Dionysos (French band)

Dionysos
Background information
Genres	Rock Art rock
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Barclay/Universal
Associated acts	Babet Cali
Website	Official website
Members
Mathias Malzieu Éric Serra Tosio Michaël Ponton Guillaume Garidel Élisabeth Maistre Stéphan Bertholio

Dionysos is a French rock band formed in 1993 in Valence, Drôme; they formed at their lycée. They perform songs in both French and English, and have released six studio albums. They are well known in France for their surrealism and eccentricity.

Their first album, Happening Songs, was self-produced and with entirely English lyrics. With their second album The sun is blue like eggs in Winter (also self-produced) Babet became a member. In 1999, they signed to a major label (the now defunct Trema) and released Haïku which brought the band in to the public eye, mainly thanks to the success of the single "Coccinelle".

The name of the band comes from the ancient Greek god Dionysus, which in French is Dionysos.

Influences

There are strong non-musical influences from Tim Burton and Roald Dahl. A lot of the songs are surreal and many feature nonsense lyrics (for example "Surfin Frog"). The albums Monsters in Love and La mécanique du cœur are set in a surreal world full of whimsical monsters and other fantastic characters which Mathias Malzieu has used as a setting for two original comic books. Joann Sfar illustrated the cover art for the comic books as well as the two albums. Sfar's eccentric and humorous brand of fantasy fiction as displayed in the Donjon comic books lends itself easily to the band's fantasy-humor albums.

The lead singer, Mathias Malzieu, is also working on other projects such as the career of Olivia Ruiz (his partner), and his other hobby : writing (published 3 books in 2002, 2005 and 2007). His second book is based on the same world as the album Monsters in Love, his third book on the same world as the album La mécanique du cœur.

Members

• Mathias Malzieu – vocals, ukulele, folk guitar, theremin, harmonica, glockenspiel

Mathias is the main songwriter and frontman. He has also written three books - 38 mini westerns (Pimientos, 2003), Maintenant qu'il fait tout le temps nuit sur toi (Flammarion, 2005) et La mécanique du cœur (Flammarion, 2007) - with inspiration drawing between the albums and the novels.

• Éric Serra Tosio aka Rico – drums, percussion, whistle
• Michaël Ponton aka Miky Biky – lead guitar, phonograph turntable, banjo, lapsteel, ukulele, programming

The Miky Biky co-produced La mécanique du cœur with Mathias.

• Guillaume Garidel aka Guillermo – bass guitar, contrabass, synthesizer (member 1996–2007)
• Élisabeth Maistre aka Babet – vocal, violin, keys, banjo, theremin (member 1998–2007)

Babet has begun a solo career and released an album: Drôle d'oiseau (March 5, 2007).

• Stéphan Bertholio aka Stéphano – banjo, keys, bass, glockenspiel, ukulele, baritone guitar, lapsteel, musical saw, melodica (member 2002 - )

Stéphan worked as the band's backliner on tour, but joined officially during the recording of Monsters in Love.

Discography

Studio albums

• Happening Songs (self-produced, 1996)
• The sun is blue like the eggs in Winter (self-produced, 1998)
• Haïku (Trema, 1999)
• Western sous la neige (Trema, 2002)
• Monsters in Love (Trema, 2005)
• La mécanique du cœur (Barclay, 2007)

Live albums

• Whatever the Weather - Concert Électrique (Trema, 2003)
• Whatever the Weather - Concert Acoustique (Trema, 2003)
• Monsters in Live (2007)

DVDs

• Whatever the Weather (2003) – recorded 30 May 2003 at 'La Laiterie' in Strasbourg
• Monsters in Live (2007) – recorded 28 October 2006 at Le Zénith in Paris with the Synfonietta de Belfort orchestra

Other

• Yoghurt session (1997) – extremely rare vinyl
• Soon, on your radio (1998) – a CD featuring Dionysos alongside Mary's Child and Despondents
• Old School Recordings (Trema, May 15, 2001) – a collection of rare recordings

External links

• Official website (in French) - discography, media, and information
• Official MySpace
• [1] - RFI's review of Monsters in Love