Boombass Talks Epic New Cassius Club Tour

Hubert Blanc-Francardbetter known to the world as Boombass – co-founder of legendary French house duo Cassiushas had quite the year. Following a series of collaborative DJ sets under his own name alongside fellow DJs Étienne de Crécy and DJ Falcon earlier this year, he was left feeling inspired to revisit the Cassius story.

Formed in 1988 and originally conceived as a record label before evolving into a musical duo, Cassius came to a sad, sudden conclusion following the untimely death of its co-founder Philippe Cerboneschi in June 2019. His passing came just two days prior to the release of what would come to be their final album, ‘Dreems’ and Boombass subsequently announced that the project would be retired.

After half a decade away, something happened during those collaborative sets with de Crécy and Falcon that changed his mind, however. The crowd’s rapturous response to drops of Cassius hits ‘Feeling For You’, ‘I’m a Woman’ and ‘I <3 U SO’ convinced him that there may yet be another chapter to the story.

September saw Boombass performing as Cassius solo for the very first time as part of the closing celebrations for the Paralympics. In October, he oversaw the release of Best of 1996-2019a 20-track compilation of the duo’s finest moments. And now, with the Cassius revival in full swing, Blanc-Francard is turning his attention to a new project: the Cassius Club Tour, which will see him touring around Europe and North America throughout the first half of 2025.

Paul Weedon caught up with Boombass to discuss his plans.

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It was great to see Cassius return at the Paralympics closing ceremony earlier this year. What did it mean for you to be able to honour Philippe’s legacy in that way?

It was an honour to be part of French music history and French electronic music history, and to be able to play at the Stade de France. For the first thing I had to do as Cassius alone, it was totally crazy… It was the best way to celebrate coming back and to say hi to Philippe. It was really a special moment I will never forget, you know? So I’m very proud and very lucky to have had the idea back in April, not in September. The most crazy thing was two weeks after the Olympic games, the documentary about DJ Mehdi was released. We’re part of that story and I’m interviewed a lot. I didn’t remember because I did that two years ago, and it was an incredible success in France. And I had the second return of the Cassius story two weeks later, with people in the street coming up to me and saying, “Thank you for what you did with Mehdi,” taking me in their arms. It was incredible coming back.

Did you feel that Philippe was kind up there with you when you were performing that set?

Yeah, it’s really strange, because for a few years after he passed, I was feeling really alone… I mean, we were so close that he is still here, in a way, through the memories and all the things we did together, but he’s still here in future things too. I don’t know how to explain it, but we spent so much time together that now I can think a bit like we were thinking when we were together – especially for the aesthetic things and the philosophy we had. I don’t know yet if I will do new music under the Cassius name. I wanted to do that, but it’s a bit strange without him. I found a lot of old tracks and a lot of old music, and when I’m listening to it I say, “Okay, there are some things I can do alone,” but the Cassius identity musically is, I think, very difficult. I may do more collaborations as Cassius with other artists and be part of the history, rather than doing new Cassius music. For me, it’s still a bit abstract. I will miss him musically, for the sound and his craziness, so I have to build a new universe for the music, but for DJing and for celebrating and for partying, I can do that alone because we are still together when I’m in the DJ booth. It’s really fun.

Does it surprise you that these songs that you created together have continued to endure in the way that they have? You can drop ‘Cassius 1999’ or ‘Feeling For You’ and the crowd just goes crazy.

Especially when the people in front of me aren’t all people of my age who grew up with our music, but it’s a new generation. It’s what I discovered when I played with Étienne de Crécy and DJ Falcon. We did a tour together and I played the Cassius tracks. Afterwards, when I was speaking to people, I said, “Wow, it’s mad.” It’s one of the best things you can have as an artist, when you realise that you can speak to a few generations. It’s really enlightening in a way. It’s great when you can share it for so long. I realise that we started 25 years ago and 25 years later people are still jumping around. It’s really fantastic – especially alone now – to see that what we did is still here. It’s great.

I’m thinking back to watching Alan Braxe live. When he drops ‘Music Sounds Better With You’, it’s like a secret weapon. Well, it’s not a secret, really. You just know that people are going to go crazy.

