Friday 13th always seems a dreadful date, redoubted and usually gloomy. But May 13th was quite out of the ordinary as a band from Geneva was going to rock the house and give out some good vibes at the Zoo Usine in Geneva: Ladies and gentlemen, PPA+!!
A totally astonishing band with energy, enthousiasm and verve on stage, PPA+ thrills the audience by blitzkrieging it with a funky guitar, a groovy bass line, and devlish saxs and a hot trombone. A concert played in 2 parts and to interrupt this fury, PPA+ had the audacity to cover The Beatles' ''I Want You''. Very shy and not very talkative, PPA+ stays nevertheless spontaneous, cool and welcoming although they need to brush up their communication in the future.
The Fake : How many musicians does PPA+ have? Ernie (sax, MC, vocals): PPA+ has between 8 and 17 musicians. It's a collective formation of jazz-funk musicians.
You're well known for your talent, your mastering of performing on stage and your enthusiasm, what's PPA+'s secret? Ernie : The true secret is that there ain't no secret. It's all work and we're all professionals. It's all work.
When we tell you that at every concert, the audience is in a trance and has a sheer smile on their faces, how does that make you feel and how do you react to that? Jean-Philippe (trombone): That surely pleases us!
Loic (bass guitar): It's pretty cool! Pretty cool!
You combinate funk, rock, jazz peppered with scratches, where does this range of influences come from? Ernie : Jazz because there are jazz musicians, rock, I don't really know why and scratches because there's a DJ in the gang. That's it.
Is improvising a rule when you play a song or is it an absolute pleasure to which PPA+ dedicates itself with guts? Ernie : It's quite normal considering our approach of music. We're improvisors actually, it's normal, it's standard. That's what we do, we play.
Guillaume (sax) : Well, we always improvise with rules and constraints and mainly with a direction. We have a common direction and then we all improvise together with a structure, not a concept, but with a sound. Then we evolve inside this sound. By knowing each other humanly and musically, we can achieve that result.
If you had to define the band, what adjective would you use to describe PPA+? Ernie : More music, more dance, more groove ! That's for we have !
Alain (drums) : A bit more of everything...No, that's not an adjective, dammit...(laughs) I'd say more...wait, an adjective, ahhh! (everybody laughs).
I'd say more personal (general satisfaction).
You carry on as the leader of the funk and groove scene in Geneva, but when will you release a first album? Ernie : Nerver ever. It's a collective formation where everybody has one's own projects where they do more serious stuff. But PPA+ is just for the fun of it, for playing. Only Live !
You played at the Montreux Jazz festival and at the Nyon Paléo Festival, will we meet you there this year? Ernie : No, that's not on schedule...
Alain : No because we don't have enough compositions but we've already played there and it really went well...
What are the next PPA+ dates for 2005? Alain: June 17th for Geneva's Fête de la musique.
Ernie : Place Saint-Antoine from 9.30 p.m. to 1 a .m. And on every first thursday of the month at the Chat Noir .
What's the dream you all aspire to? Alain :Changing the Paléo's program director... (general laughs)
Loic : Playing at the Usine…
Guillaume : We're not too good at interviews yet!
