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We’re very excited to have some time today with acclaimed and very rocking four-piece band, Last Train; greetings and salutations gang and thank you for taking time out of a busy schedule to speak with us here at Vents Magazine! Before we dive into the Q&Amosh-pit, could you all say ‘hi’ and introduce yourselves to our ever-inquisitive readers?
Jean-Noël: Hey there, thanks so much for having us. I’m Jean-Noël, I sing and play guitar.
Julien: I’m Julien, guitarist and noise enthusiast.
Timothée: Hey I’m Tim, I take care of the bass.
Antoine: Antoine here, I hit the drums like they owe me something. We’re Last Train, a band from France we like to say that we play a raw, elegant and honest rock.
Major kudos and accolades on your freshly-minted and crackling new single One ByOne which is lighting up record charts across the ever-loving globe even as we speak! Jean-Noël, starting at the top, can you talk about what inspired this raw frenzy of rock and roll?
Jean-Noël: Thank you—it means a lot. One By One came from a place of urgency. It’s one of the first songs where I had ideas for the lyrics before we even recorded it. I’ve always been proactive in the band, and at that point, we were under a lot of pressure while recording the LP. We were stuck between finalizing the mastering of the previous LP, which was really personal for me, editing a documentary about it, and being in the studio. I had this feeling of running out of time. I wrote the song as an empowerment anthem for myself, but also for others who feel down and overwhelmed. It came out with a lot of urgency.”
Julien, One By One also stands front-and-center on Last Train’s latest album III! Of allthe amazing tracks on the new LP, what specifically suggested to you and the other members of the band that One By One might be the focus track? Do you feel that this gem of a ditty tonally represents what audiophiles will find on the III album?
Julien: We actually had a lot of discussions together about whether One By One should be the first single from the LP. It has that catchy feeling, a strong chorus… basically all the ingredients you’d expect from a lead single. But in the end, we chose to release Home first—to surprise our audience and build some tension. Home was meant to tease, to set the mood. Then One By One came as more of a payoff, a treat. It might be the most radio-friendly track on the album, but it still carries that same tension and clinical energy we aimed for throughout the entire LP.
Timothée, who did the producing honors on the One By One tune and what did the in-studio collaboration between producer and artists look like while fashioning and shaping what would be such an integral track on the new Last Train LP III?
Tim: We’ve always worked with the same producer: Rémi Gettliffe. He’s known us since we were teenagers, so there’s none of that cliché tension between a band and a producer who doesn’t really get them. His family owns a big mansion in the south of France, and he invited us there in November 2023 to spend three weeks recording all the instrumental takes. I think that setting had a huge impact on the way the LP sounds. The mansion wasn’t built for cold weather, so we had to light fires and constantly try to stay warm. It really created this atmosphere—four people working together, trying to keep warm in a cold, empty space. It definitely shaped the mood of the album.
Antoine, in your humble opinion what differentiates One By One from the Distinguished Competition on the 2025 music scene?
Antoine: I’m not sure we’re trying to stand out in any deliberate way. What we try to do is be sincere. One By One has no tricks, no calculation. It’s handmade, heartfelt, and I think that’s something people can hear. At least it’s how we are living it on stage everytime we go for a gig. Maybe that’s what sets it apart—especially in a music landscape that can feel very polished sometimes.
Jean-Noël, in the wake of the recent release of the new Last Train album III, as well as the sizzling single One By One, can fans look forward to catching the group on the touring/performing circuit?
Jean Noël: Absolutely. Playing live is still our favorite thing. We’ve already started touring in France and across Europe, and more dates are on the way. We really enjoy coming to the UK more and more—it’s a place where we feel good, and we want to build something meaningful here with the people. For this tour, we’ve put together a setlist that blends III with some older tracks, and we’ve crafted a live show that’s more stripped-down, but still intense. We want every concert to feel like a punch in the chest—in the best possible way.
Julien, what’s the VH1-Behind the Music origin story on how Last Train came together to form the tight and harmonious group to which we hear to such potent effect on the One By One single?
Julien: We met in high school. We come from small villages where it wasn’t that common to meet another kid who liked rock music and was excited to see what might happen if he picked up a guitar. We were 13 or 14, just wanting to play loud, so we learned our instruments together.What really binds us is this long-standing friendship. We’ve done everything together—the struggles, the tours, the studios—but also all the personal stuff that life throws at you. We’ve been through it all as a group. That’s what makes us so tight today. One By One could never have existed without the ten years we’ve spent building something—just the four of us.
Timothée, the companion music video for One By One is stunning and captivating – Congrats! How involved were Last Tain in the overall look and aesthetic of the music video for the song?
Tim: Thank you! We’re very involved in everything visual that comes with our music. Actually, I’m probably not the most qualified to answer this one—Julien was the actual director of the music video.
Julien: Yeah, hahaha. For this one, we were running out of time… as always (laughs). But I remember I had this long-time dream of doing a circular traveling shot around the band for a music video. We all talked about what we wanted to capture visually, and then the idea of building that structure came up—and everything moved really fast from there. As usual, we aimed to make it feel professional, but it was definitely kind of DIY. It’s Remi’s brother and our light engineer that did all the plans and bought the materials. I have my own production company, so we rented the location, and then we all spent three days building the structure and setting up the tracking rails ourselves. It was super intense, but also a lot of fun. Everyone did their part—and more—to make it perfect.
So, as always, it turned into a full-on adventure with close friends and longtime collaborators, and I’m really proud of what came out of it.
Antoine, how is the III album similar to some of the past music of Last Tain such as The Big Picture? How is it different?
Antoine: There are similarities, of course—the melancholy, the love for strong contrasts, and the long tracks that tell a story. But III is more stripped-down; we sent the violins away. We worked a bit differently this time because our previous LPs were recorded live. This time, we recorded each part separately, one by one, to create a more clinical feeling. I think this kind of isolation, with everyone playing in their own box, gave the album its cold tension. It also opened up a whole field of experimentation for overdubs and production, which was really cool because we were more permissive with ourselves at that point. For example, on this LP, Jean-Noël sometimes mumbles or sings in falsetto—things we wouldn’t have done before because we didn’t feel legitimate or confident enough. Now, we just want to experiment and try new things.
Jean-Noël, any final thoughts you might like to leave fans with regarding the beautiful new Last Train single One By One?
Jean-Noël: We just hope people take the time to really listen. One By One, like the rest of the album, asks for attention and presence. We still believe in slowness, in duration as listeners ourselves we love this moment where a song becomes a part of your life as an Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. So thank you to everyone who’s still willing to follow us down that path. We might catch you somewhere on a gig soon.
