{"id":5457,"date":"2019-09-19T15:09:46","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T19:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=5457"},"modified":"2019-09-19T15:09:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T19:09:58","slug":"interview-polo-pan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2019\/09\/19\/interview-polo-pan\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: Polo & Pan"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christian Jaeger<\/em><\/p>\n

WTBU DJ Christian Jaeger sat down with\u00a0Paul Armand-Delille and\u00a0<\/span>Alexandre Gryszpan, better known as Polo & Pan, ahead of their show at the Royale on Thursday, September 12th. Read their conversation below and Christian’s show review here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian Jaeger<\/strong>:<\/span> I am sitting down with Alexandre Gryszpan and Paul Armand-Delille. Hi guys, welcome.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Armand-Delille<\/strong>:<\/span> Hey, how are you doin\u2019?<\/span><\/p>\n

Alexandre Grynszpan<\/strong>:<\/span> Thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Thank you, welcome to Boston. How does it feel to be here?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> We\u2019re super happy to be here. We have great memories of our last show, so we\u2019re happy to be back in New England and start our tour here.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> What a special show [that was], at the Brighton Music Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> Ah.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> So where is home for both of you? What city or town in France do you currently call home?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> I guess we\u2019re both from Paris. Alex is much more Paris-native, but I\u2019ve been there for about twenty years now, so I call Paris home for sure.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> (To Alex<\/em>) And Paris is home as well?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> Yeah yeah, I was born in Paris. It\u2019s my main city and I love it so much.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> So how long have you been on the road so far for this tour?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Well, it\u2019s our very first gig. We flew into Boston yesterday, the tour bus arrived today, and we\u2019re headed to New York, Philly, Washington, and so on for three weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> And in November we\u2019re going to spend two more weeks continuing the U.S. tour. So it\u2019s like a huge tour in two months.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> But only in the U.S.?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> We\u2019ll have one gig in Canada and a gig in Mexico.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Very cool. Where in Mexico?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> It\u2019s in D.F. (Mexico City), the main city. It\u2019s at Corona Capital, a huge festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Yeah, the Corona Music Festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Just touring and traveling <\/span>\u2014 how does that take a toll on the body and on the mind?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Ah well, it\u2019s the first gig. We\u2019ve already been here. We\u2019ve done two U.S. tours, and last time we kind of switched into total-warrior-mode. We had stopped drinking, and we were running every morning. I guess we\u2019re musicians, we met like six years ago, we\u2019ve partied a lot, we\u2019ve DJ\u2019ed a lot together, and now as the tour has been going on for about two years, we need to mix it up and learn how to get a more healthy rhythm as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> And this is the first time we are going to tour with a tour bus. It\u2019s a closed place, so we have to love all the crew. If not, it will be really complicated. But we have a wonderful crew, so it\u2019s going to be like holidays, maybe. Who knows?<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> So interesting. So within the last year, it seems that your music has just completely exploded. What do you guys have to say about that?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Yeah, in the U.S. we\u2019ve picked up a lot. It was a conscious choice. Being Franco-American, I remember two years ago telling the tour manager \u201cOK, let\u2019s try to go to the U.S. more. Let\u2019s try to do it.\u201d And Alex and I, we both wanted to do it, so we kind of set our mind to that. We also got lucky because Apple picked up our song for their iPhone 10 ad, so \u201cNan\u00e3\u201d got some premium airplay in the U.S. We got lucky, but we also really wanted it \u2014 kind of provoked this luck that we had. It\u2019s a mix of both good circumstances and a lot of hard work and dedication.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> I think Coachella this year [brought] us some new audience to be able to do this tour and be sold out in a lot of different cities. So, wow, we\u2019re so proud. Really, really proud.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> So proud of you guys, that\u2019s awesome. What can you attribute to that success?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> We always did good choices. For example, we [decided] to do an album \u2014 a really original one, you know. We didn\u2019t want to do any concession. (To Paul<\/em>) Concession?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Compromise. No compromise.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span>\u00a0No compromise. We had free ideas about this album.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Yeah, in the studio we really went inwards and it was a very personal journey. Our references were personal. We did our own thing. And then, in the tour part, we\u2019re really going towards the audience. So it\u2019s a mix of that. You need to have the yin and yang \u2014 the moment where you\u2019re really picking and looking inside yourself to find something that\u2019s personal and then connect it with everybody. So this tour part has been really trying to make a show on how to transform this music that\u2019s very personal, that\u2019s kind of hard to play live, and we also made good choices at that moment \u2014 how to render it, make it fun for people, and engaging and entertaining. So as Alex said, it\u2019s a lot of choices \u2014 micro-choices and trying to make good choices. It\u2019s our two minds plus our label, and now we have a big team around us, so it helps a lot.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Did either of you ever imagine that you would be this big one day? Famous musicians?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> I\u2019m not considering we are big. We always try to be bigger. This is the only question we expect.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Yeah, I remember doing visualization sessions. I was really a big fan of Air (French musical duo). It was about ten years ago and I was visualizing myself on stage, dressed in white, as a duo, but then so much stuff happened. I kind of believe in that. We\u2019re both ambitious, but as Alex [said], we\u2019re just riding the wave and trying to write really good music. We\u2019re all thinking about \u201cOK, next album: what can we do that\u2019s going to be crazy and interesting?