The uncompromising duo Demi Lune and Jean Divorce discuss their recent release and stage performances.

DVTR is a Montreal-based duo formed by Demi Lune and Jean Divorce, active in the francophone punk and experimental scene. Their work combines short-loop structures, minimal gear, and confrontational live sets. Their debut EP BONJOUR (2023) led to international performances and the 2025 GAMIQ Award for Breakout Artist. In May 2025, they released Couleur peau (Your Next Token Asian Friend) via Lisbon Lux Records.

Title: Couleur peau
Artist: DVTR
Genres: Experimental Music, Garage Rock, Punk Rock
Label: Lisbon Lux Records
Description: Interview with DVTR on Couleur peau, international shows, the Montreal punk scene, and themes of identity. Released via Lisbon Lux Records, May 2025.

Featured image: Ariana Molly

What first led you to create music together?

I’d say we wanted to keep it really simple. We’ve been doing music for a long time, and now we just want to keep it quick, simple.

We like to party, have fun, and not overthink things. We’ve been doing this for the past two years. We might be starting to overthink—no, not the next songs—because we maybe want to evolve into something else for the next steps, but we’re not there yet. Right now, we’re just touring the first songs we made.

For the past two years, it’s been really simple, nice, and easy. That’s our motto, I would say.

Which artists or scene had the strongest impact on your earliest work?

Well, that’s actually interesting because we discovered a band from Spain a few years ago—Prison Affair. I think they’re from Barcelona. They were pretty simple, in your face, really short songs. I think they recorded everything live with a four-track. That was really inspiring.

At the beginning, we wanted to make really intense, bassy, weird, crunchy-sounding music. But the more we worked on the songs, we realized we were a bit more pop, so we didn’t go that far. Still, they were definitely an inspiration in terms of that trashy cassette sound.

How did the idea for DVTR originally form?

It was just because we were doing music together with another band, and we would fuck shit up pretty intense during the shows. Me and Demi right here, we love to just, you know, go in the crowd and break stuff and jump around.

So we decided to kind of do a new band that’s focused on the energy and the attitude, and just doing crazy shows where we can do anything we want and let people just, you know, dance and mosh pit like they want.

Can you describe the atmosphere of the Montreal franco punk scene when you began performing?

Well, actually, right now in Montreal—I don’t know if you know a lot of bands from Montreal—but there’s a nice new scene, especially in the kind of rock, garage rock, and punk scene. And that’s really interesting.

A lot of bands travel abroad and do shows outside of Canada, so I think it’s a pretty good scene on the international aspect right now. There are a lot of venues, a lot of festivals.

But I would say Montreal is not as lively as it was some years ago. Still, we do have a lot of bands right now that are making a lot of noise outside of Canada, and that’s really inspiring.

Did they support you initially?

We had some support from older cult rock bands like Vulgaire Machin, a huge rock band from Quebec. They invited us for opening acts.

Right now we have Xavier Café as well. So a lot of people are inviting us for opening acts—even Wine Lips, which is a great band.

So it’s really cool for us to get into the scene with the help of people who’ve paved the way.

Is there a theme that connects the songs on Bonjour?

I’d say the first song we did was mainly about globalization, which is DVTR, D’où Vient Ton Riz—so, “Where does your rice come from?”

That might be one of the main aspects of the EP. But we basically just think about anything that makes us angry or gives us emotions, and we go ahead and write without overthinking.

So it’s pretty varied, I guess, but to me, globalization is kind of a main topic.

Has the way you collaborate changed over time or do you still work the same way you did at the beginning?

We’re trying to expand a bit. We used to just work at home, really alone, and try to do everything ourselves. But as the band is getting a bit bigger, we kind of have to—and want to—take it a step higher and maybe get help from friends and people we know.

Right now we’re working with a couple of people, like producers, to explore new things. So, yeah, we used to be all alone and wanted it that way, but now we feel like trying new stuff.

How has your international touring experience, including performances in Mexico and France, influenced your musical direction?

Well, I guess we’ve seen that, surprisingly, nobody cares if we speak French or not.

We found out that lyrics are a bonus. A lot of people don’t understand us during the show—and they don’t care at all. They just jump around and have fun. So the energy kind of transpires outside of the themes and the lyrics.

That’s interesting because it puts less weight on the lyrical aspect of the music. Also, we’ve played with so many bands in Japan, Mexico, and Europe, so we see a lot of what’s happening outside of Canada.

That’s interesting as well, because we see so many good bands, and obviously it gives us a lot of ideas on where to go to be really cool.

How did you choose the title Couleur peau, and what were the initial ideas connected to it?

So this is basically about Demi Lune when she was young.

In French, we have a concept—Couleur peau—which means “skin color.” And for French people, it usually means beige, like my skin, white skin.

Demi Lune is half Vietnamese, and her skin has a different tone. So it felt really weird when she was young and teachers would ask her to take out the Crayolas for skin color—if that makes sense. We just tried to make a song about this—how Crayola basically tells kids that the standard skin is white skin.

Apart from the color theme, it also addresses the tokenism we see in a lot of scenes—festivals, radio shows, etc.—where there’s a push to force diversity in their content.

So yeah, sometimes, if you’re a minority, you can feel like a token.

Are there spaces or locations that feel essential to DVTR’s development?

Well, we’ve done so many shows everywhere that—it’s going to sound really cheesy—but to me, it’s the stage. Anytime we get on stage, we reconnect, and it’s so great.

We have so much fun. Any stage, anywhere. Whenever we do shows, it’s the best.

So I wouldn’t say there’s a specific city or place. As long as we can be somewhere and play, everything’s great.

If the question was, “Do you prefer the stage or the studio?” we’d definitely say the stage. For us, making music is a means to an end—and the end is doing a lot of shows.

What concepts are you interested in exploring in your upcoming releases?

Well, I think we’re going to be a bit less into the DIY.

It used to be just one guitar, one drum machine, and one vocal track. We really just wanted to party and keep it simple. Now, I think we might be a bit more ambitious.

As usual, we won’t be limited by any style or genre. Right now, we’re focused on playing shows and getting the maximum out of the short EP we released. Once that’s done, we’ll head into the studio for a long time and try to find new inspiration.

So we don’t know yet—that would be the answer.

Photos courtesy of DVTR

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others