Derived from the Japanese word, Shoboshobo, meaning a drowsy, soggy mood, is a bold and slightly odd name used by the Parisian artist, Mehdi Hercberg. The mysterious connotations of the name make us wonder what Shoboshobo is all about. The mastermind behind Shoboshobo, Mehdi is one of many respected and outstanding artists who have contributed to the heat wave traveling across the underworld of art and music. From publishing zines to organizing workshops of colourful drawings, his energetic, DIY attitude suggests that perhaps Shoboshobo simply likes doing something fun & odd. On the contrary, when we visited Mehdi at his studio in the 12e arrondissement, he talked to us in a reserved, soft manner while quietly working on a design for their sweatshirts, cutting detailed parts with scissors. Maybe this is what sums up the world of Shoboshobo.

Looking at your website, we can see that you work on many different projects but it's also quite mysterious as well. Can you tell us who's actually involved in Shoboshobo?

Shoboshobo is mainly my project, doing drawings, organising workshops and putting out zines and sweatshirts but I get other artists involved too for shows and zines for example.

Shoboshobo means drowsy or sulky in Japanese. Were you in this kind of mood when you started Shoboshobo?

I lived one year in Japan and when I got back to Paris, a bunch of Japanese artist friends came for a tour in Europe(Takagi Masakatsu,Takamasa Aoki,Lozi,Phirip and Hirono Nishiyama). After they did the whole tour, they wanted to do one last show, so I organised it for them at the school I was working at that time called Ecole Dupere. As all of them were very tired and wasted, when we were looking for a name for that party, Phirip, one of the artists came up with "Shoboshobo" party. The name stayed. I like it because the feeling associated to it is uncertain and a bit negative. I like it also because it's an onomatopoeic word which I love!

When did you start Shoboshobo?

About 10 years ago. Just after I came back from Japan. The time I spent in Japan was really important for me. I think the reason why I started Shoboshobo was pretty much because of that. It kind of changed my life.

Can you tell us a bit about the Onsen (Hotspring) tour you had in Japan?

Yeah, I did that in 2005 and 2008. I painted a tour bus and we traveled all over Japan except Hokkaido and Okinawa. Together with my friends, we organised workshops and music shows, and of course went to Onsen too. We had our own PA system and recorded the sound of different places, then played them live. We did that in Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo while the guys were trading. We made them very angry by messing up with their trade and got kicked out!

You are also doing lots of music shows too. Can you tell us about your bands, Moishe Moishe Moishele and MEC?

I share this studio with another guy called Vincent Tordjman and I play music with him in a band called Moishe Moishe Moishele. It's acid house, hasidic music. So we are dressed as Rabbis. Moische means Moses and Moischele means Little Moses as one of us is quite small. Another band I do is called MEC. In French, MEC means 'dude' or 'mate'. It's also an acronym for 'Motard En Colere', which means Angry Biker. So we have helmets, quite regular ones but stinky! There is a microphone inside. The music is pretty harsh. We would shout things like "Arrrgh my tires are flat!" or "Oh that big truck pisses me off!".

(Left) Moische Moishe Moishele (Right) MEC

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