After the split of the band Norb's and Daniel played in No Reason Voices.
They issued 2 7" "Give Us A Better Place To Live" and "Airwick System".
Romu, Math et Norb's play together in Creve-Coeur since 2010,
and recorded a full-length album "L'aube se lève toujours" in 2012.

Bio of the band

Interview made with Fred (1998)

Les Partisans are one of the most promising street punk band of the country. Almost unknown one year ago, they reached a fairly large audience by playing gigs in a large area of France. With the issue of the debut EP, their name sounds now familiar to all the people involved in the punk scene. Let's make Fred the singer/guitarist tell us more about the band ...

Q : Who are Les Partisans, and how long have you been together ?

LP : We've been together in Lyon since November 94 with Daniel (guitar, backing vocals), Fred (leading vocals, guitar), Mathieu (bass, backing vocals), Norbert (drums, backing vocals). Since January 96, Jeff (trumpet, trombone, backing vocals) has joined us. Since January 98, Romuald has replaced Daniel (guitar, backing vocals). We have done so far around 40 gigs. We played in Paris the 29th of June, which is important for us. Our first demo "Aujourd'hui et toujours" (today and ever) was recorded on 4 tracks. It contained 10 songs and was distributed in France and Europe. About 400 copies were made. In fact, we were very successfull with the distribution because of the numerous reviews and articles in punk zines and alternative radios. In January 97 the split LP with Jack the Lad (Oi USA) was issued by the German label Mad Butcher Records. Each band had nine songs. In March 97, release of the second single "L'important c'est d'y croire" (the most important is to believe in it), 1000 copies made by Moloko Records. In May 97, the self-titled debut LP comes out on Teenage Rebel Records, 1000 copies for the vinyl version, 1000 for the CD version.

Q : How would you define Les Partisans' music ?

LP : it's hard to find a musical label, our style is reflecting what we're listening to, at least we hope this ! More precisely, punk rock influenced by bands like the Clash or the UK Subs, or street punk like the one of the Cockney Rejects or Cock Sparrer for the British bands, but also influenced by the French punk scene of our teens La Souris Deglinguee, Wunderbach, Oberkampf, les Warriors Kids. All this comes with some ska and reggae extracts. Moreover, this style depends on the means and skills that everyone of us puts to play his instrument, because Les Partisans aren't pretending to be musicians but before anything a group of friends !!!

Q : Recently you made a step ahead by releasing your first 7" didn't you ?

LP : Yes indeed ! It was out late in April on the rising punk label Limo Life Rds. It's called "Street Gones" (Gones meaning kids in Lyon, their hometown). 1000 copies were issued, and 600 were already sold one month after this.

Q : Did you make any promotion abroad ?

LP : 50% of the promotion was made outside France : in the US, MRR Flipside, Punk Planet, in Germany Plastic Bomb, Scumfuck, Ox, Hagl in England and Skoink in Belgium. This helped us to get interest from some distributors : Scumfuck, Knock Out Records, Nasty vinyl in Germany, Plastic Disc in Spain. We're waiting for more precise contacts in Europe and perhaps in Japan. We are in regular contact with Banlieue Rouge (from Quebec) too.

Q : Speaking of contacts with other bands, what's your relationship with other bands ?

LP : we first had contacts by opening for more famous bands like Les Sheriffs (French Ramones), Banlieue Rouge (Canadian punks), Warum Joe, Raymonde et les Blanc Becs, La Souris deglinguee (the major punk/Oi band in France) and Kochise. And we also get on well with French punk rock bands like Ahorcados, Hors Service, Les Futurs, Flying Ravachols, les P4, Les Informers or Les Sourire Kabyle.

Q : In your opinion, what's the punk scene like in the country ?

