ifitbeyourwill Podcast
“ifitbeyourwill" Podcasts is on a mission to talk to amazing indie artists from around the world! Join us for cozy, conversational episodes where you'll hear from talented and charismatic singer-songwriters, bands from all walks of life talk about their musical process & journey. Let's celebrate being music lovers!
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ifitbeyourwill Podcast
ifitbeyourwill S05E06 • Charles Daneau of EggS
Dive deep into the indie rock world of French band EggS with frontman Charles Daneau, who joins us from Paris to unpack the band's musical evolution and creative philosophy. Charles reveals how discovering American lo-fi bands like Guided by Voices and Beat Happening fundamentally shaped his approach to music, showing him that expression matters more than technical perfection.
The conversation explores EggS' collaborative songwriting process, where Charles brings acoustic foundations that transform through the diverse influences of his bandmates. We witness how negotiations between his Big Star sensibilities and his colleagues' more contemporary tastes create their unique sonic identity. Charles candidly shares how a simple lineup change—moving their drummer to guitar and bringing in a punk drummer—completely transformed their sound, finally achieving the "wall of sound" they'd been seeking.
Between their 2022 debut "A Glitter Year" and 2024's "Crafted Achievement," we track how EggS evolved their arrangements, creating more space between instruments while maintaining their raw energy. Charles offers fascinating insights into his English-language songwriting, their recording process with trusted studio partners who understand their vision, and their ambitious plans for new music created with open tunings and a revamped demo approach. For fans of indie rock with substance, Charles Daneau's musical journey demonstrates how authenticity and creative evolution can produce something truly special. Listen now and discover why audiences across France—and increasingly internationally—respond with smiles and dancing to EggS' distinctive sound.
Another episode of ifitbeyourwill Podcast, season five, and I'm reaching pretty far. I'm headed to France. This isn't the first person that I've interviewed from France. I had Nouvelle Vague, Marc Collin on who is pretty cool, cool. But I think that this is even wower for me because the music relates to me more. I have eggs um coming in from Paris, imagine um yeah exactly awesome.
colleyc:is here from EggS. He's the lead lead of the band um, and we're going to talk a little bit about how he got to where he is now. A new record they just put out in 2024, called crafted achievement. Uh, that came out on perfect records and also on the howling, howling banana. What a mouthful they shall uh, it's really nice, uh, to see you and meet you, and thanks for accepting my invitation.
EggS:thank you for having me, uh, chris so shall just to kind of like get oriented a bit.
colleyc:Tell us a little bit about how music started for you. Um, do you? What are some of your recollections of, of your interest in music at a young age? Was it always there? What influences were upon you that kind of led you towards wanting to do music as a profession?
EggS:So first, I'm not a professional, but because I always loved music not unprofessional always loved music, not unprofessional um, I must say, um, I come to music very late because until high school I listened to random music on the radio. But uh, I met a older guy than me and they introduced me to uh indie rock and especially uh early uk indie rock. You know, like felt uh echo and the benny man, the smith, all this kind of stuff, and that's oh I started to love, uh really, the music. It's uh the band who introduced me to what the music could be for me.
EggS:And after that, when I started to play in a band, I must say the most important music for me was the lo-fi music from American, I think, about bands like Guided by Voices or Beat Happening, because this kind of band taught me that you can play music without knowing how to play the guitar or the keyboard. But that was very important, for this kind of band is what you try to express through the music after how you can play the guitar. And I think this kind of band led all the music I wanted and I want to try again. And did you know that you wanted to lead a band or you just wanted to be in a band, the music I wanted, and I want to try now again.
colleyc:Wow, and did you know that you wanted to lead a band? Or you just wanted to be in a band Like, did you want to be that front person? Was that something that appealed to you?
EggS:I wanted to play music, I lead the band or lead the band. It was in my. I don't want to be a leader or a rock star or something like that. I wanted to play music and I need to play music today again. That's the thing that is very important for me. It's playing music in live with my friend and when we play in EggS, I think it's very important to be a band and that's why when you see us on stage, we are many, because I always like the full band approach. You know, for example, even I'm not a big fan of Brian Johnstone Massacre it's not the kind of music I like, but I really like the approach, the three guitars who play the same chord and all this kind of thing, and that's why in EggS, we are many to play the music. So I don't want to be a leader. I want to be a part of a band, uh, a band with the, the full uh image of what is a band right cool.
colleyc:I love your description of it. That's great. And and, Charles, what? What was it like? This is kind of a question I was thinking about as I was listening to and thinking about the two records that you had. When do you know when to bring more musicians in? Like, what is it that you're looking for? Are you looking for more sound, or you're doubling up guitar sound? Like? How does it improve the sound overall when you're? When you're bringing in more and more musicians into the mix, does it get muddied after a while? Or how do you keep it so that it still sounds fresh and like? Every instrument has a purpose.
