing the awkward role. But still, I embraced it and I loved it and I learned a lot, so I can’t complain really.

Nick Dwyer

All right, we’re going to listen to something from Monade right now. All of a sudden, you developed this solo project. Just how liberating was it to have a project now where it was your lyrics, but you actually determined and dictated what the music was as well?

Laetitia Sadier

It was extremely liberating and very fun. I would say that the Monade projects, I did three albums, were really like a playground, because I had to construct my own identity, but within a school that was Tim’s school of music, as I called it. I had to find my own voice, who I was. I’m still looking for that, but I did have my playground and just tried things and whatever. I didn’t feel the consequences would be, if there were any, it wasn’t really important. The important thing was to do it, which I did. I haven’t heard this, I think, even since it came out. But anyway it’s called “Cache Cache.” It’s one of my first tracks. Let’s have a look.

(music: Monade — “Cache Cache”)

Nick Dwyer

With regard to what was happening with Monade, it must be noted Stereolab was still going on, but in terms of, lyrically and the way you’d approach songwriting for the work you were doing with Monade, is there things that you thought that you could do with Monade that you couldn’t do with Stereolab from a lyrical perspective?

Laetitia Sadier

No, from a lyrical perspective I had complete freedom in Stereolab, so it was indifferent. But it’s true that at the beginning of doing Monade, I feel like my concern was more placed on the music, my attention, and the lyric was more accessory. I remember writing, I was pregnant with my son, so it was called “Cache Cache” because he was supposed to come out on a certain due date and he took much longer to come out.

Nick Dwyer

What does “Cache Cache” mean?

Laetitia Sadier

It means “hide and seek.” It was a song, well, don’t be scared of coming out, even if the world might seem like a somber place. To come out and play. Yes, it’s very emotional to hear this, because now I know why I don’t play my records because it makes me want to cry. Mary is all over this. She’s playing the keyboard and she’s singing. I totally remember being pregnant like this and Mary playing the keyboards and me engineering. There was this idea, because Mary and I were both feminists, not with-the-hat feminist, but in the sense that we’re women and we want to do it. There was a real conscious effort behind the fact that we’re doing it and we had to do it as women, because we were. There was the riot grrrl movement and it was like, “Hey girls, get up and do it!” There’s also all this behind it, like, “Yeah, we’re women and we’re doing it.” That was fun and I can only encourage women to do it, because it’s right, that’s when you’re actually engaging in life is when you’re doing things. Anyway, that also reminds me all of this.

Nick Dwyer

One thing I’ve got to point out, the last two tracks that we heard you were singing in French. And maybe there’s absolutely no grand decision behind it at all, but for a lot of people in this room, a lot of them English is a second language, and yet you jump between English sometimes and the native language sometimes. For you, how do you know if the track is going to be sung in French or English? Are there certain things you feel that you can express in French that you can’t in English? Yeah, is there anything behind that?

Laetitia Sadier

It in the beginning I was happy to sing in English because it was, one, that much removed from me, so it was more impersonal and I enjoyed that somehow, as part of a program to run away from myself. Then I realized, “OK, this running away from myself is not serving me, so I should come back, and come back home.” I guess that’s when I embraced singing in French. Also, and then it became just this very mechanical thing, that as soon as I got too comfortable writing in one language I would automatically revert to the other. I don’t know why I had to make it hard on myself like that, but that was just my way.

Nick Dwyer

Something that you mentioned before, which was the tragic death of your co-vocalist, Mary, which happened around about 2002, which was a pretty tumultuous time for the group. Mary was tragically killed in a car accident. Not only that, but I believe around that time, as you mentioned before, Tim was your boyfriend. You’d had a baby together and that relationship ended as well. Yet you’re still in the band, carrying on and putting on a brave face. Just how difficult is it to keep this thing that you’ve all created going on where internally things aren’t the best?

Laetitia Sadier

It was very difficult. It was a very difficult time of separation and loss, one for which music can be a very real help, where you can pour your sadness or when it came to losing Mary and we were writing Margerine Eclipse and I ended up having to sing all her parts, because she was gone. It was really, really sad, really sad time. It took me a few years really to assimilate and recover, but I’m still extremely sad over losing Mary. I don’t know if I’ve actually completely accepted her death. To me, she’s still in the room right next door.

Nick Dwyer

I’m just being very conscious of time and very soon I’m going to throw it over to these guys for questions, but it must be noted, 2007, your manager Martin Pike, who’s part of Duophonic as well, the label, posted a not-so-cryptic message online and said that, yes, Stereolab will be going on an “indefinite hiatus.” Always it comes with the inverted commas, “indefinite hiatus,” but that was at that point in your career where you stepped out solo. Was it hard to make that decision that, “OK, it’s been 19 years, there’s been ups and downs, but we’ve got this amazing body of work. Let’s call it a day.”

