An interview with Lee O’Neil Blues Gang

Gipsy BACUET: Well as we are a couple on stage and also on the city, it’s easy for us to work on new songs. Sometimes, the lyrics came first, sometimes it the music. But we always work in the way Lionel wishes . He succeeds in bringing me exactly where he wants me to go in his songs. I mainly write about life and human relations. But songs can also be questions about our way of living, how we interact with the others, with ourselves, with our fears and sadness, with our joys and hopes…Like the song « As if it was enough » from our new album « This is us » released in sept 2022. It’s about what we expect and above all about what we should do.There is some disappointment, some sadness but some hopes too. « Kiss me again » from the same album is for example a relation between someone and
a bottle… Do I need a bottle to help me to understand who I am? It’s a conversation with a bottle but in reality it’s a self conversation.

Lionel : We also approach society theme like violences made to women, in our song called « Never again » from our first album « Different Shades Of Love » released in sept 2020. And this first album was for example only around the theme of Love. 10 original tracks with
all the shades we can live. Always a kind of ambiguity, and the close relation between extremes.

Gipsy: Yes, I like to play with ambiguity and I like when the public ask himself if I’m really  talking about me when I say I in my songs. You will never know if all must be taken at the first degree or if it’s ironic ! And Lionel is so good at mixing different styles in a same song. For example in the song « The man in the corner » which is about his father who died many years before I met Lionel . I wanted something not too sad to express the missing of a father but also the presence that is always strong at all the times, that I wrote « Welcome to the dance… » Lionel put a little of rumba rhythm in that song which becomes less sad and dramatic, but more realistic in the fact that despite of the absence and the pain, life is going on for everyone.

Lionel: In general The songs I compose are thought to be played in live. So while we are in the studio for a recording session, we play all together to keep this live feeling. Only 1 or 2 takes are necessary. In this second album, I added more guitars, that let me chose in live what I want to play without distorting the piece. I chose the songs that are the most representative of my universe. And it’s difficult because , in each song there is a part of me. We don’t have so much ballads, so the sho is pretty rock and energetic. If I could play them all on stage I would do it ! During our 2 hours of show, we only play 3 covers, the first to begin the concert, the second in the middle and the last for the encore !