Who was Frank Darcel, the soul of Marquis de Sade, found dead on a beach in Spain?

Frank Darcel was found dead on a beach in Spain, Thursday March 14, 2024. We are bringing forward this article dating from September 15, 2017.

Marquis de Sade. It was necessary to dare, at the end of the 70s, to name a rock group by the name of a writer as sulphurous as that of the author of Justine. And yet, Frank Darcel and his cronies did it. And they managed to make him one of the major figures in the history of French rock. Marquis de Sade brought a new wind to the French music scene. More than thirty-six years after their separation, the group reformed for an exceptional concert, Saturday September 16, 2017, in Rennes. Tickets have been sold out for months. Without advertising and without promotion.

A protean artist, Frank Darcel, 65 years old, was with singer Philippe Pascal the heart of this group. Musician, writer, musical historian and even politician involved in the Breton Party, an autonomist, non-violent movement, which nevertheless propelled him as political advisor to the town hall of Rennes. But his militant commitment to Brittany, to which he is viscerally attached, has never made him forget his love of music.

The idea of ​​reforming a group so many years after its cessation is always a bit of a crazy gamble, especially when it comes to bringing back the original members, some of whom haven't played for ages... One of they even became an executive at the Penitentiary in Brittany... “We met in 2014 with Philippe Pascal,” explained the guitarist, on the occasion of the visit to Rennes of Pascal Obispo and Étienne Daho. And for good reason, the two stars gravitated around Marquis de Sade in their early days. The idea of ​​doing a unique concert again had begun to germinate in people's minds. Rehearsals are scheduled. “It wasn’t easy at first. We had to relearn quite a few things,” confided Darcel. No matter, the spirit remained intact.

Starting your own band, for teenagers, is classic rock. We are in 1977, punk is bringing a new wind to music. “With punk, everything became possible. All you had to do was pick up a guitar. It was the reset of all music,” analyzed Frank Darcel. But to truly exist, you had to have something to say, something to play. This was the case of Marquis de Sade. The Rennais brought something extra: a style, a sound, a universe. Marquis de Sade immediately made an impression. It wasn't until a few months ago that the name was already known, first in Brittany then in the rest of the country. The reputation was also due to its charismatic singer, endowed with a stage performance which combines jerky gestures with the figure of a hallucinated pantomime.

Frank Darcel composed and was musical director of the ensemble. Nothing predestined him for a musical career. The son of a doctor, he was preparing, without much enthusiasm, to take the paternal path. But he doesn't wake up for a vital exam for his passage into third year. “The perfect failed act,” he sums up. He uses this as an excuse to abandon his medical career and concentrate on music.

“Very quickly, we wanted to move beyond classic punk rock. From 1978, I tried to find a different guitar sound,” he said. In November, the first models for an album were already beginning to suggest the influence of a stay of several months in New York. The very personal texts of Philippe Pascal will complete the set. “There, we knew that we had a sound of our own.” In 1979, the first album was recorded. The concerts keep coming. A participation in the flagship rock show of the time, “Chorus” by Antoine de Caunes, made an impression. The group performs there with, as opening act, The Cure…

But from the release of the first album, the seeds of division were felt. Frank Darcel, influenced by the American group Talking Heads and Joy Division, moves towards more danceable music, less black than the first album. And in fact, the second album, Rue de Siam, already shows an evolution in this direction. A divergence with Philippe Pascal which put an end to the group's destiny in 1981. But Frank Darcel did not stop there. He immediately founded another group, Octobre, with whom he made two albums and continued to tour throughout France. A young singer begins to point the end of his microphone in this scene in Rennes: Étienne Daho. Darcel produced the first albums and even collected a few hits including the title Tombé pour la France, in 1985. He repeated the experience with another young musician, Pascal Obispo. They will even play in a group (Senso). Here too, Darcel is behind in his early days. “I immediately felt he had something.”

It was then that in the 90s he was contacted by a Portuguese record company who asked him if he would produce a local group. He went to Lisbon with his family and fell in love with the city and its people. He will experience success there by producing groups and singers. He stayed there for almost ten years. In 2000, he returned to France. And, while he was producing an Alan Stivell album in the studio, a fire alarm exploded his eardrums: which caused him to live with persistent tinnitus. For almost five years, he no longer touched his guitars and even stayed away from all music. He took the opportunity to write two novels, with more critical than commercial success. It was also at this time that he got involved in politics. At the town hall of Rennes, as political advisor to the Breton Party, of which he is one of the leaders. He also writes the history of rock in Brittany.

Eventually, he managed to overcome his tinnitus. And, at 52, he started a new group with a predestined name: Republik. With two albums from the group, a new musical adventure began. He held the guitar there and sang. With his voice both soft and powerful, his refined compositions, he embodied the past and the future of rock in Brittany. And probably also in France.

1958 Born in Loudéac (Côtes-d’Armor).

1977 Founds the Marquis de Sade group with Philippe Pascal.

1984 After the dissolution of the group, in 1981, he produced the album La notte, la notte by Étienne Daho.

2005 Publishes his first novel, Le Dériveur (Flammarion).

2014 Runs on a Breton autonomist list for Rennes town hall.

2017Marquis de Sade is reborn for a concert in Rennes, September 16.

2024 Death at age 65. Frank Darcel was found dead on a beach in Galicia