Fresh from their debut French performance at Rock En Seine, the California post-punk crew Provoker discuss warehouse narratives, magic tricks, and their plans for theatrical live shows…

Words & photos by Felix Bartlett | Aug 29, 2025

---

The heat was oppressive at Rock En Seine, but for Provoker’s Christian and Jonathan, their first-ever French performance was worth sweating through. Speaking to us in Paris following their festival debut, the California crew were buzzing after a slew of epic UK shows and a set that involved more than met the eye…

“It was our first time to play in France at all, and it was great,” Jonathan reflects on their Rock En Seine set. “The crowd was great. The heat actually wasn’t that bad. I feel like maybe we were kind of shaded.”

Christian had a different experience battling the festival’s notorious temperatures. “I was pretty hot,” he laughs. “I went out into the crowd a couple of times, and I was like, wow, this is what’s happening over here. Like, this is hot. This is not good.”

The Paris show wrapped up a successful run of UK dates that saw the band play Dublin, Manchester, Glasgow, and London, their first proper UK tour. For Christian, the Manchester crowd provided an unexpected moment that genuinely moved him.

“Manchester was the first UK crowd and they started to chant the Dark Angel guitar riff,” he recalls, still clearly amazed. “I was blown away by that. I didn’t think that was ever going to be a thing, but it was really sick.”

“Yeah, no one’s ever done that before,” Jonathan chimes in. “That was the first time. It was a lot of fun. London was great. Glasgow was great.”

The European adventure continued with a train journey to Paris. “We took the train to Paris, which was the first time,” Jonathan says. “That was pretty fun. Yeah, it’s been great. Everyone’s been super nice. Super supportive.”

“I get chills pretty easily, to be honest,” Christian adds with a grin. “But yeah, it was amazing.”

Provoker have built their reputation on cinematic music videos that feel like mini horror films, complete with elaborate storylines and dramatic visuals. When asked about how they create these narratives, Christian reveals a surprisingly personal process.

“The stories usually just come from when I isolate myself and I just think about a funny story or an interesting story,” he explains. “And a lot of times it’ll come from a real feeling that I have like, regret or feeling some sort of loss in my life. And I’ll create a story around that.”

He points to their track “Replay” as a perfect example: “Replay is about a man preserving his wife. And that’s basically just about regret and wanting to do more for someone that you didn’t have the chance to. So it comes out in different ways like that.”

But not every song is born out of Christian’s mind, instead he has worked with local creatives to bring fresh takes on their ever expanding cinematic discography. “Another Boy was different because we didn’t have anything in mind for that one video-wise, because usually we kind of have video ideas based off of the lyrics,” Christian explains. “But Another Boy was more just kind of personal, so there wasn’t really a story involved in that one.”

Without their usual narrative framework to work with, the band had to take a different approach and instead worked with Femina Films, a creative production company run by sisters Andrea Riba and Sofia Riba, who “came up with the pitch for Another Boy, and we thought it was really cool.”

Even “Pantomime”, which Christian considers their biggest track, had to undergo some creative adjustments. “The story for Pantomime was a little bit too grand. It was supposed to be like a sort of baroque kind of song, like Victorian era, like almost like a Hunchback of Notre Dame or something. But we couldn’t pull that off. So we went with the bouncy house.”

The duo’s move from San Lorenzo in the Bay Area to Los Angeles transformed how they work, even if their creative process remained charmingly unconventional.

“When we first moved there, we lived together, and just us being in close proximity every day, we were able to write and talk about it,” Jonathan explains. “It’s kind of funny because I feel like even though we were living together, we were writing separately in our bedrooms, and then we would send each other stuff from our bedrooms and never really be in the same room.”

Despite the bedroom-based workflow, the move proved incredibly productive. “We got a lot of work done living together. And also, just like now that we all live in LA, we’re able to all work together. We have a lot of friends there,” Jonathan continues. “Before we would just come down and visit and work with our friends, but now that we all live there, we could just hang out. It’s really easy to make stuff. So it’s super convenient and productive.”

Working with producer Kenny Beats was a game-changer for Provoker’s sound, particularly on “Pantomime.” Jonathan recalls how the collaboration took Christian’s original demo to another level entirely.

“Christian brought a demo, which I don’t even remember how the original demo really sounded, but it was completely different,” he says. “We kind of changed some of the keys, there’s some minor notes that we threw in there. So it sounded way creepier. And then our friend Remy helped us with some guitar. Once we gave that to Kenny, he’s the one that kind of made it sound really big.”

“Kenny Beats really made it so big and just put it all together,” Christian agrees.

Perhaps the most surprising revelation is Christian’s passion for magic, which he’s increasingly weaving into Provoker’s live performances.

“I started magic when I was like 13 and I just kind of always kept up with it,” he reveals. “But I have gotten more in touch with it as we started doing live shows because it’s just something to do on stage. It’s fun and I enjoy it.”

The magic isn’t just a hobby, it’s becoming central to their live show vision. “I want to do more insane magic tricks on stage. I’m trying to get sawn in half,” Christian says with genuine excitement.

“We expect next time we come back, I’m gonna disappear in smoke,” he continues, clearly relishing the theatrical possibilities.

Their ambitions extend beyond magic tricks to full stage production. “We want to have a crazy looking stage at some point,” Christian explains. “More importantly, I think, than more instrumentation, we want to have stage stuff.”

For now, though, they’re content with their current setup. “It’d be really cool to bring in more instrumentation in the future, but I think it’s working right now. It’s three people and the backing track. It feels good. We’re like a well-oiled machine at this point. So I don’t know if we want to change anything just yet. We’ll get the visuals up next time.”

With several unreleased tracks sitting in their vault, Provoker fans won’t have to wait long for new material.

“We do have songs that are essentially done. They probably just need to be mixed and mastered,” Jonathan reveals. “We have a few more that are almost there, but I think we just need to decide which ones we want to put together for something, either a single or something more than that.”

The timeline is ambitious: “I think we’re going to try to put out something. We’d like to put out something before the end of the year, if not next year.”

As for dream collaborations, the duo aren’t shy about aiming high. Jonathan mentions David Lynch as “a huge influence for me, and so I would have loved to have collaborated with him.”

There was even talk of a missed opportunity with a major action franchise. “Someone told us that we were supposed to be in the running for the Ballerina (John Wick series), but we weren’t at all. It didn’t happen,” Christian says. “I’m not going to say any names, but someone told us that, and we’re upset.”

Video games are also on their wishlist. “Video games would be cool,” Jonathan muses. “Maybe some GTA would be cool.”

“Yeah, GTA six hit us up,” Christian adds with a laugh, gentley teasing at the potential possibility. “We got to talk to them.”

For European fans hoping to see them return, there’s plenty of reason for optimism despite the logistical challenges facing smaller bands.

“We really want to do a full Europe tour, like proper next year where we hit multiple cities, countries,” Christian says. “Hopefully soon. Maybe next year.”

Jonathan’s philosophy is refreshingly straightforward: “I think as long as people want to see us, then we’ll keep coming back. These last shows we had, good amount of people show up. I was surprised, but we have a lot of support out here, and we’re definitely down to come back.”

Before then, there are more US dates to tackle, including California shows in San Diego, LA, San Jose, and Sacramento, plus some mysterious desert show in November and possibly New York for Halloween.

“We have a few more things this year, and then next year’s like, nothing so far,” Jonathan admits. “I don’t really know what stuff’s in the pipeline.”

After their successful European debut, complete with chanting crowds and oppressive heat, it seems like anything could be next for Provoker. Magic tricks, warehouse narratives, and all. Only time will tell…