Notre Dame De La Colline - Flo - Founding our own Glorious Chapels: Money and fame have nothing to do with art and creation. Authenticity, share, and feelings do

At the 2017 edition of the dunk!festival, we were deeply impressed by the performance of The Chapel of Exquises Ardents Pears, we wrote "A cross-pollination of two bands , namely the darkness and fragility of Stems (UK) with the pure post-rock of Anathème (F) provided breathtaking, beautiful moments. Besides the guitar/drums, we were especially charmed by Christine Avis' cello, which moved us. A few years back they were still convincing with 'TorqueMadra'.
Now they have a solo project out under 'Notre Dame De La Colline'. we reviewed the album 'Poèmes fous pour herbes fraîches', you can read the review here.  

We had a pleasant conversation with Flo, the driving force behind this project. But it was also a chat about countless other projects under the heading 'Founding our own Glorious Chapels' and the plans for the future.

Please, Introduce yourself and how did everything start?
When I was 20 year-old, I founded Anathème with three friends. It was my first band, and we played for a long time. In 2015, we met the English band Stems, and decided to blend our two bands for an ephemeral creation, named The Chapel of Exquises Ardents Pears.
This experience was very inspiring. So I decided to organize several other collaborations like this one, and gave them the name “chapels”.
Besides these chapels, I manage several other musical activities with friends. It requires a lot of time, and it’s a big part of my life…

You have formed a collective, Founding our own Glorious Chapels. "One of the activities in this collective is to create other chapels like the first one. " read I.
Tell you a bit more about it?
The Chapel of Exquises Ardents Pears was an one-time project.  When we met Stems for the first time, we realized that it was very easy and natural to play and compose music together, even if we didn’t know each other before. So, they came back in France two or three times, and we recorded an EP ‘TorqueMadra’. Then we booked three concerts, and had the pleasure to perform at Dunk!Festival, in 2017. As it was an ephemeral project, and everything ran so very easily, I decided to try to create several other chapels, in inviting musician friends from different cities, countries, and musical universes. In trying to keep the same process as the first chapel : meeting for a weekend twice or three times per year, composing, recording and booking some shows for ending the chapel. At the moment, we’re working on five different chapels.
And so, as we also organize house concerts, house festivals, and manage a small label with my neighbours, it seemed natural to me to group all these adventures inside a bigger one: the collective Founding our own Glorious Chapels.

So there are several Chapels.. I find it hard to follow sometimes. How you keep this going? Because it’s get kind of complicated with all this Chapels?
From the oustide of the collective, I guess it can look foggy.
To try to explain it more clearly : there are 5 branches in this collective.
The Chapels are the first branch.
Les Concerts de la Colline, the house concerts we organize, are the second one.
The private festival Wild Hillfest is the third one.
The fourth branch is our label Wild Bless You ! Records.
And finally, Their Glorious Choirs, the fifth branch, is composed with different artistic
activities by friends of us.
Perhaps the website www.welcometothechapel.com can give a better idea about all what I explained here…
And to me, it’s not really a problem if it’s quite foggy. Some mistery, when it comes to music, can be a good thing…

And if you don't have enough work, you are also in the band Anathème, the band still standing ?
I can’t say that the band doesn’t exist anymore. I only can tell that we haven’t played together for a long time. We don’t have plans for the moment, and we’re not trying to have some. But I like the idea that someday we will prepare some new things. I am quite sure it will happen. But I don’t have any idea about when.

It’ s maybe you are too busy with other projects to create something with Anathème?
We were active during 14 years, with the same crew. I guess we have done what we had to do. When the Chapel of Exquises Ardents Pears was founded, it brought to us something fresh and new. I guess that’s why it was difficult to go back naturally to Anathème. Other projects grew and took places in our lives.

Another reason for this interview is the latest release of your solo project 'Notre Dame de la Colline', how have the reactions been so far?
I received beautiful feedbacks, and I’m grateful for these kind reactions. It’s the first time I’ve played music on my own, and it was a huge challenge to me. I never considered myself as a musician. Only as a guy who played music. And I really wanted to prove to myself, thanks to this challenge, that I could be a real musician. So, since this album is finished, I finally allow myself to think I am (haha).
I also received intense feedbacks from special and inspiring persons, close to my heart. I hoped they would love this album, it was very important to me…
And I was moved to receive beautiful reviews… So yes I ‘m very happy with the good feedbacks.

