Les Tambours du Bronx (, ) are a French industrial

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

band formed in 1987. Les Tambours du Bronx stage show features 18 musicians surrounded by synthetic sounds, samples, and vocals, with heavy use of rhythm. The group play a percussion-focused combination of industrial music,

afrobeat Afrobeat (also known as Afrofunk) is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian (such as Yoruba) and Ghanaian (such as highlife) music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex i ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

, hardcore and

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

History

Les Tambours du Bronx formed in 1987 in

Varennes-Vauzelles Varennes-Vauzelles () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. It is a northwestern suburb of Nevers. Vauzelles station has rail connections to Nevers and Cosne-sur-Loire. Demographics See also * Communes of the Nièvre dep ...

, a suburb of

Nevers Nevers ( , ; , later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is a city and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the pr ...

Nièvre Nièvre () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, central-east France. Named after the river Nièvre, it had a population of 204,452 in 2019.SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

, where the first drums used by the band were from. The band's first performance was intended as a one-off event as part of the ''Nevers a Vif'' festival in 1987. In 1992, under the direction of Philippe Poustis, the band recorded an album, ''Grand Mix'', with a philharmonic orchestra and Bulgarian voice choir. In 2008, they worked with

Jaz Coleman Jeremy "Jaz" Coleman (born 26 February 1960) is an English singer and musician. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as the lead vocalist and keyboardist of post-punk group Killing Joke. In addition, Coleman has composed orchestral and sound ...

Killing Joke Killing Joke were an English rock music, rock band formed in Notting Hill, London, in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Killing Joke ...

on three tracks, yet unreleased. The band has performed in the United States, Brazil, the Middle East, Morocco, Tunisia, Greece,

Reunion Island Reunion may refer to: * Class reunion * Family reunion Reunion, Réunion, Re-union, Reunions or The Reunion may also refer to: Places * Réunion, a French overseas department and island in the Indian Ocean * Reunion, Commerce City, Colorado, U ...

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

, Slovenia and across western Europe, and at events including the bicentenary of the French Revolution on the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an Avenue (landscape), avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc ...

in 1989,

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and Pop music, pop singer and actor, credited with having brought rock and roll to France. During a career ...

's 40-year anniversary concert under the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

, a six-week tour of the United States in 2000, the

Sziget Festival Sziget Festival (, ) is one of the largest music and cultural festivals in Europe. It is held every August in northern Budapest, Hungary, on Óbudai-sziget ("Old Buda Island"), a leafy 108-hectare (266-acre) island on the Danube. More than 1,0 ...

in Budapest in 2005, and the

Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...

in Denmark in 1992 and 1995. The band have performed more than 1,100 concerts and has included over 120 different musicians, all of them from Nevers and the surrounding area. Only a few musicians from the band's formation are still in the line-up. The band's records are self-produced, via Sarl Tambours du Bronx Productions. They are distributed by the independent French label Naïve Records, who released their first DVD in March 2006. In October 2009, they released a studio album, ''MMIX'', based on a live show. This record was distributed by the French independent label At(h)ome. In 2012 Les Tambours du Bronx appeared at

Rock In Rio Rock in Rio is a biennial Brazilian multi-day music festival held at City of Rock in Rio de Janeiro. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. Ten incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeir ...

and

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a Heavy metal music, heavy metal music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all ...

festivals.

Equipment

The drummers have used 225 litre "Monostress" drums since the band's inception, chosen for their resonance and flexibility. The drums arrive by truck, then are painted by band members using their own designs. Each drum is used for two concerts, one for each end, before being given away. Their sticks are made of

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

wood and are 40 cm (16") long with a diameter of 3 cm (1.2"). Each musician breaks about two pairs per concert. In the band's lifetime, they have used about 16,000 oil drums and 110,000 sticks. There are 14 drums on stage, two musicians on sampling stands, and one playing keyboards. One singer, or even two, perform a few songs. The drums circle arc is divided into three parts called "bases", "middles" and "rhythmics". The electronic sounds, set off by the metal pipe stands, were introduced in the mid-1990s. The keyboards were added in 2003, with the album ''Stereostress Remixes''. This allowed the band to explore other musical styles alongside their industrial roots. Until then, the concerts were acoustic only, with up to 28 musicians on stage. The present set still retains pieces with only drums. The band still occasionally plays 20-minute acoustic shows, instead of the complete 90 minute sets. Since the new show launched in February 2009, the metal tubes have been also used to trigger real time video in addition to the sounds.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Ca sonne pas beau un bidon?'' (1989) * ''Monostress 225L'' (1992) * ''Grandmix'' (1992) * ''Silence'' (November 1999) * ''Stereostress Remixes'' (April 2003) * ''MMIX'' (October 2009) * ''CORROS'' (March 2015) * ''WOMP'' (October 2018)

Live albums

* ''Live'' (October 2001) * ''DVD Live'' (March 2006) * ''BRONX Live'' (November 2006) * ''FUKUSHIMA Mon Amour'' CD & DVD (October 2011) * ''METAL VEINS Alive at Rock In Rio - Sepultura & Les Tambours du Bronx'' CD, DVD, Blu-ray (September 2014)

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tambours du Bronx French industrial music groups Musical groups established in 1987 Musical collectives Percussion ensembles Musical groups from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté