By Marc Loison 
Étage70 is a young Paris-based blues, blues-rock and psychedelic rock band formed by four friends brought together by the sounds of the 1960s and 1970s. Their electric blues draws on Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Albert King, while openly embracing the influence of rock ’n’ roll and seventies blues-rock. The band aims to preserve the authenticity and energy of the blues while offering a contemporary interpretation, particularly for their own generation.
Winner of the 2025 Blues sur Seine competition, Étage70 received the Blues sur Seine Newcomer Award along with support devoted to developing and promoting their project. The band has notably appeared at Blues sur Seine, Au Grès du Jazz, Jazz à Vienne, La Maison du Blues and Cup of Blues. The prize also included a stage residency at Espace Brassens and recording sessions at Le Sax in Achères.
On stage, two guitars, bass and drums carry the band from electric blues to blues-rock, with wah-wah, distortion and psychedelic passages. Marius Genelot sings the original songs in French, allowing Étage70 to bring the blues tradition into dialogue with contemporary songwriting. While awaiting a first album, the band released the videos Démodé on March 20, 2026, and Mais pourquoi on August 6, 2026.
On August 1, 2026, Étage70 won the first of the Megève Blues Festival’s two competitions before opening on the main stage that same evening for Ally Venable and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. We met four blues enthusiasts who were clearly meant to find one another.
- Marius Genelot: vocals and guitar
- Diego Le Prado: guitar
- Lucas Javault: bass and backing vocals
- Clément Guénard: drums
🎤 Étage70 interviewed by Marc Loison
We are here with Étage70: Marius, Diego, Lucas and Clément. How are you?
Marius Genelot: We are great, fantastic! Today we performed in the Megève Blues Festival competition. There were three bands, and it turns out we won!
Congratulations!
Étage70: Ah, thank you! We are so happy!
How did the four members of Étage70 meet?
Diego Le Prado: That is a big question! It began with something Marius and I wanted to do. We have been friends for a long time. We know each other from Burgundy, our home region, and our enthusiasm for music and passion for the seventies led us to move to Paris. Marius met Lucas and Clément at Cours Florent. That is how the band came together, and we began rehearsing and writing songs…
Marius Genelot: We started writing original songs straight away! (laughs)
Diego Le Prado: Exactly, and here we are today.
Which guitarists have influenced Marius and Diego the most? The Allman Brothers, for example?
Diego Le Prado: I agree, I completely agree…
Marius Genelot: I went through two phases. I started playing guitar because one day I listened to Europa by Santana, and that incredibly melodic track blew me away. I wanted the same guitar as him, the same “tone,” with lots of sustain. In fact, my first guitar was a PRS Santana, although it was an SE. I did not start out with a €6,000 guitar! (laughs)
Then, as I discovered more about the world of guitars and guitarists, I naturally went through all the stages: Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Stratocaster masters. That is when I discovered the sound I love and now try to cultivate. So I would say Santana at the very beginning, then Jimi Hendrix, followed by Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Mayer.
Diego Le Prado: For me, it was David Gilmour from Pink Floyd. I fell in love with the guitar…
One of the greatest English bluesmen! Nobody ever describes David Gilmour that way, but it is true!
Diego Le Prado: That is true, and Stevie Ray Vaughan was also a major influence, but the person who truly got me into guitar was David Gilmour…
Lucas, which bassists made you want to play?
Lucas Javault: At first, it was simply a love of music in general. I started with guitar, but what really led me to the bass was all the Japanese jazz-fusion bands such as Casiopea and T-Square, as well as a guitarist called Takanaka. I really like his compositions too. As for bassists specifically, the ones in those bands are incredible. I also developed a huge love for Jaco Pastorius and his playing… Since we met, I have also grown to love the blues. It took a little time, but then I really got into blues, folk, blues-rock and blues-jazz… And as you said, I really like the Allman Brothers and that whole vibe…
Clément, which drummers have had the greatest impact on you in blues and rock?
