Interview: The Hop
Roughly a month ago we got familiar with French band The Hop. Completely out of the blue. A seven-headed crew bringing a fresh flavour of jazzy hip hop, performed with live instruments. A full album is on its way and The Hop just released its
Roughly a month ago we got familiar with French band The Hop. Completely out of the blue. A seven-headed crew bringing a fresh flavour of jazzy hip hop, performed with live instruments. A full album is on its way and The Hop just released its self-titled EP through The Find (that’s us), so reason enough to quickly catch up with the upcoming band to keep your eye on.
Music: The Hop – Picture The World
Why did you pick your name ‘The Hop’? It’s kind of hard to Google you…
We picked it based on A Tribe Called Quest’s song called ‘The Hop‘, from the ‘Beats Rhymes & Life’ album. We did not think about visibility when we picked it…
Can you tell us more about your upcoming video? What do we see and what is it about?
It’s called ‘Overdose’, that’s the first song of our upcoming album that’s still nameless as of right now. For the video we took our inspiration from Nan Goldin’s photos. The ambiance will be darker than in our previous video, ‘Rien Ne M’arrêtera‘.
There’s a lot of (jazzy) hip hop coming from France. What makes The Hop special?
We don’t come from France. We come from Zorg 51. It’s between Le Larzac and Orion, the constellation. The fusion between the know-how of those two regions make our sound so special. Oh, and it’s also because of our use of 70s drums machine and old school synthesizers.
What’s the educational background of you guys; how did you roll into playing music?
Most of us have studied jazz music in Conservatory or jazz school. We started playing music because we’re bad at sports.
Your vocals are in French, so could you tell all our non-French readers more about your subject matter and what you try to accomplish with your lyrics?
Love, drugs, ego trip, Gérard Darmon (a famous french actor/singer), everyday life, our love for the French patrimony… To be honest, we don’t really try to accomplish something with our lyrics, but more with the music globally. It is more about personal interpretation rather than sending a message.
What’s the best French jazz-inspired (hip hop) song of all-time in your opinion?
Jazz is one of the most broad music genres. What kind of jazz-artists do you not like and why?
We don’t like the smooth jazz, which began in the 80s. David Sanborn for example. We think that doesn’t need an explanation, haha.
Your EP wasn’t available on Bandcamp as download, while people were eager to get it. Why was that?
We thought that by putting it on iTunes, it would bring us more exposure. So we decided to put it as purchase on every digital platform, and as streams on Bandcamp and Deezer. Eventually we noticed that a Mediafire link was now available on the web as bootleg. We appreciate that, cause it means that people are getting interested!
What can people expect of your upcoming debut album?
The sound will be different from our EP; a lot darker. For our debut album we get a lot of inspiration from the Canterbury progressive rock scene, Steve Reich, Little Dragon and Radiohead, to name some things.
The Hop’s self-titled EP is now available as free download exclusively on our site!