What strikes me most, not only in this solo project, is the mystical darkness created by the serene, intimate approach that in turn has a hypnotic effect on our minds. Is this approach deliberately chosen and why? Does it mean you like darkness?
I don’t like darkness (haha). I prefer the light and the beautiful moments…  But melancholia and nostalgia are also a part of my life. And I like nostalgic and melancholic music a lot. I think that, in life as in music, contrast is very important. Darkness is necessary for light to exist.

There is a difference between Darkness that make you feel sad, and Darkness that give you a comfortable feeling inside, I think in your music it’s the second opinion. Agree?
I think, yes. Everyone has to go through dark moments in one’s life. I don’t try to run away from the dark side. I just try to embrace it to turn it into something more appeasing. With this album, I tried to make something that would makes you feel that everything will be ok at the end. Like a light at the end of the tunnel.
Some people told me it’s music for funerals and mourn. Some people told me it’s full of hope.  Some people told me both. Everyone has one’s own feelings, when it’s related to music…

If I have to describe the style of music it's not an easy task, that's why I love it so much ;) is there a common thread that connects all these projects? I found out that there are connections between - for example - The Chapel of Exquises Ardents Pears and you solo project. Or do I see that wrong?
The Chapel of Exquises Ardents Pears was very inspiring to me, humanely and musicaly. Our way to compose was very natural, and I learnt a lot of it. So, that’s probably why you can feel a connection between these two projects.
For the other chapels, you will probably find some similarities as well. Even if each one has its own personality.
For the other activities of our collective (the concerts we organise, the label we manage, etc), there’s no musical common thread between the artists we work with. I like to think that music is not the most important thing in all what we do. The musicians, their way to be, to play and to live their music are way more important than the music itself. For example, I’m thinking of “Peignoir Tapis et Steeve”, a couple of friends who will release an album soon, with songs questionning about the real existence of chairs… Their songs don’t fit with the mood of most of the artists we’re working with, but their authenticity and the passion they put in their music is the same.

We already mentioned it. I met you at dunk!festival with the project The Chapel of Exquises Ardents Pears a very nice festival, to me one of the most beautiful festivals I ever been to, how did you like that experience?
I went to Dunk!Festival twice before performing with the Chapel. I didn’t know what to expect the first time there, and I loved the feeling to be welcomed in a caring community from the organisers.  Their family spirit, kind and caring, is quite rare in this kind of events.
And when we played there, it was a wonderful experience for us. It was like a holiday camp (haha). We were a crew of 12 people. Half  English (Stems) and half French (Anathème). Old friends and new ones. It was a beautiful adventure, with a good concert, I think, from us, and a magical festival.

What are the further plans for all these projects?
For the Chapels, as I mentioned, we are working on new chapels. We performed for the first time with A Wandervøgel’s Chapel in 2019, and we can’t wait for boarders to be open again, to be able to meet again and continue our work.
We will probably release the first album of two other chapels in 2021 as well.
We have created a special chapel too : a literary one… The purpose of this chapel is not to compose music, but to write a book.
So, a lot of plans with these chapels…
Several other projects of the collective are in process too.
For the house concerts, as soon as the laws and the sanitary situation allow it, we will organize a lot of them. I really miss it…
We are working on the new edition of the Wild Hillfest, that will happen in October, as well. We try to find the best organisation regarding to the sanitary risks. It’s a private festival, happening every year in my house and my neighbours’one. We had to cancel the last edition due to the virus, and we hope it will not happen again this year.
And with our label Wild Bless You ! Records, we have four or five releases planned fort his second part of the year.
So, we are quite busy, and we love that…

Live performances are out of the question, are there any streaming plans? and what is your opinion about this phenomenon?
We, as a society, need art and culture. These last months, I have seen all that livestreaming coming up more and more, and I’m convinced it’s a good and necessary thing.
Personally, I must confess I’m not a big fan of livestreams. I prefer live sessions, and that what I would do if I wanted to publish something online. But that’s only my personal preference.
The most important is that people can have a beautiful moment, alone, with friends, or with family, watching and listening to music. So, livestream can be a really pleasant reason for that.