LP : there seems to be a real revival of punk rock in France. Many more fanzines and small bands are active than some years ago, even if it's not as developed and organized as in Germany. But the advantage for us it that the scene has remained very independant from any power and the DIY ethic is the rule. Bands and fanzines are very complementary to the labels since the same people are often in charge of both. That's why zines like No government, Earquake, Pavillon 36, Chaos Zine are the written equivalents for labels like Limo life, Adrenaline, Trisomik, Combat Rock or Dialektik Rds.

Q : What's the atmosphere like at your shows ?

LP : quite good : a show is most of the time a feast as in some places the punk concerts aren't numerous. We generally get on well with the audience, we didn't face any troubles. But we've heard of incidents because of fascists at some gigs in Northern France. The Oi scene seems to be not as extanded as it should be because of fascist scums there. But we always had good contacts with people, no incidents or provocations.

Q : What are your plans like ?

LP : we'll be part of the next OAF compilation against the return of moral order (scheduled for the Fall 97), and in October 97 a tour in Germany is planned (10 dates).


Songs of the band

    Demo

    Singles

    Albums

    Compilations



Here are some lyrics translated from their original French version

@Tous ensemble / All together Like all the kids
You live, you follow your impulses with passion
Your life is calling you, you must answer
And live for her each second

Your insolence and your careless attitude
Is your strength your life it's your chance
But be careful of you and your friends
Don't forget that you must be united
Wealth is quite indecent
And you are accused of being violent
Black limousines move in your town
And you're angry when you keep coming and goings

Unemployment is here to divide us
And some know very well how to take advantage of it
Youth kneels down and disillusioned
One day we'll have to be all together

All together we must unite
All together to succeed
All together we must believe in it
All together and live with hope


@"Street Gones" / Kids of the street

They walk in the rain on wet pavements
Because tonight they don't want to go home
They walk straight (in front of us) without looking back
On a military rhythm because tonight they are proud

They seem ferocious very often they frighten you
But they are only kids, men with a heart
Beyond misery, respect is required
Because we are sons and proud of the working class

However every night they will revel
To drive out their blues and to liberate their head
Forget for a night one's work, one's stories
Just think of her because at night life is good


@Réalité / Reality

Eh oh you're unemployed
But you also have in your heart
A beetle symbol of your strength
Symbol of your life to live even deeper
Golden beetle to live even faster
Because living even faster is living even
deeper

Eh oh you're a worker
And you're right to remind
That you've got rights you've struggled for this
And no one shall pull them off from you
You as a worker you're right to remind
That you've got rights you've struggled for this

Eh oh party of the youth
Party of life party of spirit
Party of strength and tenderness
Party of rage and which fights without cease
Party of youth party of life
Party of life and party of spirit.


@Sous la pluie rude boy / Under the rain rude boy

You walk in your district
Because you don't have anything to do Rude Boy
There isn't much work
For the working-class Rude Boy
So, you stroll the whole day
Looking for your landmarks
Wishing to prove yourself
That you're free like the air
So, you stroll the whole day
Seeking for your landmarks
Wishing to find
The one you'll love

You walk again under the rain Rude Boy
You walk under the rain

You meet your neighbours
Settled in the slopping districts Rude Boy
They invite you for a tea
Mint flavoured tea Rude Boy
And we chat the whole day
Recalling our problems
Unemployment or bad-accomodated people
It is always the same problems
And we chat the whole day
Recalling our problems
Half-caste wedding
Ran down by hate

You walk again under the rain Rude Boy
You walk under the rain

You walk down the "traboules" (under passing)
And go through the fog Rude Boy
The river and the girls that flows
And work late in the evening Rude Girl
And you meet glances
That try to remember
Hopeless nostalgia
That dreamt of leaving
And you meet glances
That try to remember
Let 's forget the past
And built the future


@Quel avenir ? / Which future ?

