French-Anglo-Hispanic trio travel through the ages on fantastical rock opera debut.
ROSE TIGER AREN’T easy to pin down. The glam trio’s debut album is a rock opera with prog leanings that could be described as a labour of love for its chief architect Cyprien Jacquet. The End Forever is a trashy, surrealist Gesamtkunstwerk that incorporates manga and videogames into its universe, as well as songs about dinosaurs and robots.
“Everybody always asks about the dinosaurs and robots,” says Jacquet, hiding his exasperation well.“It’s always the first thing we’re asked about, but really, they’re only on two or three songs out of a total of 14.”
The End Forever project started as an imaginary land in Jacquet’s head called Archaeopolis. While the Annecy-based musician has played drums with numerous bands in France over the years (including Nouvelle Vague and Air Bag One) he’s been stealthily developing a secret world with this record.
“It’s been there since my childhood,” he admits, “with this story and this character Wend¥ Killman, who is my alter-ego. It’s very much inspired by Japanese role-playing games from the first PlayStation, like Final Fantasy VII and VIII from the 90s.”
Another influence is his father’s record collection, which includes artists such as Queen, Frank Zappa, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.
“When I started my music career in France, most people were a little allergic to prog, but when I made this album I was like,‘I don’t care anymore, I’m just gonna do what I want.’I go back to my 70s roots, and you can really hear the prog influence on I Won’t Go Back, especially on the intro and the drum fills.”
When Jacquet moved to London in 2019 he recruited English singer and guitarist Domi Hawken, whom he knew from when she lived in Paris.
“I wasn’t shocked [by the material]
