Music
The life and times of Flat Eric
Before Mr Oizo’s puppet pal returns in RBMA’s Paris Now! series, delve into this storied career.
Flat Eric returns in Being Flat
© Quentin Dupieux
Quentin Dupieux and his alter-ego Mr Oizo have both been busy over the past 15 years. Dupieux has been making acclaimed (and bonkers) films, such as Rubber and Steak, while Mr Oizo has carried on releasing playful techno and house EPs and albums, loaded with laughter-inducing sounds, for Ed Banger. But what about Dupieux's world-famous creation, that headbanging yellow creature called Flat Eric?
Eric is about to make his comeback in Dupieux's contribution to Red Bull Music Academy's five-part web series Paris Now!, directing a play about his and creator Mr Oizo's life starring Eastbound And Down's Steve Little. But what exactly has Flat Eric been up to all these years?
The first sighting of Flat Eric
Flat Eric's first appearance – in fact, Eric was called Stéphane at this point – was in the video for Mr Oizo's second-ever release for FCommunications, M Seq, way back in 1998. Stéphane wasn't quite the yellow furball we all came to know and love, but Gallic house legend Laurent Garnierspotted the potential of Oizo's Eric and spread the word.
Flat Eric becomes a global superstar
The official video for Mr Ozio's Flat Beat – and the Levi's ad in which Flat Eric rolled through the streets in a Chevrolet Chevelle, sipping juice – took the world by storm. Thanks to Flat Eric's cuddly demeanour and crazy headbanging, we all became huge fans of Mr Oizo's dirty house, which sounded like a wasp stuck in a glass jar.
Tough times for Flat Eric
Flat Eric popped up to promote US children's TV show Construction Site, made by Eric's builders the Jim Henson Company, at the turn of the noughties, and he sat on David Brent's desk in The Office for a while. But then nothing, nada, for years. Imagine our alarm, then, when poor old Eric turned up being sliced in homage to Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali's 1928 film Un Chien Andalou on the cover of Mr Oizo's 2008 album Lamb's Anger.
Flat Eric's midlife crisis
It wasn't until we saw Flat Eric on the road, Easy Rider style, that we knew he was still alive. Perhaps Flat Eric was going through a midlife crisis at this point. He ditched four wheels for two and got himself locked up in prison. Still, he was in the capable hands of another star enjoying a break from his own superstar career, Pharrell Williams.
Flat Eric takes up chessFlat Eric obviously did some thinking while he was in the slammer because he got very, very good at chess. Here he is, in a promo video for Mr Oizo's Stade 3 EP from 2012, out-playing US actor William Fichtner before his record player gets stuck. Despite his trials and tribulations, Eric is thankfully still a dance music nut.
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