Your future is in front of you
And yet you don't believe in it
What is to be done when you're 20 years old
Without ideal and without money

You can go out and have fun
You can live without caring a little
You can believe everything will be easy
Reality is less flexible

Your future is in front of you
But what freedom do you have ?
All the week long going to work
For peanuts or being on the dole

So go on, show that you're here
No way to give up
Your future is still to build
For the better and the worse

What is to be done when you're 20 years old
Without ideal and without money
An evening you can break everything
And the day after regret nothing

Which future for the youth (Chorus)
Which future for them tomorrow
It's ours and the most beautiful
And tomorrow we'll see / is ours.


@Nouvelles Frontières / New Frontier

Long live the life and count on us
To go anywhere
To go anywhere
We'll go to the end

We'll go through all the borders
We'll break all the barriers
We'll go and you'll see
You shall count on us

We'll go to Mexico
To see if the Aztec gods
Are like in Africa
With magic powers

We'll go there
Where the sun sets up
Where our dreams begin
From adventures and marvelous things
Because even there we'll go
Over there we'll go
Until there we'll go with you


@En Avant / Go Ahead

We walk we run on the paving-stones
We scream we sing with the fists raised
Just confidence in us tonight
So join us and keep the faith

Go ahead Partisans straight forward

Let's go ahead, you have to go
What are you waiting for you have to move
What will my generation do ?
Will it do the revolution ?
Will it be part of history
Without illusions without shattered hopes
No way to let things go their own way
I am Partisans and proletarian


@Courtyard of the Voracious / Cour des Voraces

Hi hi hi
Have you been fine for long ?
For my part, I'm finishing my eight hours
So I'm going to have one (drink)
On the hill which works
Which has neither law nor religion
On the hill believe me
Tonight we'll be the kings

We'll go up the stairs again
As a wild infantry
All the more if it's to arrive
Breathless in the arms
Of Jean Seberg pursued
By the KGB and the CIA
Dressed in Sta press
That's sure she'll be attracted

Let's have tonight once more
An appointment at the canuts'
Let's go on tonight once more
It's straight forward

Run and pursuit in the traboules
With the kids of the neighbourhood
If one day you have a problem
There's absolutely nothing better to get out of it
There's absolutely nothing better to have a gun pointed at you
There's absolutely nothing better to be in love
Street of the voracious on the paving-stones
The night is only at its start

It is said that in Paris
On the Montmartre Hill
There are only tourists left
And souvenir merchants
Here the happiness merchants
And their brothers the speculators
Have some trying moments
Because of the roughs and squatters


@Dignity / Dignité

This society is upside down
Where is the right side ?
No more justice but misery
Where are our rights ?
Freedom and dignity
Ye ye ye ye
But when the machine gets out of order sometimes
The Freedom gets its rights back

I'm proud to fight for my dignity

Move forward there and obey
That's the law
Police everywhere ID control
Ye ye ye ye
Lost youth becomes rebel
Do we have the choice ?

The night and silently
They die in the cold
Is this the dignity every man
Can hope ?
Rights to housing
And rights forward go on


@You dance ! Twist on the paved stones ! / Tu danses ! - Twist sur les pavés !

In the middle of the crowd - You dance
With the beats of the drum - You dance
In a human flood - You dance
The procession drives you - You dance

It's your way to tell
What's best in your heart
Your hopes your dreams your fears
And also fight the worst

At the bottom of the colors of the flags - You dance
Behind the banners - You dance
Where fists are clenched - You dance
Even with the security guys - You dance

Side by side with solidarity
With your misery's brothers
With the ex working class
To refuse difficulties

Come on Dance !

Sometimes it degenerates when - You dance
It's when you throw stones that - You dance
When you hide your face - You dance
You let your rage talk and - You dance

Perhaps they'll listen to you like this
TV, ministers, bosses
Even if you have few illusions
You shout, you sing along

Come on Dance !

