Text: Gigs In Paris
There aren’t many bands who can sell out L’Olympia in the space of two days but one suspects Beirut could do it a few times over. Zach Condon the heart and head of the band first travelled to Paris as a teenager with his older brother after growing tired and frustrated of New Mexico. Whilst in Paris, Zach encountered Balkan brass bands, Serge Gainsbourg, and started composing a number of pieces which would later become his debut record the Gulag Orkestar.
The frontman shares a great affinity with this city and the city with him.
Ahead of the Beirut’s show at L’Olympia in September and the release of the bands’ third album The Rip Tide, Gigs in Paris met up with the man himself. Here, in the first segment of our three-part interview, Zach talks of his early encounters with music, composing in his bedroom, leaving for Paris, and finding Beirut’s sound.