. Four letters. Four incredible talents. Fresh, Fun and 100% Play. These whimsical guys got together for a while, joggling with their musical projects of the time. Ben Bailleux, from The Tellers, Aurelio Mattern from Lucy Lucy and Sonnfjord, Leo Grosheitsch and Jérémie Mulders who has a solo project as Jeremy Walch. PAON left us an EP and an incredibly pop & colourful eponymous album with eleven zany songs. Their energy was super jolly. You could feel they wanted to play, experiment and be absolutely free. It was a breath of fresh air and hopefully they’ll come together again some day to keep on burning. I met them a while ago on a Luxembourg stage and thought I’d finally share some of their hearty words and pictures. If you want, you can listen to Jeremy Walch this Saturday 10th September at Chez Franz. And check out their performances for Bruxelles ma Belle here.
You each had music projects going on. What made you take the Paon bet?
Aurelio: Ben and I each had our projects since 5 years and we needed a new start. We had been friends for a while and we got together to try something more natural and spontaneous. We had never played together and we discovered each other in the music. Paon was born.
Jérémie: Paon is about getting together with friends and having fun. No fuss, no thinking about tomorrrow.
Describe your music.
Aurelio: There are a lot of influences in Paon. It varies from song to song. Even during the concert, we start with more luminous pop songs, and slowly go towards more eerie melancholic tunes. The essence is still pop, especially Ben and me.
How does the image of a peacock suit you?
Léo: The word is beautiful. The orthography. There wasn’t a link with the animal per se but rather with the word’s aesthetics and the sonority.
What does each of you bring to the team?
Jérémie and his dad often bring their car (laughters). Thanks dad, if you’re reading!!
Ben: the texts. the force of the tune. the structure.
Jéré et Léo: the arrangements, especially the convoluted ones which often come from Leo.
Aurelio: Ben and I compose a melody on four chords. The skeletton and the impact of the song.
What was your favorite live performance?
Aurélio: Aralunaires was absolutely rad because it was one of our first post-studio concerts and our manager had pushed us to make some special performance involving a choir. We got totally carried away and the atmosphere was incredible. We played in a church, with ten teenagers singing the chorus with us, crazy projections, everybody was sitting down, giving it a rather solemn touch. It was beautiful.
Léo: Reims. Excellent energy.
Ben et Jéré: Trois éléphants in Laval. We had just launched the EP, it was our debut, reallu. There was a group that hadn’t shown up so we had to play their slot and we ended up on a huge stage with a super excited crowd.
How do you think the Belgian scene is perceived abroad?
Aurélio: The Belgian scene has a better reputation abroad than it does at home.
Ben: It’s what being English in the 2000 must have felt. You are in a concert venue, you say you’re from Belgium and everyone’s like “woah, awesome”. It’s become a somewhat cool designation.
If you could choose to play in any band, what would it be?
Léo: Tame Impala.
Jéré: Jeremy Walch
Aurélio: guitarist for The Demon Barbers
Anita
