Les Thugs

Les Thugs were a punk band from France. Their records are distributed in North-America by Sub Pop Records.

Biography

Early days and first issue

The founding members of Les Thugs were two brothers, Eric and Christophe Sourice, from

. Their first band was founded in 1979, a group called IVG. They then played in the groups Dazibao and Stress with Gérald Chabaud, Thierry Méanard and a fifth member (Philippe Brix) as singer.

In April 1983, following the departure of the lead singer, they officially became Les Thugs. The band's name refers to the historical brotherhood of the

compilation Battle of Garage.

European rise

Les Thugs then recorded their first mini-album, Radical Hystery. They were approached by many labels such as New Rose records in France and Midnight in United States. Eventually the band chose Closer, a French independent label which was more established than Gougnaf Mouvement. The album was released in 1986 and sales were good, with 3,000 copies sold in France and 2,000 abroad.

In 1987 the band left Closer to join the English label Vinyl Solution. The seven tracks on the mini-album Electric Troubles were recorded in London in July. On November 8, during their first tour of England, they participated in John Peel's Peel Sessions on BBC Radio 1.

The year 1988 was mostly occupied by touring throughout Europe. In June their bassist Gerald left the band. He was replaced by the group's roadie, Pierre-Yves Sourice, the younger brother of Eric and Christophe. At the start of the year they released the EP Dirty White Race in Europe, and on 11 October the French quartet played in Berlin at Independence days festival. This performance brought them to the attention of the Seattle-based label Sub Pop. Later, Jonathan Poneman, founder of the label recalled

"I remember back in 1988, Bruce Pavitt and I scammed a trip to Berlin with Mudhoney, who were scheduled to play the then state-funded, now defunct Berlin Independence Days music festival. As an unofficial representative of the insurgent American Rock Underground I was pleased to note that most of the European bands that were playing this extravaganza were godawful. Wondering just how horrible it could get, I decided to go check out a French rock band for laffs. Maybe they would play some Mink DeVille covers. The band was Les Thugs and they effortlessly blew my shit away."

This meeting resulted in the signing of the group to Sub Pop, who started to distribute the band's catalog in North America. During the summer of 1989 the group performed a two-month tour in North America in precarious conditions. They played in Seattle with PIL then toured with Blood Circus in the USA then with SNFU in Canada, and with Tad in Washington. It was during this time that they crossed paths with Jello Biafra.

In the autumn of 1989 they released their first full-length album Still Angry, Still Hungry in Europe. This album was recorded in Wales during May by Iain Burgess (Big Black) and then mixed in Chicago. Les Thugs toured in England with Mega City Four, and performed many dates in France, including supporting Noir Désir at the Olympia in Paris. During 1993 Still Hungry, Still Angry was made available by Sub Pop in North America under the title of 'Still Angry'.

Wider success

In 1991, in the midst of the

(Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Garbage).

In 1993, they recorded the album As Happy As Possible in Seattle with Kurt Bloch (Fastbacks, The Young Fresh Fellows). The album was their best commercial success with 40,000 copies sold worldwide, including 15,000 in both the US and France.

On February 19, 1994, they were the support for

.

In 1996, Sub Pop produced the album Strike, recorded by Steve Albini. In May the group performed its last US tour, opening for Therapy? and Girls Against Boys. Despite a good critical reception, the commercial impact of Strike was lower compared to the previous album and the band emerged disappointed by the collaboration with Steve Albini. After this, the group wanted to compose and record a new album as soon as possible.

Decline and separation

In 1997 they changed label again producing Nineteen Something themselves, which was licensed by

, sales of Nineteen Something did not exceed 10,000 copies.

At this point Christophe Sourice decided to leave the band because of internal disagreements. Before ending this part of their career Les Thugs recorded their last album Tout doit disparaître, produced by Christophe Sourice himself. This album was only released on the French market, in 1999. They performed their last tour with 20 dates in France. The band, who had played more than 700 concerts, performed their farewell show at La Roche-sur-Yon in December 1999.^[2]

Brief reformation

In 2008, they played a show in Seattle for the 20th anniversary of the Sub Pop label, and for some dates in France. This small tour was ironically called the No-Reform Tour.^[3]

New band

In 2018, two members (Eric and Pierre-Yves Sourice) launched a new band called LANE (Love And Noise Experiment) with Pierre-Yves' son, Félix, and two members of another similar band, Daria, the brothers Etienne and Camille Belin. One album was issued in 2019 which gained critical acclaim, "A Shiny Day". "Pictures of A Century" followed in June 2020.

Discography

Demos

• Femme Fatale demo – 1984
• Les Thugs demo – 1984
• Never Get Older With Les Thugs demo – 1988

Singles

• Frenetic Dancing – Gougnaf Mouvement, 1984
• Something's Gone Wrong Again – (Included with the Fanzine Rock Hardi) 1988
• Chess & Crimes / Sunday Time – Sub Pop, 1989
• As Happy As Possible – Sub Pop, 1993
• K.E.X.P. SESSION 10-07-2008, live radio, Seattle - Slow Death, 2011
• Birds Of Ill Omen / Motörhead - Pitshark Records, 2011

Albums

• Radical Hystery – 1986
• Electric Troubles – Vinyl Solution, 1987
• Dirty White Race – 1988
• Still Angry Still Hungry – 1989
• I.A.B.F. – Alternative Tentacles, 1991
• As Happy As Possible – Sub Pop, 1993
• Strike – Sub Pop, 1996
• Nineteen Something – Sub Pop, 1998
• Tout Doit Disparaître – Labels, 1999

Compilations

• Les Héros Du Peuple Sont Immortels – 1985
• Raw Cuts Vol. 1 Garage French – 1985
• Ultraviolette 2 demo – 1985
• Battle Of The Garage Vol. 4 Tomorrow The World – 1986
• Eyes On You – 1987
• Alternative Tentacles Virus 100 – 1992
• SP 20 Casual Nostalgia Fest – 2010

References

External links

• Les Thugs at Sub Pop
• French fan page
• Les Thugs discography

This review is mainly a translation of the French article : Les Thugs (fr)