DJ Ron: Lots of French pop stars have been having success; Galleon and Alizee are having big success all over Europe. Why do thing there is a French renaissance of pop artists?
Galleon: Maybe there is something fresh in French production today, and people in the world are more interested in the new sound, maybe we have this new sound. But in France people like the sound of raga, and I think each country needs something different. So, French is more credible now, and in France the people like ragamuffin, they like Latino music, something different.
DJ Ron: Is English your first language?
Galleon: No.
DJ Ron: What is your first language?
Galleon: That's why my accent is so bad. No, I love English music because for a song, and my favorite artists are Peter Gabriel and Sting. So when I write a song I know I'm not a great author because it's not my first language, but I try to write the lyrics like a melody, like a piano. I choose the sound of the words and I try to write something positive about the future, but it's very simple lyrics. It's pop music for the sound and dance music for the lyrics.
DJ Ron: What's in your CD player right now?
Galleon: Now, the last CD, I like Beyonce, and I like Craig David. I practice my English with Craig David. <singing> "I was checking this girl next door, when her parents went out, she'd phone say, hey boy, come on right around…" So I try to practice. And I'm very nostalgic, and it's difficult to find something better than 80's music for me.
DJ Ron: Speaking of Beyonce, she's in a big Pepsi commercial right now - did you write "Freedom to Move" for the Levi's commercial or was the song chosen for the commercial?
Galleon: Levi's contacted us to make the radio and the club single, because the song is not an original song, it's a classical song composed by Handel. It's an old, old, old song and then it's something new. And it was so exciting for us because classical is not my music, and it was difficult to keep the song and to try to make something not better, but something new. So it was good for us, and now I'm dressed in Levi's, so it's good.
DJ Ron: What was it like when you heard your music on the radio for the first time?
Galleon: On radio, it was incredible. I'm twenty-eight and it was so long, I recorded a lot of songs and never worked. "So I Begin" with Galleon was the first song for me that was successful, and it was so incredible, so I made it. It's not like Daft Punk, it's a great song, I have a lot of respect for Daft Punk, but a lot of marketing and it's a big plan. And together for just three hours, we composed the song with a friend of mine and we prepared nothing and it was so incredible. So we were not expecting such success.
DJ Ron: Really?
Galleon: Yes, the first time it was ah! For the first time, I remember it was just after Outkast and it was so incredible because I waited for such a long time. Radio in France is very, very hard, because the big radio is Energy and you have just thirty songs each day, so it's very, very hard to be on the radio in France. So I was very, very happy and very proud. And people didn't know anything about Galleon and people say ah, I think the band comes from New York or from Australia. So, OK, good.
DJ Ron: Let people think what they want.
Galleon: Yes, because we wanted something mysterious by Galleon. We didn't give anything about us; we don't appear on the video and no biography. Philippe and I are not DJs so nobody knew anything about the band, so it was very mysterious for everybody.
DJ Ron: One last question.. what's the strangest question anyone's every asked you in an interview?
Galleon: This one.
DJ Ron: This one?
Galleon: This one is the strangest question. This one, this one.
Watch the video for "So I Begin" - Real Media Hi / Real Media Low