You even dance with flames
You put all your mind into
You don't like violence
But it's the way it is danced


@Forget is betray / Oublier c'est trahir

Sit on the jetty
Lost in the blue water
In front of the sun
You don't see time going by
Your head is full of dreams
Of colored travelings
And lost causes
That you alone can save

On your naked shoulder is there a tattooed dragoon
Which shows everyone you're a rebel
Your way of dressing is your fidelity
To a childhood dream of solidarity

You want to escape greyness
Of a too well regulated life
You mistake the pictures
And reality
In history books
You stole romances
Pauses and glances
Of men who tried their luck

You dance in your room on reggae records
The smoke of pot with jerky basses
On your wall justice and liberty are written
And in your heart always fraternity

You're always paying attention
It's true there is often trouble
Rverywhere on your way
You set on fire inadvertently
You see fascists everywhere
For you history starts again
You see red
When there are blue white reds

You're young and rebel
You look for trance
You want your life as beautiful
You're always in the dance
You don't want to get old
Because getting old is change
Change is forget
Forget is betray


@Wake up ! / Réveille toi !

Early in the morning, you get up asleep, it's still night
Cold shower and sugared coffee, she still sleeps
Quickly dressed a last glance, she seems to dream
A feeling which wrings your heart, a regret

Ding dong ding dong
You have to get up
To go to work
I'd rather be there
Still a bit more in your arms

Step by step under the lights of the town, mechanically
You take the bus like a zombie, around you
Sat people you don't see, the head elsewhere
In the arms of your girlfriend in bed, kiss her

In front of the gates the fog goes away, the factory can be seen
Which drinks up the human flood, take the leaflet
The buzzer rings in rhythm with the machines, a friendly glance
Of an old people who raise his fist covered with grease, do like him


@That's enough / Assez assez

There are days when we feel damned
It seems we're not well-born
Each day which goes on / Everyone at ones place
The controlled media / No matter to scare
The stock exchange and the bosses / In the name of speculation
The good right of the markets / For us is to burst

Enough enough
Of this society which only offers
unemployment and precarity

Pressure rises can listen you grumble

There are days when we feel damned
It seems we're not well born
On the dole at the unemployment office / and economic war
Get a low profile / for the head of the job
I'd rather burst / than live resigned
The head in the shoulders / scared of willing to change

There are days when we feel damned
It is said we're not well born
Mass cut-offs / and class against class
By taking blows / we'll be ready for anything
There are days / we could break everything
By listening / that anything can not change


@World Sound System / Sono mondiale

My homeland believe me it's the most beautiful country
But you won't find it in an encyclopedia
It beats in my heart on a rock-steady beat
On a rocker reggae at sunset
It's a capoeira at Bahia, Brazil
A brass' guerilla in Latin America
It looks like Cuba, as proud, as pretty
Like Jamaica for its fever and its madness
And we dance on the world PA System
On the international scene
We dance on the world PA System
On the international dance-floor
From Kingston we fly to the swingin'London
With all the rude boys to invade Brixton
The sound-system thunders "the system shall fall !"
It's Babylon everywhere, even between Rhône and Saône
I know you're like me, we're from the same country
Whether you come from Madrid, Chicago or Paris
Because from the first note of this melody
By raising the fist in the dance you're gone
I know you're like me, we're from the same country
Whether you come from Algiers, Mexico, Napoli
Because at the first glance I know we understood each other
When on the world Atlas we put down our amplifiers


@Take me away / Emmène-moi

Convey me convey me
Far from this country
Incapable of dreams
And set by the cold
Convey me convey me
To the heart of this island
Engraved with blue ink
On my forearm
You know I think that here
They don't want me
I'm only a number
On a too big line
Machines take our place
They empty the factories
The eyes fixed on numbers
which I don't understand
Take me far from this country
Take me far melody
All around us
Raise black legions
Armies of wood-sheds
Of prohibitions of autodafes
The rage on the face
The infected speech
With the blood of history
They want to restore
The sky is heavier
Even than lead
On the walls of the town
Are displayed the old demons
The glances on the skin
Are like blades
Razor blades
Everyone spies on each other, everyone bends
The accumulated hates
On the pieces of landing
Fear and filth
From the deepest inside rise
And flood the world


