Jacques Cormary, alias Jaco, presents the group.

It’s always hard to define your music, which must be a sign of good health, open-mindedness…

Yes: alternative rap, hip-hop rock, we were entitled to a bit of all the labels, but it is indeed healthy: we are free and I even think that we have never been so free. We started working after a long tour in the United States and, when the health crisis arrived, we started working each at home and then together – with certification, always! – by deciding to do exactly what we wanted to do. What did us good during the first confinement was that if we continued to work, everything else, the label, the promotion, the marketing strategies, the administration what, was at a standstill and we were able to focused on our own work: the songs.

Why this title, “1,200 meters in all”?

It’s a form of allegory: zero is the lowest, 1200 the highest. This album recounts the (very) ups and (very) downs that we – and everyone else – have experienced in recent years.

Your songs seem marked by a sweet melancholy. Is it related to the gloomy period we are going through?

That’s very interesting: it’s true that a song can, depending on the state or the place where you are, change its aspect, modify the feelings that run through it. Listen to a funk track in a sad time and your feelings will be altered… This album is the photograph of the last two years, with their joys and their difficult times – like many people. There are a few dynamic titles, but it’s true that we wanted a record that brings hope and lucidity to what life is like forty-somethings today.

A terrible tragedy hangs over the record: the death of Alix’s sister. The title “Vu d’ici”, which is dedicated to him, is superbly the album…

Alix had participated in the disc and she had designed choreographies, which we of course chose to keep in the clip in which we see her dancing. This is obviously a huge loss. She was in remission but held on until the end. This song is a beautiful tribute – but it is, alas, about the lives of many people…

So you must be happy to launch the tour this Thursday, at the Bikini?

Ah, the Bikini, and Hervé’s legendary rib steaks! Of course we hate! We always play in Toulouse with great pleasure and to reopen this great place… It’s going to be a big party!

Rich poster in Ramonville

It’s news for Toulouse music lovers – and that’s a lot of people! – were looking forward to: the reopening of the Bikini! It is Odezenne who will have the honor of (re)launching the season, this Thursday February 17, with a concert that has already been eagerly awaited, and which will be followed by the great Etienne de Crécy (this Sunday at 6 p.m.) and Lilly Wood and the Prick ( February 25). This new start follows the latest government announcements, which again allow standing concerts and club nights. “It’s obviously a big slowdown,” says Antoine Fantuz, head of programming at Bikini. We had been closed since the end of December and, if we managed to maintain a few concerts, the Club was already closed and we had been at a standstill since the Ange concert on December 19. So, yes: a real slowdown – we even feared a later opening! Of course, we had help, but the idea is not to live on a drip…”

The long-awaited reopening does not, however, sweep away the many questions: “We must remain suspicious, observes Antoine. In addition to the health situation, which can always be estimated, we have uncertainties: will the public come back? Rentals are encouraged, but no one is immune to contamination the day before a concert, and I’m talking about spectators as well as artists…”

Fingers crossed, and let’s enjoy the superb programming for the next few weeks: largely hexagonal, (the tours of Anglo-Saxon artists can go through countries – Germany, Holland – where the restrictions are still great and cancel or postpone their concerts in France), it offers the most exciting shows of the moment: Juliette Armanet (March 26), Gaëtan Roussel (March 8), Feu! Chatterton (March 14), Jérémy Frérot (March 1), Kyo (March 10), Polo & Pan (March 9) and “our” Cats on Trees on April 8… There will also be hip-hop (Josman on February 19 , Oboy on March 2 and Georgio on April 9), metal (Psykup, March 19) and Irish folk made in Toulouse (Doolin’, March 24), a good pissed off rock band from Bristol, Idles (the March 6), electro (Bon Entendeur, March 4 and Ezekiel on March 30) and, on saving our favorite for last, British genius Neil Hannon, aka The Divine Comedy (March 13). The Bikini, here we go again: finally good, excellent news!