Multi-instrumentalist & composer…

Yannick Muet aka Yan des Astres was born in Paris too many years ago. (He’s the happy chap on the left of the picture).

His first musical love was the tambourine, which he practised relentlessly from the age of five up to his mid-twenties before realising that demand for the instrument was relatively low. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities, he left France and moved to London. There he played in various bands as bassist, guitarist, keyboardist or drummer, before finally finding fame and fortune with his widely-self-acclaimed new project, Parkland.

Musical interests
Classical: Gershwin, Vivaldi, Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Bernstein, Kurt Weil, Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, and pretty much anything Russian… Jazz: Bill Evans, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Django Reinhardt, Lionel Hampton, Scott Joplin… General Pop: Beatles, Kinks, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, John Cale, Kate Bush, Nick Drake, Supremes, Abba, Joe Jackson, Carpenters, Blondie, Chic, A Tribe Called Quest, Pizzicato 5, Pixies, Police, Stray Cats… Electronic: Kraftwerk, Tom Tom Club, Devo, Soft Cell, Sparks, Human League, Air, Kelis, Goldfrapp… Punk: Wire, Stranglers, The Damned/Capt.Sensible, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks, Magazine, Nina Hagen, Bauhaus, Siouxsie, PIL, Dead Kennedys, Dickies… Frenchies: Serge Gainsbourg, Georges Brassens, Jacques Dutronc, Alain Bashung, Alain Souchon, Taxi Girl, Rita Mitzuko, Bérurier Noir, Warum Joe… Across the World: Astor Piazzolla, Alpha Blondy, Zaiko Langa Langa, Empire Bakuba, Aurlus Mabélé… And a special Mention to: Chico & Harpo Marx.

Other interests
Reading (novels, press, food packaging, anything), cinema (Lubitsch, Hitchcock, Godard, Woody Allen, Clouzot, Wilder, Marx Brothers, Monty Python, 60s/70s Italian movies), history, geography, politics, football (gunners!), sushi, seafood, strawberries, English ales, coffee (black, one sugar, thanks).