The Parisian group Lulu Van Trapp opened the third day of the We Love Green festival, on the main stage.
They brought the sun back to We Love Green: Lulu Van Trapp’s four troublemakers opened the festivities of the third and final day of the festival, Sunday June 2, on the largest stage of the event which took place in the Bois de Vincennes . A challenge for Parisians. “It’s so stylish to be able to walk around big stages like that, it allows you to experience your show in a big way and it’s super galvanizing, but it’s certain that opening a festival, you shouldn’t have either too many expectations (…), but the public was so cool, there were big winners and they were full of love and listening, it was so nice”, confides Rebecca, charismatic singer of the group.
It must be said that the stage is the very essence of Lulu Van Trapp. “The stage is why we make music. I love the fact of putting on a show what you imagined in your room,” laughs Max, guitarist and co-founder of the group. “We really like doing this job. We can wear latex bikinis, have alien scenes and do what we love!”, added his sidekick.
On stage at We Love Green, the four members of Lulu Van Trapp presented their second album, Lovecity, published in April. “Our second album is an album that was nourished by our relationship with Paris, our city, and what it shapes and deforms in us, what this city can create as barriers in us, of solitude and of alienation, to move towards a more community and fraternal feeling. Lovecityit’s above all the people who make up this city”, explains Rebecca. A record written by four hands, with their two traveling companions, Nico on drums and Manu on bass.
Lovecity “talks about friendship, about community. He was very collegial, everyone had their say, for better and for worse! But especially for the best because when we defend him on stage, we have really feeling like we’re one,” explains Rebecca.
So to present her album, Lulu Van Trapp scoured European capitals with free street concerts. “It was a whim,” emphasizes Max. “A little crazy”, corrects Rebecca: “we wanted to tell the story of this album with this slightly DIY side and we went to several cities in Europe, several lovecities and we acted as street artists: we had our little gear and we stood in the squares… To plant little Lulu seeds in these towns. And it was magnificent!” And to summarize: “It allowed us to be talked about without waiting for someone to give us the floor.”
Lulu Van Trapp and the music video for Love and the fight
Committed artists, the members of Lulu Van Trapp recently made headlines with the clip for Love and the Fight and its promo, for which Rebecca and Max made people believe it was a violent argument that led them to the emergency room, sparking numerous comments on social networks.
“It was written as a fight club, it’s friends who put themselves out there to get rid of the violence in society. We wanted to create a pop object with which we become the mirror of all the violence that passes through us. And we manage to demonstrate the cynicism of all that”, explains Rebecca, before returning to the start of the controversy sparked by this title: “Isn’t it a good thing that a work of art created from discourse, controversy, intelligence? We don’t pride ourselves on having such an impact on pop culture, but that’s really what we did it with.”
Flying the flag of Palestine on the We Love Green stage, the group does not hide its commitments: climate, feminism and world peace, “this is the basis of being a committed artist”, affirms Rebecca, before go further: “it is the least retribution that an artist can bring to society to be part of the struggles, the reality. Getting involved is a duty that we embrace and we choose our causes , well, it’s more the causes that choose us, there are so many things happening at the moment.”
But actually, who is Lulu Van Trapp?
Lulu Van Trapp is a mixture of genres and emotions: rock, pop, even punk, all tinged with a certain electrifying darkness. Their key word? Make the crowds dance. Initiated by Rebecca and Max, then joined by Nico and Manu, the group has released two albums which it defends on stage, under the mysterious name of Lulu Van Trapp. About the origins of this name, Rebecca explains: “with Max, fifteen years ago when we started music and we had another totally alternative and totally independent project, we had no label, no manager, no turner nothing – “That means no one wanted to sign us,” Max cuts in.
“So to gain respect and to find dates, we invented an alias: Lulu Van Trapp, who was terrifying and super tough in business, explains Rebecca. We made her a fake Facebook profile. She negotiated like a boss for us and people were afraid when we arrived at concerts When we started the project that became Lulu Van Trapp, we called her back to give us strength.
“We felt a little alone, so we thought it would be nice to resuscitate her,” confirms Max. All four have a well-defined – and very different – image of what this famous Lulu Van Trapp looks like. Regardless, on stage, at We Love Green as elsewhere, she gets everyone to agree.