I decided to take a look at my growing playlist of music gleaned from Spotify’s Release Radar to find a musician or band beginning with the letter A or B. It took me some effort to find some information about them in English, which I never did. I’m guessing they are from France, and they are not from Quebec, Canada. (Dale, can you help me out here?) I did find a blurb on their facebook page that was able to be translated though:

About Bande à Part
Definition of Bande à Part: “Island and solar trio that moves the head then the body”! With its pop look and a pronounced taste for the “musical patchwork of anything goes”, Bande à part resurrects the big names of song and distils its original compositions in a high-energy concert. With Christian aka “Danny Vargas”, Alex aka “Benny Love”, and Antonin “Lino Rover”, the Corsican trio infuses melodious pop with frivolous flavors of the 70s and 80s. From Nirvana to Michel Delpech, it jumps to the ears, catches the heart and invites you to free yourself from the ambient gloom. The head and then the body should move quickly.

“Yellow” is the name of the song. I listened to it and did the best I could on transcribing the lyrics, (and then plugged in the right ones after Dale helped me out.) From what I could find, this was released as a single.  There is a mystery of how they are described as a trio, and the top image shows 3 people, but the cover for the song shows 4 bananas.  Hopefully someone reading knows this group and can give more info on them (pretty please!) UPDATE:  Read Dale’s comment to learn more about the band member numbers.  Also please know that this is a cover of a Coldplay song, which I’ve put at the end of this post.

They do have a presence out on YouTube. Allmusic shows a discography going back to 2004, with 9 albums, and one that’s being released on February 16, 2024, called, “Should I Stay or Should I Go.”

Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you

And everything you do

Yeah, they were all yellow

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do

And it was called Yellow

So then I took my turn
Oh, what a thing to have done
And it was all yellow

Your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
And you know, you know I love you so

You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh, what a thing to do
‘Cause you were all yellow

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh, what a thing to do
And it was all yellow

And your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
And you know, for you, I’d bleed myself dry
For you, I’d bleed myself dry

It’s true
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine

Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And all the things that you do

Here’s the original (with the correct lyrics) by Coldplay, written by: Christopher Anthony John Martin, Guy Rupert Berryman, William Champion, Jonathan Mark Buckland. 

Thanks again, Dale!

Glyn is the host of Mixed Music Bag.  Glyn says:
In the month of January the MMB theme is to find a group or solo singer beginning with the letter A or B

 

UPDATE on 011024:  Glyn (thanks, Glyn!)  found this info at a French online magazine:

BANDE TO PART, energy on stage

By Léa Piras

14 June 2023

Known from the Marseillais for his wild showcases, which have repeatedly set fire to the sound scene of the Guitar Sound, and for his energizing covers of popular songs, this joyous trio, straight from Ajaccio, provokes during his concerts an indescribable fever. Who did not listen to the album “Foufoune Tour” in the summer? The title A Little Fish, a Little Bird has even become a national tube forty-five years after being interpreted by Juliette Gréco. But beyond streaming, share, it’s happening. We don’t get tired of seeing these gifted Ajaccians on stage. And good news, they return to the Silvain Theatre on 6 July. The summer season of 2023 is therefore well under way. For the occasion, we went to meet these three far-fetched Corsay …

ToutMa All-My: What do you think is the key to your success?
BàP BàP: Oh yes, it attacks a lot… (Laughter) Our secret: sleep well, eat well. More seriously, it is our desire to establish true communion with the public, to have fun with them. And especially sharing. We, at the base, when we created Part Band, the idea was just to have fun. We don’t take ourselves too seriously on stage. To tell you, before each concert, we’re going to take a tour of the local thrift shops to find stage outfits that make us laugh.

TMTM: Proven part, does that have anything to do with Jean-Luc Godard’s movie?
BàP BàP: No, no report. At first, we were part of a group of five people called Blague to Part and when we decided to take off all three, we naturally chose the name Band to Part.

TMTM: But by the way, how did this power trio form? What was the trigger?
BàP BàP: We were spinning a lot less with Jokes at Part… and all three of us had a real will to play, to do the stage. We were already the band apart from the group … We are childhood friends, we grew up in the same neighborhood. We are like brothers.

TMTM: And who had the idea of revisiting almost untouchable titles of the Seventies and the Eighties?
BàP BàP: We wanted to have fun, so we started to do some covers, it was light … We imitate, we take up our sauce, it’s natural, we’re just ourselves. At the time, we were doing our concerts in the street, we were not afraid, we were setting up our stage, the lighting, etc.

TMTM: You’ve already released four albums and a new album is in the making. Can you tell us more?
BàP BàP: It’s going to be a cover album. We spent a few sleepless nights on it, and actually, we surpassed ourselves. In fact, we ripen, it looks much more like us … A few titles will come out for the summer, like The Good of Annie Cordy’s Wore. Besides that, we’re also composing. We work with other artists, for example with Mrs. Mr…