@Rebel Radio / Radio rebelle

Of course it has been a long time
Since the sun has set
When we go out you and me
Joining the passers
Eight hours of our life
That's what we are stolen
But we have some more left
We won't let them go
The town belongs to us
The street opens its arms
Tonight we'll do as if
The night didn't come to an end
And until the earth shakes
Until the world collapses
We dance together on the frequency
Of the Rebel Radio
Anything is never the same
You know during darkness
Everything is confused, and everything is mixed up
We can let us go
We invent a future
We forget the past
This time once more we're sure
Everything we'll change for us
All these lies and all these dreams
You know them as I do
All these lies and all these dreams
If you believe them, I believe in you
In our blood the same sap
The same hope that one day will come
Where at the signal of Rebel Radio
To storm the sky we'll go


@Childhood dreams / Rêves d'enfance

I walk in silence the head full of memories
At each corner of the street, I hear cries and laughs
Echoes of a time engraved in my memory
But already there are names and faces which
Fades
We didn't take all the same way
There were shouts and sometimes punches
A lot of promises made in vain
Why must all the friendships
Go ?
We thought we would defy time
And that our rage would sweep our differences
But there is nothing more beautiful than the pledges of the childhood
But we have to face reality
The time wears out what seemed to be persistent
The daily life kills everything on its way
And how much time before for the sake of peace
Also dies the solidarities
Of class ?


@Free as the air / Libre comme l'air

It's an impression, a strange sensation
Which grazes your nerves makes you be in a bad mood
You don't want to die here where your life is stolen
Caught between a desk a flat a subway
In the lift you come across strange faces
It seems that they are scared, it seems that they bear you a grudge
Kiss your love without dropping your gun
This luminous path is the way of your life
Everything goes too fast around everything is in movement
All these people who get excited and you who takes to flight
In the street cameras cops shop-walkers
The smiles of sellers are as many oppressors
The mould is too little your suit too tight
This future of concrete you don't want
You want to be free as the air, free as the air
You dream of adventures of torrents of fresh air
Of a cause to defend of Babylons to take
It is said that Indians in the jungle Lancadone
Scare the Americans, manage their affairs
And there are even these in France who burn the suburbs
And in the orange flames, it's a whole world which changes
That's it, you've understood, for you no rest
Yes because you're part of the hot-blooded
Bye bye work you burn your TV
And you're going to take a bath of reality
You're like a ball and even at your death
You'll still shine like a star


@The last chance train / Le train de la dernière chance

No I tell you it's not easy
To always have nothing to do
I know by heart this fuckin' city
Like a sister of misery
Against the stream of the wave of the machine
Derive, let's chance it
The hours slowly passing by
They leave me a bitter after taste
You know sometimes I imagine
The building sites, the offices, the glass cages
And that's true I must say
I don't regret this life of serf
But be young what is the use
If we can't build anything
So sometimes during a walk I dream
Some people will tell I'm even going wild
The streets are getting packed
Of men and women dancing
In the heat of the towns
Showing their fists as spears
In all the hearts come out
Flashes of gusts of hope
In a hurricane of laugh
They take the last chance train
Sometime I feel like being in exile
Like in the condition of a foreigner
Lost behind a big shop-window
The world is nothing but a big supermarket
I could throw a stone at it
But I've still my freedom left
So sometimes during a walk I dream
That everything could very well wake up
In this train, guy, there are no classes
No 1st, no 2nd class, no control and no races
Unnamed destination to the revolution
No formula, before leaving the mix is to be defined
No slogans in order not to lie to each other
Nothing but a bet on the future for the better not for the worse
All united, all united to get through
Take with me the last chance train


