French DJ Epic Empire Plots India Tour
Fabrice Delcambre on his four-city gig hop and how he’s crafting an album that combines his love for orchestral music, pop and house
Paris-based Fabrice Delcambre a.k.a. DJ Epic Empire. Photo: Segolene Accaries.
Like most people living in the city, Paris-based electronic music producer Fabrice Delcambre was shaken by the recent terrorist attacks that took place there. Delcambre, who performs under the moniker Epic Empire, has been living in the French capital for three years now. The siege on newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January last year rattled Delcambre, but he was in his hometown of Corsica in southern France when the November 13th attacks took place. He says over video chat, “I had a friend who died at the Bataclan. I had to put this in my music. I just did a track in one afternoon, to express myself about what happened.”
The recently released track “Paris” is Delcambre’s way of coping with and consoling the tragic events, nearly very different from his mix of what he calls “enthusiastic future pop”. The producer explains the term, saying, “I prefer that people dance rather than just hang around and don’t feel the music. My music is hard to classify, because there are a lot of different styles ”“ a melting pot of bass music, house, a bit of pop structures in terms of the vocals. There’s also a lot of orchestral elements, like brass instruments and the violin.” The as-yet-untitled album will be divided into three parts. Says Delcambre, “There are going to be three acts in the album ”“ one orchestral act, another like house music and the third which is like pop music.”
Epic Empire’s debut album is slated to release later this year, but before that, there’s a four-city India tour for the producer, which spans from April 21st to April 24th including stops in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and New Delhi. Booking agency and artist management company Mixtape met Delcambre at the Sakifo Festival in Reunion Island and worked out a tour. Epic Empire is the next in line from a few other international artists looking to break into the Indian market. Mixtape founder Naveen Deshpande says, “We are looking at developing a new market for every artist touring with us here in India. If the music is good, if the live show is kickass then we know we are offering something new and fresh to the audience here and that’s what we thrive on.”
Although Delcambre has toured about 45 countries including a lot of Asia with his electronic duo StereoHeroes, he’s looking forward to the “very intense and short” India experience. He says, “I really want to take time to see things, eat good food, meet some people. I love different cultures and communicating with people. I have a tour manager and I’m going to ask him a lot of stuff ”“ Can we go there? What is that? Can we eat there? ”“ I think it’s going to be a bit boring for him.”
Listen to Epic Empire here.
April 21st ”“ Hauz Khas SOCIAL, New Delhi
April 22nd ”“ AntiSOCIAL, Mumbai
April 23rd ”“ Church Street SOCIAL, Bengaluru
April 24th ”“ The High Spirits, Pune