I'm not a big fan of streaming either, what I do notice is that there are artists that I would probably have got to know through streaming later, but thanks to streaming I'm getting to know them now. That's an advantage, isn't it, that you can get to know bands NOW and maybe broaden your horizons?
Yes, that’s a positive thing. I like to think that constraints (like this sanitary situation) bring new ideas. Livestream is a part of these new ideas. I would just have loved to see a lot of different other ideas appearing as well.

Since we are talking about corona, how did you survive this crisis as a musician (but also as a human being)?
I have a beautiful story about that : two days before the first lockdown in 2020, my friend John, the guitarist of Stems, came to my house. He was supposed to stay for some days, to give a concert with his solo project Dorr, in my place. Because of the Coronavirus, he finally stayed here more than 3 months… This period of lockdown was a very beautiful moment for both of us, and my son who was with us every two weeks. We had time to work on our respective musical projects, to listen to a lot of music, etc. For creative people it was a time to create more stuff than ever.

I hear from some artists that it brought them a certain peace of mind, that they had time to compose and write more songs. But also there is the missing of social contacts and things. That make me most sad
Some months after this lockdown, I organised a tiny festival in my place, Les Retrouvailles, for a very limited audience, composed of friends. It was crazy how much I was missing that...   It was very moving to be together, sharing beers and listening to live music. After missing it so long, you understand how important that is.

What are your big ambitions in music (apart from world domination, which is what everyone wants)?
When I was teenager, my ambition was to become the most famous man in the world (haha). I’m fan of Queen. And I had the chance to realize very early that even Queen will be forgotten someday. Running after eternity is pointless, and my ambitions became way more humble when I understood that. Now, my secret ambition is that one of my records becomes an intimate treasure for someone. A record that you want to listen when times are tough for you, just because it helps and appeases you. If my music can do that to someone? It just would be so intense and magical. I think that’s my biggest ambition… Do you know Granddaddy? In fact, I just would love that my music has the same impact on someone that Grandaddy’s music has on me... 
I also have the same ambition with all what we organize here, like the concerts in my house. When someone tells me that one of these concerts was a bright moment during a tough time, it’s overwhelming to me. Trying to bring happiness through what we organize with my friends is an ambition. It’s not a big one, but it’s an important one.

In some way if you want to become world famous I’m afraid you sometimes need to sell your soul to the devil, as they say, which means you might have to make music you don't really agree with, some artists have done that to make money and get rich, but I don't think that's something you want to do?
You know, what is the most important in my life are my son, the ones I love, and what I do with music… I’m thinking about music and musical projects every day. In waking up in the morning and in going to bed in the evening. It’s too much important to me, I can’t imagine making compromises.
Money and fame have nothing to do with art and creation. Authenticity, share, and feelings do.
In thinking of that, I just would like to have a word about the most intense moment I lived, thanks to music. That could be the perfect representation of the end goal, regarding to art and share. When I played at Dunk!Festival, I met Danny Van Dycke, who, I think, is one of your friends too. He passed away last year, and I’m sorry to remind you these dark moments. I am moved… I often hear artists talking about connection with the audience, during concerts, etc… This kind of talks always appeared to me as pure demagogy. But when we were on stage at Dunk!festival I had to change my mind about that opinion. Danny was in the audience just in front of me, and really looked like he was having a great time, with a huge smile on his face. At one moment, I made a mistake with my guitar, and became stressed for one second… I saw instantly Danny. I felt his joy, his enthusiasm… It gave me a huge energy and feeling of appeasement. It was the most intense feeling I received on stage, ever. Wrong notes are nothing… What people are sharing in an audience, what musicians are sharing on stage : that’s the only important point… Feelings and People. Danny helped me to realize that.
We talked together after the concert, and I thanked him. Then we kept in contact and sent messages to each other sometimes. I was very shocked when I found out he passed away. In my living room there is a big picture of that concert at Dunk!festval, I think of Danny almost every day. He’s an important part of  my musical journey. I have the feeling to have understood a lot of things thanks to him…

Pics homepag @Sounds from darker places

A wonderful end of this interview,  I hope we can have a couple drinks at some festivals, and at Dunk!festival we sure going to drink some to remember Danny. Thanks!