Upclose with Marc Collin of Nouvelle Vague
Talented multi-instrumentalist Marc Collin is the co-founder of one the world’s most original cover bands, Nouvelle Vague, who specialize in lounge and bossanova versions of classic songs by the likes of New Order and The Buzzcocks. They’ll be in town again this year for Le French May. Collin chats with Johannes Pong.
HK: Why dust off old post-punk New Wave songs?
MC: I’ve always enjoyed New Wave, and actually discovered bossanova much later afterwards. I thought, hmm, they share the same sad and romantic style, that melancholic feel. So it would be good to put them together.
HK: Did you enjoy your gig in Hong Kong last year? We all did.
MC: Well, it was not the best show we did in Asia. I remember there were like, venue police telling people to sit down at the concert. This year there will be none of that!
HK: It’ll be a different venue, so, hopefully yes. What’s new this time?
MC: We have Melanie Pain, our crazy Frenchwoman, and the brilliant Nadeah Miranda from Australia replacing Phoebe Killdeer this time round. The material we’ll be performing from our third album “Nv3” is moving away from bossa style, so you might hate it, haha. It’s more of a country-western sound—bluegrass, folk, Americana. I guess you could call it cabaret rock.
HK: What do you like to do in your spare time besides music?
MC: I’m interested in a lot of things: cinema, literature, politics. Very French things. Euh... I try to do some sports as well. Squash and jogging. And I like to travel.
HK: Will you get a chance to explore our city after the show?
MC: We’ll head to Taipei right after, so no. But I actually took a vacation in January and came to Hong Kong. I got to walk around and eat Chinese food.
HK: How’s Hong Kong compared to the rest of Asia?
MC: I need to explore Asia. I definitely prefer Hong Kong to Singapore. It’s too... sterile.