David Bowie cover of the week: Telling Lies performs “I’m Afraid of Americans”

Telling Lies is a French Bowie tribute act that I had not come across before finding this excellent concert video of their performance of “I’m Afraid of Americans,” which is the third excerpt from their concert at Le Metronum / Scène de musiques actuelles de Toulouse.

I usually select a cover to feature the day before my weekly post, and try to reach put to the artists to let them know. I wrote a different post before connecting with band-member Bernard Cabarrou, who is the lead vocalist and guitarist, which turned into the following Q & A session:
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Q. What do you want an international audience of Bowie fans to know about Telling Lies?

A. Telling Lies is a relatively young project — we’ve only played 9 or 10 concerts so far. Every member of the band is a genuine Bowie fan, each with their own favourite eras. We’re not all professional musicians: Irwin Gomez (keyboards and backing vocals) and Jean-Baptiste Salles (bass) are, but the rest of us have other lives outside music. Cyril Demaegd, our guitarist, is a board game designer. Nicolas Kauffmann, our drummer, works as a camera operator and editor. And I’m Bernard Cabarrou — I’m a graphic designer and I work at a concert venue. We came to this out of love, not profession.

Q. What’s the backstory of the concert at which this performance was recorded?

We decided fairly late — I think early December 2025 — to find a venue to mark the tenth anniversary of Bowie’s passing. The intention was to pay tribute in the truest sense: to honour Bowie and his work, and what he has given us as musicians and as people. Le Métronum is a venue we already knew and loved. It wasn’t available on the exact anniversary date, but we booked it for a few days after. With the support of the very active Bowie France community, we managed to get the word out well, and the concert — our first in Toulouse — was nearly sold out, with around 500 people there for what felt like a genuinely special moment. Since we’re able to handle our own video production from start to finish, we captured the whole show. We’re now gradually releasing 10 songs from that concert, spanning different periods — from “Space Oddity” to “Lazarus,” which we also perform live.

Q. Is there more demand for Earthling and Bowie’s 90s work these days?

A. Honestly, it surprised me. Earthling seems to be more appreciated than I expected. Personally, my two favourite Bowie records are Outside and Blackstar — but that’s just my taste. We play several songs from both those albums: “I’m Deranged,” “Voyeur of Utter Destruction,” “Little Wonder,” “I’m Afraid of Americans”… and more are coming. As for the name Telling Lies — it was a kind of wink at what a tribute band actually does on stage: we tell lies. We’re not him. We never will be.

Q. What do you mean by “being true to the essence of the song” rather than imitating Bowie?

A. Eight years ago, I genuinely couldn’t stand tribute bands. I didn’t understand the point. Then I went through a personal creative dry spell and joined a Cure tribute to reconnect with music and with people. That’s when I understood that it’s possible to be a carrier of the spirit of someone’s work without caricaturing it. People come to see us carrying enormous amounts of images and emotions tied to Bowie, and our job isn’t to play at being Bowie, or Reeves Gabrels, or Mike Garson. For me, as the singer, the job is to feel what’s happening in the room — in the eyes and bodies of the audience — and reflect it back to them. To say: look at what his music means to you. I try to put myself completely in service of that exchange for two hours. Without that framing, it would be impossible to get on stage. It would be too overwhelming. And no — you won’t ever see us in spandex or wigs.

Q. How did you select the setlist, and why include “I’m Afraid of Americans”?

A. We played 25 songs that night, including 4 or 5 we added specially for the anniversary. The goal was to cover as many of Bowie’s periods as possible. The Outside/Earthling era and the tours around it is one we find particularly compelling. As for this song specifically — it’s really what Trent Reznor did with it that got to us. The album version is great, of course, but the tension and paranoia Reznor brought to it give it another dimension entirely. I’ll admit we actually had to hold ourselves back — at one point we had an even longer, more brutal version of the ending.

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Bernard Was kind enough to share the concert’s complete setlist, in 1. Outside font. Take a look — what a great selection:

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“I’m Afraid of Americans” is probably Bowie’s best known song from the 1990s. Like many Bowie songs that contain phrases that come in handy outside their original context, the title has a life of its own. Bowie’s video, which features Bowie being pursued by Reznor, suggests that Bowie’s fear is illusory. The video has also been influential. As recently as this year, Harry Styles based shots and sequences for the video for “Aperture” after Bowie’s video. Telling Lies doesn’t attempt to do any of that here— this is a straight up concert video, but it is very well done.

If you like this performance, there are several others available on their YouTube page.