\u201d If you stop and say \u201cOK, I\u2019m this big and I want to be this big,\u201d that\u2019s a really bad way to conceive the career and what we\u2019re trying to do musically. It\u2019s got to be about the music, trying to make it exciting and fun. Hopefully people love it, and that\u2019s how we grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> First and foremost, what a humble attitude from both of you. That\u2019s an amazing response.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> Merci.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Have you guys always found support from people? Has everyone supported you through this journey?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> My dad was kind of against it.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Really?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> (Laughs<\/em>) For a long time, my friends have been supporting me, saying \u201cOK, you\u2019ve got talent,\u201d and now they\u2019re like \u201cOK, you\u2019ve kind of made it\u201d and they\u2019re super happy and excited. I guess it\u2019s about luck and also trying for a long time. Alex, when I met him, was a super talented DJ \u2014 he\u2019d been doing that for ten years. Also, I had been DJ\u2019ing a lot and producing. The work and what we\u2019ve done together in five years, there\u2019s like fifteen years of DJ\u2019ing and being passionate about music before that. When we found each other, we both had something strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>: <\/span>And I think we are naturally really optimistic and we\u2019re supporting each other. You know, we\u2019re really close with each other. When, for example, Paul has some doubts, I [try] to convince him that \u201cNo, we are in the good way.\u201d And he does exactly the same for me. That\u2019s why our supporter, first, is ourself. And we are perfect \u2014 A-Team.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> We couldn\u2019t have done this without each other. We\u2019re very complementary in terms of temperament. We both have our strong points, but it works out beautifully. Between us, what we\u2019re doing together is cool. We\u2019re grateful for meeting each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> How long have you guys been friends \u2014 like good, good friends?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> It really started with the music. We met, we DJ\u2019ed together, and we loved the music. So it\u2019s always been about the music, and then the friendship started in the studio, when we were having such a good time. Very soon, we did \u201cRivolta,\u201d our first track, so the friendship really built with the project. We connected humanly, but through the music I remember the first time we met was practically behind decks. It was always about the music.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> At what point did you realize \u201cOK, this is actually going somewhere, and it\u2019s going somewhere big?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> I think it was because of you! I certainly, wow, my God \u2014 it\u2019s getting really big. Just right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> There\u2019s no way. Paul, you said there was an Apple commercial. You guys just played Coachella!<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> The beautiful point in the band-aid is that since the beginning, we didn\u2019t\u2026 (Speaks to Paul in French<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Yeah, just say, \u201cWe\u2019re here and we want to be here,\u201d riding the wave. And the moment you stop and say, \u201cOK, we\u2019ve achieved this and want to achieve more,\u201d is not exactly the right way, especially the way we work together. It\u2019s more about \u201cOK, if our second album is irrelevant, it\u2019s OK, we did a great first album, but they\u2019ll forget us in two or three years.\u201d We just want to make this good music and share these good energies. It\u2019s about that and if we started thinking \u201cOK, what\u2019s working now? If we take a bit of what we did plus what\u2019s working right now,\u201d that wouldn\u2019t be a good strategy for us for sure.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> It\u2019s not like a sport. We don\u2019t want to have a record or be in Guinness [World Records]. It\u2019s always, always like traveling \u2014 like a long trip. There is no preset aim. We\u2019re always traveling.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> If you get too competitive and try to sell more records, then you start making these compromises with your music. We\u2019re happy with where we\u2019re at. Five years ago, we were happy with where we were at, when we did \u201cRivolta,\u201d DJ\u2019ing and living off that. It\u2019s not about trying to make it massive, but hopefully people will connect if we make some music that\u2019s honest and fun. I think it\u2019s been a good choice so far. It\u2019s our DNA, so we have to remember that.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> And you return to that club that you guys have played at for so long? Do you return there quite often?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Every night in my dreams.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> It\u2019s closed right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Oh, it is? I\u2019m so sorry.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> No, don\u2019t be sorry because the owner of this club is a guy who always [does] pop-up clubs. This guy is like us: he doesn\u2019t want to have one goal. He always travels all around the world, all around different clubs, and that\u2019s why we were playing at another club in Paris for some time. He owned that club.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>: <\/span>[Lionel Bensemoun] the guy who opened Le Baron Paris, has opened quite a few [clubs] since Baron closed. He\u2019s our close friend. Alex is always playing there \u2014 he has a residency there. It\u2019s the same team, different name, different place.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> Exactly. So we\u2019re not sad, you know? It\u2019s always traveling.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Always traveling \u2014 what a good way to live. Was there ever a backup plan?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Yeah, sure. It\u2019s uh \u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> No. No backup plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> The plan was always to make music, and the strategy was a bit \u201cOK, I\u2019m doing wedding gigs, mixing in some safe money stuff, and then DJ\u2019ing clubs I like, and then trying to write music.\u201d So it was always like, twenty percent of something very creative, and then forty percent of your time is just making money, and then\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> Backup plan is when you need it, you know? If you start asking, \u201cWhat am I going to do in five years?