We Insist!
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We Insist!

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The best kept secret in music

Press


"A french revelation"

Rolling Stone (July / August 2004)
Crude (4 stars)
A French revelation, between At The Drive In and Magma! Frankly, I must have missed something here. We Insist! is an excellent French combo, who cites At The Drive In as one of its most pre-eminent influence and produces exceptional music. Even more so as the music of We Insist ! is structured on a New-York-like post-hardcore base that revolves around two saxophone players. And if Zappa may cross one’s mind, We Insist ! has a lot more to do with Magma. Or a not-so funny Primus. Or a very angry Mr. Bungle. The music of We Insist is the music of anxiety. An anxiety that expresses anger and revolt, but that, in spite of such anger, still relies on harmony and melody.
Manuel Rabasse - Rolling Stone (July / August 2004)


"We Insist! new album "CRUDE""

The opening track, "Gravity", stands out as a particularly well-crafted song : no one can’t resist this 3-minute piece of concentrated energy. But We Insist! is versatile. Ever since its debut in 1995 and a very active production (an EP and two LPs), the sextet refuses to be categorised and performs a daring combination of jazz, hardcore and experimental metal. We Insist! is a one-of-a kind band, both original and bold.
H.M. - Rock & Folk (July 2004)


"interview"

From We Insist ! and I Witness ! to Inner Pond, We Insist ! has grown and evolved towards maturity. After 10 years of experiments made on stage throughout Europe, the Parisian Sextet comes back with Crude, an album where co-exist different musical genres that define the style of We Insist !, which is the synthesised result of six strong musical identities who draw their inspiration from, among others, Mr. Bungle or John Zorn.
“We are close to Mr Bungle in a way: strong and different musical identities who experiment and test ideas without asking themselves whether they fit into a specific style or genre. Our music is a form of rock music that tries to avoid the clichés of its own genre. Our energy does not rely on the sound level generated on stage but rather on our willingness to surprise our listeners. In order to achieve that, we don’t hesitate to borrow from other musical styles: experimental metal, hard-core, jazz… The most important thing for us is to generate a bumpy and eventful music, and to re-create ourselves as often as possible. Our band is not necessarily organised and structured in a traditional way.
If our music is sometimes referred to as jazz music, it’s most probably because of our two saxophones players who give us the ability to create many counterpoints and also because the structure of our music is not conventional”, explains Etienne, the singer-drummer of We Insist !
“Our tunes and generally performed on stage during a rather long period of time before being recorded in the studio. If they’re sometimes very different from each other, the overall result ends up being homogeneous over time. (...) Crude was recorded live in nine days. We wanted to rush things to express on this record the sense of urgency that we felt during the preparation of the recording sessions. Most of the work had already been done during the 8-month period during which we composed the album. We relied on d2r2 off, the sound engineer, who’s also in charge of our live performances. He has a precise vision of our live sound and knows how to translate it on record through his mixing and sound effects ideas.”
Interview conducted by Émilie Poncet - Rock Sound (july 2004)


"WE INSIST! "Inner Pond" 2002"

Attention to you all, music from Mars to be handled with care! After two self-produced LPs in 1998 and 1999, We Insist ! is finally getting recognition from the world of adventurous music and deserves its persistence. After having listened to Inner Pond, you will understand why. A raw energy combined with a musical sophistication that de-structures all musical conventions in a joyful way, a rock framework (without any trace of keyboards, but with a gigantic bass on the front) on which powerful and graceful horns are superposed. We Insist ! plays a music full of explosions and contrasts. A disturbing, rich and in the end joyful music, provided that you like to be surprised. […] The music of We Insist ! is harsh and bitter but sometimes light as well. For those of you who like power and beauty dressed in weird clothes.
Frédéric Delâge - Compact Crossroads


"Scene point blank"

Hailing from Paris, France, the bizarrely titled sextet We Insist! recently unveiled the fourth LP of a chronicled and equally reclusive catalogue. With a small following at home-base and even fewer listeners worldwide, new ears could be quick to assume that a moniker of implied force alludes to some kind of emblematic punk rock romp that's heavy on the garage sound and even heavier on the pedestrian metaphors that come with the amateurs of this trade. While the title of this new album only boosts that theory, which would be an incorrect one, the truth is that it's nearly impossible to define conclusively just what the hell kind of a band We Insist! truly is.

