Didier Thibault -Moving Gelatine Plates Interview

When and where were you born/ What was your childhood like and do you have any siblings? When did you first begin playing music and was it initially fascinated you about learning to play the guitar? Was this something that was relevant in your household growing up?

I was born in Paris on July 26 (like Mick Jagger), but in 1952. I was then living near Montparnasse station. I have a brother who is 4 years older than me. In 1960, the expansion work at Gare Montparnasse forced us to move to Sartrouville. My father worked at the SNCF (French Railways). But he was a record collector. He played no instrument, except, he said, "the record player". Among other things, he owned the 78 rpm records of Berthe Sylva (pre-war singer). The matrices having been destroyed during the war, it was his records that were used for reissues in 45 and 33 rpm, then in CDs. In exchange for which we received an unlimited quantity of vinyl records from Odéon (later to become CBS). It was the record company of the Beatles, but also later of Frank Zappa, Santana, Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Bob Dylan, Simon & garfunkel... My brother also listened to a lot of music and we, like many young people at the time, were seduced by rock. But the large quantity of records at home and the diversity of genres made us discover classical as well as jazz, contemporary, and variety. My mother, for her part, was a big fan of operettas! My parents weren't very rich. Generally, when winter came, I inherited my brother's coat. But in 1962, my parents asked me if I wanted a new coat (for once) or if I agreed to wear my brothers' clothes once again, which had become too small. In this case, I had the option of choosing a Christmas present. Without hesitating for a moment, I asked for a guitar and so at the age of 10 I got my first guitar, a Framus.

Who were some of your influences early on? Where would you go to see shows in your community and what groups/performances stood out to you the most during that time? What would you and your friends do for fun back in the day?

Immediately, I tried to reproduce everything I heard. What went from Bill Haley to Tino Rossi (of whom my father was a fan), but also the "yéyés" of the time, starting with Johnny Hallyday. The range of French songs was wide, and it was hard to escape Jacque Brel, Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré, Charles Aznavour and many others, who even if they were not my favorites, were nevertheless writing patterns... At the beginning, I played with only one finger, then two, then three, then all... A neighbor who was taking guitar lessons showed me chords, barre, etc. very quickly, and he was very happy to be able to play with me. Shadows tracks (Apache...) I took care of myself very easily, being a bit of a handyman (which turned out to be very useful in a career as a musician!). I made small constructions of theaters and put on "mini shows") with electric lamps as projectors. My brother, on the other hand, said he was very bored. He tried to play basketball because the neighbor opposite was a coach at the municipal club, and I followed him, but for very little time. In fact, I was more into the evening and the concerts on Saturday until almost midnight didn't mix well with the basketball matches on Sunday morning at 9 o'clock... So I devoted myself solely to music.

Did you participate in any groups prior to MGP? How did you initially meet your bandmates and what were your first impressions of them? What initially led to forming the band? When and where did the group first get together to rehearse/jam and what was the chemistry like right off the between everyone?

And there, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Pink Floyd, Zappa etc... became my models and made me progress a lot on the guitar, but also made me want to compose. When I was 14, in 4th grade, I met Gérard Bertram, and we immediately played together and started a group called "The Lines" (no relation to coke!). We did covers, then started composing, with a drummer from my brother's class, Michel Coulon. And it was he who, during an English class, found the name "Moving Gelatine Plates" in a book by Steinbeck ("Travels with Charley in Search of America"). There, we really started to compose. But Michel became "dad" quite quickly and had to stop. It was then that we met Gérard Pons, when he was auditioning for a hard rock group at the MJC (Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture) in Sartrouville. He wasn't taken because they thought he wasn't hitting hard enough! Which made us happy. Gérard Bertram, for his part, had friends who had a debal (variety) group. Among them was Maurice HELMLINGER, a talented multi-instrumentalist who played all the saxophones, flute, trumpet, organ. He was even very good at the accordion, it seems, but we never asked him to play it in MGP.

How did the name for the group come about? I understand you guys were influenced by bands such as Soft Machine and Caravan. What was it about those groups that resonated with you guys, more specifically the “Canterbury Sound”? When and where did the band make their live performance debut and what was that experience like?

And there, all four, the evolution was dazzling. We very quickly found a sound and a style of our own. Although a Rock & Folk journalist (Paul Alessandrini) wrote in a review "we say the original MGP music, it's just a compromise of Soft Machine, Pink Floyd and Frank Zapp!" We took that rather as a compliment, because we were only 17 years old and we believed that it was already not so bad to make such a summary... We were rehearsing at Gérard Bertram's, in Bezons. Very quickly, we put together about an hour of repertoire. When we learned that Pink Floyd was playing at the Le Bourget festival at the end of March 1970, as we couldn't afford the concert, we went to see the organizer, Claude Rousseau, to ask him if we could play. He gave us his agreement to play the night before an additional scene. But Rock & Folk with the support of the public made a petition for us to perform again the next day on the big stage, and that was the beginning of the success that we know. Six months later, we met another of our idols, Frank Zappa at the Biot festival. This is how we met these fabulous musicians who had encouraged us so much to do this job. On the day of our registration at Le Bourget, we registered at the Golf Drouot springboard, a must-see place at the time... And we won.

