SINCLAIR (SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2025)

Remember “Si c'est bon comme ça”, “Ensemble” and many other hits that marked your teenage years. Well, Sinclair is back with a greatest hits album... While cynics might claim a lack of inspiration or purely commercial motives, Sinclair explains that this is clearly not the case! The aim of this ‘Best Of Studio’ is to let his audience know that he's back and can't wait to see them on stage during his next tour and many other things to come...





What is the question you've been asked too often and are tired of answering?

Sinclair: ‘Why Sinclair?’ (Laughs)


The idea of the ‘Best Of’ is really an artistic choice, it's not a choice to release a record to make money.


And we won't ask you that question (NdStruck: name in reference to the hero of the series ‘Amicalement vôtre’) . Your latest news and comeback is this ‘Best Of Studio’, which is not just a compilation, but also a reinterpretation with remasters, unreleased tracks and demos. Did you want to show another side to your songs, almost as if you were giving them a second life, unlike the two previous compilations released, ‘Comme je suis’ in 2004 and ‘Best Of Sinclair’ released in 2008?

Let's say that with this ‘Best Of’ I wanted to show that songs are a choice in time, meaning that they have several lives. What was fun for me was to show the demos — I'm not the only one who has done this — but it shows how much of a creative process there is between the moment you stop the demo and the moment you decide it's finished and ready to be released.

You should also know that I am the producer and publisher of my work, so I have my own catalogue, I do what I want with it and it's really great. And here the idea of the ‘Best Of’ is really an artistic choice, it's not a choice to release a record to make money. I'm going back on tour and I think the best way to get people to listen to these songs again is to put them back in their ears with a ‘Best Of’.

I also designed the cover, I took the photo, it's really craftsmanship! So the choice is also to give these songs a new lease of life, but it's also a way of giving them another form, i.e. putting them alongside others, even though I don't know who listens to an entire album these days...


It's a question I ask in every interview...

It's true, it's a question that arises when you make a record today, when you release a vinyl. I feel like releasing a vinyl with lots of tracks is a way of saying that something is happening, and even though I know they're not necessarily going to listen to it in its entirety, it's still a way of showing that something is happening.

But I make my records with desire and passion because I think it's great and I enjoy getting my hands dirty. It's quite funny to get my hands back into the demos: I had to buy a DAT, for example, I had to go on Le Bon Coin to find a DAT, no one has them anymore, someone gave me one but it didn't work: Indiana Jones, basically (laughs)!


I'm quite proud of what I've done!




When you listen back to your first remastered tracks, do you hear more of your brilliance from that era... or your mistakes that you'd like to correct?

I find that, surprisingly, when I listen back to the tracks, I'm quite proud of what I've done! I'm past the point of judgement. I'm grateful to myself for having done this work. I tell myself that I saw it through to the end. On the other hand, I wonder how I managed to let certain things slip by, certain strange chords. But I couldn't hear it at the time. It's quite funny to be able to look back on it, but it's also quite interesting to be able to remaster it. If I wanted to, but I never would, I would have remixed certain tracks, but no, it's not possible!


In this regard, you chose to remaster certain tracks on this best of album, but one track, “Si c'est bon comme ça”, was kept in its original version. Why did you decide to leave only this one as it is? Is it because it embodies a particular authenticity or energy that you didn't want to alter?

No, I think it was good as it was (laughs). Is that a good one?


You've never done it before?

No, it's brand new (laughs)!

It's funny because you should know that “Si c'est bon comme ça” went through about ten different versions before ending up on the album. The version we released as a single in 1998 is not the one on the album. It's a version we replayed after x tour dates, and we realised that the version we were playing was more interesting than the one on the album. Which isn't entirely true: it's not more interesting, but it had a little more energy. So it's a track that lends itself to change, and maybe there was also a desire to leave it as it was.


Why did you choose to include unreleased tracks rather than just offering a fixed retrospective?

Because I'm one of those people who throws a lot of stuff away. I put a lot of tracks aside and when I got my hands - and especially my ears - back on the DATs and mini-discs, I came across these tracks again and I thought it was stupid not to share them with those who buy a best-of album, because generally, these people want to hear the work. The idea is to give them unreleased tracks which, in my opinion, are great unreleased tracks. In fact, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't put these unreleased tracks on the albums where they should have been.


In that regard, what year was “La rivière”, which has a certain charm, written?

“La rivière” is a track that was supposed to be on “Morphologique”.


I thought they were recent unreleased tracks?

