Robbing Millions (Lucien Fraipont)

Photography by Judith Williquet, Yuki Kikuchi and Shags Chamberlain. Interview by Heather Hawke.

Robbing Millions, the psych-tinged project of Brussels based and classically trained jazz guitarist Lucien Fraipont, has released his second album Holidays Inside via Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser’s homegrown label MGMT Records (which has previously only seen releases from the duo’s own material). 

Lucien formed Robbing Millions Back in 2013 after having grown up on a diet of jazz, which he studied at conservatories in Brussels and The Hague. Through his creative method and cultural devouring, he’s earned acclaim for his stimulating, off-kilter approach to making music.

Following Robbing Millions’ two EPs, and a 2016 eponymous debut album, the group’s members went their own way and Lucien traveled alone to Los Angeles where he found a collaborator in Shags Chamberlain. The two worked on Holidays Inside for eighteen months during various sessions in both Brussels and Los Angeles. The result being a journey of tunes that hold surprising influences like Brazilian MPB, Wally Badarou, Italian progressive rock effluves, and tracks that takes cues from video game music.

The album’s first single, “Camera,” which features Halo Maud’s backing vocals, was actually a last-minute addition he wrote for the new album. He says that he was probably inspired by the hardware store he used to pass by everyday near his house, “the lame veranda commercials every Belgian kid has seen too many times on TV, the struggle and obsession of lots of people around me trying to buy a place of their own and the talks about the renovations that goes with it.” He says that the song is also about the urge people feel to document every single event in our lives by filming it nowadays. Camera also means “room” in Latin, which he says resonates nicely with the home recording and mixing methods used during making of the record, at his place in Brussels and at Shags Los Angeles place.

The second single off the album, “Tiny Tino,” Lucien says is an ode to friendship and to the East LA neighborhood where he stayed for several months working on Holidays Inside. The song is also about trying to be someone you’re not. He says that the little, “scarier than intended”, puppet we see wandering around the neighborhood in the video is trying to act cooler and tougher than it is. Adding, “Although the song has a weird 9/4 time signature, I think of it as a naive playful song with a whistle friendly melody. You could see it as Robbing Millions’ take on salsa music.”

When asked about why Holidays Inside made for such a great fit for the new imprint Andrew VanWyngarden states, “Lucien has achieved that rare balance of experimentation, technical proficiency, and extreme catchiness that makes for a truly exciting and surprising pop music listening experience. There’s lots of unexpected melodies, but not in a contrived way. Those qualities made Robbing Millions seem like an obvious fit for an MGMT Records release.” 

Holidays Inside embraces the passion of creation through pure exploration, it offers welcoming surprises around every twist and turn in a way that can’t help but bring a smile to your face.

Robbing Millions’ web/socials: Bandcamp – Soundcloud – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter 

Hi! So, things are pretty unsettling in the world right now due to the pandemic, civil rights issues, government upheaval, climate change, the list goes on… As a musician / creative, how has this last year been? How are you feeling? How have you been coping with everything?

It has definitely been a strange year. I had already been waiting for this record’s release date for quite some time when the pandemic hit, and it added another couple of months of wait which wasn’t easy. For a few months I was delighted to have long, empty period to practice, write and record music at home, I had a very productive first lockdown. But I realized I needed the unexpected social interactions more than I thought.

I feel like the music industry has shifted even more so during the pandemic. How has it felt as an artist? Has it been freeing? Is it scary trying to question how to approach music making and then how to or if you want to creatively release it to the public?

I don’t think much about the state of the music industry when I’m composing for better or worse, but I feel more and more that I need to be able to cover a lot of ground and be able to provide not only the music but all of the other assets as well that come with a release. Artwork, videos, pictures, etc. It’s fun and sometimes a bit overwhelming too. 

Releasing music these last months has been all about social media and streaming platforms and I’ve been starting to miss the live aspect lately which I see as the climax, the reward in the whole process.

I want to start from the beginning. What was your childhood like growing up in Belgium/EU? Did creativity/music/art play a big part of your childhood?

I grew up in the center of Brussels with my sister and parents and I feel blessed to have had such a blissful childhood. I was very soon exposed to lots of music through my parents’ record collection with my best childhood friend with whom I shared a big appetite for new music.

Describe your path to becoming involved with music. I read you’re a classically trained jazz guitarist, when did you first become aware that music was going to be a part of your life? What music did you grow up to? When was the first time you felt super inspired by music?

My dad had a few guitars laying around the house and I started taking classical guitar lessons when I was 8. I got into Nirvana a bit later and found out about bands like Supergrass, Beck, Radiohead soon after that. So, what I was learning at the local music school and what I was listening to in my room was pretty different. Those worlds eventually joined when I started playing with friends around 14 in a band for which I was composing and recording on a digital 8 track Boss recorder. I got into jazz around 16 through a guitar teacher who was teaching us tunes by Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Stevie Ray Vaughan etc.

When you were old enough to start seeking out music, where did you regularly find yourself (a certain record store / internet site / getting recommendations from a certain friend)? Who were some of the artists you first found and then were always on the lookout for?

I was going to the local library called Mediatheque every week in Brussels. You could rent a maximum of 10 records per week, so I did that almost every week for a few years. I was reading a French magazine called “Rock & Folk” a lot which had a discothèque idéale section that I was religiously reading. We would exchange tips, burned cd’s and minidiscs with friends too.

