French pop music lovers, Yelle is not just composed of its fun and energetic (and namesake) singer Julie Budet; it's also its two supporting musicians, GrandMarnier and Tepr, who perfectly complement each other through the heterogeneous musical background they have acquired.

After three years of touring around the world with the music of their first album "Pop Up," the trio is out promoting a second album called Safari Disco Club, released on March 29th in the United States. Although the electro-pop band is very well known for their play on words in French, Yelle's music still appeals to everyone, and they are proud to see their American fan base stick around.

Yelle held the first live showing of Safari Disco Club in America at Coachella back in April 2011, where the stage they were performing at filled up in less that ten minutes. The American fans kept up with the band and seem to gather in number and excitement from one show to another.

Thus, after a successful North American tour back in April and May, Yelle decided to come back to us. This time around, they will give their first performance in Los Angeles at the Wiltern on the night of the 14th, stop by several countries around South America, and finish this second tour with a taste of the East Coast.   

Q: Where does the name Yelle come from?

A: [Laughter] Originally, it was Y-E-L standing for "You Enjoy Life" but we quickly feminized it and changed it to Y-E-L-L-E.

Q: How did everything start for you?

A: I started to sing when I was a little girl but nothing really serious. I also had a couple of bands but it was more for fun than anything else, and then, I met Jean-Francois [GrandMarnier] in 2000 or 2001 who already had a band and offered me to do the vocals on some of his productions. It started like this after what we tried out some things in his studio and quickly decided to move on to more concrete song productions. The first track we did was "Je Veux Te Voir." We posted it on MySpace so our friends and families could listen to it, and everything really started from here.

Q: You're often compared to different genres such as dance mixed with hip-hop  or the rebirth of pop from the 80's. To which genre would you really like to be associated with?

A: Well it doesn't really have that much importance… but clearly we do some electro-pop. We produce pop music because the format of our songs are based on a verse-chorus pattern and because we're very much inspired by that type of music. However, we also use the electronic aspect of music for its dancing rhythm and we compose our music on computers so yes electro-pop would be a good definition.

Q: Your second album presents a new style of electro quite avant-gardist inspired by sounds coming from Africa. What was the main inspiration and influence of Safari Disco Club?

A: Actually, it's very funny because we were not literally inspired by an African influence. We toured a lot with the first album "Pop Up," and when we were on stage we always wanted to enhance the percussive arrangement of the tracks. So Jean-Francois, the drummer, would always try different things and I would use a tom bass. Since we had experienced this a little, we wanted to use it in the production of our new tracks and Jean-Francois is fond of Caribbean rhythms so we use it as a source of inspiration for the album too. Although there was no source of inspiration in particular, it's true that we had in mind to put an emphasis on the drums.

Q: What animal of Safari Disco Club resembles you the most?

A: I don't know but I would say, I would say… oh it's hard! [Laughter] I would say the lion for the subdued side of it, because sometimes it would hide a little and somehow it is similar to my two-sided personality. I can be very shy in my everyday life and also be completely wild on stage. Sometimes the lion can show this pacha aspect of it and be a little layabout, and suddenly, when it comes to defend its territory or to find food, it becomes absolutely different and like this double personality.

Q: The concept of two videos in one such as "Safari Disco Club/Que Veux-Tu" is very interesting. How did you come up with this idea?

A: Well, actually, we really had a hard time deciding on the first track to be released. We really liked both a lot. So we first started to write a music video for "Safari Disco Club" and we quickly came up with the idea of linking the two videos. We had the chance to shoot in Los Angeles with a great team so it was possible to have a three-day shoot and make the video for "Que Veux-Tu" right away. So we thought, let's just make two videos in one. We are so happy to have accomplished that and that people actually thought it was funny because we really had no idea how people would react to it. So we're delighted, and for us it was a great experience to work on two music videos, bring up some ideas, and work hand-in-hand with the director, Jeremie Saidon. Voila! Overall, it was something really fun to do.

Q: If you had to tell the story of the video, what would you say?

A: Well, it's the story of a weird world where people put their heads in the ground to escape from the guards wandering about in the streets. I happened to be chased by these guards and the only way out is to jump into the ground. This is when I land in a parallel world ruled by dance.

Q: I had the chance to see your performance at Coachella back in April 2011 and it was very impressive to see the excitement of the American crowd when waiting for you to come up on stage. At the time, were you already aware of your popularity amongst Americans?

