The following article was submitted via Facebook by Marie Rousseau:

I recently interviewed Mathieu, member of French band Gush, over the phone and these are his answers to my questions, transcribed and translated more or less accurately.

How do you hope to appeal to an English or American audience?

We hope to appeal with our songs, our energy on the album and on stage. It’s us: we’re going to be liked or not and we’re very conscient of that but it doesn’t scare us. We believe in our music and we hope we’ll make it eventually.

Were you any good at English at school?

Yan’s mom is English, so he’s really good, he got 19/20 at the French baccalaureate at the oral. I did all right; Xavier and Vincent were both OK.

What are your hobbies outside of music?

We have girlfriends. Actually don’t say that, that’s not an occupation, let’s start again. We do sports; we like to go the movies. We like simple things; we don’t have a hidden passion. We really like good food: we’re good Frenchmen. We also really like to cook. Music takes a lot of time, and it’s a passion, so the rest is kind of secondary.

What did you want to be when you were little?

We all wanted to do music, it happened for us at different ages but at some point we all had that idea that we would make music and eventually make it our living. It’s not very original and you won’t want to put this explanation in your article but basically that’s it.

What’s your favorite English phrase?

“All right,” it’s a good positive phrase.

What’s your favorite American dish?

Cheeseburgers, we’re real fans! Not the fast food ones but the good homemade ones. Often in restaurant/dinner, if we feel there’s a good potential we let ourselves be tempted.

… favorite American artist

I would have to say Beck, Beck Hansen. He’s a guy I love and it’s pretty unanimous within the group. The singer of Eels is also great; we love his album Hombre Lobo. We also love James Murphy, the front man of LCD Soundsystem.

England vs. USA?

We are right in the middle, someone once told us that and we found it really funny. We like lots of American and English things, although we probably have slightly more American tendencies. For our taste it’s 50/50 and it might be more English but we’ve never really kept score, it’s hard because there are four of us.

Have you been to the US?

Not all of us, Xavier went to play with a French artist in Austin and then he did a road trip on the West Coast, from Seattle to San Fran. Vincent and I have never been but I think Yann has been to New York. We don’t know the U.S all that well; it’s a country that remains to be explored.

What’s your favorite place in the world?

I like where I live [in the Parisian suburbs], but I really like the Basque Country. I don’t know it that well but every time I go I’m spellbound by nature, the mountains, the beach. I love the food. It’s a beautiful region.

If your music were a fruit, what would it be?

A banana I think.

Why?

I can’t say why, it’s just a banana. You can interpret it which ever way you want, there are lots of different ways, but it’s up to our listeners to interpret.

Tell us something unexpected about you…

Euuuu (French equivalent of “Ummm”)… We play Scrabble during our tours, in the van! It’s not really rock and roll but we assume it completely. It’s a fun game and a good work out for the brain. But please don’t put that as the title of your article or else I’ll find you and bad things will happen to you…