Hervé Lomprez : "Phillipe Lomprez : singer, drummer and Hervé Lomprez : guitar and all electronic effects. The band exists since since 1983, when our first album (face 33 and face 45) has been released and it was called “Le repos des enfants heureux”

ANNOUNCER:  "So, What were your motives to form this band, Phillipe ?"

Phillipe Lomprez : "I think we can answer simply saying it is passion..."

Hervé Lomprez :  "Passion and needing to speak. Trisomie 21 is also a gamble. We have vocation to be public, to speak with the others and when I arrived in the band in early 82, we said “We will make an album in the next 2 years, or else there’s no point to continue”. 1 year and a half later, “Le repos des enfants heureux” was released and it was the result of our passions."

ANNOUNCER:  Who compose lyrics and music ? What are the lyrics about ? Why is Trisomie 21 singing in english ? How long roughly do you spend to compose a song ? to record an album ?

Phillipe Lomprez : T21’s work always start from an individual work. In fact, compositions, lyrics and music are made collectively. We are taken with emotions that everyone of us can feel or that we can feel together, travels, readings, cinema, etc...

Hervé Lomprez : "We join what we said about our passions. Our passions are very varied. Like Phillipe said, there are travels, readings, cinema and also everything we can see, everything we can feel when we meet someone and it is all these emotions that we try to pass on. These are individual feelings we blend, a kind of “melting pot”, and which make a collective work."

Phillipe Lomprez : "And lyrics are in english. First, there’s a song in French : “Il se noie” in the first record we did : “Le repos des enfants heureux”. It is done in english because in the north of France, we are in contact with everything British and… for being contradicting the time’s fashion (early 82) which wanted everything to be made in French : singing in French, labels everywhere on records, and we thought it was absolutely crazy to distinguish countries by their language when we spoke about united Europe."

Hervé Lomprez :  "And Trisomie 21 doesn’t see himself as a French band, frontiers have few importance. We rather consider ourselves to be an European band. Our roots are in Europe, so in France, and english is a more universal language. "

Phillipe Lomprez : "Yes, it is necessary to say that it is really done like a job. So, it takes generally a long time to compose. It depends on every song of course but there’s a heavy composition work, creation work. There’s a big technical work, studio work to do and it requires a lot a time. It is difficult to set a length for each song but it is very long. It could be one or two weeks."

Hervé Lomprez : "We are now more free about technical constraint in that we have our own studio. We can take the time we want to record, to return to a model and fully work on again. And it is really a very important advantage."

Phillipe Lomprez : "The rest of the studio work is made right now in our own studio  where we mix our personal work. So, it is relatively short although it is complicated. We have to arrive into the studio knowing exactly what we have to do in. It is quite difficult but it is a kind of experience to acquire."

Hervé Lomprez :  "Well… to conclude this chapter, we will listen to a piece of our first album, and it is called : “Il se noie”…"

ANNOUNCER:  Questions 9 and 10 Are you pessimistic ? How do you think people feel your music ?

Phillipe Lomprez : "I don’t think that Trisomie 21 is pessimistic… on the contrary ! There is maybe a form of sadness due to a kind of realism, but no pessimism, or a pessimism which is quickly transformed into a glimmer of optimism."

Hervé Lomprez : "So, we can talk about melancholy. But, in day-to-day life, we are rather…. comics (laughs). So, how people feel our music ? It is a difficult question. According to the letters we receive, they are quite numerous, people feel it well, they seem pleased. People make the effort of writing particularly to compliment.… how do people feel our music ?… we can encourage listeners to write, we will give our contact, it is : "toddejones@yahoo.com""

ANNOUNCER:  Questions 13, 14 and 15 Where is the name “Trisomie” from ? Trisomie’s discography ? And… Do you think you will be able to continue to release records at this rate ?

