1976: It was a very hot Summer !
Walking in Paris, suddenly, I noticed an unusual looking store. Being at the other side of the street, I heard something unusual, like a heavy distant bass drone emanating from the store. It sounded like a mutant basic rock 'n roll...
Inside the store, the sound became ultra aggressive, like a primitive assemblage of voice, guitar and strident electronics...
It was Metal Urbain and Suicide...
1977: Nothing.
1978: My 1st steps in creating sounds were when a good friend of mine gave me a very old Farfisa organ + some analogue effects. With my defective reel-to-reel recorder, I started to create sounds and primitive structures.
Having in mind the beautiful LP, "NO PUSSYFOOTING" by Fripp & Eno, I was totally inspired by this kind of surreal soundscape. It was amazing!
1979: Got a cheap bass guitar + amp. Experiments, experiments, expériments...
1980: Got my 1st monophonic synthesizer + sequencer + some rhythm machines.
Joined URIA, a "big band" (9 members), a lot of concerts were performed from 1979 to 1985, especially in the South of France.
1981: Finally I decided to work alone. The concept of a band was too much, too "heavy" for me.
A lot of time wasted for nothing, life is short!... And anyway, I was disconnected with this music because of the commercial aspect.
The aggressive electronic music of the French band, HELDON / Richard Pinhas, inspired me alot!
Then I tried to make a compromise between electronic and electro-acoustic.
Nevertheless, two friends of mine helped me during this period: Antoine Faure and Eric Erfurth.
Both were amazing guitarists, the kind of guys able to listen just one time to some very complex beats and by the 2nd time, able to add guitarist miracles on them. Unfortunately, these two guys fell into drug addiction.
1982: I saw for the 1st time, ERASERHEAD. A big shock!... The soundtrack of this film confirmed my interest in "concrete / electro-acoustic" music.
1983 / 1985: Some selected pieces recorded from the past years were assembled for cassette projects.
Creation of the "ectoplasmic" label: BRUME Rec.
Illegal performance in a disused bus garage, June 1985. Stopped by the police at 11pm.
Members: C. Renou, electronics, horn, tapes...
G. Guiggia, guitar, filters...
1986 / 2000: Cassettes, vinyls, cds, cd-rs (+ a lot of collaborations with other sound artists) were produced under the name of BRUME through many international labels.
+ some soundtracks were made for visual artists: Pat' Blanch, A.D. Eker, Chao... (painting performances & installations... )
+ sound performance, U.P.6., Paris, 1988.
Most of the temporary members involved during this periods were:
Serge Ancelet: percussion, concept...
Gérard Guiggia: guitar, bass, flute...
Pat' Blanch: voice, tapes, painting & collages.
Hervé Perron: hand-made electronics.
Von Hermet: bass.
Marie-France: voice.
Patrick Mazaltarim: trumpet, wind toy instruments.
Philippe Biget: drums.
Philippe Huet: guitar.
Phil. de Phil.: guitar.
Herman: violin
Yo + Vero: synthesizers + voice.
François Tesseidre: bass.
Françoise Duvivier: painting & collages.
Baz Nichols: collages & concept.
and many others...
2000 / 2007: Stop!!! BRUME is dead!
Of course, BRUME music had become more and more precise, but I was bored with my "usual cooking", I decided to change completely my sound production method and to work under my own name. It was a challenge!
For that, I used computers for the 1st time which gave life to three CD albums.
2008: Even if my will and my instruments have changed, I noticed that time after time my music insidiously sounded again like BRUME!...
Strange?... Not exactly! I'm unable to work against my own nature! That's a fact!
Also today, face to face with this immutable state of things,
I decided on the rebirth of BRUME!
One of the last things I made under my own name was a 70 minute soundtrack, especially composed for an installation of the American visual artist, TJ Norris. This event took place in May at Portland.
C. Renou, May 2008
