Inspector Cluzo performed at the recent Lollapalooza festival
Laurent Lacrouts and Mathieu Jourdain , the French duo behind Inspector Cluzo , lead a double life. When it's summer in France, the two travel the world as a blues rock band. When it's winter, they return to their hometown to tend to the farm they cultivate together.
Both were born into farming families, met in high school, and started playing trumpet and saxophone together. As musicians, they already have ten years of experience and have collected numerous stamps in their passports. “We released our sixth album, We The People Of The Soil , and have already performed in 65 countries. We've averaged 1000 shows in those 10 years.” The most recent of these was at Lollapalooza Brazil, where they were praised by critics as one of the best performances of the festival.
After Lollapalooza, Laurent and Mathieu returned to France to tend to their ducks. They specialize in producing foie gras, a typical regional dish. "We know this rockstar life isn't real. It's our farm vacation, our rest." The pair also produce organic vegetables.
While the duo performs, they rely on neighbors and their wives to take care of the farm. Their story was even told in the documentary Rock Farmers , which showcases the musicians' unique way of life.
“The food industry is awful. We felt we needed to do something about it, so we started growing our own food,” Mathieu explained. “It’s a subsistence farm. We believe that future generations will do the same. We need to take care of the world.”.
This organic philosophy extends to the music as well. During the Lollapalooza show, Laurent repeatedly stated that they would be playing real, organic rock, without computers or electronic music. The entire setlist emerges from improvisations with the audience. It's a jam session without a defined order, just Laurent on guitar and Mathieu on drums, experimenting.
“It’s as if, after ten years in the business, we’ve finally reached adulthood,” explains Laurent. “Before that, everyone tries to copy something, to do something to get played on the radio. Today we make exactly the sound we want to hear. We have more freedom.”.
What also helps this spirit of freedom, of Do It Yourself, is the fact that there are only two of them. “We explore more elements. We are forced to do so. When you have a lot of people playing together, you can't always do what you want. We can. We keep adding strings, changing the key,” Mathieu reflects.
The latest album, We The People Of The Soil , sounds like a perfect blend of those two lives. All the songs were written while working on the farm. “We would wake up at five in the morning, in the freezing cold, do the work and then write.” The feeling when listening to the album is very much in line with the reality in which it was written.
After the cold weather on the French farm, the duo found new inspiration in Brazil. “Here we can feel your difference. We feel the samba in the language. It’s very danceable, smooth.”.
Even from so far away, the Brazilian people reminded Inspector Cluzo, whose name is based on Peter Sellers' character in The Pink Panther , of elements common to home. "You remind us of the couple who help us on the farm. You always smile. You may be starving, in critical situations, but you never stop smiling. We are very grateful for that."
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