Interview Arnaud Le Gouëfflec : Underground is the "pantheon" of indie music

Since April 14, the comic strip Underground by Arnaud Le Gouëfflec in collaboration with the cartoonist Nicolas Moog is available in all points of sale. The two men recount the life of an artist with a more or less tragic destiny. Leafing through these pages, Arnaud Le Gouëfflec and Nicolas Moog take their readers on a spiritual journey through underground music. Whether or not we know these "Cursed Rockers and High Priestesses of Sound", this comic is the new bible of independent music. With Underground, you will become a fan of these colorful artists. Meeting with the screenwriter of Underground, Arnaud Le Gouëfflec.

After the release in 2015 of Side B, your comic book about 20th century rock, Underground, is a new collaboration with cartoonist Nicolas Moog. Why did you choose to make a comic strip about underground music this time?

Has.L.G. For a very long time, I have a taste for characters a little "bigger than life". When I was younger, I was very interested in surrealism. Like for example, Salvador Dali. I thought that the surrealists were fascinating characters because they were completely contrary to any conformism. They were completely separate. Today, they embody a form of freedom of tone. When I became interested in rock, quite quickly, I realized that there were also a number of surrealist and highly fascinating figures, who had built sometimes huge works. In another concern than that of necessarily making a hit or having a shattering success. And it fascinated me. When I discovered The Residents, it was like a whiplash. I thought, how is it possible that this kind of thing exists and that I am not aware of it. And so there you have it, I've spent my life, about thirty years searching, listening and accumulating information on the issue. It's almost a daily adventure so it's logical to talk about the underground. One day, I had the opportunity to write a column in La Revue dessinée. The editorial staff accepted the idea that we could make a chronicle with a cartoonist on unknown or obscure figures or even underground. It was then, in 2013, that I met Nicolas Moog, who was introduced to me by the team of La Revue dessinée. So we did a column almost every quarter on this subject.

How did you develop your comic?

Has.L.G. It is often a discussion upstream with Nicolas Moog to know if one artist seems more appropriate than another. We always agree. After that, I write a comic book script and Nicolas then draws it.

Why did you choose black and white?

Has.L.G. For as long as I can remember, we must have thought a lot with Nicolas Moog. We hesitated but being lovers of black and white for quite aesthetic issues and then also because we both read a lot of Robert Crumb 's comics on the blues for example. Robert Crumb really posed something in terms of comic book writing. When he writes the biography of the British guitarist Charley Patton in Mister Nostalgia , there is this magnificent black and white, which seems to me in its austerity, a counterpoint to the eccentricity of the characters. That is to say, they are really "too much", but the line gives a certain form of austerity and the fact of not adding color makes it possible to create a dynamic contrast. In Underground, the artists are colorful characters but the way they are presented gives a form of restraint.

What were your criteria for selecting artists in Underground ?

Has.L.G. The first criterion was to take artists with an extensive discography. For example, Sun Ra is 200 to 250 albums. In the case of Eugene Chadbourne, a famous American guitarist, we are in an incalculable discography. No one really knows how many recordings he was able to make, maybe 500 or more, that's considerable. The second criterion was to ensure that there was a mix between female and male artists.

For the preface of your comic book Underground, we find a text by rock specialist and journalist Michka Assayas. How did this collaboration come about?

Has.L.G. I knew Michka Assayas as a reader of his Dictionnaire du rock chez Robert Laffont. This book has been a bedside book for years and I have drawn a lot of information from it. For me, he is one of the greatest journalists and encyclopedists of French rock. When he agreed to do the preface, we were delighted. I even discovered some artists thanks to his Dictionary of Rock. Some artists are even in comics, Eugene Chadbourne and Tall Dwarfs for example.

How did you find out to get all this information about these underground artists?

Has.L.G. I met some journalists and critics who are knowledgeable about these artists. After that, there are years of reading rock press such as Rock and Folk or Les Inrocks. There has been a lot of research on the internet as well. There is even first-hand information that we may have had from the artists themselves. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is research these artists.

Speaking of first-hand information… At times you talk in Underground about the Tucson scene, Krautrock, Dub or Black Metal where you put yourself on stage. Why did you choose to stage yourself?

Has.L.G. The passage on Black Metal really happened like that. In fact, I found it amusing to see someone stage someone who is looking for information. The investigator is facing something where obviously everything has been done so that there is no information on the subject. These Black Metal artists called "The Black Legions" have done everything to disappear from the radar and to be totally underground. I quickly realized that the right way to tell them was to incorporate myself into the story. Instead of making believe that the information is available, I immediately wanted to stage an investigator, in this case me, and for information, this story is totally true.

In 2006, you created Le festival invisible, is this comic strip a logical continuation of your festival?

Has.L.G. Yes completely. The invisible festival we created it my wife and I in 2006, our idea was to meet the artists at home in Brest in Brittany. A place quite far from the roads used by international artists for their tours. With my wife, we wanted to create an attractive pole for certain artists to come to us. And indeed, it is exactly the same reflection in this book.

How would you define your Underground comic ?

Has.L.G. Underground is a personal pantheon for Nicolas and me. This comic strip features a whole mythology. The 20th century was a somewhat sad time in some ways. Greek mythology is found in underground rock. With this blind Viking character, begging in the street. Another, who claimed to come from Saturn or who has an eye instead of the head. It feels like it's the Cyclops or the Ulysses of other times. Mythological figures lost in the 20th century. The mythology of rock has always fascinated me. READ ALSO: We do not mess with the flies of the Trolls of Troy