@Modern cavalry / Cavalerie moderne

Do you hear it ? the siren which breaks the night
Do you hear it ? it shouts it's bored to death
Do you hear it ? it warns that it is hunting
Do you hear it ? and beware if you threaten it
This music is not very popular
Who does it want to protect, here there are no multi-millionaires
All these sharp-pointed are forbidden in the ghetto-blasters
They prefer to free the bass like a clap of thunder
Do you hear it ? the tires screeching on the asphalt
Do you hear it ? hoarse as if they were catching a cold
Do you hear it ? it's the bugle of modern charges
Do you hear it ? like the cavalry in a western
The Indians nowadays live in the suburbs
Sometimes have a job but often not stable
Some are fired to increase productivity
So they're establishing a firm of generalized theft
It seems that the world belongs to the youngs
But when I ask something
I am answered there is nothing for you
Sorry your Honour if I'm becoming violent
Will your Ferrari be worth my approved school ?
I see the police everywhere all around us
And the justice nowhere, is it a luxury far to rare ?


@Nothing to lose / Rien à perdre

Under our dreams, reality
Until my death, I want to dream
File classified under the letter R
I won't let this matter go
What are you thinking of are you condemned ?
To the grayness without the palm trees
A music echoes in your head
The bass hoots it's a storm
I want to believe it
We've nothing to lose
One more time
A life like one we dream
We're not machines to live
Stimulated by mechanic hamburgers
Having control over me has no price
How much for the P.38 mate ?
As the freedom is still far
I'll resist like an Indian
Would you go to a compromise ?
Either if it's the Stock Exchange or it's the life
Can we still still dream ?
Everything is allowed I've sworn it to me
A life without taboos and not tied by chains
Why live without freedom ?
I want to be a wolf among the dogs
You have to know how to bite when you're nothing
How many hopes, shattered hopes ?
In my rebellion I've always believed
In this mist I want to dream
On these paved-stones I want to dance
At the wealthiest' home I want a storm
See my friends and have a party
Let me at last breathe
Live fast and at last die
Yesterday I've dreamt we would go
On this island you were talking about


@Flash-back

How to forget these passed years ? with you
How to forget the rage to live we had ? with you
A proletarian life made of good stuff in us
To believe to be immortal, no need of the sky
In the ways of the subway, we feel like being Brando
At the front of our story which would be the one of
Him you me, the life with you was like this !
How to forget the hopes we put ? with you
How to forget the battles we gave ? with you
Engraved on the skin like we carry a flag
Like an hymn to your class for those in front
We dreamt as our fathers of seeing the old world
Collapsing under the insurrection of the working class
How to forget the trips, the friends ? with you
How to forget that we came back in the morning ? with you
All these nights in a bar to build the world again
On a dance-floor for the atmosphere
And as for the big evening we start dreaming
That a dark looking girl invites us to dance
She he you and me
For a long time we'll remember
She he you and me
This life we won't regret it
Flash-back I've no regret
Flash-back I won't forget


@ Aurora / Aurore

The sky is so high and the future so far
We're both short-winded this morning
The day has dawned but we don't see it
Sat on these steps we don't sit up straight

Forever in our hearts all these devil-may cares
All these friends of the night we didn't want to leave
All these ghostships these abandoned boats
In the wide ocean of the disillusioned towns

But don't count on me to stop at that point
Don't count on me to give up
Don't count on me to to stop at that point
I always go where my heart beats

Our eyes are red but we won't cry
Our eyes are red of injected dreams
The sky is red the flag is raised
So much the worse if we're the only ones on earth to dip it

The cruiser Aurora there has just passed
We'll go on board it has come to fetch us
The cruiser Aurora you've talked to me about it
I swear you we'll do the crossing with it tomorrow

It has come to fetch us ...


