Credit: Found On Internet

In the 1680s, it was the Huguenots. In the 1780s-90s, it was the aristos and Catholics. Now Underground Railroad have also escaped persecution in France to find refuge in East London. Their crime? To rock!

Fantastic live, Underground Railroad is a tight, dynamic, noisy threesome in love with Sonic Youth and out of step with prevailing trends at home. But was it really necessary to up sticks and head here? Raphael Mura (lead vocals/ drums) Marion Andrau (guitar/vocals) and JB Ganivet (bass/vocals) say ‘yes!’ as they sip coffees in Shoreditch’s Bar Music Hall. “England is more responsive to what we do,” explains Raphael. “Rock ‘n’ roll is coming from the U.S. and England. Since the Beatles and Chuck Berry, there’s been an exchange between the U.K. and U.S. Since I was a kid I was listening to U.K. bands, to U.S. bands. It was just natural for me to start playing the guitar and singing in English. So we decided to move to an Anglo-Saxon country because all our songs were in English. We were really into American rock, English rock and we decided it’s not going to happen for us in France because it is very narrow-minded; people don’t really accept you if you sing in English and if you are French you are going to be underground and poor for the rest of your life!”

As French radio is governed by a notorious law insisting that at least 40% of the playlist is in French, this seems bullish. Marion agrees, “Why are French radio stations going to take French bands singing in English if they can have all the U.K. and American bands on the radio?” And according to Marion, it seems very few people care for rock in France anyway; “Chanson Francais is big. It is really big,” she says as her eyes widen in disbelief and horror.  “It is bigger than rock is here. There is no industry for rock except for rock chanson. You need to sing in French.” So why not just since in French and be done with it? “Because we hate it,” concludes Raphael.