LISTERINE - Scrubbing Out The Filth ! (France - Fast Hardcore/Punk - Interview with Mathieu).

Hello ! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music? 
My name is Mathieu, I play bass in Listerine and I started listening to punk rock and other affiliated genres when I was 15 or something, I was an unhappy teenager, feeling like an outcast, usual story you know. I was not really interested in music before taking the whole skate punk / neo-metal wave in the face. I quickly got into it and started digging... discovered old school punk then oi!, hardcore etc...then I started playing bass with high school friends,  met more people, played in a few bands... and here I am 20 years later or something and still into it!

Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
Well I've known Matheo (the singer) for five years now, we met thanks to a mutual friend who's been setting up punk shows in Paris for ages. I had left the country and the scene for a few years for various reasons and I was starting to get back into music, playing with my other band Guimauve. Matheo and I were going to a lot of punk shows together, then I met Marmot (guitar), a friend of his, and they were both thinking of setting up a hardcore punk band, I wanted to play some real fast classic hardcore punk, something different than in Guimauve which is darker, heavier and more d-beat oriented, so we agreed on the idea of a band together. I started writing songs and we started looking for a drummer at the end of 2023 / beginning of 2024. We did a few rehearsals with Quentin but he was too busy with Abolition (great street punk band from Paris, check them out !) to really get involved in another project so Baptiste (who had joined Guimauve a few months before) joined us and we started the band, for real.

Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
The idea is to play classic fast hardcore punk in the veins of No Way Records bands from the 2000s but with "melodies" here and there... AND sung in French!  It's a lot about the speed and the energy. Not so many bands play this kind of hardcore punk in France these days, especially sung in French, so just out of curiosity go check it out.

Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences ? How important are the lyrics for you ? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics ? 
So I'm really inspired by American hardcore punk bands (mostly old school DC and california HxC) but also bands from the 2000s which were on No Way Records or Grave Mistake Records and more recent bands like Total Sham or Jailbird but also old school Anarcho punk bands... I write down a few basslines and come up with a song structure, then Baptiste and I work on it together as a bass and drums "duo", then Marmot adds the guitar parts and Matheo adds the lyrics.
Matheo writes all the lyrics so I can't talk for him but I would say that they're mostly about feeling like shit, war and violence. We're not a fun band!

About your latest release ? 
We just released our debut album by the end of march! We first recorded 5 songs in 2024 that we released as a digital demo on bandcamp under the name "Dents & Gencives" then we recorded 6 new songs in 2025. The old and new songs were all mixed in 2025 again so they "sound" like they were recorded at the same time and well, 5+6=11 songs, here is our album! We recorded everything at the Re.Volte Studio (@re.volte.studio) which is Vincent's (Guimauve singer) home studio, it's a total DIY thing. The artwork was made by Juan (@_juan_tx_), a mexican artist who did such a great job, we love it!
We made 330 copies of the 12", one third for NunchakuPunk (from Finland), one third for Tranzophobia Records (aka LaFrancePue) and one third for us. Get in touch with them or any other punk distro to get the record (or get in touch with us!).
We also released a video for two of our songs (Silence & Discipline, Révolte), made by Louisence, a friend of us.

Future plans ? 
Just like every band around we just wanna play shows everywhere we can and record more hardcore punk songs!

Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
I have been to the K-town festival so many times, it's my favourite festival, to play there would be a dream come true! 

Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ? 
I don't think we really had terrible live experiences, most of our shows were all right. I would say that our best concerts were our first show when all our friends came support us and went total crazy (you can see that in the video we made for the song Piloris) and the show we played a few days ago for the album release party, it was crowded and a lot of fun!

Next live-appearance(s) ?
We will play in Switzerland in May, in Geneva at l'Usine and in Bienne for the Loud Not Proud festival.

Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name ? 
We're really close to Abolition, Turquoise, Barren?, Zevk (RIP?), Ansiax (RIP), Effondrement, Faillite, Ovearth, Blob on Nälkä, Crash Test etc... The paris hardcore punk scene is not huge and bands are coming and going but shows happen (quite a lot I would say) and most of the time it's crowded so it's great. The main issue is the lack of venues, a lot of them had to close or were shut down (mostly because of noise and saftey regulations...) and independant, punk venues are really really rare...

Last word is yours.. 
Well thanks a lot for taking interest in our band, go support the DIY punk scene and make a lot of angry music!
See you in the pit!