THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The story has it that Syd Barrett of the legendary psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd came up with the band’s name on a spur of the moment before one of their gigs during the band’s initial years. He just clubbed the names of two erstwhile blues singers Pink Anderson and Floyd Council, when he learned that another band was also performing in the gig using their title, which used to be ‘The Tea Set’. Something similar happened to Lena Roucaute too when she named her band after a vintage Swedish sledge champion, Betty Argo, after coming across a newspaper report on her demise.There was visibly no connection between the life of Betty Argo and the music of the band, except that both of them shared a common interest. The sledge champion Betty Argo had a strange habit of taking sad people for a ride on her sledge to bring smiles on their faces. The band members also wanted to do the same, though in a different way. Hence, the band members decided to name their band after Betty as a tribute to her selfless deeds."It might seem a little crazy. But we felt deep inside that we too had the same motive, to make people happy through our songs,’’ says Lena, the lyricist and lead singer of the band. City Express caught up with the members of the band, whose music is heavily inspired by rock n roll legends like Beatles and Lenny Kravitz, on Sunday morning over a cup of coffee. Only a night before had they presented a scintillating performance in the city which swept away the hearts of rock n roll lovers here. The band is essentially an indie pop rock band with a tinge of electronic flavour, comprising Lena Roucaute, Arnaud Cabibel (composer and bass guitar), Samuel Strouk (lead guitarist) and Jeremie Pontier (percussion). Lena and Arnaud have been playing music since 2002. However, the band took shape after Strouk and Pontier came in. They feel that it is very difficult for an emerging band to make a mark in a country like France, where the huge popularity of international artists has overshadowed the local bands. According to Lena, there are other challenges too. Bands like Betty Argo which play English songs have to face the initial reluctance of their countrymen, who prefer to hear French songs. "I write songs in English because I am comfortable in the language. Also, we do not intend to confine ourselves within France by playing only French songs. But the people have started to accept our music now,’’ she said. But there are greater risks involved in going global, because we have to take on huge artists like Beyonce Knowles in the international scenario, chipped in Arnaud. Betty Argo, on an tour to India, is all set to cut their first full-fledged music album which they hope to release in August, once they get back home.
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