Lili Drop

Lili Drop was a French new wave band that debuted with a 1979 Eurodisc single, followed by the 1980–82 Arabella albums Monde Animal and N.

Members: Olive (vocal, guitar), Violaine (drums), Korïn (bass, 1978-81), Lionel Lumbroso (guitar, 1978), Léonie (bass, 1982-83), Plume (percussion, 1982-83), Cat (saxophone, 1982-83)

Background

Lili Drop formed in Paris in 1978 when singer-guitarist Olivier “Olive” Caudron teamed with drummer Sylvie “Violaine” Méoule, bassist Körin Ternovtzeff, and guitarist Lionel Lumbroso.

Caudron was born December 4, 1955, in London and grew up in Neuilly-sur-Seine, where he attended Lycée Pasteur with guitar tutor Jean-Louis Aubert. In 1970, the pair formed Masturbation. Caudron and Aubert hitchhiked across the United States with guitars in 1974 and crossed paths with Louis Bertignac and Lumbroso. The guitarist returned to secondary school in France and entered terminale at Lycée Edgar-Poe, where he met François Ravard.

By 1976, Caudron shared an avenue Frémiet apartment with Aubert and Ravard. He rehearsed with singer-guitarist Aubert, drummer Richard Kolinka, and bassist Lumbroso at the Saint-Cloud home of Louis Bertignac and Corine Marienneau. Olive opened the November 12 American Center concert; Aubert, Bertignac, Kolinka, and Marienneau played the second set as the lineup that became Téléphone.

In 1977, Caudron became rhythm guitarist for the Levallois-Perret band Diesel, which self-produced the flexidisc “Route 77” (b/w “P.T.T.”). He met Méoule at a Diesel concert and left the band late that year. Méoule soon teamed with Paris-born singer-guitarist Körin Ternovtzeff in the short-lived Nuage Rose. As a teenager, Ternovtzeff sang and played guitar in the Paris Métro. She learned bass and joined Caudron, Méoule, and Lumbroso in the first Lili Drop lineup.

By early 1979, Lili Drop rehearsed in a house in Montreuil and at premises on rue Quincampoix in Paris. The quartet appeared at the Printemps de Bourges off-festival on April 18, the final day of the event. Lumbroso left soon afterward, reducing the group to Caudron, Méoule, and Ternovtzeff.

The trio opened for Téléphone in Nice on May 3, where Clouseau Editions director Philippe Constantin requested a demo. Constantin subsequently signed Lili Drop to Clouseau publishing and secured a three-year, three-album agreement with Arabella-Eurodisc. In November, Eurodisc released “Sur ma mob” (b/w “Dans sa toile”), recorded at Studio Damiens with Louis Bertignac on additional guitar. Pierre Hurel took over management the following January and arranged the next stage of the group’s recording career. In March 1980, Lili Drop entered the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire for five weeks with producer Frank Gallagher to record Monde animal.

Discography:

• Monde Animal (1980)
• N (1982)

References

• Jean-François Jacq / Buzz on Web, 2005 Olive interview — strongest first-person source for the U.S. trip, return to school, Lycée Edgar-Poe and Ravard, the 1976 Téléphone circle, Lili Drop formation, Montreuil, Constantin, the label deal, Hurel, and the first-album sequence. (Buzz on Web)
• Le Monde, “Olivier Caudron, rescapé du rock,” June 14, 2005 — confirms the Neuilly/Lycée Pasteur connection with Aubert, Aubert teaching Caudron guitar, Masturbation, the 1976 Téléphone connection, and Ternovtzeff working the Téléphone lights when Caudron recruited her. (Le Monde.fr)
• Le Monde, Olivier Caudron obituary, January 19, 2006 — confirms the December 4, 1955 London birth, early Aubert association, and Caudron role as singer, guitarist, and composer. (Le Monde.fr)
• Official Lili Drop/Olive retrospective and discography — supports the 1977 Diesel flexidisc, Méoule meeting Caudron through Diesel, Nuage Rose, original four-piece lineup, Constantin demo request, Arabella-Eurodisc/Clouseau deal, November 1979 single, Hurel management, and five-week Manor sessions. Lili Drop retrospective
• Official Lili Drop concert archive — gives April 18, 1979 as the first engagement and only four-piece concert, with a firsthand recollection from Lionel Lumbroso. Rock Made in France gives April 17, but the Printemps archive confirms that the 1979 festival ran through April 18; I therefore used April 18. Lili Drop concert chronology
• Enzo Enzo official biography — supports the Paris birth, teenage Métro performances with guitar, roadie work, record-based bass learning, and entry into Lili Drop. (Enzo Enzo | OFFICIEL)
• Rock Made in France: Diesel — independently supports the 1977 Diesel lineup, Caudron rhythm-guitar period, “Route 77” b/w “P.T.T.” flexidisc, and late-1977 departure. (Rock Made in France)
• Daniel Abraham discography — Abraham identifies “Sur ma mob” as a 1979 Studio Damiens session, where he worked as an assistant. (Daniel Abraham)