Doomed Confessionary: Jules, Maël, André & Julien (Tara)

Photo by Anastasia Polak
Hailing from Lille, France, alternative/stoner rock band Tara has just released their debut full-length album »Sekoya« on March 15th, 2024.
The album was recorded after they tried out new songs for more than 50 concerts across France. Starting with rock and stoner tracks, the album takes another turn after »Dawn«, leaving the listener with heavy songs about politics and climate change.
»Sekoya« is available now on all major streaming platforms.
Can you say a few words about your band?
We are TARA, a four piece rock band from Lille, France, made up of Jules Lyochon, Maël Guerrand, André Loukianov and Julien Beauvois. We formed in 2021 when Maël, of Finnish origin, and Jules met and shared their cultures through music. It was also the crossroads of north and south, which together with the band’s international roots influenced their sound. We are known for our wild stage presence and raw energy, and we hope to have built a solid reputation in our hometown and Paris, and are now ready to conquer hearts and stages around the world. We are very much influenced by the sound of Alice In Chains, Tool, Gojira, and the Greek stoner scene.
Our album »Sekoya« is the condensed matter of the work of more than three years. It is heavy, sometimes slow, but first and foremost, it’s the music that we love.
What was the biggest challenge for the band last year?
The biggest challenge was to keep going forward, despite all of us having to work beside music. The challenge when you are an independent band like us is that you have basically two jobs. So, when we finished recording the album, that was just the beginning. We had then to mix it, master it, build a community around it, book concerts, promote… and finally play. It’s surprising that it comes at the end of the line, but it really is when you have to do all the things yourself. The second hardest thing was to decide which song to put on the album, as we have been writing for more than 3 years now, to keep it to an efficient yet interesting 45 minutes album.
What can you be most proud of so far?
We are very proud of how the album sounds, and the fact that we managed to still keep the band alive through lockdowns, bandmates moving abroad and our everlasting search for a bassist. We started as a two piece so to find permanent members is pretty hard when all you do is playing gigs that pay only 100€. You have to decide it’s your passion and go for it for the sake of it… Which can be harder to do if it’s not your baby born project.
What was your biggest regret?
Our biggest regret is not being able to do the summer festivals we wanted due to a change in plans for one of our members. It is always tough when you know you’ll be playing somewhere, try to put everything into place but it just doesn’t happen cause that one moment in time, one of us cannot be here due to important stuff on the side and work.
What was the best concert/tour last year and why?
Our best concert was definitively when we opened for Spirit Mother, an American band, at the Supersonic in Paris. It was funny cause of course we were in the crowd for the main act and we can recall hearing people saying “That was a very cool gig, but that first band blew my mind!” . It’s those moments that really keeps you going.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Our biggest surprise was to get to meet those touring band and realizing that they still have problems to live from that. It’s crazy for us ! You make so many people thought the world headband and still life is tough for you financially, and you cannot tour where you want etc… I mean, we are still kids in the music industry but if you are not a pop or rap star today, it’s pretty hard to make a living so that surprised us.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
We’ve been listening to a lot of Slomosa lately. Julien is crazy about the last record from Truckfighters. Maël is just trying to learn all the stuff from Gojira. And I for my part am really digging some doom/stoner classics like Monolord, Weedeater or Sleep; and of course lateralus once a week!
Can you say something more about the music scene in France?
In Paris, you have a lot of stuff happening. It’s known that France is more the land of rap as of right now, but we have so many indie bands and stoner bands that need to be discovered. It’s really nice. We have a lot of bars, cafés and clubs where you can only pay a (very) few euros and get to listen to three bands a night. It’s very lively and it’s very nice to see the same faces then and again. I feel there is a strong solidarity when it coms to rock, we all really just want to have fun!
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
You’ll be able to catch us in Paris for sure at the Supersonic in May, and we are yet trying to tour now and try to find places where to play abroad!
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We want to keep developing. Now that we have that album out that we are really proud of, we will try to tour more and hit the summer stages of festivals. We would really like to tour abroad aswell.
How can people best support your band?
The best way is to listen and share our album through social media and to the press. It can be foreign, the point is for us then to go the concert halls and clubs and just tell them that we have the capacity to play there. Every little insta story or post helps!
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Tell us what you think about the album, we love having feedback. Also, thank you for listening to it, it means the world to us. If even one part of one song made you smile, cry or headband, then we are the happiest musicians on earth!
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well