Dionysos (French band)


Dionysos is a French pop band formed in 1993 in Valence, Drôme; they formed at their lycée. They perform songs in both French and English, and have released six studio albums. They are well known in France for their surrealism and eccentricity.
Their first album, Happening Songs, was self-produced and with entirely English lyrics. With their second album The sun is blue like eggs in Winter Babet became a member. In 1999, they signed to a major label and released Haïku which brought the band in to the public eye, mainly thanks to the success of the single "Coccinelle".
The name of the band comes from the ancient Greek god Dionysus, which in French is Dionysos.

Influences

There are strong non-musical influences from Tim Burton and Roald Dahl. A lot of the songs are surreal and many feature nonsense lyrics. The albums Monsters in Love and La mécanique du cœur are set in a surreal world full of whimsical monsters and other fantastic characters which Mathias Malzieu has used as a setting for two original comic books. Joann Sfar illustrated the cover art for the comic books as well as the two albums. Sfar's eccentric and humorous brand of fantasy fiction as displayed in the Donjon comic books lends itself easily to the band's fantasy-humor albums.
The lead singer, Mathias Malzieu, is also working on other projects such as the career of Olivia Ruiz, and his other hobby : writing. His second book is based on the same world as the album Monsters in Love, his third book on the same world as the album La mécanique du cœur. In the same way, there will be connections between his fourth book, Métamorphose en bord du ciel, but not to the same extent as La mécanique du cœur.

Members

Mathias is the main songwriter and frontman. He has also written three books – 38 mini westerns, Maintenant qu'il fait tout le temps nuit sur toi et La mécanique du cœur – with inspiration drawing between the albums and the novels.
The Miky Biky co-produced La mécanique du cœur with Mathias.
Babet has begun a solo career and released two albums: Drôle d'oiseau and Piano Monstre.
Stéphan worked as the band's backliner on tour, but joined officially during the recording of Monsters in Love.

Discography

Studio albums