Indochine is a French rock band, formed in 1981.
Indochine was created in May 1981 by two young men in their early twenties, Nicola Sirkis and Dominique Nicolas. It only took them a few months to write their first songs. They soon took on Dimitri Bodianski, the cousin of one of Nicola’s friends.
They gave their first concert at "Le Rose bonbon", a café in Paris on 29 September 1981. This brief performance on stage earned them their first contract with a record company.
They recorded their first single in November 1981. It included 2 songs, Dizzidence Politik and Françoise, but drew more attention from critics than from the media and only reached a limited audience.
Stéphane Sirkis, Nicola Sirkis’s twin brother who had already performed with the band on stage officially joined the band and, in April 1982, the quartet supported another band, Taxi Girl, on stage. The Indochine following increased after each of their turns on stage, to the extent that Taxi Girl’s manager decided to remove them from the Paris tour. The group then recorded their first album: L'aventurier, which sold more than 250 000 copies. The album was well received by the press and by a young new wave audience.
In 1983, Indochine released a second album entitled Le péril jaune which sold 225 000 copies. Indochine had now become one of the big players. In 1984, Indochine toured all over France. They were also successful in Scandinavia.
By 1985, they had conquered an audience which encompassed all generations with such songs as 3e sexe, Canary Bay, or 3 nuits par semaine all of which caused a sensation. Their third album, 3, sold 750 000 copies in Europe. Serge Gainsbourg directed the video to Tes yeux noirs, one of the group’s most successful songs.