@Nothing fades / Rien ne s'efface

Nothing fades
The past leaves so many traces
I've paid
My bill to the world
In this face to face
Determined,
The action doesn't scare is
The struggle is fine
It makes our hearts beat stronger
You're an Indian
You dream of fire in the plain
That everything is set on fire
That a new start rises from ashes

The only living
Today are those who fight
Those who dance
Around the flame of hope

Dance again
The spectre is not dead
And dances on top of the roofs
Your rage will be the rhythm of your steps
Oh shout it loud
"No we're not dead !"
But your cheeks have the salted taste
Of days you've so much hoped
Look above
And see on the hill the proles
They'll be going down
To enforce what life owes them

Me my star
I put it in my heart
Like a flame
Which dances and guide my steps

Street Gones

from Fourdu :

Summary
The debut single "Street Gones" of Les Partisans (Lyon, France) is out. Issued to 1000 copies, half of them are sold within a month time. Their music style is a street punk influenced by early French punk/Oi bands like La Souris Deglinguee, Camera Silens or Brigades with some ska bits. The vocals and back vocals alterning with the guitars are great. The whole is about the rudeboy life, his economical difficulties, the street and the unity to make in the scene. The band's problems in fact as well as ours. So as the band shout "Tous ensemble" (All together)"

Full version
The first Les Partisans vinyl production is out. On the demo tape, there were good titles, a bit rough as always. After a session in a studio in Lyon, the whole comes back in a better shape, further work was done. The 7" starts with a mid-tempo title which shows the style of the band, mixing Brigades (French band of the mid 80s) influenced street punk with ska extracts here and there. "Tu marches sous la pluie" makes us enter in a straight way the world of the rudeboys. Because the sun doesn't shine for everyone on the contrary to what some would like to make us believe. And instead of excluding more excluded than oneself as it tends to be now, the song is an appeal to the union of the rudeboys. And it's precisely the theme of the next song, the great "Tous ensemble" which is the best song of the 7". You'll soon have the chorus in mind, the faster tempo and it'll make you sing along the chorus. The unity goes together with the union of the have-nots : raise your fist rudeboy ! An hymn, to make the apathetics go into the pogo. Once the other side on the turntable, "Street Gones" is on the air because Les Partisans don't forget where they come from, and are proud of their origins. Here the Oi version backing vocals makes you sing, where the guitar is in front of the vocals and vice-versa. The 7" stops with "Réalité" as if the rest wasn't referring to the reality of life. But here it's more a message of hope. Some backing vocals like Ahorcados (French promising punk band), mid-tempo rhythm to highlight the somewhat ska oriented chorus, the rest being very close to street-punk. The single is packed in a beautiful red sleeve with the logo of Les Partisans and all what is close to the band : the street, the rudeboys, the unity. Great job from the label Limo Life which starts to put out the best punk bands of the moment. Les Partisans are part of the renewed punk scene, taking the place of the older bands and bring fresh air to this scene for everyone's satisfaction.


Extract taken from the interview of Mongoloid zine :



Your lyrics are very "working class", do you think it's a necessity to work, as one of the favorite themes of punk rockers is to do nothing ("Proud to do nothing" Olivensteins, "Unemployment for everyone", "Be lazy" Infraktion) ?

Our lyrics are based on "working class" (ideas) that's true, but on the other side we would like to tell you that's it's not entirely us, because Fred writes the texts, writes spontaneously the lyrics on themes he is preoccupied with, and are at the same time a need for the band. As far as the obligation of working, you can't stay out of the work if you want to live on minimal basis. If you don't want to be excluded of this society which is very selective, you have to work, otherwise you'll soon won't have a shelter and you won't have social welfare and then you'll be in a mesh where the lower you go, the harder it is to get up. As far as "Proud to do nothing" is concerned, we think that you stay proud if you have a minimum amount to live, because there aren't many people who are proud of begging. You're proud when you have an existence, but what existence do you have when you feel like being rejected ? As far as "Unemployment for everyone" this sentence is more a statement than a demand, it's a reality which hits everyone more or less closely. And for "Be lazy", you can be lazy and work, it's not incompatible, you can very well malinger and work !