No, they're unreleased tracks from that period. They're B-sides, mostly tracks that didn't find their place and that I didn't finish. You can tell I didn't finish it, you can tell something's missing. And then, it certainly evokes a painful story from that time, and looking at the nebulous cloud of that mess from that time, I can see very well why I didn't put it on and why I moved on to something else. But listening to it again, I think it's a great track... So these are just unreleased tracks from that period. And what's interesting is that they're tracks that didn't find their place.

There's also “Comme une arme”, which I included as a previously unreleased track on the vinyl I released from “La bonne attitude” two or three years ago. But it's yet another version – I didn't remember there being this version – but while searching through the mini-discs, I realised that this version also existed. I think it's a bit of a nod to those who already had the unreleased track, that there are also second and third versions... unreleased tracks.


Making a best of album necessarily involves choosing certain tracks and discarding others. How did you go about making the final selection from your entire discography?

I did it very simply, knowing that I had to include tracks that people are somewhat familiar with and not stray too far from that. Otherwise, I could have made a slightly obscure best of with tracks that no one knows. It's feasible, but you might as well make a playlist because burning a vinyl, bothering to make CDs so that people say they don't know any of the tracks and therefore don't buy it: it's pointless.

The idea was more to remind people of me: I'm going back on tour and most people remember me, but it's been a long time, maybe they've lost their CDs, maybe they've sold them...


I think it's pretty great to have seen these stories through to the end.




When we talk about ‘best of’ albums, we often think of ‘hit songs’. But which songs do your fans always ask you to play... and which ones would you sometimes prefer not to sing anymore, so that if it were up to you, you wouldn't put them on this compilation?

(Laughs) It's funny because at one point I could have said all of them. There comes a time when you reject your work a little. But I admit that today - and this is what I was saying earlier - I'm grateful. I think it's pretty great to have seen these stories through to the end.

I'm digressing a little, but in concert, sometimes I get fed up with playing “Votre image” and “Si c'est bon comme ça”... But at the same time, the pleasure shared with people who recognise the song gives you a lot of energy when you play it and people sing along with you: it's trippy, it's funny: You take it a bit like a costume you put on...


Today, when you sing that song on stage, do you feel like you're putting on a costume?

Yeah...



A few years ago [...] I had a hard time getting on stage because I had other things to say.


It doesn't represent you anymore?

No, it doesn't represent me anymore. I get the energy from these songs through the people because we have fun singing them. Then there's the rearrangement, which makes it pretty trippy to play.

But I'll be very honest, most of the lyrics I sing, I sing them by putting myself in the shoes of who I was because there are some crazy things: I'm 55 years old, for goodness' sake! I wrote songs, I'm going to sing them, but I'm not going to change them. It's the work of the performer that's quite fun. But a few years ago, it was a problem, I had a hard time getting on stage because I had other things to say. But today, I find it fun to revisit it, there's a pleasure in sharing the past.

To answer your question about the ‘Best Of’, there aren't any tracks I wouldn't include. On the contrary, it's silly, but if I could have added a third disc, I would have added other tracks, that's for sure.


Conversely, looking back, is there a song in your repertoire that you think is underrated, that went unnoticed too quickly, but that you consider to be one of your best?

Absolutely. Like any singer, creator, producer, egocentric, every time I make a song, it's a single! It's strange, but I don't think any artist will tell you they've written a B-side. Every time you make a track, it's really important to do it. If you've gone all the way, it means it has its place and is above the others.

Recently, even though I didn't make any effort to promote it, I released a track that I really like, it's extremely pop and it's called “La flemme”.


As pop and successful as it is, this version of “La flemme” will never reach the level of Ultra Vomit's, which I highly recommend...

(Laughs)!


I'm going to bring the music to life on stage!




But more seriously, why didn't you do the necessary promotional work for this track?

I think that when I released this album, I didn't have the energy for it. And I admit that I'd rather not have to make music videos... I'm going to bring the music to life on stage! I think people will discover these tracks on stage now.


But you are aware that, given the way music is consumed today, promoting a single necessarily involves a video?

Yes, but in my case, it will be through live performances (smiles)!


Which is a handicap...

True, but I fully accept that. Today, we're releasing a ‘Best Of’ album, and the next album I'm releasing is a live album from 2005 that I recorded, mixed, filmed and edited, and it's incredible. I never released it and now I'm coming back to it, I think I'm completely mad. The live album is really good and it includes lots of tracks that were never released as singles but are really great. So this release will allow tracks with completely different versions to exist.


And maybe also show a side of Sinclair on stage that people don't necessarily know about?