EggS:I think I wanted to be closer to the American guitar sound. I don't know if it's clear when I say that, but when I saw an American band, let me think if I say Get it by Voices, for example, there are not so many others, but they have a big sound, big sound, um a raw sound and a loud sound of guitar and I think I wanted to try to be closer of the guitar sound I wanted to try to produce.
colleyc:Okay, okay, and like it also very similar to like pavement as well. Right, it's very indie rock, some jangle, but also like just beautiful lines that you put in there too. Um, how do you go about writing these songs? Like, is it you that brings the songs into the band and then how does that unfold? Like, so you have an idea of a song, you bring it to the band and what's your approach? Are you very much like okay, I want to have kind of this here and that there, or is it very much you let them decide how they're going to go about? Adding I I.
EggS:I told the second uh, I, I, I, I come with the. All the songs are right on the acoustic guitar and when I play the acoustic guitar I have an idea of how the song has to sound when we are all together. But any member of the band, I don't even have the same musical culture, you know, than me.
EggS:Like everybody brings their own kind of style. I was just saying that they bring their style to the mix.
EggS:They bring their style in EggS, and so that's why, when sometimes I came with my, that's why, when sometimes I came with my, an idea, a precise idea of how the song must sound, sometimes it's very different at the end. For example, I'm a big fan of Big Star and all the members of the band find Big Star is old stuff.
EggS:They don't like.
EggS:Big Star. I'm a Big Star fan, but all the bands say no, no, it's too old, it's that rock. I don't like this kind of music. So when I write a song and in my head the song has to sound like Big Star, they say no, no, we have to have a different approach of that.
colleyc:Okay, and is that like you take those advices on like, do you accept all? Right, we'll go away from big star.
EggS:We'll head towards another style for example, in the last album there is a song called stumbling down. I don't know if you know this song. Yeah, it's in my head, it's a big star song, but when Leo played the keyboard for him, it's a clean song from New Zealand, you know.
EggS:Okay, and how do those like is it always negotiated like that? So you're always open to listening to the opinions? Yeah, I'm not a dictator.
EggS:I'm open-minded about the band Right.
colleyc:That's cool. And tell me, Charles I mean the two records you put out A Glitter Year in 2022, and then this Crafted Achievement, 2024, what do you find the biggest differences are between the sound that you guys got out of each of those two records? Like, did it evolve from the first to the second? Like, what were your thoughts of how you wanted it to be different? I guess my question is from the first to the second, did you have ideas of how you wanted to change the sound or add different layers to it?
EggS:uh, yeah, when we recorded the glitter here, the thing was a little bit different, because I bring the song, we rehearsal the song and we don't work on the arrangement of the song. So I don't know if it's clear when I say that, but so we play. For example, Greg, who played the guitar with me, we played exactly the same chord on the guitar and we didn't work very hard on the arrangement. But when we started to record the new LP, we said we have to hear different parts. It was important for us that we heard the arrangement of the keyboard, the arrangement of the guitar of Gregory. We put a steel guitar, for example. It's a difference too, and so I think there are most spaces between the different instruments.
colleyc:Right, right, very interesting. And did you approach writing the two records the same way Was your process, the same how you wrote the songs?
EggS:Yeah, we recorded in the same studio, the Claudio studio, close to Versailles, near Paris, in a suburb of Paris. It's the same people who work on the LP, because it's very important. We trust them because they understand what we try to do. It's very difficult to find, uh, people in France who are into the kind of music we love in EggS. And Guillaume, who recorded the two lps, are exactly in the same music than me and so, uh, it was very important to work with him and with Alexis, who are in the studio too, because they totally get what we try, what we want to do. So the process of recording is exactly the same. But we but we discuss on the second LP about the arrangement thing. When we recorded the first LP, I said I want Comet Gate LP with Guided by Voices LP mix, flying Nun Records LP. That's what I wanted. But when I started to record it, the second album, I said to Guillaume I wanted to try to make something more hi-fi, but you have to keep in the same time the raw thing of eggs.
colleyc:Right, right, right. The spirit of l'esprit du son of the band EggS, and Charles, thanks so much, for I know this is your second language. Yeah, you're speaking wonderfully Thank you.
colleyc:Thank you for doing that. I know it's not always easy talking in your second language, so I appreciate it. Tell me about the first record. So I read that when the first record came out you did very little press, very little getting the record out there. Um, what changed from that first record to the second record in approach, how you're going to put it out into the world? Um, did you want it to be more in people's faces rather than kind of just letting people come to it? You wanted to push it out more.
EggS:It's difficult to say I didn't think about that. I didn't think about that. That's what we want is playing music before people, before audience, and more and more that's what we try to express with EggS. And we don't have a plan. We just want to record our music and try to make a better song, try to make a better music every time we put a record out. But we don't have a plan to. We don't want to be a rock star, for example, but that's what we can expect is playing, maybe all around Europe, for example, because now we just play in France and we hope to have the opportunity to play in Europe, maybe in the United States and in Canada, but it's more difficult for us to come there. It's very expensive and difficult for band like us to find a farm to play there. But if we can play in Europe because of this album, it could be cool.
colleyc:Yeah, for sure. And how have you found the reception of the latest Crafted Achievement? How have you found that reception has been in the world? Have people liked the record? What has been the response in your opinion?
