"An eminent doctor wanted me to operate him just because he was a huge fan" - Interview with Alain Seghir of Martin Dupont

by Stina Isabel Gavrilin

On September 19th, the French electro, new wave and cold wave band Martin Dupont is playing for the first time in Estonia, supported by our own Bedless Bones! Formed in Marseille in 1980 and led by its main longtime songwriter Alain Seghir, the band have developed a cult favourite status and substantially influenced several generations of cold wave artists. Alain kindly took the time to tell us a bit about his origins and early days as a musician, as well as his profession as a surgeon and the weird and wonderful moments his two totally different lives overlap.

The return of Martin Dupont after the long hiatus was largely thanks to people around you urging you to reawaken the project. Would you ever have released anything again totally by yourself?

Yes I did, a long time ago, I composed some music for two fashion designers (Patrick Murru and Geneviève Delrieux) and for a French choreographer (Josette Baïz)

Why did you originally feel the need to distance yourself from your music by taking two of the most generic French names?

Because at the beginning it was just for fun and I didn’t see any necessity to show my face and use my name. At the time, I never thought that I would have been a proper band with concerts, records and so on.

When you started writing lyrics, you resorted to English so your parents wouldn’t understand any of it. How do you feel about language preference now, have you written in French?

Music speaks straight to the heart, even if sometimes the words bring more power. I tried once to write a song in French and, even if I was proud of it, I must admit that nobody did care. More recently, I realized that Martin Dupont was played in many different countries, so I would say that it’s more convenient and efficient to sing in English

You went to a strict catholic boarding school, which is where you discovered the organ and developed a love for music. Was creativity encouraged in that kind of environment? How do you feel about religion now?

Initially, I was selected for the choir of the school and it deeply impressed me to feel my voice being part of the magic result. About the organ, I used to go secretly to the chapel at lunchtime and I loved to improvise on the great organ. About religion, I think that love and beauty in the whole creation is enough to consider that it couldn’t have been just a mechanical or chemical process. Anyway, there’s no way for a human spirit to be able to apprehend fully what could be a god.

You’ve talked about how your parents never showed any interest in your music. By now, have they caught up with your musical legacy?

What disappointed me the most is that my dad didn’t care about a review on the New York Times that I was lucky enough to get. I’m sure that he really did love me, but he was fully in his dream to see me becoming a renowned doctor.  

Actually, both of my parents are dead now, but they did offer me a younger sister who’s a huge fan.

You started Martin Dupont at a time where electronic music was still considered taboo, do you remember what the reception was like in France and why you took on synths in the first place?

I was fed up with the technical practice and the emphasis of sophistication into music, so I forgot a bit my bass guitar and I bought a rhythm box and synths for being able to make the music I felt by myself.

The first time I played with a rock band, they told me “are you really obliged to make noise with your synths? “, so I decided to do everything by myself and for myself, even if I introduced my girlfriend at that time, Catherine Loy, in it.

How did the collaboration with the painter Yves Cheynet develop for your album artworks? Are they made specially for the albums?

Yves Cheynet and I had a good friend in common, Patrick Salvador, who was painter and philosopher.  He invited me to an Yves exhibition and I had immediately a good feeling with Yves’s painting and personality. As I didn’t want to use my face to illustrate my music, I asked Yves if I could use parts of his paintings. Now I think that his work suits more and more my music.

Your newest record “You Smile When It Hurts” from last year has a lot of orchestral arrangements sewn into it. I know you’ve always been a big fan of cinema, was there an intention to turn it into a film soundtrack?

You’re right, I always felt the music that I love as the soundtrack of my life! On top of that, I must say that I’ve got a wide eclectic taste in music and that I love classical music (from ancient to contemporary) as much as electro-pop, rock, etc, so I just wanted to extend the music with it.

I must say that now I work with Thierry Sintoni who share my taste about that. Olli, who plays with us on stage, has got the same kind of eclectic background.

How do you feel about major artists like Kanye West sampling your music, have you been in contact?

For me it’s always a nice surprise because I wouldn’t have never thought that I could have been more than a small local band. Veronica Vasicka who made the rebirth of Martin Dupont possible, dealt all that for me.

What touched me the most was the story with Tricky. I used to go in a records shop in Paris where I’ve seen Tricky but I didn’t dare to talk to him. A few times later, I discovered that he sampled “Just Because” for his latest album of that time

You work as a surgeon. Do you feel the need to be more careful creatively because of the nature of your job? Have you ever operated on a fan?

Not at all. I’m always surprised that most of my patients who know my musical activity are glad about it, and sometimes they are even proud of it! It’s not exceptional that patients to ask me if it’s possible to make a selfie or to get a record signed. I’ve got a lovely secretary who’s often got a kind of complicity with the patients about that.

Yes, I had the opportunity to operate fans and I’ll tell you the craziest story: an eminent doctor from Paris with an international reputation, wanted me to operate him just because he was a huge fan. I couldn’t believe that he was serious, knowing that he’s one of the cleverest colleagues I know.  I told him that the operation he needed was simple and that he could have it done by the best specialists in Paris.

He contacted straight to my secretary and they organized everything. I ended up operating him and I must admit that he had an excellent recovery.

If you ever had to choose between music and your profession, which would fulfil you more?

Music, because I know that there will always be young colleagues able to operate, at least, as well as I can, while for music nobody would do a music closest to my soul.

I know you’re an avid record collector with thousands of albums in your collection. This is your first time playing in Estonia, how much do you know about the local music scene?

First of all, I would like to say that Arvo Pärt is one of my favorite composers. For me he’s a giant of modern classical music like Debussy, Stravinsky or Bartok. I know Erkki-Sven Tüür as well who’s very interesting.  

I hope that I’ll get the time to go in a record shop in Tallinn for trying to find local band. I did it in Helsinki and Riga and I discovered very good stuff. I’m sure that it could be even better in Tallinn.

Tickets to the show in Paavli Kultuurivabrik are available here

Listen to Martin Dupont on Bandcamp