Exactly! On stage, it's completely different! And what's great about being on stage is that you give people the chance to listen to the songs for at least an hour or even an hour and a half, rather than seven seconds on Instagram. So you have time to draw people into a world. Many times, I've had people in the audience who didn't particularly like me, who weren't there specifically for me, but who got caught up in the performance and thought it was great because it's music, it's human, and above all, it's vibrational!


If I show you my Spotify statements, I don't pay my rent with my 17 albums!


You've made two or three references to the current music industry – music videos, Instagram... – do you regret the direction it's taken?

Let's just say I can't say I regret it because I'm really in tune with the times: I make full use of modern technology. The only shame is that music has been relegated to the status of a product. It's been going on for a good twenty years, but now we're really at the height of it. If I show you my Spotify statements, I don't pay my rent with my 17 albums! Platforms are the ultimate rip-off!


Not to mention that tomorrow we'll be listening to albums created by AI, like The Velvet Sundown...

Of course! I play around a lot with AI, I play with all the modern tools to find out what I can do with them, how to integrate them into my work... I can tell you that there are some amazing things out there and it has to continue, it has to exist because they are tools.

But for us as musicians, the platforms, the crazy algorithms, Instagram... they're just American things, and when you see where they're taking us, you don't particularly want to follow their flow.

I put that aside because what interests me is continuing to talk to my audience, and the only way to do that is to get them to come to the venues. And releasing a best-of album is a way of reminding them of me. But I must admit that I won't be getting back into intensive album promotion, music videos... I'm not interested in that.


So you've planned this ‘live’ accompaniment, in other words, to present the place of new songs like ‘La flemme’ in your life as an artist?

Not at all. It's pretty raw! On stage, I contextualise the general form more, I tell a few stories. I figure that if someone likes a song, they might look it up, but I don't go into detail. But why not, I'll write it down with a huge QR code projected behind me (laughs)!


Your songs often have a very strong groove, a bit like the bass is telling a story parallel to the lyrics. For you, Sinclair, is it first and foremost a rhythm before it's a voice?

I think it's all really schizophrenic! There are several of us who want to tell the same story, but we take different paths!

But actually, it's simpler than that. When I write a song, I rarely think about it. The way it comes out is pretty intense. It's difficult to work with a producer because I really have my own way of doing things, but each part is independent. Very little in the music I make is there by chance. I'm not being pretentious: if it's there, it's because it has to come out and it has to be there. But I admit that there are times when it's a bit of a mess (smiles)!


We fought with the radio stations!


In France, few artists have dared to put so much funk into pop. Did you ever feel like you were ‘fighting’ to impose this sound?

We fought with the radio stations, that's for sure! You have to understand that when we first started out with our songs, we were rejected... Until something Anglo-Saxon came along a year later... It was hard to get people to accept that it could groove, even though there was no comparison because I have a lot of respect for Michel Berger, who had managed to do that. In his style, Michel Berger grooved like crazy in his music, which was very much inspired by white soul.

Then again, I admit that not all my songs are easy. They're not all singles. The good singles got radio play, the bad ones didn't, and I recognise that...


Bad?

When you play songs on stage, you notice their weaknesses. You feel it right away, especially when you get to the weak part of the song.


Your lyrics talk a lot about human relationships, but rarely in a direct way. With experience, do you think you would write about these themes differently today?

I think that today I would write other things, but I'm quite happy to have written them that way because I arrived on this planet being quite shy and introverted, and I've done well for myself. I think the songs helped me do that, and it's true that today I would write what I'm writing now, which is much less introspective and much less self-centred. I think I've moved past that big ‘moi, moi, moi’ phase and arrived at something a little more open.


But wasn't ‘Moi, moi, moi, moi, moi’ the riff from ‘Si c'est bon comme ça’?

(Laughs) That's kind of it! Now it would be ‘Toi, toi, toi, toi, toi’!


My music conveys more energy than anything else.




You mentioned it a little earlier, your career developed at the same time as French music was seeking to open up more to Anglo-Saxon influences. Do you consider yourself a ‘pioneer’ in this movement?

I tried to bridge the gap with this music, I tried to bring it in. What I take away from it is that my music conveys energy more than anything else. When I talk about energy, I don't necessarily mean explosive energy, but emotion and groove and a kind of strength... My music isn't that far removed from blues, in the sense that I never talk about super happy things, but I try to transform it with positive energy. It's positive.


To follow on from what you've been saying since the beginning of this interview, when you talk about energy, does that mean you think about your music by projecting yourself onto the stage?

The funny thing is that I didn't think about the stage before I did it! But I realised that everything made sense there...

