Originally a pub and cafe guitar duo called the Tricard Twins, Matmatah came together when the original duo (Tristan Nihouarn and Cedric Floc'h) met up with bassist Eric Digaire and drummer Jean-François Paillard and took on the name Matmatah, after the Tunisian city of Matmata, where Nihouarn had spent time as a child. Their first album, La Ouaceh sold in the upwards of 300,000 copies, and they spent the next couple of years touring. They acquired a bit of infamy in an arrest for narcotics, but the hubbub wasn't enough to boost sales for their second, and it sold modestly. An Asian tour was where the band spent a good deal of 2004, and in 2007 Matmatah released the album La Cerise. ~ Chris True