Who needs Nine Inch Nails? Jamendo can proudly boast Fresh Body Shop, a French one-man-band with his very own take on high end industrial pop. Here he shares his secret musical recipe with us.

The similarities between Fresh Body Shop’s music and that of Nine Inch Nails are undeniably strong. Pedro, the Nantes-based musician behind Fresh Body Shop, is even the first to acknowledge them: “My music has been compared to NIN a lot, especially the albums Make This End and Tasteless, with good reason. Trent Reznor (NIN’s mastermind and singer) is a great influence, not so much for the ‘industrial’ aspect of his music but for the way he composes outside of the usual ‘guitar/bass/drums’ model that can be a bit boring.”

Add to that “a strong vocal resemblance” and you’ll get why comparisons are flying. But Pedro says that the songs he’s working on at the moment “will veer away from that style”, stressing that many other artists influence him, such as Tricky, Beck, Kurt Cobain or Thom Yorke.

Fresh Body Shop’s musical formula, due in no small part to the fact that Pedro writes, sings and records alone (he does have a live band for concerts though), is all about mixing organic elements (guitar and piano) with synthetic beats and melodic vocals. “I don’t compose like a guitarist, he explains. I’d rather start form a beat or a bass line, and then add vocals straight away. If the melody isn’t any good, I’ll move on to another track. The vocals are the central element, I’d rather build around them then add them only at the end”, the way most bands do it.

Active on Jamendo since July 2007, Fresh Body Shop has rapidly become somewhat of a musical staple here, with over 140,000 combined listens of his four published albums. “I wasn’t looking to make money, but to get listeners and feedback, and I got lots. I’d been in contact before with a couple of record labels, mostly English and American, but I was always wary of locking up my music by signing to a label that wouldn’t have the means to promote it.”

Since then, Pedro’s posted his music all over the internet, but it’s from Jamendo he got the widest audience. “Building a fanbase is my main priority. If I was after money, I’d quit music and start selling clothes.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm and is filed under English. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.