STELLA VANDER since the very beginning has been the most faithful of the spokes-people from MAGMA. At the forefront, and more than any other, she has a lot to tell us. And its good for us that she likes to talk.
JA: Could you tell me your own views on Coltrane's music?
SV: They are certainly not the same as those of Christian, since I am much less engrossed in it. I've listened to that music ever since I was a kid and I never cease to find new things in it. There is such an enormous wealth to it, that perhaps the music deserves an entire lifetime's study, but I am far from being rooted in the course of each note as Christian is.
JA: He is an extremist in that field...
SV: Exactly.
JA: Since joining the choir for 'Mekanïk' in 73, your role in Christian Vander's line-ups never ceases to evolve. Could you go back over your contribution to the music of Christian Vander?
SV: I started a little by chance. At one point when they were auditioning girls for the backing vocals, they realized that I would be perfectly capable of doing the job. At this time, very few girls worked in music, especially in France and particularly in rock groups. Essentially it was just guys... This was to be quite problematic. I felt bad vibes, but when I re-listen to the recordings of that time, I realize that I carried out my job well and that I had no reason to get a complex, but alongside people like Klaus and Jannick, I was considered small fry.
JA: You started your career in a variety style, quite restricted by the 60's pop fashions. What attracted you towards Magma?
SV: I started my career at the age of thirteen making simple songs, which were the thing at that time. (Ed: At this point I wish you could listen to 'Pourquoi pas Moi', there really was no English pop music in the 60's of this type... no wonder that IQ were later considered progressive music! - meow!). I messed around with those for three years. As soon as I realized a true level of technique, there was no one trendier than me, until the day I saw Christian. I had heard of him from his friends who spoke of him only in flattering terms. I imagined a very trendy bloke, so skilled as to be capable of reading the smallest musical note at 3km. That day I had been working; jamming in a club, I was totally bowled over. I'd say that if it ever existed, he had the knack for music. I would have moved heaven and earth to meet him... that day or the next, all my musical friends no longer existed. I was nearly nineteen, and I said to my boyfriend beside me "Is this the revelation of your life or what?" It really was.
JA: Is there, amongst the innumerable formations within which you played, one of them that you particularly regret?
SV: No, because I always found each one in turn was very interesting. I definitely have many fond memories of the two eras with Jannick, then with Bernard (Paganotti) and Didier (Lockwood) because those were the most consistent. But I have no regrets because although they achieved formidable things musically, it was much less formidable in human terms. It's also true that Christian changed, that I myself changed.... It's true that I had a big mouth... Well, now I'm here to balance things out a little. Now, we talk as equals, whereas before I was often only just tolerated.
JA: I remember an amusing dispute between you and Christian after the concert at Chateau-Arnoux on the subject of an error in the structure of one piece, which provoked a crisis. I think that in OFFERING, Christian wanted to be free of the structures that rigidly controlled MAGMA, but it seems to me that you did not share that wish...
SV: It's true for many of the OFFERING pieces, parts of 'Another Day'... but not for 'A Fiïèh', it is closer to a MAGMA piece. It could not function any other way.
JA: I get the impression that you always attempted to "Bring things down to earth".
SV: Because he desperately needs someone to do that. This is extremist, as you were saying. This is all very well to attempt some of the things in rehearsal, but on stage he needs to be realistic, problems arise, which he poses for himself, and a there is limit to what is possible...
JA: I think that the risk is precisely what Christian is searching for.
SV: Myself, I am all for a calculated risk, If we are unfortunate enough to be playing in the back of beyond with fifty people, it's not dramatic, but for an important festival, it's not right to take risks. The journalists do not like you before you start....
JA: Not all, Not all!
SV: Yes, well I'm talking about the journalists of "DJAAZE" among others.
JA: Finally could you tell us a little of your own musical feelings. Which kinds of music and musicians do you like?
SV: For two years I have not listened to a great variety. Always the same things. Classical, Coltrane, a little jazz. As for more recent music there is no big thing that I have switched onto. From time to time, two or three tracks by Sting because I find the sound is superb.... The happy lyrics... The melodies.... I would say that twice a year, something catches my ears. It's a bit sad. I am content in fact with the things that Christian does. Often, one works without ever performing it on stage or making a record.... And then, in another way I listen to the same things that Christian does, all the Tamla era, all the rhythm & blues. We have the same background; I do not think we would have had the same dialogue if that had not been the case.
JA: Have you any information on tile subject of your solo album?
SV: It is in the paste-up stage. I have eliminated a lot of things, added some other pieces by Christian that he has had for a long while, which we should have recorded at the time they were first written. It will be a very tranquil album, very much "ballads" with little things... Perhaps a violin section if I find the finances, probably not very rhythmic. I have started to listen to more and more things without a regular beat.
JA: What are the prospects offered by the new studio?
SV: We will try to be more productive now that we have a studio adapted to our needs. We will try to make more records that previously we were unable to capture because of the time it took. And if it functions well, why not also record the people who we like very much?
JA: For example, Pierre-Michel? (Keyboards and vocals in OFFERING)
SV: Yes, or even older friends than that... Patrick Gauthier, who I have asked for a piece for my album.
Good hopes therefore, at the start of 1990, which will begin with the release of an album by the Christian Vander Trio. (An album I cannot recommend highly enough, even to those of you who have not so far been inclined to listen to jazz, since the wild energy emanating from this trio is astounding).
A lot of plans to make your mouth water: The completion of 'OFFERING 3 et 4', but equally for the album 'A Fiïèh'. Even for an album from MAGMA that Christian announced would break new ground in composition and conception and which would allow an important space for him to play his inimitable drums alongside the electronic music. And certainly, for the more impatient among you, plans of the concerts which are not to be missed: The Trio will pass near your town soon, but above all an exceptional concert by MAGMA at the Cigale on the 22nd February, where 'Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh' will be played for the first time in ten years.
Some concerts by OFFERING (16th January at Venissieux, 15th February at Elancourt) and a project for the Twentieth anniversary of Magma at Aubervilliers.
That should help fulfil the grumpy old fans and all those of you who wish to join the train in progress. You will be able to seize the day.... End of sermon.
Jad Ayache