#loupblaster

MM: What was the learning curve like in becoming an independent artist? Do you work best by setting a schedule for yourself or does every day look different for you?

LP: When I was 19, after studying in France, I went to Norway for a year for an animation course (Volda University College). The place was open days and nights, 7 days a week.

I learned to speak English, and I learned to work on my own, to push myself and be confident. After that, it took me three years to understand myself, what do I want, how can I do it, and how can I keep my freedom.

So I tried to make the cheapest living situation as possible, going often to my parents in Calais. I would prefer live modestly but do as many personal projects as possible, and travel. Things that reveal my personality and shape my art without having to think about any money or budget. From time to time I would work, and jobs started to come on the way.

Then, I moved to London in June 2015, which is very expensive compared to my lifestyle in France. But it is another chapter. How do I get paid for what I do? I'm really stubborn, I always work on 4, or 5 important projects at the same time. I can never be bored.

So I do set up schedules, and it is intricate, but every time I finish something I'm already on another one. I do a loooot of to do lists.

MM: Was music always a part of your animation process? How did you come about starting to make music on your own time?

LP: So, music has surrounded me since I was born. I've studied it a bit but it was too demanding to think about going that way. Anyway, as a teenager, many of my friends had bands and I met Hibou Blaster and Numérobé, who are both from Calais as well.

In my animation studies I could not think about being apart of it, my imagination was just growing wide with sound. I also started to make my own tunes, but I never have time to finalize and release things. That's a frustration now, but I'm patient, I know things come in time.

In 2012 I started BBBLASTER VJing project because I really wanted to show animation to another audience. I wanted to tell people there is more than just TV shows and giant super productions, but that an independent animation scene also exists. Also, I wanted to say to the animation world that there are many other ways to show animation than at animation festivals where only other animation people go.

And hopefully get used to the stage, to see it from another angle. I'm still learning.

MM: What do you feel very passionately about at the moment? 

LP: I'm always concerned about Calais and the disaster situation for refugees in all Europe at the moment. It's my obsession. But also because I'm passionate about people's cultures. Since I met the migrants of my own town I've discovered many cultures I knew nothing about : Sudanese, Pakistani, Afghan, Syrian, Ethiopian, ...

And that fascinates me. If people knew more about them they would not react the same, people are narrow minded and locked up in lives of consumerism.

So in the future I really hope to travel, collect sounds, images... and come back to my home town and make it the cultural crossroad that it should be.

All my inspiration comes from my experience, instinct and senses.

We just need more fun and light in our lives.