Bands You Should Know.....  Steel In Mind

        You wouldn’t normally associate southern rock jam bands such as The Black Crowes or Lynyrd Skynyrd with France? But steel in Mind from Tours is exactly that, French southern rock.....

         They formed in 2007 when the both julien’s met sharing a passion for rock n roll of the 60’s and the 70’s. Their love of the jam bands and psych comes from the freedom of risk, improvisation and expansion.....

         Looking to melody and the bluesy southern classic groove of the pas to form their own sound, they’re also heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin, Let It Bleed-era Rolling Stones and Free. Throw in a little psychedelic edge and you’ve got French southern rock that sounds as though it really is from the US deep south.....

         The music of Led Zeppelin, The Faces or The Rolling Stones where key in creating the freedom paradigm that was taking place all over the world but particularly in America during that period” says vocalist Julien Mangin.....

         “Artists such as neil young of bob Dylan were able to touch upon these freedoms in their lyrics the way Pink Floyd open doors through psychedelics and George Harrison’s internal eastern revolution floated through in its composition.”....

         We admire such bands as the Black Crowes or Kula Shaker for being able to tap into that same timeless energy to a place that does not age, but like them melt into a sound that is all our own.”....

         But even with those artists reaching people around the world, are they very popular in France?....

          "I wouldn’t say that they are popular”, continues Julien. “And what people do know of them is pretty much limited to the top hits such as Simple Man or Sweet Home Alabama. The Black Crowes are almost unknown. So that makes us pretty unique in the sense that it is rare to see a French band open jam on stage with a little bit of risk as the backdrop of freedom is set behind us. Moreover I think that we’re the only band in France playing this kind of music”.....

         “All any of us really wants is just to let go and be moved. Psychedelic music is about atmosphere and expansion, and we believe that breaking out of the classic moulds of how things should be, that expansion can take place.”

Dirty Rock Magazine       December 2009

Traduction française en cours...