What exactly does that mean? Well besides these guys taking smatterings from the many influences their Myspace site suggests, the sound produced is the expected zeitgeist-dodging indie palette that elitists will spend their last dollars for, while leaving pop-culture patrons scratching their noggins in confusion. Compared to the dominantly instrumental Inner Pond and the expanded experimentation on Crude, Oh! Things are so Corruptible is by far the band's most commercial work to date. Despite newly crafted pop flavor catchiness, there's still a hearty dose of creative eccentricity and lyrical obscurity that guarantees limited (likely none) airplay.

However, for two reasons We Insist! somewhat gets a pass on the weirdness of their vocabulary. Firstly, as far as American English is concerned, the slight language barrier from drummer/lead singer Etienne Gaillochet's accent sometimes makes it a little difficult to understand what he's saying. The intricate, schizophrenic pacing of verses doesn't help in these matters as well. Secondly, and more importantly, the overbearing hooks every song possesses are simply not going to allow even the most skeptic mind to care a whole lot about decipherable linguistics. The ingeniously layered “An Architect,” arguably the strongest song on the album, sets an enthralling tempo for the rest of the recording and leaves virtually no qualms of self-indulgence.

Aside from standout tracks amidst tracks that already standout, the record offers the most effective balance of musicianship and style when measured against prior efforts. Inner Pond was controlled by ever-mobile rhythms and saxophone work from Cyrille Mechin and François Wong; Crude was pushed mainly by vocals and verbose passages. This time around, everyone's roles are balanced out to perfection. It's certainly more of a levelheaded venture from beginning to end, with each song dramatically different than the one before it, a trademark that We Insist! has now undeniably mastered. When not being blown away by the tactical strata of “An Architect,” the album dishes out unpredictable changeups in “Imperial Catechism,” and the quasi-progressive “Early Recollections,” tunes that give Traindodge and 31Knots a violent shove to the side. The guttural, psychedelic “Half Arena” can't go with being mentioned as well; the song's bouncy delivery is a surefire pleaser that casts a shadow of Mike Patton. All in all, the entire package aspires to score the full arrival of these six ambitious minds.

With the band touring heavily and now plotting a western release early next year, its anybody's guess whether this gem successfully reaches from pole to pole or remains safely tucked away under in the stacks of CDs held by selfish snobs. In the end, Oh! Things are so Corruptible affirms one certainty: it's a practically flawless album from a tightly knit group of musicians firmly establishing themselves as a top tier of their genre. This is one of the essentials of 2007. - M.J. Austin


Discography

After having released "Oh! things are so corruptibel" (4th album) in early 2007, on Corruptible records (their own label), WE INSIST! was signed by the german label "EXILE ON MAINSTREAM" wich is part of SOUTHERN RECORDS.

2004: "Crude", is a stunning, sensible and wild album recorded fast played fast.
2002: "Inner Pond", the first produced and distributed album
1999: a self-produced LP, "I Witness!"
1998: a self-titled 5-track EP We Insist!

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Bio

Their music is a free mix of hardcore, experimental metal and free-jazz. It’s dark, violent but melodic, sophisticated, complex but not complicated. It makes you shiver and then hits you like an uppercut.
We Insist! explores new territories, avoiding any respite. By favoring sudden breaks and progressions into short-lengths tracks, We Insist! remains unpredictable. A fist-like music, carefully avoiding the dilution of its vision and suggesting various well-digested references such as At the Drive-In, Queens of the Stone Age, Mr Bungle, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, John Zorn, Primus, Victims Family, Sonic Youth…
www.weinsist.com
www.myspace.com/weinsistband