It's true that when I record, when I do a vocal take, I have to record the whole thing, meaning I start from the beginning and go to the end: I can't do bits and pieces... And that's the lesson of this energy: it's really hard for me to cut it short, to do just one verse. It has to be in the flow.

Coming back to your question, Passeur, I don't know, but I make music for others...


In your songs, there's always a certain musical sensuality. Is that something you do consciously, or does it just come naturally to you?

I think my music is natural and well-rounded, it's a way of grooving... If you like, the most antithetical music, the furthest from my music, is that of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, yet I love that band, they're a great band, but their groove is so square, whereas mine is the complete opposite

If you want to compare two really different bands from the same era with different grooves, take Jamiroquai and the Red Hot Chili Peppers: two bands that play funk but are completely different in terms of reappreciation. Jamiroquai is rounded, i.e. sexy, and I'm in that category of sensual music.


And that's why some people compare you to Prince or Lenny Kravitz, but who do you think was the artist or record that influenced you the most when you were writing your own songs?

There are many, but we can mention Prince at one point, although I was never really directly inspired by him. I always had the impression that he was watching me from somewhere, so I had to do things a certain way. What I mean by that is that when I discovered Prince, I had a revelation about his strength, genius, a kind of vision... I had already listened to him when I was younger, until I had a revelation with ‘Purple Rain’ in 1984. And when you realise that half of it was recorded live: it's crazy!

Then there's Sly Stone, but I could make a very, very long list, depending on the day, the style...


[La Nouvelle Star] helped me become a better producer


We were talking about passing on knowledge, and your time on Nouvelle Star put you in a position of passing on knowledge and mentoring. What did you get out of that experience, and how did it change your view of the younger generation of artists?

It was a pretty amazing experience because it allowed me to understand what happens when someone who's passionate, is really passionate! It's an incredible thing that's hard to explain in the studio when you can't get something right. There, you have the explanation, and it allowed me to put it into words, and it helped me become a better producer in a way.

Suddenly, I understood what was happening, I understood what the person was doing. You had seven versions of the same song and seven different interpretations, including ones where you just wanted the person to go away and others where you just wanted them to start over and over again...

The first few seasons of that show were all great to do. After that, it's a shame that they were two different industries, in that we were making television with crazy resources and sending the kids who came out of it to a dying industry, which was music, with people who didn't give a damn. And you understand better why the albums that came out weren't up to scratch...

Despite everything, I loved doing it and it was important to me. But I know it's dead now... No one's interested anymore and I don't think it really makes sense, especially when people can film themselves at home and do their own thing...

But it was still a programme that was more dedicated to those who watched it, to those who were doing the missions, than to the kids who were used as cannon fodder.


Among all the collaborations and musical encounters in your career, which one has transformed you the most, even on a human level?

(Silence) Good question... And you think to yourself, either this guy has no memory or he has no heart (laughs)... I have no memory (laughs)!


At a time when anyone can create their own playlist on streaming platforms, releasing a greatest hits album may seem almost outdated. What, in your opinion, still justifies a greatest hits album as a separate entity today?

I think it's a way of existing physically, of making beautiful objects, and that's what matters to me today. I'm the first to buy a vinyl record and sometimes listen to it on Spotify.

It's also a way of telling most people who are going to buy this album that I'm a songwriter, composer, producer and publisher, and it's also a way for me to earn money: it's as simple as that! And it's healthy, in the sense that you're buying an album that I made almost 100% myself: it's a give and take, it's an object that you can buy in shops, at merchandising events... it's part of the balance.

As we were saying earlier, if I wait for the platforms to earn my living, I'm dead! Despite everything, we all use them, but there still need to be things to buy. So, if you're going to buy something, you might as well buy a vinyl record, even if people don't play it. But at least they have something beautiful to hold in their hands.


This album is me!




And actually, if you're going to buy a vinyl record, you might as well buy a best-of album that you're more likely to listen to than a new album where you won't like all the tracks...

That's right! Exactly! And what's more, my message is clear: this album is me! There's no major label thinking, ‘He's going to die, so let's quickly release a best-of album to make as much money as possible.’ My approach is purely artisanal.

And all of this is part of an ecosystem that is extremely fair. It's give and take... I try to make sure it's not too expensive; I know that concert tickets are expensive, but I do my best to make sure they're not too expensive. There are six of us on stage and tickets are £30, whereas I see crazy things: two guys and it's £50, £70...


The question may seem odd, but not so much when you consider that you've contributed to several soundtracks. If this ‘Best Of’ were to be the soundtrack to an imaginary film, what kind of film would it be?

