MUMBAI: French rock duo The Inspector Cluzo has been in the music scene since 2008 and has already toured 44 countries. When the organisers of the festival – Bacardi NH7 Weekender visited French Export Music administrative centre and were introduced to French mainstream pop bands, the only band that caught their attention was The Inspector Cluzo. Comprising only two members – Laurent Lacrouts and Matthew Jordan, the band has seen global acclaim due to its infusion of funk and rock, especially, gaining them immense popularity in Japan.

The duo will begin their World Fall Tour 2014 with India, when they will perform at the NH7 Weekender Kolkata edition on 2 November. From there, they will go on to play at the blueFROG branches of Pune and Mumbai, finally ending their India tour with the Bangalore edition of NH7 music festival on 9 November. Their India tour will be followed by a tour of Japan, about which Lacrouts commented, "We have a unique relationship with our Japanese fans."

They began their 'big live stage' career with Fuji Rock Festival, which, they said, is also their best gig experience. Jordan said, "It all started there. They are the most reliable fans in the world. They are a very difficult crowd and extremely selective, but when they love you, they love you for life. They feel faster than other crowds and prefer singular/original bands."

"When we went there for Fuji Rock, we were unknown but, the audience went nuts. When we went there again after five years, they were all there, ready for us again. It was so touching that we will never forget those experiences."

The band expressed, "We want to visit as many countries as possible. We are not only focused on European countries and want to explore as much as we can. India has always been one of the countries we wanted to tour, and after playing in China and Japan, coming to India was an easy decision."

Following the philosophy of 'Do it yourself', the duo does not have a band manager, agent or label backing them. They proudly declare that they are professional farmers and have always been inspired by nature and natural living. Jordan quipped that they named themselves 'The Inspector Cluzo' as a reference to the 'Pink Panther' character and their heavy French accents.

With an EP and four albums to their credit, the two sold more than 50,000 copies of their first two albums in less than three years. In their latest album, 'Gasconha Rocks', they sing about "fields, the farms that feed people and its importance, and respecting farmers who are doing the most beautiful job on the earth."

In most of their records, they make an effort to sing for the cause of the farmers and the value of organic food. Lacrouts explained, "We have to fight for the right of people to feed themselves with free seeds and not buy from the multinational food industries like Monsanto (American multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation)."

In spite of being only a two member live act, critics have frequently praised the duo for delivering a 'large' sound, without any help of computers or tech gadgets. Lacrouts said, "We have been playing together for 21 years now, even though we formed the band six years ago. We know each other perfectly and understand each other so well that we do not feel the need to expand the group."The pair revealed that they already have 14 new songs that will be recorded early next year and released as soon as possible. During their current tour, they will be promoting 'Gasconha Rocks'.

They said, "We will be playing an extremely long version of 'Black Spirit'; it will be intense and improvised. We do not have a set list, but will be mixing all our hits from all the albums, randomly. We decide the orders of the songs we want to play, on the stage itself, depending on the atmosphere or the audience."

They concluded by saying, "We are really excited to discover and understand Indian culture and are hoping to be surprised. That is the goal of this group – meeting different people and sharing culture. Hopefully, we will also get to catch a lot of Indian music since we are really curious about what we will hear there."