A French sensitive electro duet, Toxiq is the name chosen by two musicians and long-time friends. Claire Deligny, the chick from the cheeky pop band Matchboxx, and Yul, a percussive and subtle producer. Their music echoes all the years they spent dancing, eating, and crying together. This collaboration was born under the sign of distance, physical and temporal. One thing leading to another and 2 confinements later, their 1st EP "Dans La Bouche" is to be released on Résiste records. After this great release we were very curious and wanted to know who are the artists behind the name. And now we are able to present them, we say thanks to Clair and Yul, here are a short interview with Toxiq.
facebook instagram youtube
Interview
Toxiq is..?
Claire : In 2019, Yul is scheduled live for the 1st festival of the Parisian collective Otto10 where I was to come and sing my song "Drogue Dure Drogue Douce" on a brand new instrumentation.
Yul : The festival is cancelled but Otto10 reschedules me at Dehors Brut (ephemeral place of the Concrete team) and now Claire sings on 3 tracks. The event was cancelled due to administrative closure following an overdose, we persevered as Toxiq, prolonging our cooperation in the studio ! ;-)
Who inspired you to make music?
Claire : My substitute primary school teacher played guitar and made us sing just for a few days, then I decided to take guitar lessons and I never stopped making music since then.
Yul : I started playing music early on by the piano, but it didn't enchant me more than that. It was when I started playing in a group at the age of 14 with notably my friend Xavier Thiry (La Féline, Fishback, Hello Kurt) who bought "my" first drums. Xavier also plays bass for Toxiq. Then I had a second click when I discovered electronic music and Protools a few years later, and that I started to transform, to sample (...) sounds. But I only released my first song in 2015, a remix of Berlin Sunrise by Fink.When do you say a song is ready for a release?
Yul : So for me, a song is almost never ready to be released, I still have doubts and I have a lot of trouble finishing. These are the deadlines that I impose on myself with a schedule that allow me to finish. But let's say that a first step ends when I export my tracks to go into mixing with Ludo in his
studio.
What is your creative process like?
Claire : When I have an idea, I write it down in my “ideas file”. When my composer Manuel Roland sends me a track, with him singing the melody, I choose a theme that matches with his music, and then I find the right words. Then I record (badly) my voice and send it to Yul to arrange it all.
Yul : First I really need to feel something and/or have an idea. Then I quickly need to make a model. I need a session or two, preferably at night, then if I'm happy, it takes me weeks or months to finish the song if I need to record extra musicians (...).
I produce on my own in my corner and it's difficult for me to do anything other than what I have in my head, which is not always easy for Claire. The next step for me is to produce songs for others and try to do what they have in mind. But to be honest I don't know if I can do it. I really need to experience things to produce in my studio, that's also why I've always had a subwoofer.
What is the most useful talent you have?
Claire : Writing songs about little situations of life precisely, with humour and sensibility, with familiar words sung with a very polite voice
Yul : You were asking me when a song is ready to be released. Once you get the idea, you have to manage the recording, the mix, master, the cover, the clip, the contracts, the promotion (...) and the little talent that I could have is to bring together all the competent people to release a record.
If you could change anything in the past, what would it be?
Claire : I would have love to continue my first band Les Matchboxx, but the boys wanted to split, but as I fighted against that, so I have no regrets, it’s just a shame for the 3 of us.
Yul : I would stay at home on May 16, 1993, the day I fell from 10 meters. And I regret not having taken a ticket in 1998 to see Elliot Smith in concert in Marseille !
How do you feel the Internet (especially Social Media platforms) has impacted the music business?
Claire : I think that you can’t make money with your recordings, unless you’re very famous, they are only a way to promote your live performances, exactly the contrary of the situation when I begun in the music business 25 years ago, but gigs are doing better than before, and that’s a good thing, my favourite actually, I’m not a studio woman (boring).
Yul : It's cool to diffuse your music all over the world, I'm happy to be broadcast in Uganda or in Peru but I'm a little lost with TikTok or even Instagram, with influencers who pose with their dog with 7 seconds of your music in background !
What’s next for you?
Claire : Our EP to be released soon with Toxiq, and also gigs as a sidewoman with the french singer Loïc Desplanques and others shows playing the guitar for the dancer Hélène Forlot.
Yul: I hope to do several projects with Résiste records (including the 2nd compilation) but now that I have started, I want to record other songs as a singer and I would like to develop a voice over activity for many reasons. In addition, my friend Sylvain Hellio is going to release a first solo EP and I worked on a remix, can’t wait !
