The French Kicks Are Not The Strokes

Portland, Ore. — New York City's melodic post-punk rockers the French Kicks may have just released their first album, One Time Bells, but the group is no Johnny-come-lately to the currently-in-vogue New York rock scene. "It wasn't like we were a band that was all of sudden [getting] all this hype," guitarist Matt Stinchcomb said during a recent interview at a Portland restaurant. "We tour a lot, we play a lot and — even before we had a record out — we were building up big audiences and doing it very organically [and by] word of mouth. That's been great for us now, 'cause I feel like the success we've been having, we earned."

"We've done everything, we've made it all happen ourselves," lead vocalist-drummer Nick Stumpf added, squinting beneath the big bright sun as we sat in the restaurant's outdoor area. "There's no promotion machine whatsoever. We've gotten good press, but aside from that, people are there because they heard word of mouth, and it's something we're very proud of."

The foursome — all stylishly dressed down, like record-store clerks in shabby-chic thrift-store attire (worn T-shirts and mismatched slacks) — made smug references to the media-hyped '70s-influenced punk scene, in which the press frequently include them. Asked about the group's influences, guitarist Josh Wise snickered, "The Strokes and the White Stripes. Television, early '70s CBGB's, The Ramones."

Still, when Wise, donning a pair of flashy gold-rimmed Chips-style shades, calls The Strokes "a good band [of] nice guys," it's clear it's the media hype, not the band, that they have fun mocking.

Likely, it's the band members' East Coast demeanor, hip urban fashion sense and all-around good looks that got them grouped with The Strokes. It's certainly not their sound, which is full of indie rock's bittersweet melodies and a pop sensibility much closer to Elliott Smith than Richard Hell.



The group's pop sound — Neumu will be featuring a free MP3 of a song off One Time Bells in the "Gramophone" area of the site for one week beginning late Friday, May 31 — is deceptively simple. Compelling complexities lie beneath the surface. "Press people, who got [the album] a month or two ago, didn't quite know what to do with it at first," said Stumpf, who looks a bit like the late Joey Ramone. "But since then [they] have been calling and saying how it's become one of their favorite records, they love it. That is the highest compliment. Something starts out piquing your interest just enough to get you to listen to it again. Then it grows on you and becomes something that you really become attached to — that's the best thing you could hope for."

One Time Bells is meant for repeated listens, according to the band. "Our record is designed to be something that takes some time," Stumpf said, speaking slowly and thoughtfully. "It's as much about what's not being played and not included as it is about what is included in the songs. Sometimes people don't get that, or think it's missing something if they just listen to it one time. But if you listen to it more, you hear more about the between-the-lines kind of things that we're going for, and that's the understatement in every aspect. We spend a lot of time shaving things off, stripping things down to their essentials so you get the understated sense about everything."

Produced by Greg Talenfeld — known for his work with Beck, Pavement and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion — much of the album was worked out on eight-track recordings before the band went into Talenfeld's Stonehouse Studio in New York. They hoped to stay as true to the original live recordings as possible when they began their six weeks of recording last November. "There are probably one or two things that changed in the studio, but pretty much everything was written [before]," said Stumpf, wearing a faded denim button-up shirt with sleeves too short to reach his wrists. "Some songs we recorded many versions of, but the writing was all done on eight-track beforehand. Almost all the decisions were made by the time we got into the studio."

Stinchcomb, Stumpf and his brother, bassist Lawrence Stumpf, are originally from Washington, D.C., while guitarist Josh Wise is an Alabama native. "We try to write songs that are fun to listen to and are catchy, but without hitting you over the head and without playing down to you," Nick Stumpf said. "I think that's been our philosophy all along — you can do catchy stuff that's really fun to listen to, that's also not stupid but interesting at the same time. We try to put some joy back into it for ourselves. When you turn on the radio, everything is so tired — make your own thing and inject some fun back into, some feeling back into it."

"We write songs that we've always wanted to hear, like we're filling a void in our own life," Stinchcomb added.

The French Kicks, who formed in '98 during a summer trip to a Virginia, have released two EPs — their self-titled debut and Young Lawyer, released on Oasis mastermind Alan McGee's label — and have toured the nation vigorously. "It's hard not having a home base — you're in a perpetual state of limbo," Stinchcomb said of touring, shaking his shaggy shoulder-length dirty-blond hair from his face. "It's really grueling. Even if you're sitting in a van not doing anything, it exhausts you."

Still, the guys don't regret the life they've chosen. "Whenever it really gets hard, all I have to do is think about getting on the subway and going to work — it's always gonna be better than that," Nick Stumpf said, leaning in for emphasis (as he did intermittently throughout our conversation) as his round golden-hazel eyes maintained steady contact. "It's worth almost anything if you can just figure out a way where you don't have to ever do that. It's fighting the good fight in a way, to not have to commute with everybody else and go to work every day.

"No matter how bad the day is, the next day is gonna be completely different — new group of people, new location, new venue," he continued. "You have the worst day of your entire life, and the best one the day after."

Perhaps the best trade-off of all comes the second the band steps onstage. "Whatever is going on in your life or in your day, for an hour every night this thing happens, it's like, 'Yeah, we know exactly what we're doing,'" said Wise, who maintained a serious expression throughout the interview, even amidst wisecracks. "That's what keeps me going on the road."

Experiencing the crowd's response can be quite exhilarating. "People are coming to see something you made," said Stinchcomb, wide-eyed. "Something that was concocted in a basement somewhere but actually translates to a broad range of people — that's amazing." — Jenny Tatone [Thursday, May 30, 2002]