Clément Guénard: When it comes to blues and blues-jazz, Steve Gadd is my greatest inspiration. I got that from my father, who introduced me to him. I also really like Vinnie Colaiuta, a drummer with an enormous range of phrasing whose playing is very melodic. I have many more recent influences too, such as Steve Jordan. So yes, all the greatest drummers of the seventies and eighties have truly inspired me!
“I have always loved writing, ever since secondary school.”
A question for Marius: French artists who perform blues in French are rare. Why did you choose to sing blues-rock in French?
Marius Genelot: Well, as for French… I have always loved writing, ever since secondary school. I was terrible at maths, but I was good at French! So I have always had a soft spot for literature, reading, writing and everything connected with them. I have also always loved lyric-driven songs. I really liked Gainsbourg, Joe Dassin, Feu! Chatterton, Étienne Daho and Mickey 3D… All those French songs that, without wanting to sound too pretentious, we might call fairly “literary.” That is something I have always really enjoyed.
French is also one of the strengths of the music we make: it allows us to write lyrics with a particular flavour that English cannot necessarily provide. So I thought it would be interesting to cultivate that distinctive quality in our music and bring it closer to what I am passionate about more broadly: all that seventies blues-rock, with its fairly raw, very live sound. I thought, why not try to bring the two together? Apparently, we are not doing too badly… (laughs)
Within that tradition, are there any French blues singers who perform in French whom you have particularly listened to and enjoyed, or none at all?
Marius Genelot: Personally, none. I have never listened to any bluesman singing in French.
Not yet?
Marius Genelot: Not yet, but I have heard a lot about Paul Personne. Just last night, people also recommended some French bluesmen to me, including you, in fact, with Patrick Verbeke and Benoit Blue Boy. I am going to listen to them, but I did not know them at all. I would say that, lyrically, my inspiration does not come from the blues at all. It really comes from the French chanson tradition…
“It is our own bubble, our own place.”
Why did you choose that particular name for the band? Where does “Étage70” come from?
Marius Genelot: That is a real question! Étage70 is made up of “Étage” and “70.” Why 70? Because I think it represents something that brings all of us together, whether it is Lucas with his jazz-fusion influences, or Clément, Diego and me with blues-rock, rock or jazz. It was an extremely prolific era, so the number is symbolic for us and something we wanted to highlight. As for “Étage,” or “floor,” we found it quite evocative. It is like a bubble, a metaphor for all our influences. It is our own bubble, our own place. That is what it suggests: our little world, with our songs, where we like to be…
How did you develop your look around that, with your hairstyles and clothes?
Lucas Javault: That was the stylist, Diego! At the beginning, when we met, he established the visual direction for our clothes. He told us, “Right, this is how it is going to be!” He made us fall in love with seventies style! When Clément and I met them, we had short hair…
Marius Genelot: I had long hair tied back.
Diego Le Prado: Marius had long hair tied back, a bit like SCH! It really was… (laughs)
How do you divide the songwriting within the band? Is it solely your work as the singer, or is it also a collective effort?
Marius Genelot: Most of the songs we have, including quite a few still sitting in a drawer, often begin with lyrics or chord progressions that I bring to rehearsals or to times we spend together. Usually, I bring ideas and put them to the others: “What do you think? I have this idea.” Then everyone contributes something, a little of their personality. In the end, it produces something fairly cohesive to which everyone has contributed. We have other tracks that came from Diego, for example, and we followed the same process. He brought in a foundation, and then we all added our own ideas according to our individual perspectives.
Diego Le Prado: Ultimately, what we would like is to have a place where we could create together all the time and really have the time to build songs together. Usually, things get going, and we might be able to do a week-long residency somewhere at some point…
Marius Genelot: We have already done that, but it still costs a fair amount of money.
Diego Le Prado: In fact, one week is not enough. The problem in Paris is…
Come to Normandy, there are inexpensive places!
Marius Genelot: Yes, but having somewhere in Paris or the nearby suburbs would allow us to get together properly and create in greater depth without having to spend two hours on the RER or too much money. At the moment, we are somewhat constrained by time and money…
Apart from your own songs, did you play covers when the band first started?
