
When and where did Bromure form, and who plays what?
Nina – Bass, 25, official Hagrid body double
Alex – Saxophone, 26, ornithologist specialized in starlings
Nico – Drums and vocals, 39, catacombs consolidator
Wattie – Singer and Guitar, 20, official biographer of Paul Doumer
Some might recognize most of the band from having played together in Maraboots – what stylistic changes have been adopted in forming Bromure, a few years down the line?
Yes obviously, the band formed around Nico, Alex and Wattie. The leftovers of Maraboots. Maraboots stopped because some of us left the country, but that didn’t mean we wanted to stop doing music. So we decided to start a new band with a new name, and what’s more logical to ask Nina who’s always been part of the crew and following us since the very beginning.
What different influences does each member bring to the table? What genres influence your songwriting outside of Oi!?
Nina and Alex were the first ones to take a musical turn to new-wave and french cold-wave. They got bored of Punk & Oi! . Wattie got seduced by the dark side too, so we can say that it’s an addition that you can maybe hear in the sound of the band. The only Oi! hardliner left is now Nico, who’s right now digging into his pre 70’s Indonesian Oi! records.
Outside of France and Quebec, I’d imagine most of your listeners can only guess what the lyrical themes are. Could you elaborate on your lyrics, are there topics that you tend to re-visit at all or are you constantly moving to new things?
Lyrics are mostly about Paris … Paris underground, Guillotine Paris, Paris city of lights, Paris of the Apaches (20th century Paris youth gangs) and obviously skins and punks.
To be more serious I’d say that Bromure has really a dark and melancholic ambience, with a smell of dirty streets of Paris … of its past, but with a bit of hope and unity.

You’ve recently undertaken a pretty extensive tour of mainland Europe – how was that? Where were you most surprised(be it pleasant or not) about the gig? What were the top 3 bands you played with, if you had to say?
Yeah, we had a blast on that tour, we played 12 shows in a row together with our best mates from Squelette (Paris Oi! band too). We’re from the same crew so we know each other for a long long time and when Wattie started booking the tour it sounded obvious to him to ask Squelette if they’d like to join so we can raid Europe together !!!
Our biggest surprise was that most of the shows we played, we played them on our own, just the two Paris bands, with no local opening band! When Wattie asked the promoters why they didn’t book another local band most of them said that Bromure and Squelette were good enough to fill the room! And even if we were suprised, that was the case ! Every show was packed and with a very good ambience!
That’s always very surprising to see that many people coming to see two bands they can’t understand any lyrics !!!! It’s not like singing in English! Outside of France, Belgium and Switzerland, people can’t sing our songs !! But they seem to enjoy it nonetheless!
Anyway, the best bands we played with during the tour was obviously Squelette! WAYYYY tighter than us during the tour! You can see who practices and who doesn’t !! Then we played together with the brilliant Savage Beat in Amsterdam !! DOPE!
And we played together with STOKES CPH in Copenhagen !!! Such a good surprise for everybody, the old skinhead crew from Copenhagen playing angry Oi! with a double bass !!
We also, to end the tour, played an ultra-packed show in Paris (around 200 people) together with the almighty HARDTIMES that reunited for that show ! that was something special!
How is the scene in Paris? Elaborate a bit if you will.
There is a lot to say! But honestly, Paris Scene has never been so alive! We made a quick count and we listed at least 23 active Oi! bands right now!! That’s CRAZY!
There’s not lots of people but everybody is active, doing zines, booking shows, Dj’ing, playing in bands! You can really see a synergy and that everybody wants to do their part! We’re having the best times, after years and years of struggle and fights between each other, it feels good.
Right now… it’s pretty dead (coughs), but hopefully Paris Oi! scene will get out alive of the COVID Crisis!
Insurgence records from Toronto have ended up doing several releases for you guys on this side of the pond – how did you link up with them in the first place?
Are there any other bands on the Insurgence roster that you’ve been a fan of for any length of time?
Steve from Insurgence got in touch with us, he wanted to book us for a show in Canada but it first ended in sharing a split with the mighty Street Troopers from Montreal! What an honour, it’s a band we’ve been listening to for like…FOREVER!!! We’re really happy about it and proud!

What do you know about the scene in Canada? Once all the virus dust has settled, do you plan on playing over here?
Well… we were supposed to play for the first time in Canada at the end of the month, but it looks like we’re not gonna eat Poutine and pancakes with Maple Syrup soon !!!
That’s too bad but we really hope that soon we’ll make it across the pond!
We have a special connection with the Montreal and Quebec scene as a lot of them sing in French, and they have many good bands !! Force Majeure, Beton armé, The Prowlers! Last year we even toured in Europe with Ultra Razzia (Wattie booked their tour)
But we also love the Canadian west coast with bands such as Alternate Action, No Heart or Bishops Green!
What are the top 5 records you’re currently listening to?
Alex:
The Mole – Zone
Years of Denial – Bodymap
Human Tetris – Memorabilia
Visitor – Expat
Parade Ground – Dual perspective
Nico:
Stokes CPH – Never Change
Ultra Razzia LP
Hard Skin – Live in Dijon
Oi l’album Vol 2 (from UVPR records)
Gonna Get Yours – A thousand Faces
Nina:
The whiffs : Take a whiff
The Remains
Brower
Beaten Brats
Tough Shit
Wattie:
West side boys – Au fil du temps
The Sound – Into the lion’s mouth
Killing Joke – Pylon
Survet Skins LP
Recidive Démo
Any final thoughts/comments?
Thanks for the interview!! We really hope your fanzine will survive the actual virus crisis and will go on into the new world!!! And we hope we’ll soon have the pleasure to see you again and share a few pints!