A: Actually, we had already been touring in the United States before the April and May tour of this year, and we thought we were hallucinating, to see how the concert halls were filled, the people present in the rooms, the way we experienced it, the shows, and everything. We played at Coachella in 2008 and it went really well. So it looks like the more it goes, the more we come back, the bigger the rooms are, and people are not fed up with it. The crowd made it for the second album, the ones who discovered us with the first album came back, so we feel like they follow us and grow with us so it's a great feeling then to see this fan base expanding. It's true that since we are French, we sing in French so we didn't expect that infatuation from Americans. 

Q: Your songs often contain a lot of play-on-words with a great sense of humor and a lot of hidden meanings. Aren't you sometimes skeptical about a cultural shock or a language barrier that could prevent you from reaching out to the American fan base?

A: It's already the case! We know that we're not a band played on the radio in the United States because we know that it is a "problem" somehow to sing in French; however, for the public that already knows us I feel like this is what makes our originality, and when they become curious they look for translations on the Internet. There are some people who even told us that they are taking French classes so they can understand it. I mean, it's pretty cool to see everything that it can generate so we don't know if we will change this because we are under the impression that they also love us for that.

Q: We often hear that Europeans tend to have a preference for New York City. However, as an artist, what is appealing in Los Angeles?

A: In Los Angeles, there is something about their lifestyle in particular. I don't know, people are very relaxed. You always feel like it's the holidays. So I imagine that the weather plays a role in it, but there's also this special light that we love in Los Angeles, and that's why we wanted to shoot "Safari Disco Club/Que veux-Tu" over there. There's something unique about it. The fact that you have to drive around all the time, yes it's something that it is cool you know. But we love New York a lot too but yes it's more European, more fast-paced. I don't know if we may prefer Los Angeles… I mean when we are in New York we love taking our time too. I think it's just about the mood, it depends on the day you know.

Q: Independent French record labels with a focus on electronic music such as Kitsune and Ed Banger Records become more and more popular here. What do you think about this new interest acclaimed by Europeans?

A: I find it cool that there is fascination for Europeans and European bands because it's really not easy for us to make it in the United States and to reach out to the American public. What matters is bands and music but the labels are something else. It's more about the music itself.

Q: What do you think makes European music so unique and different?

A: I think that we have a past with British music and the French pop. We have a large variety of influences that mix very well together. For example, in the band we have a lot of different musical background: Jean-Francois [GrandMarnier] listened to a lot of rock and hardcore when he was younger, I was listening to a lot of pop, Tanguy [Tepr], the third member of the band, he listened to rap more and rock too. So we have a panel of a variety of things that might make European music richer. So GrandMarnier is whispering to me the location of France compared to Europe [Laughter]. Yes, it is a lot of things overlapping one another from the Italian dance music, to the German techno, from the British pop, to the Swedish pop or Scandinavia where there are a lot of bands too. It's an intersection of many cool things.

Q: What do you think of other genre of electronic music such as dubstep or minimal?

A: Well these are the type of things that we listen to in a party but dubstep is something that fascinates us a lot because we see how it's growing right now in the United States. We often bump into Skrillex in festivals. It's funny to see him, he's so young and yet is able to gather so many crowds. It's crazy to witness how fast it can happen and the impact it has on people.

Q: The future of the music industry is constantly questioned. As an artist, what are the biggest worries?

A: I don't really have worries new ways of doing have to be imagined. Offer something different, another way to listen to music, something else than CDs. We come back to the EP a little too, that's something people like, a format with remixes and things like that. Give out bonuses and actually offer music videos, other videos … I mean, all of these are things that people like and that let them discover other things. It's another way to consume music, I don't really like to say that, but another way to discover and reinvent things.

Q: I've just heard of a new band, Juveniles. Your discovery?

A: Yea! Well it's a bunch of guys that we like and who live not very far from us, since they are Britons. GrandMarnier became closer to them and helped them out here and there. He introduced them to some people, etc… And we also made them a remix and we see now a lot of things happening for them. It's really cool because they are some young talents and we hope for the best for them.

Q: Are we going to have the chance to see Housse de Racket opening for you on the show on November 10th at the Wiltern?

A: Unfortunately no because they are still touring in France and they will just meet us on the East Coast. So someone else will be opening for us.
           

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