\u201d there is something wrong I think. You don\u2019t have to ask so many questions. This is, I think, the start of something bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> For a musician, I\u2019d say it\u2019s important to have that mindset of not trying to plan too much ahead and not putting too much pressure on yourself. It took me a long time. I\u2019m older than Alex. I had quite a few records that were failures, but the American failure \u2014 you fail three but then you get this big one. It was a positive failure.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> How old are you, Paul?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> I\u2019m 38.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> How old are you, Alex?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> I\u2019m 33.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> OK, cool. After gaining larger fan bases and audiences, what are some of the largest shows you guys have played?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> Mainstage at EDC in Mexico.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> A hundred thousand people. But that was a DJ set. Live, we\u2019ve played large stages in Europe, big French festivals, and then EDC was kind of this massive EDM event where we were booked and it was fun, but the proportions were very different from what we\u2019re used to. It was fun and we had a great time, but we were like, \u201cWow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Yeah, and that makes me ask: do you prefer playing major festivals or do you prefer that small club? Or both?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>: <\/span>We like to mix it up. We like both. It depends on the circumstances and the moments. It\u2019s fun to have both, actually, to be able to play the small clubs and DJ large live shows. It makes it more interesting that there\u2019s variety of venues and circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> It\u2019s flattering, you know, to be in a huge, huge crowd. But we are really happy when we are close to people, so when we are in the small club, it could be more exciting because you can have eye contact with people, you can feel if people are excited or not. It\u2019s two different points of view, and they\u2019re not comparable, I think.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Also for the show, just like a stand up act, they play small rooms to try jokes, to kind of try their shows. Sometimes you get a reaction from a big crowd, but when you play in front of thirty or fifty people, it\u2019s a lot more intimate and sometimes it\u2019s harder, but you also really see if the songs work or don\u2019t \u2014 the real reaction. But when you play in front of fifteen thousand people, there\u2019s always going to be kind of movement, but you can\u2019t study everybody and get the emotion of what\u2019s going on. Both are important for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Certainly. <\/span>Caravelle<\/em>, your first full-length album was released in 2017. Singles have been added since, but should we be expecting something else soon? Whether singles, an EP, an album?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> Who knows.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Who knows.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Yeah, well we\u2019re thinking of the next step, but we\u2019re really not there yet. We\u2019re still finishing this tour. As you know, as you saw, [our music in] the U.S. kind of picked up this year, so we\u2019re still following this wave. The <\/span>Caravelle<\/em> is still traveling, so we\u2019ll see how that plays out this year. We hope to get back to the studio and work on something new.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> Let it travel \u2014 we love it very much. What advice would you give to a fellow musician who has the same dream?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> Do what is a good choice. This is the only question, and the good choice is your choice. Be sure and be convinced that if you\u2019re doing a choice and a lot of people are convincing you that it\u2019s not a good one, I think trust yourself. Trust yourself and don\u2019t listen too much to other people.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> I\u2019d say be patient. It takes a long time to make something relevant. Like we listened to so much good music, transmission. You know, there are some wonder kids, but I think to make a good track you have to listen to songs for quite a few years and then you\u2019re able to digest it. And then, collaborate with people because you\u2019re better when more people are giving their soul \u2014 pouring some energy into your music. It always improves the track.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span> And the last question: You guys have what so many people would consider the coolest, \u201cbest\u201d job in the world. Do you agree? What are some of the best qualities and what are some of the worst?<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> Well, we are really blessed and lucky. This is a job for us because we love it and we wanted it. It\u2019s a job, so it\u2019s got its hardships and so on, but it\u2019s definitely worth it. It\u2019s the best job in the world for us because we want it, but if someone wants to make beautiful chairs and he loves wood, then that\u2019s the best job in the world for him.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> But this is the hardest job, I think \u2014 ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>: <\/span>Yeah. For family life, for example, it can be hard and challenging just being on the road.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> (Speaks to Paul in French<\/em>) It\u2019s really stressful. You never know what\u2019s going to happen. You\u2019re so far away from your family.<\/span><\/p>\n

PAD<\/strong>:<\/span> There can be some stress from competition. You can think \u201cAre you going to be relevant?\u201d As you said, what\u2019s going to happen in a few years?<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>:<\/span> It\u2019s the coolest but the hardest.<\/span><\/p>\n

CJ<\/strong>:<\/span>\u00a0The coolest but the hardest. Well, thank you guys so much for sitting down. Appreciate it so much.<\/span><\/p>\n

AG<\/strong>: It\u2019s a great pleasure.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christian Jaeger WTBU DJ Christian Jaeger sat down with\u00a0Paul Armand-Delille and\u00a0Alexandre Gryszpan, better known as Polo & Pan, ahead of their show at the Royale on Thursday, September 12th. Read their conversation below and Christian’s show review here. Christian Jaeger: I am sitting down with Alexandre Gryszpan and Paul Armand-Delille. Hi guys, welcome. Paul […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[890,29,646,889],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5457"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5463,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5457\/revisions\/5463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}