WEEND’Ô
Meet Laetitia Chaudemanche, frontwoman of the French band that’s bringing their savoir faire to Britain.
Some serious alchemy is transmuting the career of France’s Weend’ô, whose moody melodic metal has caught the imagination of several leading prog lights.
It was Arena’s Clive Nolan who first noticed their heady rock textures and riffage, which chanteuse/keyboard player Laetitia Chaudemanche describes as “a mix between Pink Floyd and Evanescence”, which also tips its chapeau at Tool. He invited them to play an intimate gig in France promoting his Alchemy show in 2013. This led to them accompanying Arena on their 20th anniversary tour two years later.
Their luck continued when Alan Reed espied them on the tour, asking Chaudemanche to sing backing vocals on his recent solo album, Honey On The Razor’s Edge. Weend’ô returned the compliment last year and invited the former Pallas singer to join them on stage at top French rock venue, Chez Paulette.
Weend’ô’s roots go back to 2002 when the singer met her guitarist husband Térence Nguyen Van. The first line-up of Weend’ô, named after their son Ewen and the Japanese word for Art, appeared in 2007. The current line-up now includes bassist Maxime Rami and drummer Nathanaël Buis.
Says Chaudemanche,“I couldn’t do anything without Térence. Of course, it’s not always calm; we both have strong personalities because we’re both the main composers and leaders of the band. But we follow the same goal and same path in our life: music. So, all our efforts in life are for Weend’ô – to spread our music far and wide for everyone to enjoy.”
Their first studio album, You Need To Know Yourself, came out in 2012 and was followed by the live DVD, Weend’ô Fairytalacoustic in 2014. Their second, Time Of Awakening, is a wake-up call to humanity to keep faith and hope. Mastered by TesseracT’s Acle Kahney and released as a limited edition last autumn, it will be reissued via Sonicbond at the end of January. It’s followed by a stripped-down support slot with Alan Reed & The Daughters Of Expediency. Expect to hear more from Weend’ô this year! AR
“We follow the same goal and same path in our life: music.”