Darius DePoleon
- The Aristo Cats
Eurotrash, a musical band of princes, counts, and various European heirs, is ready to rock 'n' roll.
Photo by Phillip Hondorf
The term "rock 'n' roll royalty" usually refers to groups like the Stones, the Who or the Beatles. But Eurotrash, a new Paris-based band, is putting a different spin on the term. The group's members are quite literally bluebloods -- descendants of various strains of European nobility.
But hey, that doesn't mean they can't rock out. And they're humble - really.
"The fact is that we're still carrying out our own guitars and amps," said Sandro Sursock, the stepson of Sadrudin Aga Khan, who at 50 is the eminence grise of the group.
Still, there are a few striking differences between Eurotrash and your average combo starting out from the family garage. Sursock's family is in banking; guitarist Darius De Poleon and bas player Mathieu Geoffrey de Chaume come from aristocratic stock (De Poleon's aunt is the well-know socialite Eugenia de Serigny)-although they are both professional musicians - and Count Antoine de Ganay, who also plays guitar, describes his day job as "gentleman farmer". Drummer Prince Wenceslas Liechtenstein - yes, THAT Liechtenstien - meanwhile, just finished business school and has a job at Goldman Sachs on hold. "I'm not sure if I'm going to be in London or New York." He said. "But that's okay - I can still fly back here for practice."
The group got together last March, when Liechtenstein approached Sursock about putting something together. Sursock has been in bands on and off most of his life, and recently released a CD of his own songs under the title, "Aristorock," with songs like "Snobissimo" and "Upper Class Hero."
The two quickly rounded up de Ganay, Geoffrey de Chaume and de Poleon. Their first jams together were fun enough that they decided to give the band thing a try. Such blueblood requirements, though, proved to pose a bit of a staffing problem. "We wanted a keyboard player, and we were thinking of putting an ad in the paper that read, 'keyboard player wanted, must know rock songs and be a descendant of Louis xV," Geoffrey de Chaume says.
Still, the group bristles at the suggestion they're a bunch of wealthy slackers acting out their air guitar fantasies. They rehearse - just like everybody else - late at night in dingy airless studios, and they drink cheap beer while trying to pull together their version of "Honky Tonk Woman." They even spend an intensive week of rehearsal together in March - at Liechetensein's family chateau.
Eurotrash has yet to book its first gig, which is probably a good thing: the group's members admit they have a ways to go toward tightening up the sound of their play list, currently loaded with rock anthems like "Jean Genie" and "Riders on the Storm."
In the meantime, they carry on as their breeding dictates, holding doors open for women and insisting - most un-rock-star-like - on picking up the tab for drinks. They haven't even wrecked a hotel room yet.
But the ability to rock 'n' roll all night and party every day, they insist, hasn't been bred completely out of them.
Says de Poleon with obvious pride: "We've already broken two guitars." -Janet Ozzard
