The sounds of Kids Return takes you back into the feelings of the 70’s era and falling in love If you had the pleasure of discovering this Paris-based band of two, you will also quickly finding yourself falling in love with their melodic voices and instrumentals, much like the way the world fell in love with the Beatles. Music of this caliber is rarely found, and when you come across it, you can’t help but listen and become a major fan. The thoughtful process and energy behind their music is remarkable, and we expect great things from them as they embark on their musical tour. That is precisely what we did, fall in love with the music. We had the pleasure of interviewing this musical duo and had the opportunity to dig a little deeper to get to know them and learn about their beginnings, inspirations, and dreams.
Kids Return’s answers :
What was your early beginning like and how did it start?
We were confined together in April 2020, we played a lot of music together and watched a lot of movies. One day, after watching the movie “Kids Return” by Takeshi Kitano, we had a revelation and we said to ourselves that we had to make a band together with this name.
Can you tell us how your friendship and working relationship began?
We’ve been friends since we were 13. We have always shared a passion for music. We went together to buy cd’s of the beatles, the kinks, the strokes etc. Then we played in the same band, Clement on drums and Adrien on keyboard, to finally decide to leave that band and start our own band Kids Return.
The sound of your music is unique, where do the musical influences come from?
Thank you! We like a lot of things but if we have to name a few artists we would say Burt Bacharach, The Beach Boys, Ennio Morricone and Air.
Can you tell us about your latest songs, and the inspirations behind the few you released so far?
Orange Mountains is a piece we composed while lost in a house in the mountains when the trees were losing their leaves and turning orange. We were inspired by the western movies we love, but also by Michel Legrand for the harpsichord descent. Everything is recorded in analog, with a real harpsichord, a quartet of violins etc.
If you had to describe your sound or the genre/mood of your music what would it be?
Very complicated question! People say it sounds like nostalgic pop.
Walk us through your creative process when writing music and/or working on an album?
We both compose, produce, and arrange. We play everything, but for the recording we took a great drummer, a great bass player and a string quartet! In general, Adrien proposes several melodies and together we decide. The melody is the base of all our songs, if a melody gives us emotion that’s the main thing, then we’ll make sure to produce and arrange the song as well as possible. The production is very important for us.
What are some of the challenges you find as musicians? How do you overcome creative challenges?
The day we were offered our first gig, we were not ready at all, we did not expect it.
We accepted the challenge and in one week we rehearsed day and night to be able to do it.
For example, when we decided to create the group, we didn’t really know who would sing. Since the beginning we just try to outdo each other. We believe that it is the passion and the desire to do things that allow us to do this.
What is the meaning behind “Kids Return”?
Two best friends from childhood whose destiny was to make this adventure together. To create a music that looks like us, a music inspired by emotions linked to childhood.
To create a music where we assume a form of naivety and a purity in the emotion.
What does your 2022 look like? Anything planned that we should know about?
A first album is planned for 2022, many concerts, including a tour in the United States in June. Film music, new videos, live sessions etc. Otherwise we’re in Mexico right now working on new songs for a second album! We never stop, but we often change places. Maybe that’s the secret.
We know you have a concert in March in Paris, any other tour dates?
Yes, we play at La Maroquinerie (March 10) and it will be with a backing band. It’s going to be magical, we can’t wait! Otherwise we play in Germany, in the United States, in Switzerland etc.. New dates in France are coming up too.
What city/country would you like to perform in and why?
We would love to play in Tokyo, Japan. It is a country where we have never been. The movie « Kids return » is shot there, it’s very inspiring.
Also, you were invited by YSL/Anthony Vaccarello to Miami in Nov 2021? Tell us more about that and how the invitation was extended.
He invited us to this party in Miami on the occasion of Art Basel. He likes our songs and wanted us to do the show. They lent us great clothes! It was really cool, we had a lot of fun, met other great artists.
Give us your inspiration behind your videos. We see you use film for some of your
We think that film brings more magic than digital. To make live sessions we shoot with a film so we have only three chances. It’s a sequence shot. Our friend Tara-Jay Bangalter shoots all our videos. For the video of « Our Love » we were inspired by the film « One + One » by Jean- Luc Godard when the Rolling Stones are in the studio. For « Melody » we wanted a cozy and friendly atmosphere a bit like Rohmer. And for the video clip of « Orange Mountains » co-directed with our other friend Luca Lellouche, the inspiration was « Stand By Me », we loved playing the actors. The goal was to make it like a small movie.
Instagram: @kidsreturn_
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
OPENING ACTS:
01/05/22 DENVER HI-DIVE
02/06/22 LOS ANGELES THE ECHO
03/06/22 SAN FRANCISCO POPSCENE @ RICKSHAW STOP
05/06/22 SEATTLE THE CROCODILE SECOND STAGE
06/06/22 VANCOUVER BILTMORE CABARET
08/06/22 CHICAGO SLEEPING VILLAGE
09/06/22 TORONTO THE AXIS CLUB
10/06/22 MONTREALLA SOCIETE DES ARTS TECHNOLOGIES (SAT)
11/06/22 BOSTON BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL
13/06/22 BROOKLYN ELSEWHERE HALL