Hervé Lomprez :  "Trisomie 21 is a disease commonly called “mongolism”. In fact, it is presence of a 21th chromosome which doesn’t have to exist normally. Why did we choose this name ?… It is always a little difficult to say why we choose a name because we need one in any case. But let’s say that it began a little on science-fiction. That is to say that it is not completely a bad idea to think that one day, trisomics will be able to play music. A music which could be understandable for them only because they are persons with an heightened sensibility, very specific of them, and we liked this idea so we took this name. So, Trisomie’s discography… we prefer to talk about realizations and in this chapter “realisations”. "

Phillipe Lomprez : "The rhythm… I think we can say the normal rhythm, emotion rhythm is very often present, nearly at each second. Then, we didn’t really though of a work rate, it was not a planning. I hope we’ll be able to continue to express ourselves on vinyls, more often as possible."

Hervé Lomprez :  "And, we’ll at once listen to a piece from the last maxi called “Wait and dance”. The piece is the main piece of the album, it is called “Waiting for”…"

ANNOUNCER:  Questions 16, 17 and 18 What would be your reaction if you hear it said “Trisomie 21 = electronic band” ? How many concerts to your credit ? How do concerts go off ? What are you waiting from public ?

Phillipe Lomprez :  "Trisomie 21 electronic band, why not ? If we had heard someone saying that, we wouldn’t have had a special reaction I think. That is to say, we use some electronic and it has no pejorative point. So, why not ? It is a little true. What is quite embarrassing in the word “electronic” is that there’s just question of machines whereas Trisomie is some individuals, it is people and machines. Ther’re working with the brain, the hands, in short it is alive. So, if the human side, the alive side, is included in electro music, it corresponds quite well to Trisomie."

Hervé Lomprez : "How many concerts to our credit ?… we can say very few. Trisomie 21 is not a live band and it joins a little the last question. Even, we have quite a lot of equipment and it is quite heavy to move. It is not a very handle device which need a perfect sound quality, technical quality rarely found in concerts. So, we prefer to refrain from showing to the public something average, and concerts in France are poorly paid. So, travelling and getting tired for nothing really, it’s not worth. We prefer to devote our energy composing quietly in our studio."

Phillipe Lomprez : "What are we waiting from public ? It is quite difficult to say… because it can depend on the moment when we are on stage. On stage, it is necessary to say that we are finally quite far from public. We are in our technical little planet. Finally, we have difficulty giving emotions and receiving some. What we are waiting more from public is a positive reaction. Applause or simply feeling him being stirred because if, on stage, we are plunged into black, we generally cannot see the public. We feel him being stirred, we feel all his positive reactions, or not. But, as everybody, we prefer positive reactions !"

ANNOUNCER:  Questions 24 and 25 What were the greatest difficulties you met with during your career ? Have you ever appealed for musicians from other bands ? Have you ever help another band ?

Hervé Lomprez :  "About difficulties, I think there is always a lot for everybody and I think metting with difficulties is part of every band’s life. You can’t arrive somewhere like that with everything going off smoothly. It is not fairy tales. I think the greatest damned trouble we had is with our former label. Because they dragged out a lot and we have never been paid ! We also had troubles with the SACEM. We had troubles about lost files, found files, songs not recorded. Well, quite a lot of things which take a lot of time to be resolved."

Phillipe Lomprez : "Lots of administrative troubles. We also met with dificulties to start the band. Finally, it went off smoothly because our first record has been released quite rapidly after Trisomie’s formation. On this side, it worked well, from this time, all followed on well and we have always well got over troubles. So, by and large, all is working well. Now, about other bands… well, we have never collaborated with other musicians. A professional singer played a part on “Passions divisées” but it is the only person from outside who have ever worked with us. Because, as soon as other musicians come into compositions, these compositions  are the band’s one and also this musician’s one. So, it loose a little its unity, so we never think about it. As for helping other bands… it is quite difficult when you start because there are often rivalry problems. So, once we get an audience, of course we can’t allow ourselves to help other bands, it is what we try to do right now, but keeping anonymous, that is to say playing a part in the recording of the song, or possibly the record, but without saying, well… Trisomie made this, Trisomie made that. It is harmful to the image of the band we help and it can be harmful for our image too, so we prefer to remain standing back."

Hervé Lomprez :  "Yes, we help them, but it is not voluntary help ! They can use our studio for a contribution and this contribution is minimal judging from the Parisian studio’s cost, for example."