What is punk for you ? Do you think the original spirit is still here ?

Punk at the roots was a "Destroy" "No Future" attitude, but even the English have left this basis for long ! Even if the Pistols or other bands are re-united now, it's not for any attitude, but unfortunately for the money, because when you see the Pistols, if you leave the music aside, it's painful to behold, they're like puppets dressed by a famous dressmaker ! Fortunately, apart from a minority which has a teen spirit, punks are today more constructive and because of this need to want to make things evolve, punk continues to survive. The original spirit, the need to have a new slogan, to do more is always here, the attitudes change but punk remains, the rebellion, the spontaneity, the reject of conformity always feed the attitude of the punk movement and even the provocation is still here. The DIY is part of the original punk culture.

Solidarity, friendship are words that seem to be important for you. Are these principles also existing in the band and in your life ? Perhaps even a model of existence ?

These words are really important for us, having friends, and being solidary, when you analize the society in which you live, you are then aware that you need to get close to each other. Your moral is like a barometer, it goes up and down, so if you're close to your family and friends, then your moral is often up ! The band is at first a group of friends, so solidarity exists between us, in the daily life as well as in the life of the band, our relations are the ones of band members but also of friends, we're also together at feasts and concerts ... A model of existence, we don't know, the word model scares us a bit, like the word guru. We think that it is a principle deep inside us, not an attitude you get in one day, that solidarity is something you put inside you with time.

Extract taken from the interview of Blown to bits (Greek) zine :



How come you took a name resembling that of a well known early 80s punk/oi band ? Did you want to show an oi identity ? What are Les Partisans' fave bands ?

We chose the name of the band in December 1994 for our first concert. We chose it after 2 years of the Balladur's government, when the political atmosphere was more than weak and blurred. It was a period of false consensus, neither for nor against, a time of hypocrites, hateful where what happened in the back of people to avoid troubles. So to reaffirm certain values, the band called itself Les Partisans, it's also a wink at the defunct english band we like. We don't necessarily wish to have an Oi identity, we manage to have our own identity, then the people label us how they wish; as far as this one remains clear, we don't care. Our favorite bands : Redskins, The Clash, Kortatu, Stiff Little Fingers, Nuclear Device, 999, La Souris Déglinguée, Cock Sparrer, Zabriskie Point ...

Are there issues the band feels strongly about ? What topics do you usually cover in your songs ?

Fred writes the texts, he wishes to make modern realistic songs. Writing texts about the daily life, the friends, the problems everyone may face, and including values the band believes in, because we're partisans of certain values. But not written as slogans but more acknowledgments of taking conscience and pride in the sense of one shouldn't bend one's head.

There seems to be quite a few toneful french punk bands around (Charge 69, PKRK, the Herberts, etc.) Is there a strong punk scene in France these days ? Which bands / zines would you care to point out ?

There is actually many new bands, the most promising and famous are in our opinion Zabriskie Point, Yalateff, Les Perfuses, Charge 69, ... The scene has an astonishing number of bands, but unfortunately has no sufficient structure to make them known correctly, the only beginning structure there is, is profitable for the bands, but unfortunately not enough for the number of bands. As far as the zines are concerned, here are the ones we know for several years and that issue regularly new numbers : No Government, Earquake, Pavillon 36 ... there are also more recent zines we like : Sauve qui Punk, Limo Life, Vauriens, Elektrochok, L'oreille cassee ... For the readers of these zines, potentially there are readers, but how to inform there is such an alternative press, we think the major problem in France, for the zines, labels or bands, is the obvious lack of distribution, not global enough, and not involved enough in this style. On the other hand we thank all the independent distributors that allow us to make us known. It seems that some zines like Abus Dangereux can issue 2000 copies, there is an underground audience behind all this.


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