A documentary as abundant as it is energizing! In Off The Records, director Gabin Rivoire mixes the history of the techno movement with the portrait of one of its pioneers, DJ Laurent Garnier. While the musician launches this Monday
a tour of the dark rooms to present the film with the filmmaker, meet at the Rex with this determined, committed monarch of electro music, overflowing with humility and enthusiasm.
You initially had the project of a fictional film, why did it not succeed?
All these years, I have had the same thought: “The film is not subversive enough”. There isn’t enough ass, not enough dope. People who think I take schnouf, bang girls every weekend, and travel by private jet don’t know me. It’s not my life. I wanted to talk about the passion that drives me, music. It was not my story, but a fiction. There was nothing subversive. It wasn’t full of ecstasy, that fucking cliché that always sticks to us in the Basque Country!
So, how did the idea for this documentary “Off The Record” come about?
I really suffered from this film story. If you want to make music, you can release records with three euros on Bandcamp, and exist if you are good. Making a film involves a lot of people and a lot of money, I am aware of that. For ten years, there have been a lot of ups and downs. I have had too many false joys. I met Gabin through a bunch of friends. I offered to follow me with a camera to document this incredible story. I told him: “We stop if I manage to finance this fucking film the day I say ‘engine’ or we film the fall of an artist who cannot go to another universe”. I left with my script under my arm to England to meet Featuristic Films. I also spoke about the documentary. They suggested changing the dynamic and starting with the documentary. Suddenly, we changed angle.
Beyond your background, do you tell the story of the techno movement?
We are bound. There are not two axes, but an axis which seems quite logical to me. The idea was to tell the story of the movement, of course.
What is your intention ?
I hope this documentary will succeed in showing another face of the world of electronic music. When we showed the film in Ghent, sixty-year-olds in suits and ties came to tell us: “We came by chance. The docu touched us. That doesn’t mean we’re going to buy techno records tomorrow, but we’re not going to look at you the same way anymore. This is our goal!
What made you want to work with this young director, Gabin Rivoire?
He had never directed a feature film. It was a risk for him and for me. But I believed in it. I liked his pictures very much. He had all the poetry I was looking for.
“Off The Record” was funded thanks to Kickstarter with 150,000 euros raised in 28 days. Doesn’t that correspond to the DIY spirit of the techno movement?
Without the community, we don’t exist! Techno has always been a community movement. In the documentary, Dave Haslam, former DJ of the Hacienda, explains how the movement was built against individualism Me, myself and I by Margaret Thatcher. We solicited the community on Kickstarter without setting a goal for the pot by simply asking for 1 euro.
You are unanimous in the world of free parties or clubs …
No one is unanimous! But I have the same relationship with a club DJ like Kerri Chandler as with Manu le Malin or Lenny Dee, who are going to play in hardcore raves. If we filmed Manu le Malin under the Tolbiac bridge, it is not trivial for those who know. For the others, it’s a pretty bridge with at the bottom, Ivry-sur-Seine, where I live. Go dancing in a field on sound systems, I did it when I was 20… It was called raves. I love music, I don’t like all hardcore, I don’t like all house.
Georgia Taglietti says of you: “He’s the opposite of a rock star, he’s a techno star”, what’s the difference?
I asked Georgia Taglietti what she meant. “The DJ always stays behind his decks, the rock star is in front of the stage. That’s the difference, ”she replied by text. I liked his answer. I feel close to people, like there, with the film in theaters, I want to talk to them. I don’t feel like a rock star and I don’t think I am a rock star. At festivals, I am often told: “Your rider is ridiculous, you can’t be serious!” “. I’m shooting on my own, I’m not going to ask for 27 bottles of champagne. I’m going to drink 2 beers, so ask for 4, so I can offer.
On the soundtrack, we also find Jacqueline Taïeb or Sacha Distel…
Opening up with Sacha Distel is strong. The documentary opens with two guys on a tractor lugging around I don’t know what in the middle of the countryside. Some will think they have the wrong rooms! Those who know me know I can do the splits. With Gabin, we didn’t intend to make a film just for the community, but also to reach out to others. I love this start, that’s what I was looking for at Gabin.
The film shows your archival work and your educational work with college students, do you consider yourself a smuggler?
I really hope that if there is one word that will stick, it will be this. The essence of the DJ is to be a smuggler. I listen, I am a sponge, I pass the emotions, I receive… If there was only one word left, I would prefer passer to DJ. I’m a DJ, but I prefer a smuggler.