EggS:Yeah, the response was pretty good. When I speak with Howlin" from Banana or Record Label, he said to me that most of the people who buy the records are not French but American English, and it's important for Australians and it's important for me, because that means we manage to produce music who speak to the people, the audience, who get used to listen to this kind of music, and so the goal is okay.
colleyc:Cool, cool and describe to me your show. What does EggS look like live? What happens at your shows? I know you have several artists on the stage. Can you walk us through what a typical egg show might feel, sound like?
EggS:I think when I speak with people who sell us, they say there are these wall of sun, it works. So now it works. It took for us many times to manage to produce this wall of sun, but now I think it works and people have the smile when they saw us to play, because we express a kind of music family, you know, and that's what I wanted to produce when I started EggS, and so when they saw us I can see in the audience people smiling and dancing and it's the thing very cool in the music, when you play music and you understand that what we try to produce works directly in mind of the people. So I think our sound is more raw on stage, more loud, but you can hear the voice correctly.
EggS:I think we're pretty good yeah, and, charlotte, I'm interested too. Like you said, it took a while to create this wall of sound. What were some of the key moments where it started to happen? Were you, as a band, you're like, okay, we're getting there, we're getting closer to this, this idea that we had? Do you remember some of those occasions where it was just like, oh, wow, that's it.
EggS:When we started to produce that. That's what you asked.
colleyc:Yeah, like, how did you create that wall of sound as you described?
EggS:Yeah, when we started to make eggs, I think we sounded more than a UK early indie band from the eighties, you know, uh like Sarah records with a gentle guitar and um. But uh, and it was because, uh, the rhythm section we changed the rhythm section. For example, grégoire, who played a guitar in eggs, started as a drummer but it's not his first instrument. And Rémy came to play the drum and it's a good, he came from the punk rock, so, and it changed A little louder, a little faster, yeah, it changed everything it changed everything.
EggS:And.
EggS:I remember I've read a biography of Guided by Voices that Robert Pollard asked when he was looking for a drummer. He wanted a punk drummer because he wanted to play pop music with a drummer, music with a post-punk approach, and that's this idea which defines the music of EggS, I think, because when we change the rhythm section, and especially the drummer, when we changed the rhythm section, and especially the drummer, grégoire came back to his natural place, which is the guitar, and Remy took the drum. It changed everything.
EggS:that's cool and did everybody feel that, like everybody in the band were like, yeah, totally, totally, and it took just that little switch just switching those two around, yeah that's really cool.
colleyc:That's really cool. And so what, what, what? What's the future looking like? What's 2025 looking like for eggs? Where are you guys headed and what new music you can tell us about?
EggS:that's coming next month we're touring in France across the front, so it's pretty cool because it's a it's a tour.
EggS:It's a tour of uh 10 or 11 gigs, so it's pretty cool, it's um we started to rehearsal new song with a new approach because, uh, for, give me a zoom r16, you know, yeah, and when I said you, you, I, every song of EggS are riding on a guitar, folk, no, I started to write the song with, with drum machine, a bass and a guitar on the R16. And it changed everything because I can introduce the song to my fellow with already the idea of the spirit of the song, the rhythm, the move, the mood of the song, the rhythm, the move, the mood of the song. So it's in the songwriting process, it goes quickly and faster to rehearsal and to produce a song, and so we started to work like that and I think it changed. So we opt to release maybe a new ep at the end of the year oh, great, amazing, amazing.
colleyc:So the songwriting is evolving quickly then like it's moving nicely now your songwriting process.
EggS:You have a pretty good form, yeah and I give me a challenge because I want to write uh all the ep and maybe an lp with a new uh open tuning on my guitar. So it's a classic, open to a blues, open tuning, you know, but I really like this kind of uh of uh of tuning and it changed everything in the approach of the songwriting amazing amazing and Amazing.
colleyc:And how do you like singing in English? Is that tough to write lyrics in English for you?
EggS:No, Writing and singing is pretty easy. It's pretty hard for me now because I don't practice
EggS:every time to speak in English, but I think I have a good understanding of the english. I can. I read many uh book in english and I I I loved read lyrics, uh, english lyrics. So, um, uh, it's very important for me to sing in english sometime. Sometimes in an interview in France, they asked me why don't you sing in French? But it's not my musical culture. As I said, most of the bands I like sing in English. So I need to sing English because I like the rhythm of the music and with the language of this language, I think it works better than French. So that's why I try and I wanted to write better and better and better songs in English. Maybe one day a band that I really like made a cover of an egg song, maybe, maybe.
colleyc:Who knows, all of these things are possible. Yeah, that's great. Well, shell, this has been a lot of fun.
colleyc:Thanks so much for taking a bit of time out here your evening your stories are really great and, uh, I wish you a ton of success with the EggS formation and the record and touring. I will will definitely be following you in the long run and keep writing these great songs. I mean this latest record. Go out and get it people listeners and if you're in France or UK, go and catch EggS live. It sounds like a great show. So again thanks, this has been a lot of fun.
EggS:Thank you, chris. Thank you very much.
