La Tribune de Genève (Fabrice Gottraux) reviewed the biography “The Young Gods – Longue Route 1985 – 2020” (by Olivier Horner).
The biography has been published in March by Éditions Slatkines (currently only in French). The following is an excerpt from the newspaper note, summarized and translated in English.
The Young Gods, Longue Route 1985 -2020, Éditions Slatkines
In 1989, Olivier Horner was 18 years old. Geneva, like Lausanne, was celebrating the electric wedding of rock and the first self-managed cultural venues. It was necessary to go out at night to embrace the world, to go to the Dolce Vita, to L‘Usine, to PTR, to the Festival de La Bâtie to listen to the latest groups from the bubbling Swiss scene. The Young Gods, a trio of fire mixing vocals, drums and machines, had just reached their second record milestone, L’eau Roug. An album that will make history, so much so that it will inspire the chroniclers who are enthusiastic about this stylistic renewal and the new generation of musicians.
The Young Gods – Rue des Tempêtes. Taken from the album L’eau Rouge (1989)
Gothic and Industrial Concrete
Thirty years have passed since the formation of the Young Gods. It was time for Olivier Horner to publish the biography he dreamed of to tell the story of these idols without a church. But a cathedral, yes: Cologne Cathedral, a hybrid of Gothic and industrial concrete, and the dilapidated, slightly filthy side, symbolizing the collapse of traditional values. Excerpt from page 25, where the scrupulous biographer, recounting the facts, and nothing but the facts, takes great pleasure in dissecting this first presentation sheet written by the Swiss group. They were young, had no shortage of ideas.
Here we learn how chance brings together two young people from Fribourg, one a technology enthusiast, Cesare Pizzi, and the other, Franz Treichler, who is completing his training as a classical guitarist at the conservatory. Cesare Pizzi’s computer skills, which would nourish him for years to come, were a gateway to the use of samplers. Tapes, then memory cards, this is the blank page on which Franz Treichler builds his sound collages, rock, symphonic strings, organ, explosions.
TYG – Promo Photo by Johan Jacobs (1992)
Treichler on vocals – guttural, disturbing, dramatic. Pizzi with his nose on the buttons, a drummer was still needed to complete the formula. It would be Frank Bagnoud first, then Üse Hiestand during this decade of incessant touring, from 1986 to 1996, when the band tried their luck in the United States with the album TV Sky. “It could have become a successful band,” notes Olivier Horner. It came very close. But Treichler preferred to follow his personal aesthetic choices, without sacrificing to business. And finally, Bernard Trontin emerged as the new drummer, still at the station. Alain Monod will take care of the samples, before retiring to play the sitar. It’s 2015, the Young Gods have been around for thirty years. It should be a last lap. Did he really think he was just helping out his old mates? Cesare Pizzi is back in the machines. The trio is back on track again.