Marius Genelot: Oh yes! (laughs)
Very briefly, which artists did you focus on at the time?
Étage70: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana, John Mayer. Johnny Guitar Watson too… A special mention for the Caveau des Oubliettes and the blues jams hosted by Jo Champagnon, which really steered us towards a certain style that only he masters in that way!
Jo Champagnon, who has also been Boney Fields’ regular guitarist forever!
Étage70: And Charles Pasi too…
And Antoine Holler at one point…
Marius Genelot: Yes, exactly!
You know all those guys!
Marius Genelot: Those jams also played a major part in shaping us. We had just formed the band and said to ourselves, “We are going there. Having a blues jam like that is incredible,” and it blew us away. We are still very happy to go back!
Did winning the Blues sur Seine competition mark a turning point in your career?
Lucas Javault: Yes. First of all, feeling that we had received some recognition made us happy. Then there were the additional dates organised by the festival and the support programme. All those opportunities to perform, for example with Nina Attal or Bertrand Belin, really helped us develop far more than we otherwise could have. We gained access to some truly excellent stages…
We heard that you caused a sensation at Jazz à Vienne on June 27. Tell us about it.
Marius Genelot: It was a wonderful moment, and we were truly honoured to perform at Jazz à Vienne. Clément and I are from Lyon, and I had attended the festival as a spectator for several years: Herbie Hancock, Joe Bonamassa, Kingfish and so on… I was quite familiar with the blues nights. Some time ago, before we won the competition, I told the guys that my goal was for us to perform at Jazz à Vienne and that, after that, I would be the happiest person alive. So we performed on the Cybèle stage. It was a real privilege and a true honour!
The Megève Blues Festival has become a major event for European blues fans. In your opinion, what makes it unique compared with other festivals?
Marius Genelot: I would say the quality of the line-up. The artists they manage to bring here… That is the foundation of the festival’s overall quality. Everything else then lives up to the quality of the artists who are here.
What are your plans and goals for the coming months? Is an album in the works?
Marius Genelot: On August 6, a shuffle in French, for anyone who is interested.
Will you be releasing singles every three months?
Marius Genelot: For now, that is more or less the momentum we have built. Once we have raised enough money to record an album, we will get started. We already have all the material for it. We are going to begin with singles. Perhaps another one for Blues sur Seine in November…
So you are playing at Blues sur Seine again in November. Do you already know who with? Has it been confirmed?
Marius Genelot: We have heard a little about the dates we might have. I do not yet know whether they are final or what I can and cannot say… We may have five dates, although they will not all be actual “dates.” In particular, we will host a jam. I still count it as one of the five opportunities we will have to take the stage during the festival. I believe there will also be two great support slots, including one for Jessie Lee and the Alchemist, with Yarol Poupaud as a guest. And then there is the jam we should be hosting. We hope to see lots of you there! It will be a little like our own Caveau des Oubliettes in Mantes-la-Jolie for Blues sur Seine 2026…
“Trying to share it with as many people as possible is one of our goals.”
Marc Loison: What final message would you like to share with Blues Actu’s listeners and readers?
Étage70: Keep listening to blues and rock. I would say that it is by all remaining united behind this music and keeping it alive, as we can see this evening at festivals such as the Megève Blues Festival, Blues sur Seine and Jazz à Vienne, that we can ensure it endures and bring it to generations or people who may not know it. Trying to introduce it to as many people as possible, in all its forms, including blues-rock and psychedelia, is one of our goals. That is especially true for people of our generation. It is not necessarily our generation’s music, but if we can help it become so, even just a little, then we will have succeeded!
Étage70: Music is a pleasure first and foremost. But then you turn it into something serious…
Étage70: To keep the blues alive and ensure that this style, and the energy it conveys, endure, because it has a very special energy. And to return to what Marius was saying, the idea is also to reach our generation and those to come. I think all of us hope deep down that seventies rock will one day experience a revival and come back into fashion. It would be fantastic to see people dancing to it in clubs. There are hardly any rock clubs left today…
That was Étage70. Thank you, guys, and see you soon!
Étage70: Thank you very much!