Indolore released one of our favourite albums of the year in April 2021. After The Rain is a gorgeous record full of sun soaked positivity and light (our review here).

It’s no surprise that, with the sun in mind, Indolore accepted our invite to tell us about his love for one of the pioneers of music, Brian Wilson – or a personal story of, ‘How I did not meet Brian Wilson.’

How I did not meet Brian Wilson…

14th March 2004.

The Olympia in Paris displays “Brian Wilson presents SMILE” in glowing red letters. It’s the big night. But I don’t realise the importance of the event. My big brother is the reason I’m there that night.

He has booked the tickets well in advance, he wants me to be there, he wants me to see this. Of course I knew the Beach Boys, all their major hits, a bit of their history, but only on the surface of the water, on the wave I would say, like everyone else.

The light finally goes out. The curtain opens. And there, a group of musicians, like a bunch of mates, gather around a single microphone in the centre of the stage. A cappella, they start singing “And Your Dreams Come True”. The magic spreads instantly from floor to ceiling. I’m overwhelmed, and marked forever.

In the days, months, and years that followed, I floated, I fed on Brian’s music, on his life, I told everyone about it, friends, passers-by in the street, everyone! I never got over it.

You have to hear Brian singing Surf’s Up in 1966 to understand, or at least to grasp some of his genius.

A couple of years later, I got in contact with a musician from his great band, the Wondermints. She liked the music of my band at the time and offered to invite me to the next Brian Wilson concert in Paris…backstage!

Aaaaaah, I’m overexcited. I’m finally going to meet my idol.

This time, I know everything about him, or almost, his creativity in the studio with the Wrecking Crew from LA, his sensitivity, his competition with The Beatles, his years “lying in bed”, his redemption, his comeback. I’m ready for it.

This new concert takes place at the Grand Rex in Paris, I’m on my feet for the first song, we’re in the middle of Pet Sounds, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, “God Only Knows”; a real dream. The idea of meeting the master after the concert makes me hysterical. The evening ends with an epic “Good Vibrations”. The curtain comes down for good.

I rush to the dressing room door, proud to show my pass. The security guard, a big guy, goes to ask around…

The most unbearable suspense of my fan career…

He finally comes back with a sullen face and says to me, like a punch in the face: “Sorry man, it won’t be possible.”

All the explanations and supplications in the world were not enough to make him change his mind. That was the end of my illusions, right there, at the backstage door.

From that moment on, I swore to myself that I would never, ever let any closed door shatter my dreams.  Since then, I open them, I go through the window, or through the roofs.

“I get around” it!

I kept the pass from that famous evening and stuck it on my guitar, the one that has accompanied me since the beginning of my INDOLORE adventure. It has become my lucky charm.

Thank you Brian!

Thank you for everything!

Guillaume

INDOLORE

P.S. I recently worked with a South African artist who directed my latest video “Let the Sun come”. I never told her about Brian. She listened to the song and sent me her first ideas. And right away I recognised a Beach Boys style typography. It brought tears to my eyes.

Our thanks goes to Guillaume / INDOLORE for this truly personal recollection about Brian Wilson. Be sure to check out the new Indolore record; it really is a beautiful album. Read our review here, and listen to Let The Sun Come, below.

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