The story begins with Orion aka GroupeGris in Bordeaux, France, with the creation in 2001
of the label Wwilko *, a shelter for scummy bands. Orion, who already has a reputation on
the hardcore scene, also self-produces some material and Kap Bambino is one of his
obscure side projects. Caroline, aka Khima France, circles the vicinities until she manages to
establish herself permanently. And their reputation as punk weirdoes, bellowing nut-jobs and
decibel hellcats grew rapidly.
Since the beginning, Caroline Martial and Orion Bouvier chose the concealed path of the
beginnings of hardcore. Orion, the playful nerd and Caroline the whirling fury plugged
themselves into a highly charged current with the unique goal to create havoc. The
entourage of modern musicians – manager, promoter…- that they developed along the way, shows their claimed self-sufficiency and preserved amateurism for the essential: direct and
immediate contact with their audience, with no distance, not even physical when Caroline
dives off stage to swim across the crowds. This rapport is fascinating and throwing to most
unsuspecting people who struggle to understand what just happened at the end of a two minute
song. A quick naïve and euphoric rush, even if it means ending-up with a broken
tooth. Throughout their 12-inches and albums – Kap Bambino in 2002, Love in 2003, Zero Life,
Night Vision in 2006, Blacklist in 2009, Devotion in 2012 – the band has nourished an
outburst of sequences and screams: punk in the digital era. The years have brought some
softness to certain melodies, but the sugar comes from a mine and is mixed with gravel. No
intelligible lyrics that we might sing along to, no chorus, no surfing on electro trends, no
guitar-drum combo on stage to pretend it’s rock. Anorak-trash, emo-tuning, white ghetto,
trendy skateboard, satanic pop, their music is made for the youth of the OECD as lost as all
the post-war generations. Kap Bambino isn’t the first nihilistic band, but in their consistency and the logic of their productions, their vitality, their integrity and their modern vagabond romanticism, they have very few rivals.