Laetitia Sadier

No. It was harder to be in Stereolab by this stage than for it to end. It was Tim’s call anyway, and it felt like it was the right time to give it a rest at least. To this day, I still don’t know if we’re ever going to reform or what. But as far as I’m concerned I haven’t stopped making music, and this playground has developed into something, I like to think, more formed, and it’s still taking on a shape, as I guess all art is. I don’t think you ever arrive there, and if you do maybe it’s not such a good thing.

For me the end of Stereolab was actually the end of something that had become quite painful. The relationships in the band were not so fun, and I didn’t like being the only woman in the band. That I find really tedious, in fact. I’m just really, really happy now to be making my own music on my own terms and refining that. I have a great band, which are playing at La Gaîté tomorrow opening for Nicolas Godin. Were a trio and it’s great. I’m very happy with what I’m doing now and I’m not like, “Oh, I hope Stereolab’s going to reform.” If it does, great, because I’m not going to lie to you and say I hate Stereolab. I love the music and I will sing Tim’s songs any day of my life I think. On a human level, I’m very happy to be where I’m at today.

Nick Dwyer

It must be noted for everyone in this room that you and Tim, there’s been a couple of occasions in the last couple of years where you’ve got up on one of his side projects and sung a song. There’s a great friendship that’s still there. Or there’s a friendship that’s still there. [laughter]

Laetitia Sadier

There’s something there. [laughter]

Nick Dwyer

We’ll watch a video right now. This is video number four to the technical guys. It must be noted as well, you’re now recording and touring.

Laetitia Sadier

I hope it’s “Dry Fruit” we’re going to see.

Nick Dwyer

Yeah, this it’s “Dry Fruit” we’re going to see.

Laetitia Sadier

Because I’ve had enough of Stereolab now.

Nick Dwyer

We’re at video number four, which is “Dry Fruit” territory. Yes, you’re now recording and touring under your own name.

Laetitia Sadier

Yes, indeed. Yeah, we just finished an American tour with my trio. It was nice because people came. We had crowds every night in every town and people came to see me and not Stereolab. Of course, they probably love Stereolab as well, and some of them actually would come and apologize and say, “I’m sorry, I don’t know Stereolab.” I’m like, “Oh great, how refreshing.” Not that there’s a competition, but it’s true, it’s a double-edged sword coming out of something that has such a reputation and a body of work, as you say, and establishing myself as my own work, my own thing.

Nick Dwyer

Again, that’s something that applies to a lot of people in this room, stepping out solo. There’s been times in the last few years where it’s literally just been you, right? Without a backing band. And it’s you packing up the guitar and getting on the plane and touring the world. How difficult was that?

Laetitia Sadier

It’s been so formative and so fantastic. Already from the point of view of just being with myself and traveling with myself and getting to know myself has been fantastic, and I think very important to manage that. When you’re in a band you’re going to hang out with your mates and be absolutely forced to be open to the world and whoever is coming to me, and go towards people also. I’m so lucky. It’s been so beautiful. Also, people who come to the shows or invite me, such music lovers. Practically all these people are my friends today. It’s like meeting peers. So it’s been really, really excellent.

Nick Dwyer

We’re going to watch a video. This is “Dry Fruit.”

(music/video: Laetitia Sadier — “Dry Fruit”)

I think one of the final questions from me, Laetitia, before we hand things over, is what keeps you constantly motivated to get up — I don’t know if it’s every day, but every few days — in the garden of information out there you constantly find little corners to tend to and get new things and turn those things, those sources of inspiration into lyrics for songs?

Laetitia Sadier

There is so much out there really, and I feel life is too short even to begin scratching the surface. Hopefully life’s not over, but there’s a lot to tend to.

Nick Dwyer

Before we say goodbye, questions from the audience?

Audience Member

Hi. I had a question about what you said before about being active and being aware of the time where you live and stuff. You’re a singer, so you can say stuff directly to people who listen to you, and offer you about. I have to say something. I’m a producer, so I don’t sing. My question is — it’s not really a question, but I need some ides and I really want to know how you feel about expression, but without words?

Laetitia Sadier

OK, I don’t know what to say exactly. But I think there’s many forms of language out there. Architecture is a language and music is a language. Mathematics is a language and I’m sure in production you probably have things to say, lots of things to say in fact on how you’re going to produce a track, what effects or no effects. I would imagine it’s pretty rich actually, a form of expression that’s not heard directly like, “Now I’m singing a song with words in it and these words have meaning.” It’s probably more subdued, but I think on some subtle level it’s pretty powerful how things are produced. Some people, usually other producers, listen out for that language and totally know how to detect it and to interpret it and explain it. To most people, it’s true, it’s subliminal and you won’t articulate it ever, but who’s not to say that you receive it in an impactful way?

Audience Member

OK, thank you.

Audience Member

Hi, thanks for being here. Before you mentioned Debord, and as a French artist and as a left-oriented musician — I think you are a lefty, not the right, I think — I was thinking if you are inspired maybe from the work of Gilles Deleuze, because a lot of musicians are inspired by the work of Gilles Deleuze. Today, actually, is the anniversary of his death, was 20 years ago. And I was thinking about if he inspired your work somehow?

