Les Sans Culottes

Les Sans Culottes is a French-language rock band from Brooklyn, New York. The group performs primarily original material and some covers of French rock songs and French-language reworkings of some classic American rock songs. Their name is a reference to the citizen soldiers of the French Revolution and also the more contemporary slang term for "no underpants."

Les Sans Culottes
Les Sans Culottes at Irving PlazaNew York City, September 8, 2015
Les Sans Culottes at Irving Plaza
New York City, September 8, 2015
Background information
OriginBrooklyn, New York
GenresFrench rock
>Garage rock
Ye-Ye
Indie rock
Years active1998–Present
LabelsVibratone Records
Escargot-Go
Aeronaut Records
Digital Club Network
MembersClermont Ferrand : vocals
Kit Kat le Noir : vocals
Brigitte Bordeaux : vocals
Jean L'Effete : guitar
Benoit Bals : keyboards
M. Pomme-Frite : bass guitar
Jacques Strappe : drums
Past membersGigi Soleil
Albert Camembert
Jean Luc Ritard
Beau Pantalons
Luc Panatalons - aka Le Marquis!
Celine Dijon
M'Arc de Triomphe
Max Gauche
Francoise Hardly - aka Jeanaté
Gilles Pamplemousse
Lola La Chaise
Malcolm Smart
Ali La Pointe
Axl Rouge
Pascal Blase - aka Horace de Bussy
Jean Paul Georges-Ringo
Jacques Sheer-Rock
Cal D'Hommage
Maurice Chevrolet
Roget Bontemps
Geddy Liaison
Pierrot Le Fou
Joe Camus
Anouk Ennui
Harry Covert
Theo Neugent
Sid Vichyssoise
Johnny Dieppe
Courtney Louvre
WebsiteOfficial website

History

The band was formed in 1998 by Detroit native and Brooklyn transplant, Bill Carney, dubbed Clermont Ferrand after the industrial city in central France.[1] Carney had travelled to France and developed a deep interest in French pop and yé-yé music of the 1960s, particularly artists such as Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, France Gall, Jacques Dutronc and Nino Ferrer.[2] The band made its debut in April 1998, at Freddy's Back Room, a neighborhood bar in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.[3] The original lineup was singer-frontman Ferrand, vocalists Kit Kat Le Noir and Gigi Soleil, drummer Albert Camembert, bassist Jean Luc Retard, keyboardist Beau Pantalons, and guitarist Luc Panatalons - aka Le Marquis!. The band has had several line-up changes over its more than 23-year history while maintaining original vocalists Ferrand and Kit Kat Le Noir. Its current line-up consists of vocalists Clermont Ferrand, Kit Kat Le Noir and Brigitte Bourdeaux, along with drummer Jacques Strappe, guitarist, Jean L'Effete, bassist, M. Pomme-Frite, and keyboard player, Benoit Bals.

Les Sans Culottes, 2018
Les Sans Culottes, 2018

In 2005, the band's guitarist and drummer attempted to start another French language band with some former members and others and to call themselves "Les Sans Culottes". The original group brought a trademark infringement claim in Federal Court in Manhattan which resulted in a court order barring the new group from using the name of the original group. In 2013, Les Sans Culottes singer, Clermont Ferrand, recounted the legal battle surrounding the Les Sans Culottes band name.[4]

In July 2009 the band played its first ever shows in France, performing at La Feline and L'Opa Bastille in Paris and at the 18th annual Festival des Musiques d'ici et d'ailleurs in Châlons-en-Champagne. The group has also toured nationally across the United States and in Canada.

Their music has been featured in numerous ads, on television programs and movies, including for Hewlett-Packard digital cameras, Google Nexus S smartphone, HBO's Cathouse, Working Girls in Bed, and Entourage programs, FX's The Strain, MTV'S The Real World and Surf Girls and The CW's Gossip Girl as well as the movies The Hot Chick and Dalton Calhoun.

The band released its ninth album, She Is Tossed By the Waves But Doesn't Sink, in April, 2018.[5]

Discography
  • Les Sans Culottes (1999, Escargot-Go Records)
  • The Ennui and the Ecstasy (2001, Escargot-Go Records)
  • Faux Realism (2002, Aeronaut)
  • Full Frontal Crudité- Live in Paris (2003, Digital Club Network)
  • Fixation Orale (2004, Aeronaut)
  • Le Weekender (2007, Vibratone Records)
  • 'Pataphysical Graffiti (2012, Vibratone Records)
  • The Gods Have Thirst (2014, Disques Escargot-Go)
  • She Is Tossed By the Waves But Doesn't Sink (2018, Disques Escargot-Go)

References
  1. Graff, Gary (May 28, 2015). "Sound Check: Les Sans Culottes brings rock with a French flavor". The Oakland Press. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  2. Handlebar Jack (November 27, 2007). "Les Sans Culottes: n'est pas faux-french". The Deli. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  3. Robbins, Liz (March 18, 2011). "The Transmigration of a Brooklyn Saloon". The New York Times. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  4. "Friend or Faux : The True Story of How Some Former Band Members Tried to Start a Les Sans Culottes Copy-Cat Band Called "Les Sans Culottes."". Les Sans Culottes Blog Post. July 23, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
  5. "Pop and Rock Shows in New York City This Weekend - July 19-July 21". New York City Guide. July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
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