‘First, last, and everything in between’ is an interview feature where upcoming artists talk about some of the favourite music from throughout their lives and how it’s influenced them.
St Franck is a French songwriter and producer. After many years in supporting roles, he is due to release his debut solo album this November, showcasing his experiments in dreamy electro-rock.
Here he tells us of his many musical influences and his Anglo-French adventures which got him to where he is today.
First song you remember falling in love with?
I’ll go with Slide Away by Oasis (I still get goosebumps when the guitar kicks in). The warmth of the track reminds me of All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix – instant nostalgia
I think most people really start to form their musical ‘identity’ as teens. What music would best define your teenage years?
Back then, It was all about Daft Punk, The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dr. Dre, Oasis, Air, Phoenix, Primal Scream, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The White Stripes, The Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age, Massive Attack, No Doubt, and some Northern Soul & 60’s classics because the mod revival scene attracted me (and yes I had the barnet too). I’m still eager to listen to some old ’60s stuff.
So, who exactly is St Franck?
St. Franck has always been my moniker when I used to DJ and a nickname by my friends; I still need to find out where it comes from.
My real name is Franck Lada; French, but half of my heart is a bit English because I pursued summer camps over the Channel during my teenage years, where I fell in love with music.
I’m now a guy in his early 30s who spent years in various office and pub jobs in the Big Smoke and hanging in the East London indie scene.
My life took a turn in 2018 after moving back to France because of Brexit and other shit. I’ve since been a musician and producer trying to make music his primary purpose (however, it still needs to pay the bills).
I’m one of those 90s kids who are trying to find meaning in a modern world that is trying to prove them wrong.
When did you first start making music yourself and what’s been the journey to get to this point?
I was about 16 years old, playing with Garageband. I also played guitar in some bands at Uni. I enjoyed recording covers and some of my little songs, but I was a bit shy and unsure if I should go for it.
In the spring of 2013, I moved from Bordeaux to London; a city I was acquainted with, and I already had a few friends there who were pretty active in Camden Town and the Dalston area. After my first salary, I bought an electric guitar and started to put musical ideas together, moving onto Ableton and some cheap plugins. While moving from flat share to flat share, I enjoyed it as entertainment because there wasn’t Netflix then.
One day, I met Tom Rowlett (ex-Dexters) and Dominic Sennétt (ex-Life in Films), and we formed a garage punk rock band called Bad Lungs. These were the good old days. I played decent shows like a packed house at the Lexington, Nambucca’s This Feeling, and kept making more demos… I rolled a bit of my hump doing this project. We even had a chance to record with Nick Brine, who was the principal engineer on Oasis’s Definitely Maybe—such an experience. I hope those tracks will come to light one day. We regrettably split up suddenly; we are still in touch though. I also played in Saint Leonard’s Horses (produced by Carl Barat of The Libertines) on bass for a few gigs.
In the summer of 2018, I moved back to France, and man, I was really under the weather. I guess this drove me to record something more substantial with an EP called Gamma Wave. Nonetheless, it felt incomplete looking back at it.
A couple of years later during COVID, I gained more confidence. I improved my craft, recording, producing, and mixing music under the moniker St. Franck. I aimed to add more clarity and statement, I wanted to record something “real,” which you will hopefully testify on my first album. Now, I can only do more and better since I have a professional studio, and I want to improve my songwriting and setup.
What’s your go-to sad song?
Again, there are so many… but I’d say Black Eyed Dog by Nick Drake; he is one of those underrated songwriters. There’s a lot of melancholia, but his finger-picking is soothing.
Go-to banger?
Ride Like The Wind by Christopher Cross is super 80s and super boomer, but what an all-time banger! Lagers, please!
Your chance to really prove your hipster credentials – an obscure favourite that not many people will know?
Well, recently, I was driving, and this track, High Relief by Void Comp, came on the radio. It reminds me of Higher Than The Sun by Primal Scream and Massive Attack’s Angel matched inside a wormhole. There’s a ghost of Thom Yorke lurking somewhere in there as well. The production and synthesis are massive. Listen to it in your car, it’s like time traveling; the traffic feels nicer.
Your guilty pleasure?
It always goes back to Tame Impala Currents… For me, it’s my favorite album of the last ten years. I guess because it goes back to my 20s and all my experiences and stories in between. But if you’re talking guilty pleasure… I’m all over Gwen Stefani‘s The Sweet Escape.
Who/what are some of the key influences on your music?
I always go back to The Beatles’ Revolver. More recently, Paul Weller was here to play in my town. Weller has always been a Brit legend I’ve been following since the discovery of his album Heavy Soul at the age of 16. He has been reinventing himself project after project, a bit electronic and avant-garde and that’s quite stunning. Long story short, I bumped into him on Oxford Street once, took a pic, and he invited me to his gig at the 100 Club. Big time!
Nonetheless, I must say I have broad influences on my music: from the 60s, through to the 00s, I often go back to my record collection (Neil Young On The Beach, McCartney II, Serge Gainsbourg‘s Melody Nelson, Gil Scott-Heron’s Pieces of A Man, Daft Punk Discovery to name a few) and some more recent stuff as I browse through YouTube or Spotify: Daniel Avery, Avalon Emerson, L’Rain, DIIV, Khurangbin, Oh Sees…
Tame Impala, Kurt Vile, Mac Demarco, and Tyler The Creator are some of the modern masters I find inspiring in what I currently do – I guess they are the generation before what I’m trying to achieve – Because they are spacey, a bit dreamy, and a bit psychedelic, melancholic and existentialist too, recording far away from a capitalist major and a marketing team.
I’m aiming to bring something real, a bit ethereal, and free into my music. They are all people and bands that represent a massive sense of values: humility and generosity. They are not really “have you seen me“—they are ethical, realistic, and just fantastic, nothing unnecessary!
Finally. What’s the last song you fell in love with?
Mount Airy Hill by Kurt Vile has probably been in my head for over a year. The genius behind it is that it’s pretty wordy, but Kurt’s lyrics always run through the head at first listening. It’s like witchcraft when you nail that doing music, right?
St Franck’s latest single, Am Gone, is out now. Check out the video on YouTube below. And you can follow his social channels/music via the icon links.
You can read previous editions of ‘First, last, and everything in between’ via the archives here.
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