Eccentric alt-rockers A VOID tell their story of quirky beginnings, deep meanings behind their music, and fighting a sleazy system through intrepid performances
Songwriter PORTRAIT: A VOID
A VOID have been making a lot of noise across the London DIY circuit for years with their whacky stage performances and brazenly bold messaging in their music. They tell us all about their story from punky Parisians to the audaciously independent London-based collective they are today.
After one look at their social media or one of their live performances, words that certainly wouldn’t come to mind to describe A VOID would be “timid” or “vanilla”. This North London based, Parisian fronted, alt-rock band are as zany as they come. But it’s not all silliness and frivolity with no purpose, as they tell us about being independent rockers in an even more depraved and unethical industry and geopolitical climate.
Originally starting in Paris with frontwoman Camille, Marie their former drummer (left) joined the band later on before the British punk scene lured them away to eventually meet their bassist Aaron (right) in London.
“Our frontwoman Camille and former drummer Marie got kidnapped by some British punks and dumped in a dustbin in London where they met Aaron, their bassist.”
Heavily influenced by artists such as Courtney Love, as well as having a particular affinity for bands with “Silver” in their names like Silverchair and Silversun Pickups, their music is an expression of the darker sides of life, media and the music industry.
“Our music comes from a place of despair, misery, and self deprecation.”
Their music has a strong indie, punky, DIY vibe with outlandish post-punk, grunge aesthetics. They briefly self-describe their music as feeling like “falling over and never hitting the ground.”
They cite an increasingly bigoted, perverse and problematic industry as the main challenge they face as independent artists…
“It’s really hard to navigate the industry at the moment amongst all the bigots, paedophiles and rapists. We are struggling more and more to find people to work with. Luckily, women and the queer community exist.”
They then mention having a choice of who they can work with (nice people) as being the major benefit of being completely independent and DIY; in addition to not having most of their income sidelined by corporate companies with commercial interests.
“Not having 90-100% of your royalties taken from you by a big corporate machine, getting to choose who you work with (nice people), and getting to engage more with the local DIY scene and having full control of the music are all major benefits.”
Having been involved in the London DIY circuit for years now, A VOID are perhaps one of the most self-reliant, autonomous and individualistic bands out there, embodying the very essence of what it means to be independent; self-managed, self-releasing, self-made!
One of their more recent songs that encompasses this perfectly is Save Yourself – a 2023 single released in the summer of last year. This is a song about finding solace (or whatever you’re actually looking for) from within instead of looking to other people for fulfilment. It takes a subtle dig at people that don’t hold themselves responsible for finding their purpose, and look to other people to do things for them.
“Save Yourself is a dig at all the people looking to the outside for answers when it’s been just in front of them all the way along. All those waiting for something to happen and somebody to do it for them, and luring themselves into believing they are not responsible for finding their own solace.”
With the cover controversially depicting Camille as Jesus on the cross, this single, and the accompanying video especially, definitely ruffled some feathers. They explain that while taking a dig at Christianity was not their intention, they did want to spread a message of self-acceptance regardless of sexuality or gender, contrary to the churches sometimes shameful preaching to people in that category.
“Our intention was not to upset Christians as we respect all religions, but we want to acknowledge that a big part of the church preaches a message of shame instead of self-acceptance, and we don’t think anybody should be feeling this way about who they are or who they love.”
This is not their only song dealing with themes of inner peace and self-acceptance. The Gutter takes a somewhat nihilistic view of introspection with the following lyrics:
Who cares
What you are
What you were
What you’ll never be
This is one of singer Camille’s favourite verses, serving as a bold reminder that we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously.
“This is one of my favourite lines I wrote actually, about how insignificant your existence is in this universe.”
Having not released anything since November last year, A VOID tell us they are currently working on a new album – the problem is the person responsible for recording it threw a can of beans on the Mona Lisa and is now in French prison, which has obviously delayed the release.
“The problem is, the person who recorded it threw a can of baked beans on the Mona Lisa and is currently detained in a French prison. If you want to hear new music from A VOID anytime soon, sign the petition [link at bottom].”
Is there anything more rock ‘n’ roll than that, or this defiant three-piece? We end our chat with one last noncompliant, yet virtuous, message from A VOID…after asking them where in the world they would like to play their next gig, if they could pick anywhere…
