The Past, the Present & the Possible

Singer Xavier Boyer and bassist Pedro Resende formed the Parisian pop combo Tahiti 80 in 1993 as students at the University of Rouen, bonding on the strength of their shared affinity for the music of the British Invasion era. A handful of demos followed before the duo recruited guitarist Mederic Gontier in 1994, and with the addition of drummer Sylvain Marchand a year later, the lineup was complete. Adopting their name from a souvenir T-shirt given to Boyer's father during a 1980 vacation to the...