Indochine

At the end of 1980, the Parisian band Les Espions, looking for a bassist and singer, published two advertisements in Rock & Folk magazine. Dominique Nicolas and Nicola Sirkis answered the ad and were recruited. Unhappy with the musical direction, they decided to form their own band, Indochine, in 1981, with Nicola Sirkis on vocals, keyboard and occasional guitar, and Dominique Nicolas on guitar, bass and keyboard. Nicola's twin brother Stéphane Sirkis took over guitar and keyboards a few months later, while Dimitri Bodianski was recruited as saxophonist. Having signed their first contract with the independent label Clemence Melody, the band went on to record their first single, "Dizzidence Politik", at the end of the year. The New Wave-influenced rock band went on to release their first album in 1982, L'Aventurier, with the homonymous single inspired by the comic book hero Bob Morane. This became the hit of 1983, selling almost half a million copies. Later that year, Le Péril Jaune was released, a second opus that built on the success of its predecessor with the singles "Miss Paramount" and "Kao Bang", and approached the sales figures of the first with 225,000 copies sold in France. Soberly christened 3, its successor had just as many hits, including "Canary Bay", "3e Sexe", "Trois nuits par semaine" and "Tes yeux noirs", whose video clip was directed by Serge Gainsbourg, which moved away from the Asian universe of the first two efforts to embrace sexual themes and androgyny. its successor, 7000 danses, unveiled in 1987, had a rockier sound, as evidenced by the single "Les Tzars", and was exported worldwide thanks to the world tour that promoted it, as witnessed by the live Indochine Tour 88. The band then moved away from new wave sounds and took a more pop-rock path, as evidenced by Le Baiser (1990) and Un Jour Dans Notre Vie (1993). The latter marked a period of commercial drought. After a more pop-oriented attempt to reconnect with their audience with Wax, newcomers Boris Jardel and Oli de Sat gave the band a new impetus, culminating in Danceteria and, above all, Paradize, which marked a real commercial turnaround with its million album sales and numerous collaborations with the likes of Jean-Louis Murat, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Gérard Manset and Mickey 3D, who penned the hit "J'ai demandé à la lune", the band's first number one. A happy comeback that contrasts with the tragedy that Indochine has just endured, as Stéphane Sirkis died on February 27, 1999, of lightning hepatitis. In the industrial rock/gothic rock vein of its predecessor, Alice and June features contributions from Brian Molko, Aqme and Didier Wampas. While sales of the album reached 450,000 copies, the number of spectators on the tour was close to 600,000. On the La République des Météors tour that followed in 2009, the band even became the first French rock band to fill the Stade de France, a performance immortalized on the live album Putain de Stade (2011). Two years later, Black City Parade and its singles "Memoria" and "College Boy" were released , followed by 13, promoted by "La Vie est belle" (2017). Indochine then made a name for itself in 2020 with "Nos Célébrations", released in support of the Singles Collection (1981-2001) and Singles Collection (2001-2021) compilations, as well as "3Sex", a collaboration with Christine and the Queens. A return to the limelight in the run-up to the band's fortieth anniversary in 2021. This was eventually postponed to 2022 due to the Covid pandemic. 2023 sees the release of the live album Central Tour (#1 in the French charts). As summer 2024 approaches, the band unveils the single "Le Chant des Cygnes", the first release from the double album Babel Babel, the fourteenth in Indochine's discography, released in September. It features two collaborations: "Showtime" with Ana Perrote and "Girlfriend" with Marion Brunetto.