Interview to Claude Samard

Till 2004 Claude Samard is a key person on every Jean Michel Jarre project. Claude kindly gave this interesting interview to Fairlight Jarre.

– For those who don’t know who are you, who is Claude Samard??

I m a lucky guy who s making a living playing music

– How were your first steps in music??

Rock guitar (like JM 🙂

– How JMJ contacted with you??

Through Alain Bilowus who produced his big shows from 2004

– How were the first meeting with JMJ himself?

In a restaurant 🙂 we re both from Lyon , capital of gastronomy so it was a good start

– Did you know JMJ’s music before the begin of your collaboration??

Of course, i even attended the show at La Defense and at the Eiffel Tower as a spectator

– Have you got any JMJ favourite song or album??

Zoolook was how i stated my sampling career 🙂

– You are musical director in most JMJ concerts, but what is the exact role of a musical director??

For each project JM has a clear vision of what he wants in terms of musical arrangements, collaborations with guests, etc, but he needs somebody to help all his wishes come a reality. It s very time consuming and you must consider the fact that it s the same for video, lasers, fireworks when there are some, lights,  so he needs a musical director to help him along the way for the music part of the project . At each step i show him my work to make sure i m on the good direction, like casting local guests in BJ, Gdansk, Merzouga ….. So i ve to listen to him well , having a lot of pre prod meetings, good briefings so that i get the clearest idea of what he wants.

– The arranges of existing Jarre tracks for the Gdansk concert are really amazing, like the Industrial Overture one… Did you arranged this track for the concert or was Jean Michel Jarre himself who arranged the track??

I did some programming, and then he decides what to keep, and adds his own. It s a collaboration, but he can t do everything from scratch in music , video , lasers, lights. No time. That s why for each field he has a special collaborator who builds with him step by step after his primal recommendations. Then it s a back and forth exchange. JM has his own conception of music so whoever he works with his music has the Jarre sound. All his MD s had different musical backgrounds and musical personalities, but we re all here to follow the direction he indicates , then we keep the project moving forward to save his time and energy while he works on his side.

– And the same question, but about the Metamorphoses tracks in the Water for Life concert: The arranged versions belongs to you??

He gives the directions , some starting ideas , some demos,  then i push this forward, shows the results before going too far, then at some point we check all the ideas we got and he makes the final decision , like a film director he s doing the final edit because then he s got enough interesting material to decide what to keep. Plus it s good to collaborate , especially when you have a long career, it helps for motivation , new influences…

– About the track Tian’anmen, Jarre said in the audiocomentary of the DVD that you and JMJ worked together in the creation of the track in your hotel room. Please, tell us a bit about this track.

I think we may have had some basic ideas before getting to Beijing but most of the work was done at the hotel with my Mac laptop, ProTools LE, a Digi 002 interface , I even bought the cymbals we used the morning of the concert in a local music store 🙂 i have these cymbals at my studio now !

– Did you have any special bad memories or good memories in your concerts with Jarre??

No bad memories. A lot of good ones , the most important being the Beijing concert, the discovery of China and the discovery of what is a Jarre s concert, viewed from the inside.

– About Téo & Téa, as you know this was a very controversial album that most of the fans didn´t like at all. What do you think about this album?? Were you aware of the possible shocks that this album would create in the fan comunity were you were making the album??

Yes, it was an experience, JM explained a lot about that. I think it was a necessary step, it s no hasard that the next one was come back to analog and to his trademark Oxygene.

– Towards the end of 2006, JMJ was talking about a new album called “Saint Exupery” to be realeased in the first part of 2007, but then came out Téo & Téa… Was Téo & Téa “Saint Exupery” or is this last title an abandoned project??

I think so

– As you know, JMJ used the Roland MC808 extensively in the Téo & Téa album, and it was very shocking for most fans that JMJ, a real creator of sounds, used drum patterns of that drum machine almost without any modification… What do you think about this?? What really happened??

JM himself contributed a lot to develop products with Roland , plus on Teo & Tea he worked with Tim , a dutch musician/DJ who developped also sounds for Roland, so it s not so strange some patterns were used on a cd. I even met people from Roland Japan at JM s studio which proves they were working together at the time.

– About your concerts in Spain with the Oxygene In Concert Tour, have you got special memories of this concerts??

Yes , great success, it was a moment when JM started to change his attitude on stage, he did more entertaining , running, moving etc…Maybe its thanx to the spanish audience, but that  s where he changed his attitude during that tour. I even remember having said to him one night ” that s called a triumph” !

– Are you working in the new JMJ album?? If so, what is the direction of this work, a return to origins or another Téo & Téa?

Surely not a new Teo & Tea 🙂 Yes JM worked a lot on this new project , Francis, Dom and me also participated, a lot of good stuff !

– Are you going to visit more continents next yea with the actual JMJ tour?? USA, South America?? And Spain??

Hope so !!! i know it s a wish of JM…but the world is changing these days, (even volcanos) but i should say that yes we should tour in other continents in 2011

– What kind of music inspires you to make your own themes?

any music with soul, emotion , whatever instruments it s played with , a voice , an old moog or a guitar

– Apart of JMJ, have you collaborated with other artists??

Of course, if not JM wouldn t have trusted me 🙂 It ranges from all the major french artists to Rita Marley (the “queen of reggae), Supertramp ‘s Roger Hodgson , Midnight Oil, Zucchero, lots of world music artist for Mongolia, Africa…. I also composed for Video Games (Rayman, Far Cry, Pod2) and for Movies.

– And what kind of music are you making actually??

I released a new CD called “Horizons” and i finished a movie soundtrack “Christopher Roth” , directed by Max Sender. I work on a new personal project  which will blend electro and acoustic instruments.

– Please, talk us about your new CD Horizons. Are you going to promote this album in Spain??

I m working on a new distribution now. It s available on iTunes, Amazon but i m checking out how i could have the Cd distributed in stores as well in Spain and in all the major countries concerned by the physical sales of cd’s. “Horizons” is far from what i do with JM even if it s mostly instrumental too, but it s also a side of what i like. Plus it was a way to collaborate with great musicians and singers from different countries and styles from Tibet to Africa . My next project will be called “Electro Lift” so it speaks for itself 🙂 and i ll use a lot of instruments i play with JM.

– Thanks again and best regards from Spain!!

Thanks to you , hoping to see you soon in Spain. I have to practice my spanish a bit !!!!!

www.claudesamard.com

http://www.myspace.com/claudesamard