In September 1990 FFF went on a recruiting drive, signing up a series of new members to enrich their line-up. Marco Prince and Niktub were soon joined by Krichou, a drummer from the French Antilles (who was a major fan of Dédé Saint-Prix, the legendary percussionist from Martinique), guitarist Yarol Poupaud and sax-player Philippe Herpin, aka Pinpin (formerly with the ‘alternative’rock group Marquis de Sade).
FFF’s big break came in 1990 when they performed at the famous “Transmusicales” festival in Rennes. It was here that the group were ‘discovered’ by rock journalist Philippe Conrath. A few weeks later FFF were to sign a recording deal with Epic (an off-shoot of the major record company Sony ).
Before going into the studio to record their début album FFF recorded a demo tape of their sound which they sent to several top producers. In March 1991 the tape landed on the desk of the famous New York producer Bill Laswell. Impressed by FFF’s innovative funk sound, Laswell agreed to produce the group’s début album “Blast Culture”.
“Blast Culture”, which hit record stores in October, was greatly influenced by the American funk trinity James Brown, George Clinton and Sly Stone. But FFF’s exciting new sound was not just a straight remix of 70’s funk, but very much an energetic 90’s funk/rock fusion similar to that of American bands like Living Colour, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone. The outstanding tracks on “Blast Culture” were undoubtedly “Requiem pour un con” (an up-dated and extremely funky cover of the Serge Gainsbourg classic) and a hot new remix of the group’s first single “New Funk Generation” (courtesy of George Clinton, the legendary King of the US funk scene).
Prior to the release of “Blast Culture”, FFF had promoted their funky French sound on an extensive international tour, playing no less than 250 dates across Europe, North America and Japan. The group were soon greatly in demand at major European music festivals such as Glastonbury (in England) and Roskilde (in Denmark), and they were also invited to support American funk star George Clinton.
In 1993 FFF flew to England to begin work on their second album. This album featured 13 new tracks, all recorded in English, which were heavily influenced by 90’s American rock (à la Faith No More). Shortly after the release of the album sax-player Philippe Herpin decided to quit the French Fonck Federation.
In March 1996 the French Fonck Federation returned to the studio to record their third album, entitled simply “FFF”. This time round the group decided to produce their new album themselves, working in a studio in Paris. The new album, featuring tracks recorded entirely in French this time, proved that FFF had developed their syncopated funk fusion to perfection and were now absolute masters of the genre. Marco’s smooth vocals wove around a funky beat, pumping out hard-hitting songs about drugs, AIDS and racism as well as sensual tracks about love and sex (two of FFF’s favourite themes).
Time Out
Shortly after the release of their third album FFF faded from the forefront of the French music scene, but returned to delight fans with a live album, “Vivants”, in 1997. This would prove to be the group’s final release on Sony Epic – in fact, after their split from Sony FFF went a long while without signing a new deal with another label. The group’s tour schedule remained as hectic as ever, however, and in May ’98 FFF jetted off to Asia, gaining popularity with their Asian fans when they played in Java, Thailand and Hong Kong.
FFF made a major comeback on the live scene on 29 January, bringing the house down when they performed at the Stade de France at a Snowboarding championship. After signing a new recording deal with V2 (a label attached to Virgin) in 1999, the group went into the studio to record their new CD album, “Vierges”, released in March 2000. Following the departure of their keyboard-player, Félix (who left to join Les Rita Mitsouko), the group branched out in a new direction, setting up their own association to look after audiovisual and management for other bands. FFF based the headquarters of this new association in a former sweet factory in Paris.
Meanwhile, the French funk outfit kept busy on the live scene, playing a series of dates in May (this mini-tour included two concerts in Réunion). The group hit the French tour circuit again in the autumn of 2000, kicking off their new tour with a popular concert in Paris at Le Zénith on November 2nd.
The French Fonck Federation have not only proved themselves capable of producing first-rate studio albums, they have also established an excellent reputation for their vibrant live performances. The group have managed to create their own innovative French fusion of Afro-American funk, catapulting ‘la fonck française’ to the forefront of the international music scene .
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