How was this vocation born?
I dreamed of being a DJ when I was 10-11 years old. I was fascinated by the night world. Music allowed me to be who I was. My brother is 6 years older than me. The only way to get into his room when he was having a party was to get to catch one of his friends and talk to him about the cover or a certain piece of the Status quo record or I don’t know what disc he had brought back. I did radio when I was 13 or 14 years old. When there were things that I couldn’t express, I would do K7s. Even today, when I contact famous people to offer them a project, it is sometimes complicated, I manage to nab them by sending them an email with YouTube links. Music was a way of saying things that I couldn’t say with words.
Strobes, multicolored spotlights and mirror ball, your teenage room already looks like a club …
I also noticed a wall of Marilyn Monroe photos! What will the spectators think? The club where I heard Donna Summer when my brother was dropped off when I was little had Marilyn Monroe as an effigy. The fantasy comes from this club! I knew very early on that music made for dancing was my vocation. I am deeply convinced that this was my destiny.
You tell of the pain of the DJ who can not capture the audience …
It’s horrible ! When I can’t, it’s hell. A DJ once said to me: “if it doesn’t work, people don’t understand”. I do not agree. If that doesn’t work, it’s because I didn’t understand anything. My job is to pick them up and take them away. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s long and complicated, and sometimes you just don’t get it at all. I don’t want to disappoint people. You can’t be on top all the time, but whatever happened the day before in my life, when you go on stage, you have to try to give your best.
When it works, you talk about orgasm …
The orgasm is very strong and makes the week quite magical. It’s a kind of roller coaster, this joy can also push you into your solitude. Finding yourself at 3 am in front of 800 people with your arms in the air that you turn over with a record, then ¾ of an hour later alone in your hotel room, it can be hard if you are not anchored. There’s a time when you’re going to always want to be in that ecstasy, and that’s when you can twist and mess around. It’s hard to find the right words to talk about an evening, I often say: “Time has stood still”. When time stands still in a club, anything can happen outside. These are magical moments when I no longer look for my records, where everything becomes logical, where you can make any kind of crazy contrast. Getting to these times is what I’m looking for. Nothing is ever acquired. You must never think, I’m the headliner, I’m going to tear them up… It doesn’t work like that.
From Kerri Chandler to Carl Cox via Jeff Mills or Derrick May, the line-up of this documentary is crazy …
Wouldn’t it be a nice evening? There are thirty of them… It’s hard to do one and a half hour interviews with great people and only keep a minute and a half. There are people interviewed that we couldn’t put in the film like Daniel Miller from Mute Records or Alex From Tokyo. I called everyone to apologize. We have material for ten films!
The first Techno Parade appears to be a political victory …
Completely ! It was hypersymbolic. At the time, in the media, we were referred to as outcasts. It was extremely violent. When we meet at 200,000 Place de la Bastille and go to dance at Nation, it was not trivial.
With the death of Steve Maia Caniço and the repression of Redon, should we not once again “take the Bastille”?
We went back ten years … It started when the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, said that the clubs were not culture and that she referred them to the Ministry of the Interior. Since the start of the health crisis, we have disappeared from the political and media debate. The only times we talked about techno was to say, 2,000 kids got together and messed around. When you look at the images of Redon, it hurts, I want to squirm. A lot of things happened that weekend. The president announced the reopening of the clubs, he does the thing at the Elysee Palace, still saying techno, it’s great and they screwed up kids who wanted to dance. Can’t you understand these kids just wanted to be together? Whether they’re listening to techno, hip-hop or rock, they’re in pain. OK, they are doing bullshit, but you were never a teenager? Redon was very violent. These images went everywhere. It’s hard, but it’s good that we got to see them. We went back to the repression of the 1990s, it was shocking.
As Officer of Arts and Letters and Knight of the Legion of Honor, you challenged the Minister of Culture …
I was asked the other day if I was not ashamed of having the Legion of Honor. No, I am not ashamed. It was a form of recognition. When I was called to offer it to me, I said, “Yes, with great pleasure. I just want Jack Lang to hand it to me. He fought for us and I know it was sincere. After what happened, there are two ways to look at it. Either, I will see them and I throw them in the mouth. Something I probably would have done twenty years ago. Either, I tell myself that I’m going to use this as a lever to try to get things done. If I write a letter to the Minister of Culture, it is read because I had my Legion of Honor. I invite Roselyne Bachelot to the screening on November 21 at the Rex. With a film like this, she might realize that techno is culture!