When Danny Mommens, bass player with renowned Belgian art-rock band dEUS, met blond bombshell Els Pynoo in 1997, lightning struck and assorted bells started chiming. They soon indulged in the sort of sticky things most newly-met lovebirds tend to favour, but they also did the decent thing: to seal their love and lust, they recorded some music in Danny’s home studio. Originally intended as (ahum) bedroom material, those tracks nevertheless got released on a small independent label (Paris EP, Kinky Star Records, 1998, featuring their first single Je Ne Veux Pas). Calling themselves Vive La F..te, Danny and Els initially were treated like an anomaly: they unanimously and publicly vowed allegiance to sleazy glamour, cheeky humour and anything-goes optimism (quite a feat in the irony-ridden late nineties) and made a kind of music that blended the least expected (and at that time, the least favourable) influences and genres into a truly unique sound. Danny, ever the human jukebox, shamelessly displayed his love for eighties synth pop, melancholic cold wave and back-to-basics electronica, while Els juxtaposed his sparse and rhythmic soundscapes with cooing, breathy vocals and self-penned lyrics, written in French, her way of paying tribute to her heroes (sixties chanteuses like Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin and suave wordsmiths like Jacques Dutronc and Serge Gainsbourg - it should be noted that French isn’t even Els’ native tongue!). They literally looked and sounded like no-one else on the scene. Danny, eyes hidden behind black sunglasses, a fag dangling from his mouth, churning out brutal guitar riffs and explosive electronic beats, giving the middle finger to the weedy rock fraternity of the ’look at me I’m serious’- type. Els, dressed in vixen-ish mini-skirts and knee-length leather boots, strikingly flaunting her femininity with class and authority, singing in her distinctive, seductive voice about love, friendship and inner turmoil.
