Ok, so Montreal’s Bhopal’s Flowers is another psychedelic indie rock band leaning heavy on the sitar for atmosphere, but wait! Don’t walk away yet, there is a little bit more to it that might meet the eyes and ears at first. Quite different from every Brian Jonestown Massacre clone out there Bhopal’s brings their psych with a delightfully fresh and positive outlook, corresponding with the baby booklet artwork.
And then again, when you really look at that album cover you’ll see exactly what this band is about. There is a deeper connection with hindustani pop culture hidden there, references to ancient mythology, and the joy of newborn life (singer Lionel Pezzano recently became a father). The music is multi layered and harder to pigeonhole than -again- a first glance might tell. There are pure pop songs, dramatic choirs, hazy psych janglers, atmospheric jams, and a subtle influence of “French” pop music that pops up every now and then. Enough to enjoy for open minded music fans therefore. Just don’t be fooled by first impressions. Let’s be honest though, you are reading Weirdo Shrine, you must be ready to walk a little further to take a peak at what is around that corner…
I connected with Lionel Pezzano over the internet, and we luckily we hit it off quite well! We get some new insights about the band, their home town Montreal, and the ephemeral inspiration when making music.
How are you? How has the pandemic period been for Bhopal’s Flowers?
I’m fine, thank you. I really love this time of the year, when fall and winter are spreading their mystic vibes in our lives, meanwhile turning down our daily scenery to a lovely painting.
The pandemic has affected Bhopal’s Flowers regarding our live team, as our former drummer, Jeremy Thoma, has left Canada for good at the very first stage of the pandemic. As many shows were planned and never booked back, it has affected our shows and touring development. Now that I am a bit more free as Joy Of The 4th has been released, I’ll try to focus a bit more on the live aspect of Bhopal’s Flowers music. I’ve always been a lonely boy, so the Covid effect has totally emphasized this tendency to enjoy loneliness, in my personal and music life.
Can you introduce the band, and how did you meet?
Bhopal’s Flowers was born in France in 2013, with Jeremy Thoma on drums (I used to play with his father actually, who was introduced to me by my uncle, ”Cap”, my musical mentor), Eric Steiger on guitar, Lorenzo Vespa on drums, Marlène B. on keyboards. The line up has changed when Jeremy and I moved to Canada, we hired Blandine on backing vocals / percussions and Jonathan St Laurent on bass. Since Jeremy has left Canada, he has been replaced by Sergio d’Isanto (from ”Bye Parula”), and Antoine Marquet (who drives ”Antoine Aspirine”) on guitar / keyboard.
What can you tell me about your musical backgrounds?
I’ve been learning the guitar at the age of 11 with a country musician, Jo Luthringer, supervised by my uncle, who taught me an eclectic repertoire. I quickly composed my own music and drove a band entitled ”Friends Of P.” from 1997 to 2006. We used to play new-wave indie rock, between Radiohead and The Cure. I then studied classical music, meanwhile composing electro rock and Indo-Persian electronica for a while. I went deep into Persian classical music (on the târ and the sétâr) and Hindustani classical music (on the sitar).
Just before leaving France to Canada, I started a trio named Youngstown, a country band with the classical rock structure (as Nirvana or The Police) guitar / bass/ drums. We developed a very unique sound due to our influences and the fact that we were very few on stage in contrary to usual country formation with fiddle, pedal steel, two guitars etc …
On the side, Album after album, I developed the skills of a music engineer and later, at the Mandragore studio in Montréal, 5 years as an employee, and nowadays as a happy partner.
During all this time, I never stopped composing and recording my own music, but many albums were never released for multiple reasons. A dozen albums, produced and recorded are sleeping on my desktop, waiting to be released one of these days.
What does a regular day in your life look like?
I am teaching music during the daytime, and recording music at the studio during the night time, which leaves very few spots for sleeping and getting rest. In the middle of these two activities, I am having fun with my little 21 months boy, and practicing the sitar, which requires a lot of discipline. I try to read as much as I can, sometimes on the lunch break, sometimes at night, mainly anthroposophic readings by Rudolf Steiner. During the weekends, I can focus deeply on hindustani music, as the ragas we learn are linked with a specific daytime, I grab the opportunity to practice ragas that I don’t have the chance to play during the busy week (mostly early morning & mid afternoon ragas). My life is fulfilled with music and all my daily thoughts are heading to this art, wether they are philosophal or practical.
What is the story about the band name? Did the Bhopal disaster play a role in choosing it?
It is indeed related with the Bhopal disaster. I didn’t know about it when I was young. I was 20, when I concretized my interest into hindustani music. At that time, my music was a bit much happier than when I was younger, but still with a melancholic spleen at its bottom. Bhopal’s Flowers reflected to me this tendency, beauty that grows on the pain.
Where do you live and what is the environment like for musicians like you?
I live in Montreal since 2016. Before that, I used to live in the East of France, a province called Alsace (the most beautiful !! haha). I am sorry for that boring answer but I have no idea about musician’s environment as I am not connected to this community. I know some people, some musicians, but we’re not very close. That is not a will from me to be disconnected to the musicians community, just a simple fact. The fact that I have a regular job on the side, keeps my away from musicians who generally have more free time to hangout together during the daytime. But artistic life is very developed here in Montreal.
What is your main aim with your music, is it complete artistic expression, or an escape from the every day world? (or something else ;))
Both I think ! The every day world is an illusion, the real world is made out of vibration and spirit. I try to reach the invisible through music. It then hits the material world, and gives me back everything I have: my wife, my family, my friends, my job, my skills, all of this happen because of my music effort. Regarding my bank account or my popularity, it looks like I am not making music for fame or money, and it is fine like this, even though it is tough to deal with my daily job and artistic ambitions. To me, music is a permanent quest and and perpetual enjoyment.
Can you tell me about how you go about composing and recording songs?
For Bhopal’s Flowers, I always compose with a 12 strings guitar, or with the sitar. It can be a riff on the 12 strings, as well as an harmonic chord progression that hits my mind. Once I get one of these elements, I goes pretty fast in general. I then spend more time to hire a drummer to play the parts I programmed and mixing properly the whole stuff. When I compose on the sitar, I try to find a good melody or concept from a specific raga (as raga are based on scales). Believe me or not, I compose a lot of songs meanwhile teaching music to my students: when you play very simple things and really pay attention to the beauty of simplicity, you have a much better accurate vision of beauty then when you play loud at 140 bpm.
What is “the dream” when it comes to being an artist?
As music doesn’t come from Earth but from the spiritual region of the Devachan, and is translated by musicians and composers for our physical world (even if they do it unconsciously). My dream is to write music that is the closest from the Devachan’s one. I always heard that Devachanic music could be represented by a giant gong, and that our Earthly music is just the shadow of its magnificence. My dream is that my music looks the closest as possible from the Devachanic one. It takes at least one life !
What should the Weirdo Shrine reader do after reading this interview?
They should ask to themselves: ”Why can’t I remember the Devachanic music whereas my astral body and my self spend all their nights there, and that I have resided there between each reincarnation?”
Weirdo Shrine 