Ah, good question!


It'll be the only one in this interview...

No, the second one...


But you told me you have no memory...

(Laughs) It would be a kind of Star Wars but on planet Earth in the 1970s with people trying to get away from the major label guys...
There's rebellion in my songs, but it's still extremely accessible and sexy.
It's a cool film with a happy ending. Some people die, but it ends well (smile)!


I perform the songs of another me, but it's the me of today


We talked about this earlier when you mentioned wearing a suit. When you play your songs today, do you feel like it's still ‘you’ singing, or are you performing the version of another ‘you’, the one from twenty or thirty years ago?

So I perform the songs of another me, but it's the me of today. In fact, I sing them ten times better than I did twenty years ago, it's really incredibly better: I've made some progress... And then I rearrange everything, so there's also something of me in the reformulation of the lyrics. But it's funny because there's my mark on every track, I recognise myself. But there are moments when it's really short trousers and schoolbags (laughs)!


It reminds me of a video of The Offspring playing “Come Out and Play”, they were jumping around and singing out of tune, and today they're still touring, they don't jump around anymore but they sing much better...

(Laughs) I jump around less, guys: that's for sure! I have too much to do: I play lots of stuff on stage, keyboards, but it sings better...


On another note, David Lee Roth also used to jump around and sing pretty well. Today, he doesn't jump around anymore and only shouts ‘Jump’ during the choruses, with the backing singers taking care of the rest...

He's sunk into absolute tackiness. What I saw was a bit pathetic... But you know what? There comes an age when you don't criticise anymore...


Especially since he could be lip-syncing.

That's it!


If I had wanted to sell a lot of records and make a lot of money, I would have done things differently!




Finally, if you had to give this ‘Best Of’ to someone who doesn't know you at all, what would you want them to understand about you after listening to it from start to finish?

I'd just want them to understand that there's a lot of work behind it. That it's nothing more than passion conveyed through a lot of hard work. I think that's what you need to understand to appreciate it. It's a lot of work and work that's truly dedicated to the love of music. Behind it, there's nothing else... If I had wanted to pursue another career, I would have done so! If I had wanted to sell a lot of records and make a lot of money, I would have done things differently! But I wanted to do this, I want people to listen to the music and say, ‘Oh yeah, wow!’ (Smile).

I don't ask people to like what I like. I listen to a lot of things that I don't necessarily like, but I like to recognise the work and the truth... In any case, what I've done, I've done genuinely: it was a lot of fun, of course, but it was also a long struggle... And that's what I want people to hear...


And finally, for the upcoming tour, will this album be the set list for the concerts?

Good question. It's not as simple as that, but yes, there is some of that in there,


So you're starting with “Si c'est bon comme ça”?

We recently finished with it.

Which makes sense, really: it's a final anthem!

But it's still going to change, it's going to evolve, but yes, there's a lot of history in this concert list and at the same time, there are lots of new things too, because it's interesting to take people to places they don't expect... .

And as I said earlier, it's great to spend an hour and a half with people and take them to places, get them excited, and I think they'll get excited about songs they don't know. And that's what matters to me. But I'm not going to disappoint them, there will be plenty of songs they know, that's for sure (smiles).


You've answered most of that, but what are your expectations for the release of this ‘Best Of’ album?

My idea is to release albums regularly now, but to address them directly to the people who want to listen to me... In fact, the ‘Best Of’ album is also a way for me to reconnect with my audience. I haven't released a serious album since ‘So Sorry’...


I want to reconnect with my audience and tell them that I'm back!


...which isn't that old...

No, but that's really how I released it. And now I want to reconnect with my audience and tell them that I'm back!


So you're suggesting that you're going back to releasing albums regularly?

They'll be EPs, then albums, they'll be different formats, and then there'll be instrumental stuff...


When shall we meet up to talk about this new album?

The new album? I think I'll have the tracks recorded before next summer, but it'll be within a year.


You said that in addition to this ‘Best Of’, a live album was going to be released...

Yes, I'm releasing a double live album......


So, in the space of twelve months, you're going to have released three albums?

That's all I have to do (laughs)! No, but seriously, that's all I have to do...





Sure, but could we have said that in the past?

No, no, I had a lot of things to sort out before! I tidied my room: everything is tidy, I cleaned it, it's great and that's all I have to do (smiles)!


And finally, we started the interview with the question we've asked you too many times. On the contrary, what question would you like me to ask you, or what question would you dream of answering?

‘But why Sinclair?’ (Laughs)


That's it, we've come full circle, thank you...

Thank you!


And thank you to Calgepo for his contribution...