What’s the next hottest thing in rock? Chéri Chéri, a band born from the streets of Paris.

On a sunny Tuesday morning along La Petite Ceinture, NOIZE sat down with frontwoman Celia, bassist Elise, lead guitarist Valentine, rhythm guitarist Thomas, and drummer Titouan to talk 70s rock and roll, and recording their EP in the UK.

Zainab: So how did the band start?

Celia: Two years ago, I woke up, I got out of bed, and I was like, “I’m gonna make a band today. If I don’t do it today, I’m never gonna do it, so I’m gonna do it today.” I made a poster inspired by School of Rock, where he’s like, “Dewey Finn wants YOU to join his band.” And then I went out in the streets of Paris, I put it on a pole and I took a photo of it. I posted the photo to Instagram.

What’s the personality dynamic like within the band?

Val: I think it works really well because we really love each other. I keep saying that to myself, that we’re really lucky that we’re friends and also family now. And we have really different personalities, like he’s a geek -

Thomas: It’s true, I am the geek. Like, a music, tech geek or a geek about anything.

Celia: [Val’s] the mom. I’m the dad. I got sick and she went to the pharmacy and got me a bunch of medicine. And made sure every six-hours I was taking my paracetamol. But I’m always making sure people don’t forget their gear and making sure they have the clothes that they’re gonna wear for the show. And I’m the one that’s always in charge of like, “We need to do this, this, and this for the schedule.”

You guys are a really well-dressed band, I must say. How did the styling of the band come about?

Val: Celia is definitely the inspiration. We all danced around her to match the same vibe, but also to stay within ourselves.

Celia: One of my biggest pet peeves is when you go to see a band and all of them clearly are dressed like they’re inspired by somebody else. And it’s very clear that the band does not have one formal vision.

What does the rock scene feel like at the moment for you?

Val: It’s definitely really different in the UK than it is in France. We’ve had a taste of that recently and it really made a huge difference for us, especially people understanding the lyrics that Celia wrote, which are amazing. I feel like in France, especially in Paris, people don’t really grasp to the extent of what she is saying. So it really makes a difference.

And rock music right now…

Thomas: I think it’s amazing. It’s quite welcoming. We give the whole experience when we do a show, with the look we have and the music and the energy we give.

Celia: That’s kind of our goal, and it’s part of also what draws me so much to this golden age of rock and roll. It was so much more about sharing this one moment with the musicians and the audience that was ephemeral.

“Performing, we’re truly connecting together on stage. We mess up, we do things that we’ve never done before and it feels really magical…I would love to truly get back into this idea of rock that’s like…the craziness of it. The imperfectness of it.”

And you guys have recently recorded an EP in the UK, so how did that feel, having to record it as a “perfect” record of your work?

Val: Well, we actually recorded live. So, we were in a huge studio, and it was just the four of us - the two guitarists, bass and drums - and we had never practiced that altogether without [Celia]. She’s our guide, definitely. So it was so difficult to play without her, without the energy, without the lyrics.

What has the process of mixing and production been like?

Celia: We worked with Gordon Raphael, who’s a pretty well known producer. He recorded and produced the first three Strokes albums, so he totally knows what he’s doing and he specifically is really good at working with bands like us that play live. We listened to all of them in the car while we were driving from Leeds to London and when we listened to ‘Worthless’, I think we all cried.

Val: We’ve been trying to record stuff for a while. We tried to do it ourselves. It kind of worked, but it didn't work. [laughs] It’s been a long process. And then we decided: let's do it properly. So we had to raise money to do that.

Celia: So we did the the GoFundMe just to see like, “Maybe will people be interested in helping us pay for this?” And, luckily, people were, so we were able to raise enough money to go to Leeds, to pay for the producer, to pay for the voyage. We're all trying to be full-time musicians, so we're all broke.

Is there a central message you’re trying to communicate with the EP?

Celia: The overall idea is that hopefully it’s a really good representation of who we are as a band, and what we sound like as a band. A lot of the songs are about sex. A lot of the songs are about following a dream and really hoping that you don’t lose yourself in it and that you continue to pursue it. And that you don’t give up and just buy into the corporate world, I guess.

Val: There’s a song about someone that Elise met. There’s also a song - it’s not in the EP, but Celia wrote a song about my childhood house. It’s a beautiful song, it makes me cry every time we play it.

What points have you felt less sure of going for a life in music?

Titouan: For me it’s always been my goal. I’ve been playing the drums for fifteen years and I even asked my mother what I dreamed of doing when I was younger, and she told me that it’s always been playing drums.

Are there any particular venues in Paris that you have loved performing at?

Elise: I have loved playing at Supersonic. We’ve played there three times and it’s great how there’s a level above [for the crowd] so you feel really like you’re surrounded by everyone. It’s not like there’s the stage and then there’s the audience in front, so it’s super powerful. Also, we played a concert at La Mécanique Ondulatoire. It was one of our best concerts. It was a super tiny, super intimate venue, but all of our loved ones were there and it was a great moment.

Celia: Every single concert is like a battle

and every single concert is different. If we go into it being like, “Oh, we’re gonna do really great this time,” usually it’s not good. And if we go into it being nervous, it has no importance where it’s totally just the energy of the crowd and of us and there’s no way to know. You do it and then you find out.

How has it been being women in a rock band in Paris?

Val: Every time we have to do a concert, the relationship between the sound engineer with us ad women and with them as men is really different, and that’s always really weird. The way they talk to us, [it’s] like we don’t know and they know.

Titouan: Yeah I’ve played in bands with only men and mixed bands like this one, and I’ve noticed that the bands with women in them are taken less seriously. It’s super shitty and even I can see it happening, it’s not hidden at all.

Elise: We organised a womens-only jam in Paris. It was great because it was a safe place, there was no pressure. I have never felt comfortable getting up on stage at a jam where there are only men around. 

Celia: It’s always interesting, the feedback from after a show. For me, it’s the men that come up to give suggestions. And then the women and the girls that come up to say, “Oh my God, that was amazing, that was so inspiring.”

Chéri Chéri’s first single from their debut EP will be released in July 2025.