Announcement

NEW EP "SIX USES FOR A HEART" available exclusively on Big Cartel ! Check it out here :
http://francedegriessen.bigcartel.com

My blog

My new EP "Six Uses For a Heart" available !! Check it out ;)

Sunday, Aug 23, 2009 10:01PM / Press Release

Hello everyone !

Sorry I haven't written for a while...I was touring,working in the studio and on various music collaborations & projects...and now I have my brand new EP "Six Uses For a Heart" that's out , with pretty pictures by my friend Pierre Villard!!

You can buy it here (and there are other goodies such as posters, buttons, my former band Teen Machine's album "Billy" ... and very soon some guitar songbooks) :

http://francedegriessen.bigcartel.com

From now on, I'll be posting a lot more often...And thanks everyone for your comments & kinds words about my music !
Love & Rock'n'Roll
France

Here are some press quotes about my music...BIG THanks to everyone for their supp

"She surely has a style all her own although there are shades of Marianne Faithful, Courtney Love and ... Johnny Thunders lurking in her shadows. I think if Little Red Riding Hood was a sweet punk rock 'n roller with a basket full of charming songs she'd be called France de Griessen." Elliott Murphy

"France de Griessen returns the female rock voice to the angry, aggressive and indignant stance of militant feminism and hardcore punk realness. She's a necessary antidote to the current plague of inert and passive pop princesses." Bruce LaBruce - Film-maker, Writer, and Photographer -

"By far the best new music I have heard this year is Paris resident France de Griessen’s ‘Six Uses For A Heart’ ep/cd. Since coming my way, I have regularly featured the songs on the show. She sings in both French and English and is backed by a stellar band. ‘Six Uses For A Heart’ is a worthy addition to anyone’s music collection. Seek her/it out! " Radio Longblackcoat (UK)

"If the world does indeed need any more female singer songwriters then we probably need some who actually rock, rather than those who just falter.France de Griessen falls into the first category. " Kathleen Opium /Alice Magazine (UK)

" Hypnotic lullabies which you will find yourself falling in love with....A stunning mixture of genres...pure magic and sparkle" Queens Zine (UK)

« A blonde fragile singing babe backed by gritty guitars - I'm all for it. France de Griessen is such a gal. » Guuzbourg/Filles Sourires (Holland)

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France de Griessen in concert on thursday october 9th 2008 @ the Klub (Paris)

Sunday, Oct 5, 2008 4:06AM / Information

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wonderful documentary "DIY or DIE"

Tuesday, Aug 5, 2008 3:29PM / Standard Entry

"DIY or DIE - How to survive as an independant artist" is a wonderful documentary about independant artists and how they live, and , well, yes, survive, as it's sometimes a bit of a challenge.... It's a series of interviews with people who have great, great things to say...
This film is a celebration of the artistic underdog! FEATURING interviews from:: Lydia Lunch, Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), J Mascis (Dinosaur jr.), Jim Rose (Jim Rose Sideshow), J.G.Thirlwell (Foetus), Mike Watt (Minutemen), Richard Kern (Filmmaker), Ron Asheton (Stooges), Madigan Shive (Bonfire Madigan), Dave Brockie (Gwar) and more. DIY or DIE was directed by Michael W. Dean and edited by Miles Montalbano.

You won't regret buying this dvd if it's a topic you're interested in.
Here's the website, if you want to read more about this film :
http://www.kittyfeet.com/diy.htm

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Collages by my friend Vérole

Sunday, Aug 3, 2008 2:00AM / Standard Entry

These collages are made by my friend Vérole. He'a a punk singer & musician. His former bands were "Les Cadavres" and "Infraktion" and he currently plays in synth-punk band Euroshima. Check these bands out, they kick ass !!!

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Laura K : She makes such beautiful clothes !

Friday, Aug 1, 2008 5:50AM / News

to check out Laura K's clothes click here ! Laura did the beautiful mini-dress I wore for my concert at La Cigale in October 16th 2007

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My Music

France de Griessen

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France de Griessen is a half Dutch, half Belgian singer, musician and artist....
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France de Griessen is a half Dutch, half Belgian singer, musician and artist.
She has grown up and lived in Brussels, Paris, New-York and New-Mexico.
She now reside in Paris, but has never parted from her multicultural influences which have led her to sing in both French and English.

With influences ranging from Hole, L7, Nirvana, The Velvet Underground, Johnny Thunders to Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen or Marie Laforêt, France has - with the collaboration of Shanka ( No One Is Innocent, Destruction Incorporated)- developed her own sound : a strong and poetic combination of folk-rock, grunge, punk and country music.
She sings in both French and English, as she feels each of these langages allows her to express her emotions and play with rythms and energy in their own specific ways.

« I’ve found out about country music it when I was living in the USA, and I was struck by its ability to convey emotions without any kind of artifice : the voice, a guitar, and that’s it. I always keep this in mind when creating music : I believe a good song should work with only voice and guitar. Everything else is a bonus.
I like punk and grunge because they come from the same source : sixties music. And sixties music very often had great melodies.
Then punk and grunge musicians re-interpreted it with different sounds, saturated guitars, different speeds and a different social context.
Being a rebel by nature, I was of course drawn to it ! »

Currently recording her first solo album, France de Griessen has previously released in collaboration with Michaël Gadrat under the band name « Teen Machine » a concept-album called « Billy » (2005), which was inspired by the life and death of American outlaw Billy The Kid.

« I loved that story because it’s really about a man’s quest for freedom and finding one’s identity and place in a harsh world.
The fact that he was a boy and that I’m a girl did not matter to me at all, I feel powerful stories can be told regardless of gender. So I performed as a female version of Billy. »

With this album, France won several scholarships and awards : Fondation Belge de la Vocation award-winner in 2003, she was also supported by Défi-Jeune (Direction Départementale de la Jeunesse et des Sports, France), Music Manager Forum (France) and the Division Culturelle de la SACEM (France).
« Billy », got indie radio airplay in France, Canada and USA, the song « J’ai Tué » was even amongst the heaviest rotations for two month on Radio Néo, and one of the top requested songs.
Teen Machine was also invited to perform two songs from « Billy » on the show « Studio 5 » on Channel 5 of French television.

In summer 2006, she started working on a 4 tracks mini-album with Shanka.
A few weeks later, it evolved into a full-lenght solo album project.
American singer and musician Elliott Murphy and his son Gaspard Murphy, drummers Pierre Belleville (Lofofora, Destruction Incorporated) and Yann Coste (No One Is Innocent, Marcel Bellucci Quartett, Doppler), bassist Bastien Burger ( Blackstrobe, Destruction Incorporated), punk singer/author Vérole, and violonist Agnès Davan, theremin and organ player Olivier Daviaud later joined the project.
When Kemar, No One Is Innocent frontman & singer heard the songs, he offered France to open for the band’s Parisian concert at La Cigale in october 2007.

A modern gipsy, dreamer, story-teller, poet and independant woman, France de Griessen has created a world of her own, in which romance walks hand in hand with both rage and sweetness, provocation meets poetry, and melancholy is cathartic.

Her upcoming solo album « Ballerina », is inspired by her own life as well as those of female icons such as Marylin Monroe or Calamity Jane.

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Occupation: Singer , Musician
Gender: Female
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