Laetitia Sadier

Yeah, actually, indeed there’s a song that’s inspired pretty directly by Gilles Deleuze, it’s called “Becoming.” I think he was pretty up on the idea of divenire [in English, to become], the possibility of divenire and the non-tragic possibility of divenire. That really inspired me because, as a French person I felt in this country …and this is me as an adolescent or growing up person in France. I never went to music school and my parents didn’t encourage me to become a musician. I was in total opposition with my class, my parents, society. And somehow if you’re an academic and if you’d gone to school, or if God had touched you and said, “You are an artist. You are a musician,” then you are okay. And I was none of that.

I wanted to become that, and I think that in France you were not allowed to become anything unless you were already born in it or somehow you were sanctified at some point by someone who had said, “Okay. You’re okay,” or the press or something. I felt, “Fuck that, I’m out of here.” First opportunity, I went to London where it was okay to become something. It was okay to just get your amps, get a rehearsal room somewhere cheap as possible and write your songs and do it. It was more action, where you were going to become and become and become. I think we’re all becoming and we should remind ourselves of this dimension. That’s thanks to Deleuze. Sorry to close on this, I’m more of a Castoriadis girl myself.

Audience Member

First of all, thank you for all the great music, you’ve been a huge inspiration in a lot of ways. You’ve talked a lot about your left wing politics and Deleuze. You’ve talked about Deleuze now, but also Debord, Situationism. Speaking of that, how do you feel about the fact that all of this is facilitated and paid for by a huge corporation that makes soft drinks with caffeine in it? What are your thoughts on that?

Laetitia Sadier

OK, it’s interesting. I hope I’m not going to get slagged. You’ll never see me drink that. I think it tastes like bad medicine, but that’s my taste. If it wasn’t sponsored by a big corporation, I guess, then maybe the state would be sponsoring that. Would that be okay? I don’t know. I’m aware of that and it’s true, money talks. I’m being paid to sit here and speak and you are probably too and it’s true all of this is facilitated by the money of corporations. I mean, I can’t celebrate it, but at the moment I can’t either spit in the soup, as we say, and say it’s bad. I don’t know, it’s just how it is. I don’t know, what do you think?

Audience Member

I’m pretty much on board with you because obviously everybody’s here, everybody’s having a good time creating music, getting together and meeting awesome people, having awesome conversations, hopefully opening some minds here, so all that is positive. But obviously there’s an exchange here. There’s also, I guess, it’s kind of controversial to say this because this is paid by the corporation, so this is kind of a disruption, I guess.

Laetitia Sadier

No, not at all, not at all. I think you’re touching upon something that’s very real. This is the reality. At the moment that’s how it is, but I think we can still work at maybe giving corporations less power to overtake the world. Now it’s just chains everywhere overtaking in my area where I live, it’s like chains are arriving on a big scale and I don’t want chains, I want Mr. Smith, butcher and Mrs. whatever rather than these chains. I just can’t stand it. The chains is just one aspect of it that hits us on a daily basis. I totally disagree with that. Yes, money can buy also culture and this kind of events. That’s at least one good side of it, so I’m not going to diss it. But still I don’t like how corporations are given all this power to exploit workers and give them less and less rights and less and less pay and et cetera, et cetera. I think that should be tackled somehow. Politically and maybe on the streets at some point and en masse. You know, millions, millions of people. It’s a very, very large subject, but you’re right. Any other questions?

Audience Member

That’s a tough one to follow. Stereolab was a really important band for me because I think they had such a rich DNA, alongside, say, Broadcast our even Fairport Convention, there was so much more than just one band that came with the territory. I’m wondering, was Stereolab a laboratory experiment for Tim our was there ever a situation where you guys went into a room and jammed?

Laetitia Sadier

We never jammed.

Audience Member

That’s what I expected. The second question was just —

Laetitia Sadier

It was forbidden to jam.

Audience Member

That’s interesting. To bring it to the present day, how do you find being a woman in the industry now in comparison to the late ’90s?

Laetitia Sadier

I find there’s more women in the industry, more women who are in bands. Yesterday I went to see band called Deradoorian play. In fact, they were our support act in America and they were playing in London, so I went to see them.

Nick Dwyer

She was a participant here last year. She was sitting on that side just last year in Tokyo.

Laetitia Sadier

Right, OK. Angel —

Nick Dwyer

Angel.

Laetitia Sadier

Deradoorian, fantastic. Yeah, absolutely brilliant, very brilliant music, her and her sister. They had a support band and there was two women on guitars and two men, drums and bass. I’m finding there’s quite a lot more women who are doing it and doing it well. I discovered this band called the Savages, a super, super rock band. I find there’s probably more women, yeah. Still, it’s not equal, but I don’t know, should it be? That’s also a very big topic.

Nick Dwyer

Are there any more questions? I tell you what, ladies and gentlemen, we look forward to the show tomorrow night. Super excited about that. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for Laetitia Sadier.