Interview: Quebec Rockers Caravane Come to China

By Matthew Bossons, January 26, 2017

You may not have heard of Caravane, but, as true musical connoisseurs know, that doesn’t mean much these days.

The band is composed of Dominic Pelletier on guitar and vocals, Raphaël Potvin on bass duty, Guillaume Méthot on guitar and William Duguay-Drouin on the skins.

Hailing from Montreal, Quebec, their debut album Chien Noir (2014) earned them an ADISQ nomination in the ‘Rock Album of the Year’ category and the Sirius XM Indie Music Award for ‘Emerging Artist Of The Year.’

Caravane’s second album, entitled Fuego, was released to great critical acclaim in the fall of 2016.

As far as their sound goes, the band delivers folk-tinted Franco blues-rock, which will remind the keen-eared music junkie of bands such as The White Stripes, Black Keys and The Gaslight Anthem.

Caravane will make their China debut performing in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Zhongshan and Zhuhai following an invitation extended by Hooley’s Irish Pub in Guangzhou. We chatted with Potvin ahead of their arrival in the PRC to find out what local music fans can expect from these Canadian rockers.

For our readers that are not familiar with your work, tell us a bit about Caravane’s sound and style?
Caravane is a French rock and roll band. We try to pay homage to the classic bands while still sounding fresh and relevant.

You guys just released a new album, Fuego, last fall. Tell us a bit about how it differs from your debut album Chien Noir?
With Fuego, we tried to push our sound further. When we recorded Chien Noir, our goal was to make a straight to the point rock and roll album in French. With this new album, we introduced new influences in our sound, we tried to think outside the box of the standard verse-chorus-verse formula. We also put a lot of time and effort into our lyrics, so the poetry is at another level.

This is your first time performing in China if we are not mistaken, tell us a bit about your expectations, with regards to performing in the country.
We try not to have any expectations for our trip. It is hard, but since playing in China is going to be an amazing experience no matter what happens, we want to live it to the fullest while over there and not ruin it by trying to predict what's going to be like.

Touring-wise, what other countries have you guys visited?
With this band, we went to Europe last year. We visited France and Germany. But as musicians, we have traveled all over the USA and Europe.

Greatest musical inspirations?
The Rolling Stones, The Black Keys, Led Zeppelin, The Strokes, Queens of the Stone Age.

What Chinese dish are you guys most looking forward to trying?
We have absolutely no idea and that's what we like!

Best addition to poutine?
A restaurant in Gaspé, Québec, where we just played last weekend, adds shrimp to their poutine with a special fish sauce. It sounds weird, but it's awesome.

If you had to choose between opening for Nickelback or consensual sex with a bottlenose dolphin, which would you choose?
Both at the same time.