Atelier MG was a music association in Les Landes, now known as La Groovance in Bayonne. But I can’t talk about Atelier MG without mentioning Adrien Mathieu, its founder.

In 2020, when I first moved to the Basque Country, my roommates and I wanted to start a small amateur band for fun, just playing covers. We posted on Facebook looking for a bassist, and Adrien replied. Not only did he want to join, but he also had a fully equipped studio and was a music teacher. It sounded too good to be true—what was a guy like him doing answering our post? We were total amateurs.

When we showed up at his studio, tucked away in a sketchy industrial zone, we weren’t sure what to expect. But Adrien turned out to be one of the most passionate and generous people I’ve met. His space was incredible, and having him in the band gave us structure and quality we could never have dreamed of.

That was the start of a friendship that hasn’t stopped since. Adrien became my music teacher and a close friend, inspiring me to explore bass and guitar alongside the drums I’d been playing before we met. I’ve also had the chance to follow his adventures and always volunteered to shoot photos at the events he organized.

This series is a collection of moments from four events hosted by Atelier MG between 2021 and 2023.