GALO: In his review of your album for the alternative music blog Musical Mathematics, writer Nick Sadler mentions that for him, the language barrier doesn’t pose too much of a problem, which also seems true for many of your English-speaking fans. But do you ever worry that perhaps the dialect and language of your songs makes them inaccessible to some of your audience? Or do you think that even if listeners don’t always understand the lyrics, they get the deeper meaning of the song through other indicators — energy, melody and rhythm, stage presence, etc.?

MR: You know, there are some hugely successful singers and songwriters who write really obscure poetry, and everybody has a different understanding of the lyrics. And I don’t have the feeling that you have to understand 100 percent of the lyrics to really like an artist or a song. The thing is, the way we use the language, we really focus on the Creole. I really like the fact that Creole of all styles — French Creole, English Creole — they simplify the language, and they kept the strong words. And in a few words you can express a lot of emotions, and that’s why we still focus on the Creole, because we really like those strong words. It’s like a spice we put in the lyrics, and then we’ve got French and English, and the mix of all that. We feel that today you go to France, or Germany, or everywhere in the world, and all the bands, local bands, they sing in perfect English and sometimes you listen to them and you cannot know if they are from the States, England or France. And for us, it’s the same ship. In a way, be yourself and don’t pretend. Come to the music you like, but put your personality in it. I’m really glad we do that, and we don’t try to write or sing in perfect English, so I think we’ll keep on going with this our whole life. When we sing in English, we don’t sing perfectly in English. When we sing in French, French people wouldn’t say we speak really well French. But I like it. We are in-between everything. I think people [who are] open-minded enough, [they’ll] like that.

GALO: Do you approach your songwriting differently depending on whether you’re writing in English or French? For example, do you tend to focus more on lyrics when writing in one language, and more on instrumentals when writing in the other, perhaps?

MR: You know, when we were in [the] studio with Jon Spencer in New York, we wrote our lyrics in English, and he was really interested in what we wrote, like he really wanted to check if we didn’t write shitty lyrics. So we tried to be as serious in French or in English, and Jon really helped us on this one. I really liked the way he got involved in it and, I think, the songs that are sung in English are not lighter than the French ones. I think it’s the same. We don’t separate, like, “oh okay, this is a song that is a little bit like easier, easy-going, etc., so let’s write in English so that we’re not too much concerned about the deep feelings we have, etc.” So, I think we don’t really choose, and sometimes English comes or French comes, and it really doesn’t depend on what the song is.

GALO: You mentioned before that your own music culture comes from listening to your parents’ LPs as a child. What advice do you have for someone trying to get acquainted with the genre of Cajun music? What would you say are the most important records to start with and why?

MR: First, very, very, very basic is the very first album of Dr. John called Gris Gris. This is already in-between the roots and the modern, it has been recorded in the late ’60s, early ’70s and it’s already a pretty fantastic blend of psychedelic voodoo sound from New Orleans, and this is a great album to start [with]. And then, when you start with this album, you can really either go on the psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll way, or the very roots of the origin of the music of this album. For us, it’s a kind of crossroads, this album. And we’d say this album represents the very basis of the way we went with our musical influence.

GALO: Looking through your discography, it seems to me that Mama Rosin is unusually open to collaborations with other artists, most notably with Jon Spencer of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and London rock band Hipbone Slim & the Knee Tremblers. What is the most exciting thing about collaborating with another band? What do you look for in musicians before agreeing to collaborate with them?

MR: Collaborating is a great thing. Why? Because I think we wouldn’t be so greedy about collaborating if we were a big band, but since we are only like a drummer, a guitarist, and an accordionist, basically, we can easily find bands that complete our sound, like be complementary all together. And I think from our side that’s the strength, because it’s playing music to mix our sound to other bands. Maybe it’s because we are only three in the band, that’s my feeling. And why is it interesting — what’s the best thing on earth? Just sharing your musical heritage, and making different things or songs for a record or a recording session and see what comes out of it. And this is one of the best feelings you can have as a musician, for us. Sometimes, you have a particular feeling with somebody, just before liking the music the guy makes or talking about the collaboration. Sometimes there is this electricity, the feeling between two persons. And we’ve had it with Jon Spencer, we’ve had it with Hipbone Slim band, and yeah, we had it also with Moriarty in France. We always speak the same language, and that’s great, so let’s try it in the studio and see what comes out of it.

GALO: One of the most intriguing things about Mama Rosin is your communal living situation. You live in a 200-year-old farmhouse about 40 minutes from Geneva, where you grow your own produce and make your music. Why do you gravitate toward such a unique living situation, and how does the closeness of communal living affect your music? Additionally, I presume there must be tense moments at times, especially when the band needs to rest from one another — is there a place where each member can go to unwind and escape from the group that isn’t part of a collective space?

MR: We tour a lot and when we come back home, we still stay together. Sometimes we need a breath, you know, a breath somewhere else, so we learned to do it. And this house comes from Robin’s family. And Mama Rosin is a real family story, because the sister of Robin, she’s my wife. My little daughter is the nephew of Robin, so it’s really all linked. It’s a family story. So we live in the old family farm, and being all together really helped at the beginning, to have this energy, in relation to the music, rehearsals, exchanging music, etc. I wouldn’t say it’s a real influence, or that it has influenced our music. If we were living somewhere else, we would have the same music. I guess we just love the countryside, sitting around in the fields, etc. So inspiration comes from all around, not specifically our house. But we were really glad to learn that the band, The Black Angels, I think they live in a community also in Colorado or New Mexico, I don’t know exactly. And we’ve learned that, and it’s also, like in the history of music there’s been quite a lot of bands sharing life like this. But then we don’t pretend to be hippie, hippie style or anything like that. It’s a family story, so it’s not bizarre to live all in the same family house.

(Interview continued on next page)