Meet the sour tones
a parisian underground punk band
Tired of punching the clock at your dead end job? Sour Tones know exactly how you feel.
The French punk/alt rock band writes songs that aim to express the angst of living in today’s paycheck-to-paycheck world. With the classic and simple rock band set-up of bass, electric guitar, drums, and a strong, commanding voice, the band brings back the days where anarchy was created in the form of songs of various rock genres. Citing The Clash, Nirvana, and The Sex Pistols as their inspiration, Sour Tones bring an energy to their songs that many will resonate with.
“We are called sour tones and it's because we think we are a generation that is quite depressed. With the music we express rage, sourness, bitterness. We think a lot about what's going on.” The band’s drummer, Raphael, explained about the intention behind their music. “I think that's something we all share in the group. We're all quite aimless or clueless on what to do with our lives and I think through the music we find an answer,” added Xavier, their bassist. This shared vision of showing people who feel that they don’t belong in a traditional work environment that they’re not alone seems to be what brings the members of the band together.
Something else the group has in common is that the band is their only way of expressing these feelings. Though they are passionate about this topic, music is the only way they have been able to take a break from their normal lives and speak more on what really matters to them.
Sour Tones performing live in a paris club - shot by Alexis-Kriss Derisse
“My name is Baptiste, my stage name is Sonni. I think I take on a persona because the kind of music we make is very loud and a lot of energy. That's not really my personality so I think it helps to put on a persona. It also helps to say stuff the way I want to say it. It's easier to hide behind something in a sense.”
said the band’s lead singer. The band’s bassist felt a similar way, saying “ I'm quite shy in real life and when I'm performing on stage I get this huge adrenalin. You feel like you really fit into the place, like you belong there. So it's a strong feeling of joy and happiness and many feelings at the same time. It's something you can experience only on stage.”. `
Despite their ability to bond over their similar feelings about today’s society, they all come from very different musical backgrounds. “Simon (guitarist) and Raphael will be more into metal music and classic rock. In this band i'll take more of a punk persona like The Sex Pistols and The Stooges. And our bassist is very funky. We just mix everything and try to make good music.” explained Baptiste. “With this together we’re Sour Tones.” said Raphael. This difference in music tastes and styles is both a strength and weakness for the band. This can really be seen in their process of writing music. Baptsite stated that they “all bring different elements to the table so everyone will kind of write his own parts. Basically someone will come in with an idea, like a guitar riff or bass line or a drum part or some lyrics, and then everyone will kind of write his own part and we’ll discuss it, see if it suits everyone or not. But it's very organic like that. We all write together.”. Hearing the finished product of a Sour Tones song, one can see how harmoniously each of the members were able to contribute their ideas. However, getting to that finished product may not be as easy as it seems. “It's complicated to do music that suits every one of us. So maybe on the next EP we’ll try and go into new directions and continue to find our sound. I don't think we’ve found it yet.” admitted Baptiste.
However, the band has decided to focus on performing shows and come back to their EP later on. “We're lucky enough to have good contacts for gigs in Paris so we know those guys will come back to us eventually.”. After a very busy 3 years, Sour Tones is doing a few shows but are mostly “taking it easy”. Overall, the Sour Tones are perfect for punk rock fans looking to hear a new sound. Support this emerging band by streaming them on spotify and apple music or, for the best experience, see them perform live if you get the chance.