Tell me about writing and recording the band’s self titled debut LP in ‘71. When and where did recording begin and how did the deal with CBS initially come about? Would you mind walking me through the process and writing those songs and a bit of backstory to some of the songs that are featured on the record? What was the concept behind the album cover and the overall vision the band wanted to express on this album?

We often went to the MJC, and even organized concerts there with other groups from the region. So, to prepare for the Bourget festival, we organized a free concert on March 7, 1970, with 250 people in the room and almost as many outside! We also went to see our idols, among others with the "Copains Menier"? famous brand of chocolate at the time. By sending 10 envelopes of chocolate, we obtained a card which allowed us to attend concerts for 2 Francs! So we could see and hear Cream, Kinks, Troggs etc... The Bourget festival was really the starting point for MGP. Followed by Biot in July 1970. We had signed an exclusive contract with Claude Rousseau for the record and the stage, believing that we owed him that. Alas, the festivals cost him dearly, and the financiers he had found did not follow for very long. We toured the Atlantic Coast, opening for the movie Monterey Pop. We played at midnight, then the film and we went to sleep where we could on the stroke of 5 o'clock... The sponsor left with the box, and we were never paid. But that allowed us to end the contract, amicably, with Claude Rousseau. This is how we signed with CBS, with Claude Delcloo as producer. As for the scene. We worked with Francis Clarel, Director of Gibus at the time. He succeeded in exchanges between groups from the provinces that he programmed in Paris, and us that he placed in the provinces. It was often an "attraction" in discotheques, but it made it possible to survive. On stage, we had great improvisational passages from Le Bourget, which we structured for the first album, even if the sound remains very "live". The cover itself was quite basic, literally translating "Moving Gelatine Plates" to "Assiettes de Gélatine Mouvantes". While MGP stood for "walking photographic plates".

What was the first order of business once the album was released? Did you guys play any gigs, or tour in order to support the release? The following year in ‘72, the band released the follow up entitled, “The World of Genius Han”. Can you tell me about writing and recording that album and what you guys wanted to achieve and or express on this album that maybe you couldn’t with the previous?

We recorded the album in a week at the studio Davout, in 16 tracks. It was fast... The sound engineer, François Dentan, was Charles Trénet's sound engineer. It was the first time in his life that he recorded a "bass-distortion", but he was very cooperative and inventive. A sort of George Martin to us... We never had a problem with the production with CBS, because they left Claude Delcloo in charge of operations. We didn't do many concerts, on the one hand because the Rock Prog niche has never been easy, and on the other hand a bit by choice, because of our "underground" label. We didn't want to appear too much. We even read: "But what is this group, MGP, that everyone is talking about and that we see so little?". A way to be desired. And it must also be said that one of our favorite occupations was composition and the ensuing implementation, which was not always easy. For example, it was not very easy to juxtapose an instrument in 6 beats, another in 5 and voices in 4... We therefore, while doing a few concerts, played the songs from the first album, while "testing" themes from the second. The reactions were quite positive, as our style became clearer. For the second "The World of Genius Hans", the composition work was much deeper, it was more of a "studio" design than a "stage". We started from the idea that genius lies in madness, hence the cover! I personally don't find her "infamous". The main thing is not to leave indifferent, and then it was more humorous. What was less funny is that we had released a 45 rpm a month earlier, in order to benefit from a double promo, but CBS forgot to promote the album...

A very recognized and infamous cover, what was the idea, or concept behind this one? The band’s last release under MGP, what eventually happened to the band after ‘72? I understand you guys changed the name to “Moving” due to some legality issues, correct? Can you tell me about the band’s activities between ‘72 to ‘80 when the band released the self titled record?

So it was more studio work, a bit like the Beatles (Sgt Peppers) or even the Stones (Their Satanic Majesties Request). And the idea came almost naturally to add choirs, trombone, bassoon, vibraphone, harpsichord... We already had a lot of difficulty repaying our loans on instruments, sound, truck, and we had to stop because of these financial problems. It was therefore with regret that we stopped MGP in 1972. I then joined the Gong group, with Steve Hillage, Tim Blake, Disier Malherbe and Pierre Moerlen, but for a short time, because they went back to England , and I did not want to follow, intending to reform MGP. It took quite some time, the former MGPs having other projects, I looked for other musicians. The album "Moving" was released only 8 years later. I composed it alone. And yet I had to "earn my living" at the same time, alternating between pub music and solo concerts. We did a few gigs. The sound was interesting but the mistake was to sing in French, at the request of the producer, Jacky Giordano. The music was close in style and sound, but the Robert Wyatt-esque vocal effects were likened to Patrick Juvet!

How did the deal with Amo Records come about? What was the process of writing and recording this album? How much has changed since the release of “The World of Genius Han”? I understand that MGP reformed in ‘06. What was it like to play those songs and channel those old times with your longtime bandmate Jean Rubert?

The opportunity arose in 2004 to reform MGP, adding a violin and a cello to the initial formation. But 7 musicians is even more difficult to manage. Financially on the one hand, and for the schedule on the other hand, not to mention personal relations... We nevertheless produced a very interesting album, "Removing". Who should release one of these days on vinyl... The financial difficulties once again seemed insurmountable. A final "trio" attempt with Laborator gave us hope by reducing expenses, but we had 3 truckloads of material, having added video and mime. But it was also a great experience.