Léo Nivot and Rémi Le Taillandier honed their skills in Le Mans thanks to the support and guidance of a local structure. After starting out as an opening act, notably for the band Feu! Chatterton, the duo will embark on their own tour in the fall. This Friday evening, they were among Nagui’s guests on his live show Taratata.
They met during their studies in Chalons-sur-Saone and have been inseparable ever since. Léo Nivot and Rémi Taillandier are the two active and founding members of the band “Nous étions une armée”. While not originally from Le Mans, Rémi and Léo have strong ties to the city. Léo has family connections there, but more importantly, it was in Le Mans, in 2021, just after Covid, that the two musicians, graduates of the Paris Conservatory, launched their professional project and honed their first pieces on stage. They were supported and assisted by Superforma, a contemporary music venue, a structure that supports and accompanies music creation.
“We studied in Paris and came back to Le Mans to rehearse,” explains Léo, the singer of the band. “Starting a band is really complicated. Now, we have a major show producer, teams working with us, but actually, the first people who believe in the project are the hardest to find. Because the project is still in its infancy, and since you need to immerse yourself in it, you also need to imagine what it could be. In Le Mans, the contemporary music venue Superforma was our very first partner. They had us play, allowed us to rehearse, to have residencies in great conditions, with welcoming teams that boosted us immensely. We had residencies at L’Oasis, we also played at the Excelsior barge. And during the Bebop festival at the Parc des Expos.”
“Nous étions une armée” thus landed the opening act for Feu! Chatterton, a date at the Bebop festival, and they were also selected for the Printemps de Bourges. After more than 70 concerts and a multitude of opening acts, the band will start a tour under their own name, and will notably return to the Bebop stage.
Their lyrics, spoken, sung, sometimes screamed, align with the trend of groups like Fauve or Feu! Chatterton. These groups inspired them to take the stage.
“They showed us that it was possible to write in French and appropriate this language. Originally, we listened to Anglo-Saxon music. Now the French language is at the heart of our project.”
While gaining considerable recognition through their stage presence, a turning point might have been reached. Their most recent performance was on the set of Taratata 100% Live on France 2.
A programmer suggested their name to Nagui, and it was him, the producer of the show, who selected them.
“We were with Aya Nakamura, with Hélène, with Disiz, highly varied artists with different styles, very musical. So after our performance, Nagui said: “You see, we program everything, including people who talk a bit, who do a bit of weird poetry, and who scream and play the guitar strangely, but our requirement is live, it’s live performance.” And I think that’s what he enjoyed in our performance,” recounts Léo.
By choosing to cover Edith Piaf’s Milord, the band, who usually never does covers, stood out, particularly for the “theatrical performance” aspect they gave to the piece.
Even though it’s not easy to find themselves in the TV arena when they have a bit of skepticism about this type of exercise. Léo doesn’t hide the ambiguous relationship he has with the small screen…
“In fact, I built myself a bit against that, and almost against French music, against this culture. And at the same time, it’s really TV that made me want to play the guitar. When I saw Pete Doherty on the Grand Journal when I was 9… It was a real revelation!” Léo adds: “In truth, we were delighted to meet Nagui. Plus, for me, it’s a real childhood memory, I used to watch Tout le monde veut prendre sa place every Wednesday noon with my grandparents. He was almost like a family member. But like many people, I think. And so, it’s a bit of a tribute to meet there thinking about my grandparents… a little something a bit sacred like that.”
Find us on our networks and on our site france.tv.
/2026/03/28/69c84e95a5d97492382023.jpg "Foiled attack in Paris: The suspicion of a link with Iran is not surprising, according to Senator Cédric Perrin, President of the Senates Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee")
