Mellow (band)

mellow
Origin	France
Genres	Pop Psychedelic
Years active	1997–present
Members
Patrick Woodcock Pierre Bégon-Lours
Notable instruments
Vintage

The original concept came from founder Patrick Woodcock, a multi-instrumentalist, who had befriended Nicolas Godin (Air) while they were getting their architecture degree in Versailles. They were brought together by their shared passion for 60s & 70s vintage instruments, such as the mellotron, the moog, and other old organs and drum machines, which they both subsequently incorporated in their music… After a short stint with Godin during Air's first incarnation, collaborating on Premiers Symptômes as a musician and arranger, as well as on Moon Safari, and co-writing '"Ce Matin-Là"', Woodcock now felt he needed to form his own band. He called on his old friend Pierre Bégon-Lours, then a sound engineer who had access to a big studio near Paris where they recorded their first demos.

This was 1997. mellow was born.

Another sound engineer, enlisted by Bégon-Lours, joined the band for a couple of years. Their first concert took place in Brighton, in 1998. Soon after, they were signed by French independent label Atmosphériques. In 1998, mellow joined forces with Air and Sean Lennon for their first French tour, which was a hit.

The first album, Another Mellow Winter, was released worldwide in 1999. They contacted Director Roman Coppola to shoot the video for the single "Another Mellow Winter".

In 2000, Coppola asked mellow to score his 60s-sci-fi debut feature CQ. At the same time, mellow scored the title track to Novocaine, a dark comedy by David Atkins, starring Steve Martin and Helena Bonham Carter. That same year, mellow took the road again and traveled to Japan, the UK and the US. The soundtrack for CQ (Dragonfly, a soundtrack to the motion picture CQ) was released as mellow's second album in 2001. In between albums, mellow continued to work hard on other people's music, lending their hand to bands such as Major Deluxe, Nice Hashimoto, The Free Design, Philippe Katerine, Bridge & Tunnel… and scoring TV commercials (Gauloise cigarettes, EDF, Tommy Hilfiger, Johnson & Johnson…).

In 2004, their third album Perfect Colors comes out. Woodcock and Bégon-Lours tour with fellow French band Syd Matters. Their handpicked band included Lionel Rault (Flairs), Mark Kerr (Simple Minds, Rita Mitsouko), Laurent Bauer (Venus Paradise).

They then chose to concentrate on designing their own recording studio in Saint-Cloud, Mellow Workshop, where they could switch roles and produce other artists. Since then, Woodcock and Bégon-Lours have been working on album 4, with guest musicians such as Bent (Das Pop), Rémi Alexandre (Syd Matters) and Samy Osta (Domingo), Julien Galner (Chateau Marmont).

The next album is slated to be released later in 2010.

Discography

Albums

• 1999 Another mellow winter
• 2001 Dragonfly (a soundtrack to the motion picture CQ)
• 2004 Perfect Colors

EPs

Singles

Other releases

External links

• Official site