Damien Félix is a French singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his genre-blending approach to music, spanning rock, blues, electro, and soul. Originally from Haut-Jura, he first became locally popular as part of the duo Catfish. Félix was praised for his energetic blues-rock sound and later co-founded the bands Bigger, and Dead Chic, a heavy rock and soul project launched in 2022.
Biography Catfish (2012–2020) Originally from Haut-Jura, Damien Félix met Amandine Guinchard in high school and formed a rock band with three other musicians. In 2012, the band Catfish became a duo and released a debut EP that went unnoticed.Who is Catfish, the "powerful sound" rock duo from Haut-Jura?, on 20minutes.fr, November 10, 2016, accessed July 31, 2024 In 2013, the EP blues rock Old Fellow was released, coinciding with their selection for the Inouis of Printemps de Bourges.In Bourges, concerts (really) everywhere, on lemonde.fr, April 27, 2013. accessed July 31, 2024Toulouse. "Catfish," the catfish has a voice at Connexion Café, on ladepeche.fr, November 21, 2014. accessed July 31, 2024 The duo plays all the instruments: Guinchard (percussion, bass, keyboard, vocals) and Félix (vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion). Influenced by Robert Johnson, Skip James, The Kills, The Black Keys, the Jurassians with an American look deliver a greasy, energetic, and effective rock (La Grosse Radio).Catfish – Old Fellow (EP), on lagrosseradio.com, June 17, 2013, accessed July 31, 2024
In 2014, the rock album Muddy Shivers won wider press acclaim and allowed Catfish to perform at major festivals such as Eurockéennes de Belfort, Paléo Festival Nyon, Brussels Summer Festival, in South America and Vietnam."Muddy Shivers", the chills of Catfish's debut album, finally!, on francetvinfo.fr, March 11, 2014, accessed July 31, 2024Catfish: Rock in suspenders, on ladepeche.fr, June 17, 2013, accessed July 31, 2024 The songs address human relationships and the ambivalence of feelings, inhabited by a voice that is sometimes soft and melancholic, sometimes passionate and feverish.Zoom RTL2 on Catfish and the Cognac Blues Passions!, on rtl2.fr, June 27, 2015, accessed July 31, 2024The Catfish duo makes indie rock and blues resonate at the Eurockéennes, on lemonde.fr, July 7, 2014, accessed July 31, 2024
In 2016, with the album Dohyô, the band embraced electro and punk.Catfish on tour with "Dohyo," a highly charged second album, on francetvinfo.fr, November 22, 2016, accessed July 31, 2024OÜI FM offers you the Catfish album , on ouifm.fr, October 14, 2016, accessed July 31, 2024 and in 2019, the EP Morning Room was enhanced with a multifunction keyboard and live musicians. This small bouquet of five homogeneous tracks has blossomed in a blues-rock garden, "like a reminiscence of The Doors" (Rolling Stone).Catfish is reborn in its room, on rollingstone.fr, January 13, 2019, accessed July 31, 2024 Catfish received the 2019 Cognac Passions Prize which aims to 'support the French scene that skillfully perpetuates the blues and its related music, between tradition and creation'.Music: Catfish wins the Cognac Passions Prize 2019, on sudouest.fr, May 16, 2019, accessed July 31, 2024
Bigger (since 2016) In 2016, Félix created the band Bigger with Irish Kevin Twomey (Monsieur Pink). A first EP, Bones and Dust, was released, then three musicians joined the group: Mike Prenat (guitar), Antoine Passard (drums), and Benjamin Muller (keyboard).Bigger, invitation to the journey, on sourdoreille.net, March 17, 2022, accessed July 31, 2024 In 2018, the second EP Tightrope opened doors to the Rencontres Trans Musicales, Eurockéennes de Belfort, and Bataclan in Paris.Favorite for Les Myosotis by Bigger, on radiofrance.com, accessed July 31, 2024 Bigger presents a dark yet luminous universe, a delightful blend of grunge, britpop, rock, pop.#Studio3: Bigger, a gleam of darkness, on france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr, January 18, 2019, accessed July 31, 2024 and they blend as easily into the melancholy and darkness of Nick Cave or Anna Calvi as into the melodic rainbows of The Beatles (La Grosse Radio) with a cutting voice, a real rock voice, that of Kevin Twomey, from Dublin in Ireland.Bigger sees big, always bigger!, on leprogres.fr, November 17, 2018, accessed July 31, 2024
In 2022, the album Les Myosotis was produced by Jim Spencer and recorded in Germany and England. An album elegant, sometimes brutal, serving alternative pop and rock enriched with oriental sounds and Latin percussion (Radio France).Les Myosotis by Bigger: a love herb that only needs to bloom, on radiofrance.com, accessed July 31, 2024Music: Bigger releases its debut album "Les Myosotis," 10 reasons not to miss it, February 2, 2022, accessed July 31, 2024
Dead Chic (2022)
In 2022, he formed the band Dead Chic with British Andy Balcon (Heymoonshaker) and released the EP Bastion Session recorded in Besançon in a heavy rock and soul style.Dead Chic: "Too Far Gone", the great wide, on rollingstone.fr, January 25, 2022, accessed July 31, 2024 The two artists teamed up with Rémi Ferbus (drums, backing vocals) and Mathis Bouveret-Akengin (keyboards, backing vocals).Exclusive: Dead Chic – Too Far Gone, on rollingstone.fr, May 25, 2022, accessed July 31, 2024
Discography Catfish 2012: Catfish (EP) 2013: Old Fellow (EP) 2014: Muddy Shivers 2016: Dohyô 2019: Morning Room (EP)
Bigger 2016: Bones and Dust (EP) 2018: Tightrope (EP) 2022: Les Myosotis
Dead Chic 2022: Bastion Session (EP) 2023: The Venus Ballroom (EP)Dead Chic: 1st Studio EP "The Venus Ballroom" , on rockmetalmag.fr, January 30, 2023, accessed July 31, 2024
Collaboration 2019: Monster with Raizik
References