En Français – Indie pop band Sweet Crude discusses its heritage

Sweet Crude will perform at The Spanish Moon Saturday, Feb. 8, with Benjamin Booker, Rootbeer & Mermentau and White Heat. Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8 at the door.

It’s impossible to live in Louisiana and not hear the state’s famous sounds. For decades upon decades, blues, jazz, Cajun and zydeco music have dominated the cultural terrain in South Louisiana.

Living in New Orleans, Sam Craft, one of seven members of the Louisiana-French indie pop band Sweet Crude, grew up in a jazz household. His father, a trombone player, got the entire family involved in jazz quickly.

“That’s New Orleans culture for you,” Craft says, laughing.

However, it wasn’t until last March that Craft, songwriting partner Alexis Marceaux and some of his former band mates batted around the idea of singing their songs in French.

“It’s something that’s in the lineage of several members of the band,” Craft says. “We know that this generation is pretty critical when it comes to continuing the tradition of speaking in French and using it in everyday language. For us, it’s so important to the culture of Louisiana. We are in a great position to be able to keep it current and give it a modern spin and make it relevant to a generation that has generally been alienated.”

Like Lost Bayou Ramblers and Feufollet, Sweet Crude is positioning itself in a genre that winks at the tradition of Louisiana music while throwing it into a new musical territory.

For example, the band’s take on the traditional Balfa Brothers tune “Parlez-Nous ŕ Boire” is more percussive and a bit faster than the laid-back drawl of the original Cajun song. The song was featured in two episodes of the latest season of American Horror Story.

It’s a convincing cover for a band that insists French is not its first musical language.

“We’re interested in making music that utilizes the language,” he says. “We’re trying to be realistic about it and have it a part of the music that we would want to play on a regular basis. It’s something that’s close to our hearts and our heritage.”

Listen to Sweet Crude’s Super Vilaine EP here.