The story



Little Nemo was born in 1983 with the musical encounter between Olivier Champeau and Vincent Gallo near Paris. The name comes from the character created by Windsor McCay in the early 20th century, a little boy dreaming of fabulous adventures while he sleeps. Their music, mixing keyboards (mainly Olivier), beatbox and guitar / bass provided by Vincent was then influenced by the new wave of Cure and Joy Division. and also French Taxi Girl and Marquis de Sade, with more distant references Pink Floyd's 60s era (Syd Barrett). Their music, and their choice of English for most of their lyrics, gets Little Nemo to a specific place on the French indie scene, along with other bands. To help media coverage with this undefined synthesis of melancholic new wave  and catchy melodies, a journalist friend of theirs calls it TOUCHING POP, which was soon incorporated in the rock media (Best, Rock'n Folk, Les Inrockuptibles).

 

Little Nemo released a first self-produced tape, "The Cold Tape" and a first album, also released on tape : "Past and Future" (1986).

 

The duo became a trio in 1987 with the arrival of bassist Nicolas Dufaure. Together they published their first EP "Private Life", soon followed by a first album "Sounds in the Attic" (1989), which brought them recognition in France and abroad. The UK New Musical Express magazine chose the single "New Flood" as Single of the Week, a distinction rarely awarded to French bands.

 

Several mini-LP were released between 1989 and 1990, and a joint project from the Touching Pop "tribe" (Little Nemo / Asylum Party / Mary Goes Round), gathered under the name TeePee. The title "Tribes Are Meeting" will be played by the 3 bands together on stage during a memorable concert at the Elysée Montmartre in 1989.

 

The Turquoise Fields Tour in 1990, for the release of the album Turquoise Fields, enlarges Little Nemo line-up on stage, for the first time with a drummer (Yves), a second guitarist (George) and a new keyboardist (Ronan). The tour goes through several French towns and Switzerland, and the Bataclan in Paris. The group is also involved in one of the first "Black Sessions" by Bernard Lenoir on French national radio France Inter, with 6 live tracks.

 

In 1991 a new album "The World Is Flat", written by the new line-up, is released under license by Single KO, a division of Virgin Music. The group will perform in various venues and festivals, including Les Eurockéennes in Belfort (1992), playing between the Los Angeles based Fishbone and French indie icon Les Négresses Vertes.

 

The group then faced some events : the end of the label Single KO and solo carreer plans : Olivier went to Belgium and began other projects in the electro-pop scene as Doctorolive, and Vincent started a solo project, left as an unreleased album, but which got him the possibility to appear on stage. In 1999, Vincent, Yves and Ronan create a new band - Aqualites - with Christophe, their sound engineer on stage during the Turquoise Tour. Aqualites will produce two albums. A few years later,  Nicolas, LN's former bassist, comes back in Paris and starts to play with Aqualites. The rebanding of Little Nemo is not yet for now but the musicians play again together !

 

It was in 2007 that the four guys plan to play together and the project becomes a reality the following year, encouraged by several fans. Olivier is not part of it but associates with this remote rebanding. The label Infrastition releases LN integral opus in two double CDs, including a remarkable version of "Past and Future", for the first time on CD. This reissue comes with several concerts, including one at the Locomotive in Paris, to celebrate the reuniting, with Babel 17 and also Complot Bronswick. Other concerts are held in Europe in Barcelona (Spain), Rome, Vicenza (Italy), Athens (Greece), Leipzig  (Germany)...

 

The group then starts to work on a new album, released in 2013, almost 20 years after The World is Flat. "Out of the Blue" is recorded and mixed once again at Studio Val d'Orge by Jean Taxis, who had previously recorded several LN tracks or albums.

 

The group performs regularly on stage, such as the W-Fest in Belgium in 2019 and Spain in 2020,  and has an international audience, in Europe, the US, Russia, South America and Japan.

 

The band will release a new album in 2023. A few tracks are already available from all streaming platforms as two 3-track EPs : "Tangentes Sessions" and "Hérouville Sessions", which was recorded in the mythical Château d'Hérouville, Elton John's "Honky Chateau", now run by a new team including Jean Taxis. The last EP will include 3 brand new tracks and a physical release will include all 3 EPs. More to come, as the story keeps going !..