Photo Max Dubois
BOTIBOL
Let's Go Riding
Music plays a very important part in surf movies and more generally in surf culture.
We don't only remember a section of a video for the rider and the surfer.
The music sometimes goes over it.
When it is perfectly adapted, the images become even more beautiful.
BOTIBOL has not been discovered in a surf movie.
At least not yet.
We discovered Vincent and his project more than 10 years ago, in the underground music cellars of Bordeaux.
And what a beauty.
The Indie-Folk music he composed for this solo project, is a real soundtrack of a surfing life.
Vincent has played in other very good bands (Petit Fantôme, Crâne Angels, Justine Mauvin, Willis Drummond...), but it is with Botibol that he composes perfect melodies and beautiful arrangements.
Vincent grew up by the ocean and he now lives in Bordeaux, France.
And even if tours dates take him far from the waves, he often goes back to the south-west of France to share sessions with his mates.
His latest album, La Fièvre Golby, released in 2019 on Haiku Records, slides from a pop music (English or North American) to a mastered and romantic psychedelia.
Thank you for reading this Focus, but most of all, listen to his music and go see him live.
- Hi Vincent !
"Hi Thomas and thank you for your questions!"
- Where and when did you get your first feeling of gliding and what is your relationship to surfing ?
"It was around the age of 6 or
That's how it started, going straight as far as possible, I wanted to do it again as soon as the wave was over.
I hope I have kept this childish pleasure of the glide.
I often have the same excitement when I go in the water, this feeling in the stomach and the legs tingling."
Photo Benjamin Guénault
- How do you write songs ?
"Most of the time alone, at home, I feel I have something to get out, I sit down, I take my guitar, I play and I see what happens.
At this moment, melody and guitar are very connected.
I see it as the digestion of something that happened to me or hit me in the surrounding world.
Nick Cave talks about cannibalism I think, I like that image.
If under these conditions a good idea comes up, I repeat it for a while and then record it on a dictaphone or on my phone.
Later, I take it back if I think it has something interesting in.
Then I work on the lyrics and shape it by arranging it with other instruments."
- Did you ever think of a melody when you were in the water ?
"I didn't directly have any ideas of a song in the water but some titles are linked, I think, to what can happen in.
The first album talks about the shoreline, as a place where two worlds meet, and about the magnificent and devastating things that can result from this shock.
A song on my next album is also about being under a big ocean foam and air."
...I was more impressed by the surfers I surfed with.
Because I could associate their practice to what they were in real life.
Benoit Arnould - photo Jean-Marc Dubourg
- Who are your favorite surfers ?
"As a kid I loved Rob Machado, the ease that seemed to come out of his surfing is spectacular.
I think I had one or two posters of him, and because I didn't like soccer, I followed the tour a little and enjoyed the times when he beat Slater in a contest.
For the rest I was more impressed by the surfers I surfed with.
Because I could associate their practice to what they were in real life.
Benoit Arnould is a friend and a surfer with whom I grew up in the Basque country.
He has always been very involved in his surfing, he pushed me to throw myself in conditions where I wouldn't usually go.
Passionate and talented, he had an important perspective on his sport in spite of everything, and did a lot of other things.
Very humble too, even if I've already seen kids ask him for an autograph when he get out of the water in Anglet.
Today, life makes us see each other less, but I check the big surf days to see his photos at Parlementia.
And Justine Mauvin.
She is this kind of person who succeeds everything easy and natural.
I don't know if this is her reality, but it has been a pleasure to share sessions with her, as her surfing is so fluid and beautiful.
And a beautiful musical experience shared as well."
- What are your 3 best surf movies and why ?
"When I started surfing I obviously watched the two Endless Summer, not original.
But they are really great movies, they made a positive impression on me and gave me to wait for the waves and staying connected to something.
I also bought a Longboard movie VHS that I lost since then, in my memory it was called Baja California, or Baja Pacific.
The soundtrack was mostly Mexican mariachi music, and old Rhythm and Blues too.
I especially remember the endless noses of Tudor and old Fletcher doing 360....
The texture of the images and the whole atmosphere of this film had an exotic taste, that reminded me of summer."
Justine Mothe
- What are your best songs to listen to go in the water and your best songs for after surfing ?
"I mainly listen to Neil Young before I go surfing.
When I listen to music.
So any Neil Young songs will do.
Or "Which way to go" from Eddy Current Suppression Ring,
Pierre and Bastien "Sympa",
The entire album "Damn." by Kendrick Lamar.
Otherwise I like not to listen to anything at all.
I make enough music or listen to enough to enjoy moments of silence.
And I like to go surfing with that in mind.
Usually for after surfing, I listen to quiet stuff.
Lately I loved Rüdiger's debut album which is a psychedelic pop jewel, sometimes with some Australian influences, perfect for traveling.
I like Rozi Plain's latest album "What a boost".
Old blues like Skip James "Hard time killin' floor blues".
"Surfing promenade" by Pierre-Kevin.
The Studio One Roots compilation from Soul Jazz Records."
The first album talks about the shoreline, as a place where two worlds meet, and about the magnificent and devastating things that can result from this shock
Photo Eklektika
- How do you live the fact that the waves are perfect when you're doing a gig far from the ocean ?
"My pace of life has sometimes kept me away from the waves for long periods, especially when I’m on tour.
But I prefer to be in tune with what I'm doing at the time so I don't get frustrated.
Music and its sides, among other things, are just as exciting and very engaging anyway.
In the last few years, a more regular sport activity has allowed me to go back to the water without too many problems when I find the waves again.
So let's say that, even far away I am preparing for my next sessions."
- What's your spot and what's your board ?
"I like surfing everywhere, but my favorite spot is between Anglet and Ondres.
I won't say more, anyway it's not a good one ;)
I have a yellow Kookbox 5'8, it's the best board I've ever had, unfortunately I've only surfed this one for years and it's starting to show and feel in the water.
I've been doing a lot of bodysurfing these last few months as well.
So my Dafins and Tribord pairs…hehe."
Photo Justine Mothe
- One action for the planet ?
"Apart from voting and all this more or less easy stuffs, I try to do things on my own scale.
Like the time when I hauled a
It took six months, just before the summer, strange no ?
Consume reasonably, travel less and less far too.
Otherwise please stop throwing everything and anything on the ground.
Especially your cigarette butts, even if you're
- What's your upcoming news ?
"At the moment I'm recording a new solo album at the Shorebreaker studio located in Tarnos, not far from the beach.
I'm also touring with Willis Drummond on keyboards, guitars and backing vocals, and we're still doing gigs in the Basque country at the time I'm writing.
So we're very lucky.
I'm also making the most of my 9-year-old son as soon as I can."
Thank you Vincent.
Albums
Published on Sunday, January 31, 2021