Louise Attaque () is a French

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

band founded in 1994. Several of the group's albums were produced by

Gordon Gano Gordon James Gano (born June 7, 1963) is an American musician widely known as the singer, guitarist and songwriter of American folk punk band Violent Femmes. Early life Gano was born in New York City to actor parents Norman and Faye Gano, and gr ...

, lead singer of

Violent Femmes Violent Femmes are an American folk punk band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band consists of founding members Gordon Gano (guitar, lead vocals) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals), joined by multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza (joined 2004 ...

, a band whom Louise Attaque often cites as an influence and for whom their own band is named. The band is signed to the Atmosphériques record label.

History

Caravage (1990-1994)

Lead singer and guitarist

Gaëtan Roussel Gaëtan Roussel (; born 13 October 1972, Rodez) is a French singer-songwriter and composer. Roussel is the former lead vocalist for the bands, Louise Attaque and Tarmac. Roussel embarked on a solo career and began recording an album in 2009. H ...

and bassist Robin Feix met in high school in

Montargis Montargis () is a communes of France, commune in the Loiret Departments of France, department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. Montargis is the seventh most populous commune in the Loiret, after Orléans and its suburbs. It is near a large forest, ...

. They moved to Paris after graduation where they met drummer Alexandre Margraff and formed a rock band named Caravage (after the Italian painter

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

). After briefly hiring a lead guitarist, the band met violinist Arnaud Samuel while recording in a Parisian studio.

Louise Attaque's success (1997-2001)

Louise Attaque was formed in 1994. The name means "Louise Attacks" in French and refers to

Louise Michel Louise Michel (; 29 May 1830 – 9 January 1905) was a teacher and important figure in the Paris Commune. Following her penal transportation to New Caledonia she embraced anarchism. When returning to France she emerged as an important French a ...

, a 19th-century

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

, and to the American rock band

(which loosely translates from French as "violent women"). The leader of Violent Femmes,

, produced Louise Attaque's self-titled debut album. ''Louise Attaque'' was released in April 1997 to a positive critical response. Despite low initial radio airplay, the reputation of the group spread rapidly, garnering particular praise for its innovative violin-based folk/rock compositions and witty lyrics. ''Louise Attaque'' sold 2.5 million copies in France, a record for a French rock album. It took almost three years until Louise Attaque's second album '' Comme On A Dit'' was released (in January 2000), again produced by

. The album sold 700,000 copies in France. In 2001, after touring for five months and appearing at various rock festivals, the band split up, explaining that they were temporarily out of inspiration and tired of the hype and pressure surrounding them.

From separation to reunion (2001-2005)

Louise Attaque split into two different groups in 2001. Singer Gaëtan Roussel and violinist Arnaud Samuel formed Tarmac, while bassist Robin Feix and drummer Alexandre Margraff formed Ali Dragon. The goal of Tarmac was to explore the starker sounds of acoustic instruments, while Ali Dragon produced

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

featuring

jam sessions A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without exte ...

(mostly electro and hip hop). The four members of the group reunited in 2003. After recording for a few weeks in the

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten ...

in New York, their third album, ''À Plus Tard Crocodile'', was released in September 2005. The title references the rock and roll song " See You Later Alligator". ''À Plus Tard Crocodile'' was received as a departure from Louise Attaque's previous works, with lighter and more varied content.

Usage in media

Louise Attaque are mentioned during ''À plus !'', a

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

school book teaching French.''À plus !''. . p.29/ p.144/ p.154. Cornelsen Verlag (

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany). During the "Civilisation" part of the book, they are described as "a rock band which is well-known by French teens ... In 2021, the song ''J't'emmène au vent'' is used in ''

No Time to Die ''No Time to Die'' is a 2021 spy film and the twenty-fifth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, starring Daniel Craig in his fifth and final portrayal of fictional British MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Cary Jo ...

'' in the opening scene which is listened by the young Madeleine on her walkman.

Awards

* 1999:

Victoire de la musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

in the category Band of the Year. * 2001: Victoire de la musique in the category "Rock Album of the Year" for the album ''Comme on a dit''. * 2006: Victoire de la musique in the category "Pop/rock Album of the Year" for the album ''À Plus Tard Crocodile''.

Discography

Albums

Compilation albums

Singles

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Attaque, Louise French rock music groups Musical groups from Paris Folk rock groups