Clap your Bewitched Hands

The six musicians of the Reims band The Bewitched Hands recently gave a concert outside their city’s famous cathedral. A one-off show, it featured a choir dressed up as “ghost monks”. But there is nothing scary about the French group, nor about its music. In fact, with its angelic harmonies and sweet refrains, it creates a strong feeling of euphoria. Sure, the new album may be entitled Vampiric Way, but that may well be because it has imbibed blood from the veins of groups like Arcade Fire, the B-52’s, Architecture in Helsinki, and Madness – the best of pop, in other words.

Your name has become shorter over the years. Originally, it was The Bewitched Hands on the Top of Our Heads. Today, it’s The Bewitched Hands. Back home in Reims, people talk about The Bewitched. Where’s it going to stop?
Benjamin Pinard: At first there were a dozen of us involved in the project. We looked for a name that would be based on that idea of a crowd. The name has been a big help: when you turn up on the poster for a festival where nobody knows you, a name as long as that attracts attention. People came to see us out of curiosity. But at the end of the day nobody was able to pronounce our name correctly. When we brought out the first album, we decided to simplify things. [Smiles]

With a concert accompanied by ghost monks and an album entitled Vampiric Way, one would expect you to be lovers of zombies and low-budget horror films.
Pinard: We’re pretty keen on that kind of stuff. On Vampiric Way there is also a link with the resourceful side of low-budget cinema: we were responsible for the composition and writing of the songs, we took on all the graphic aspects, we designed the sleeve, and we’re involved in our own videos. So we came up with a whole package of crazy ideas that are sometimes, it’s true, a bit bizarre.

You entrusted the production of your first album to the DJ and producer Yuksek. A strange choice.
Pinard: Yuksek is our neighbour. We have known him for years. One day he asked us to rework one of his pieces (“Tonight”). He wanted a folk version for the B-side of the single. We recorded something in one night and his label brought out our cover. When the professionals received his single, they thought at first that Yuksek had done a cover of our song – exactly the opposite of what had happened! That anecdote helped to make our name. Up to then, we were playing in bars to three people. And then, from one day to the next, we were getting offers from Sony, Columbia, and other big outfits. For Vampiric Way we worked with Julien Delfaud who has produced albums for Etienne de Crécy, Phoenix, and Woodkid.

Your songs crossed the Franco-Belgian border after your victory in the CQFD (“Ceux qu’il faut découvrir”) competition organised by the magazine Les Inrockuptibles. Was that a decisive development?
Pinard: It was a friend who entered us for the competition; we hadn’t asked anyone to do anything. In the end, the jury voted for our entry. That’s when we realised how big the thing was. That victory changed our perception of the group. We started taking things more seriously. It gave us a hell of a boost. I’m not saying we owe everything to Les Inrockuptibles. But our success in the competition did a lot to make us known in France and elsewhere.

The Bewitched Hands 13/12, 19.30, €11/14, BOTANIQUE, Koningsstraat 236 rue Royale, Sint-Joost-ten-Node/Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, 02-218.37.32, info@botanique.be, www.botanique.be