Especially when you’re the incarnation of the songs – like Alan did that song with Thomas [Bangalter] as Stardust. If people see me playing ‘Cassius 1999’, they know that I was part of the song, I think it brings something to it. For me, if I see one of my heroes playing the guitar, I feel the same way… So especially in the digital world, we see a lot of things, but not for real. When they see you for real, playing the music that you did, it’s a special communication between people. And when we were young, we were not thinking about that, you know? We had no idea that at my age, we would play ‘Cassius 1999’ and see kids jumping around.

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You briefly touched on aesthetics. A lot of artists change their logo as they evolve and there’s a kind of visual identity that maybe doesn’t stick. From ‘1999’ all the way through to ‘Dreems’, the Cassius logo remained the same and feels like an integral part of the brand, if you like. Could you tell me a little about how it came to be?

It’s actually Étienne de Crécy who drew it, which I only learned two years ago. I thought it was Alex Courtes, the guy who did our cover. At the beginning, it was a label. We were thinking of doing a record label. It was called Cassius, and we did ‘L’Homme Qui Valait 3 Milliards’ at the time with ‘Foxxy Lady’ and ‘Dinapoly’. And when we received the vinyl, I remember we said, “Wow, Cassius? It’s a good name for a band. Why use this for a label?” So after that, Étienne drew the logo. It’s a family affair and we kept it because it was working at the time.

It’s funny how, perhaps more so than any other genre, there’s a visual consistency across French electro, especially with yourselves and labels like Ed Banger.

The funny thing is, it’s full of people who, at the beginning, were more into pictures and creating images than music. We were all geeks, we had access to computers and musical programs and a lot of the time – it was more accidental – but it was more of a graphic movement before the music. Maybe that’s why.

And it’s kind of impossible to think of one without the other now.

Yeah, especially for electronic music. As we weren’t rock stars or punks, there was no singer. There were no leaders of the band. I think we thought about the graphics as a way to fill up this space. It was more a way of existing through an image, more than our own image.

You’re kicking off the Cassius Club Tour next year. How does DJing now compare to when you first started?

I think I prefer it now. All the technological toys are fantastic. I love vinyl, but I’m not at all a vinyl DJ. That’s not a judgement, but for me, I love to have a little bag with thousands of tracks and be able to have cues, loops and stuff you can use. If you know how to use those machines, it’s really fun. When we started, we could play nine minute songs in a set. Now, it’s nearly impossible. If you play a seven minute track, people look at you and say, “Is he sleeping, or what?” With vinyl it’s really difficult to play a lot of tracks. You have to have ten bags or so. So anyway, the sound now is even better. My only regret is the level of the sound in the club. It’s like 106 dB max. It’s very rare to find a place where you can play loud and I think this music is better when it’s very loud. It’s not good for the ears, but it’s the only thing I miss from the past.

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What can we expect from Cassius Club?

We do a lot of back to back. People in front of us really love seeing people having fun. It’s more like a band now. I’ve rediscovered what I was doing with Philippe, so it’s really great. I really love it. And for the music, it’s not prepared. We don’t say, “Okay, I’m gonna play this, you’re gonna play that.” You have to react to what your friends are playing. The time goes quickly and you share the energy with each other when it’s good – sometimes it can be a nightmare – but generally, when it’s good, it’s really something.

And you’re kicking things off at Fabric in London.

Yeah, London is really something for me, because it’s been a long time. For us, it was our start. America is going to be fun too. I know the club we’re playing in Berlin – Prince Charles – and I’m really excited. I feel really lucky to have all of these things to do until July. It’s a bit of a dream. My idea is really to mix the new generation with me and our friends. That’s really important. It’s like what Pedro [Winter] and Ed Banger were doing at the beginning.

I feel like that’s something that the French electro scene has always done well. I mean, you look at what Ed Banger did with their 20th anniversary last year at Printworks.

Yeah, it’s crazy. I know… You have to have someone who wants to share and get everyone together, so that’s gonna be what I have to do on this tour. It’s very exciting, because it’s not only that you come with your USB, play and go back to the hotel, you know? You have to put in the energy for all the DJs. I will be like a father figure – the older one – “Okay, guys and girls, now we have to celebrate”.

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Bombass takes Cassius Club tour to London’s fabric on January 17th.

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Words: Paul Weedon
Photo Credit: Leon Prost

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