Let’s talk about your newly released sophomore album, Holidays Inside. What was your songwriting/creative process like for this? Where were you at physically, mentally when you wrote the lyrics/music for this?

I was writing/recording pretty much constantly as soon as I had a minute and had accumulated about 60 demos over a year and a half period of time. My mindset was pretty different from one song to another. The one constant was that all the songs were mainly recorded at my place, so I guess that this domestic aspect has had a strong influence on the record.

I read that for this album the different members of the band each went their own way, and you went alone to LA where you found an ideal collaborator in Shags Chamberlain. What mindset did you have going into the creating / recording process? Did you feel any sort of limitations when writing or recording this album?

I still constantly feel some musical and technical limitations and even more when I was recording Holidays Inside at the time since I think I got to know my recording equipment a bit better over the years. After the previous record, the band members went their own ways, but it didn’t essentially change my method since I had been bringing songs pretty much finished to the band since day one. It changed the live energy a lot though.

How long was the writing/recording process of Holidays Inside? Did you have any parts of the tracks off of the album(whether it be lyrics, beats, harmonies) around the time of your 2016 debut LP or before?

I think I had voice memos with musical ideas and a song titles list with some of Holidays Inside core ideas around the 2016 LP. The main writing/recording process happened over a year and a half period after the release of that LP. After that it was mostly refining that rough material I had accumulated.

Has your writing process changed since the last time you worked on music? Is that process something that’s shifted for you over time?

I’m working on music pretty much every day, at least I try to, so the changes happen progressively. I’m more focused on trying to finish songs than writing new ones though these days. I have been working for some other projects I’m involved in as well, which always brings fresh ideas when I’m back working on Robbing Millions stuff. 

I try to vary my writing process by writing of songs with different instruments although it’s centered around guitar most of the time. I like to accumulate a bunch of rough ideas over a period of time and then take a step back to relisten to all of them, pick the ones I prefer and focus on those. 

Sometimes I get a new piece of gear or discover a new plug in that brings new sonic perspectives. 

I bought this midi guitar pickup a year ago that allows me to pilot any synth or midi implemented instrument with my guitar, so I spend less time trying to learn a keyboard part for ages before recording it for example. It’s a bit lame but it allows me to get results more quickly. I used to try to play all the drums parts on a real drum, but I have been working mainly with drums samples that I program for a while now.

Do you find it helpful to be intentional when it comes to writing the lyrics / music? Like “I’m going to sit down and work on a song.” Or is it more ephemeral, like you’ve been kicking something around in your head for days, weeks, months, and then suddenly it comes spilling out? Or is it a mixture of both?

It’s usually pretty intentional yes, I kinda decide “ok I’m gonna write a new song today,” start to improvise, record myself and see what comes out of it. I love to be able to relisten what I’ve recorded the day before, having completely forgot what I’d done. There are periods when nothing comes out though and I try not to be too hard on myself when that happens and focus on something else instead.

Are there any interesting stories about the writing/recordings of the lyrics/music? Which songs were the easiest / most difficult to create? What are two or three songs you are most proud of on this record? Why?

I’m particularly proud of the instrumentals “Dynamic Plants” and “Mont De Piété.” Lyrics usually come last and sometimes it takes me weeks to find one last sentence that completes the song. To have Shags (Chamberlain)’s approval on some of the doubts I had was quite important in the process, like keeping some of the lyrics in French, sticking with the double album idea or putting the track list together. “Have Tea” is the oldest song on the record and had almost made it on the previous record. “Camera” is the last one I wrote, kinda last minute before starting to work with Shags.

When and how did the album title Holidays Inside come about in the creation process? What is the significance of the title?

The album title reflects the way I felt working on this record, both at home and at Shags’ in LA, inside the walls of our respective home studios. We were literally working on Shags’ bed at his place. I’ve also spent a lot of time by myself during the process and the title reflects that solitary, in my own head aspect too. I had no idea that Holidays Inside would be extended by a global pandemic though and all I’m dreaming of right now is some real holidays outside.

Holidays Inside is the first outside release for MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser’s label. How did this collaboration come about with them? Was this the first time you all worked on a musical project together?

Shags has known Andrew for some time, and I understood they were regularly exchanging record stores tips while on tour. At some point, Andrew texted Shags to ask if he had been working on new music. So, Shags sent him this weird Belgian record that he had just finished, and it seems like Andrew digged it. I had never met the MGMT guys before that so that was a great surprise.

 How much energy do you put into the visuals (music videos, press images, artwork) that accompany your music? Do you feel like the art that accompanies one’s music is more / less important than it used to be? How do you feel like social media impacts the intention behind all of this?

I put a lot of energy into the visuals, especially lately cause I’ve been doing a lot of the visual work myself, like the album cover, some of the videos, merch. I feel like social media highlights the importance of the visuals even more. Sometimes a picture of my face gets more likes than a song.

Does traveling influence you as an artist? Are you inspired by the places you go, or do you think your work would sound about the same no matter where you created it?

I think that the mood I’m in and the environment I evolve in, the people I talk to, the gear I have at my disposal have a big impact on what ends up on the recordings.

Have you had any mentors along the way?

My different guitar teachers from when I was a kid to the jazz conservatory had a huge influence on me that’s for sure. My oldest buddy Gaspard had a significant impact on my musical tastes and discoveries as well as some of my band mates along the way. Playing in the band Aksak Maboul for the past years has been very inspirational too. I also learned a lot and discovered so much new music working with Shags on Holidays Inside.