Patrick Alain Vian (12 April 1942 – 24 February 2023) was a French musician. He played progressive rock music in the late 1960s with the band Red Noise, which recorded one album. In the 1970s, he composed music for a film and released one solo album, ''Bruits et Temps Analogues'', in 1976.

Biography

Patrick Vian was born on 12 April 1942 in Paris. Raised in

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...

, he was the son of French jazz trumpeter and poet

Boris Vian Boris Vian (; 10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath who is primarily remembered for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of th ...

. His father, who died when he was 17, nicknamed him "Bisonnot", "little bison". He was born during World War II and had a turbulent childhood in various places after his parents divorced, spending a long period of time in England and going to boarding school in Switzerland. Vian first gained notability as a guitar player with the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band Red Noise (which was associated with

Ame Son Ame Son was a progressive rock band from France. They are notable for being featured on the Nurse With Wound list. Members of Ame Son also were in the band Red Noise In science, Brownian noise, also known as Brown noise or red noise, is the ...

); the band formed at the Sorbonne in 1968, and played its first show during the occupation of the university. According to Vian, these were exciting times: he later commented that in Red Noise's early days, "their concerts wouldn't end until the cops came." The band released one album, ''

Sarcelles - Lochères ''Sarcelles – Lochères'' is the only album from the progressive rock/protopunk French band Red Noise, of whom Patrick Vian was the most notable member. History Vian had gained some prominence as a guitar player with Red Noise (which was associa ...

'', in 1970. The group broke up after they got arrested for possession of hash in the Netherlands. Given the revolutionary times, the band split rather appropriately into a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and a

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

section, the latter of which continued under the name Komintern. ''Sarcelles - Lochères'' was released on LP in 1970, and re-released on CD by Futura Records in 1996. In 1975, he composed some of the music for the film ''Hu-Man'' (starring

Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau (; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Mo ...

and

Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Known for his sophisticated villain roles, he was named by ''Empire (magazine), Empire'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades in ...

) by Jérôme Laperrousaz. In 1976, he recorded a solo album, ''

Bruits et Temps Analogues ''Bruits et Temps Analogues'' is an album by French musician Patrick Vian, his only solo album. ''Bruits'' was released on the Egg label in 1976, which was owned by Barclay Records and designed to present young and innovative musicians (it had Van ...

'', on the Egg label, which was owned by

Barclay Records Barclay is a French Universal Music Group record label, originally owned by Eddie Barclay in 1953. Barclay previously established Riviera-LM Records in 1951. Eddie was a bandleader, pianist, producer and nightclub owner. With his wife and voc ...

and designed to present young and innovative musicians (it had

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

and

Tim Blake Timothy Blake (born 6 February 1952, in Shepherd's Bush, London) is an English keyboardist, synthesist, vocalist, and composer, who is known for working with Gong, Hawkwind and his synthesizer and light performances as Crystal Machine, with th ...

under contract). He is included (like Ame Son, Komintern and Red Noise) on the Nurse with Wound list. From 1976, little was heard of Vian, though he gave an interview to ''

L'Express (, stylized in all caps) is a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris. The weekly stands at the political centre-right in the French media landscape, and has a lifestyle supplement, ''L'Express Styles'', and a job supplement, ''R� ...

'' in 2011, in which he talked at length about his father and his childhood. In 2013, he again appeared in public for the opening of '' L'Écume des jours'', the 2013 movie based on his father's novel of the same name. Vian later lived in

Apt, Vaucluse Apt (; Provençal dialect, Provençal Occitan language, Occitan: ''At / Ate'' in both classical and Mistralian norms) is a Communes of France, commune in the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of ...

, where he died on 24 February 2023, at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vian, Patrick 1942 births 2023 deaths French electronic musicians French keyboardists People from Angoulême Protopunk musicians