Villa Vortex

Villa Vortex was born out of the fusion of two bands. After three EP records and many shows (Strasbourg, Lyons, Besançon, Annecy…), various festivals, several first parts (of the English And Also The Trees – on the Silver Soul tour –, the French Ange, the Norwegians Apoptygma Berzerk…), the band Silence Hôpital, which had been created in 1996, split up in Autumn 2002.



At the end of that year, the bass player and the singer took up rehearsing with two new musicians who brought along a fresh sound. The atmosphere changed: new wave and gothic influences were now combined with punk and metal. It was time for a new name: after reading Maurice G. Dantec’s journal, Le Théâtre des opérations, a piece of work drawing its energy from the roots of rock music, the members of the band thought of adopting the title of one of Dantec’s books. They chose Villa Vortex (Gallimard, 2003), a dark, tormented sci-fi detective novel.



The band composed their first songs and started recording in Spring 2003. A single was recorded in Paris (two songs mixed by Ivan Gariel at the Neve studio). The band were on their way to success when a terrible fire disrupted their activity in early Summer 2003. All their equipment and the place they used to rehearse were destroyed. Yet the band overcame the ordeal. As he heard about the disaster, Maurice G. Dantec wrote: “I don’t believe in chance”. That was how fate sealed the name Villa Vortex.



The band started composing again. After spending eight strenuous months finding new equipment and another place and completing their latest songs, the band scheduled their first shows and launched their website. One year after the tragedy that might have put an end to Villa Vortex, five songs were recorded by Lucas Trouble at the Kaiser studio. The record was released in mid-November 2004 and was acclaimed by the French and international press (in most European countries and in America). Elegy and D-Side picked the band’s potential and praised the record, and so did Mick Mercer, Britain’s high priest of underground rock music. The song Corps chrysanthème was broadcast on the radio in many countries (Australia, the USA, Chili, Argentina, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Sweden, etc.).



Villa Vortex went on giving shows in various French cities and briefly toured Spain. In Summer 2006, the band recorded the eleven songs of their first album at the Passe-Muraille studio, near Grenoble, with François Carle. The record, called Incertitudes, was mastered in late September 2006 at L’Autre studio, in Vaires, near Paris, and was released in January 2007.



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