Half Moon Music – Les Touristes – Switzerland’s Finest in London!

LES TOURISTES are a pop quintet from Basel who blend lyrical Swiss German dialect with contemporary pop music to reach a broad audience. Their distinctive sound is enriched by influences from hip-hop, chanson, and electronic music. Originally formed as an unplugged street ensemble, the band honed their musical interplay and stage presence through countless performances before diverse audiences. Today, Les Touristes are known for sophisticated lyrics, infectious melodies, and rhythms that invite you to dance.

2022 – 2025

The 2022 festival summer brought numerous highlights for Les Touristes. The band performed in front of an audience of around 4,000 at the Swiss Wrestling and Alpine Festival in Pratteln, sharing the stage with renowned Swiss artists such as Lo & Leduc and Kunz. With their energetic performance, they captivated the crowd and left a lasting impression. This momentum carried into their autumn tour across Switzerland, which sold out several weeks in advance and took them to cities including Bern, Basel, Zurich, Uzwil, and Lucerne. After the festival season, the band returned to the studio. Together with producer CYMO, they recorded the songs Immer no and Feldbergstross, which were released on their 2023 album à la carte. The album proved to be a success and laid the foundation for another almost sold-out autumn tour, with concerts in Basel, Lucerne, and Aarau.

At the same time, the band continued to grow their community on social media and Spotify. The summer brought another round of festival appearances before they embarked on an extended club tour in the autumn. Joining them were three new songs – Scheisse aber geil, Altbauwohnig, and Wach – all produced in collaboration with CYMO

Another highlight followed in spring 2025, when Les Touristes played a highly acclaimed concert in front of 10,000 people as part of the Eurovision Song Contest held in Basel. The event offered the band an impressive platform to showcase their music to a wide audience.

2012 – 2021

The band, which performs exclusively self-composed songs, can look back on numerous successes at national band competitions since its formation in 2012:

• 2013: small Prix Walo, Zurich • 2014: Firewire Bandcontest, Liestal • 2016: Waldbühne Contest, Bern

Winning the Firewire Band Contest led to a collaboration with producer Philippe Laffer from Alterna Recording Studios. This partnership resulted in a series of one-shot videos released on YouTube in 2015. The attention these videos generated opened the door to performances at renowned festivals such as Zermatt Unplugged and Andermatt Live.

Between 2016 and 2019, Les Touristes collaborated with the renowned music agency GADGET. The EP Les Touristes, produced by Philippe Laffer, attracted significant media attention, reflected in increased airplay and numerous radio interviews.

In June 2016, saxophonist Rafael Rudin parted ways with the band and was successfully replaced by Simon Matiz, formerly of Ira May. During this period, the band’s popularity on social media continued to grow steadily. Today, their Instagram community numbers over 7,000 followers, while on Spotify they reach more than 20,000 monthly listeners, with their most successful songs amassing over one million streams to date.

Les Touristes have established themselves as an unconventional, occasionally quirky pop formation that nonetheless conveys a distinct sincerity in their lyrics. Through social media, they regularly offer their fans a glimpse into the band’s daily life.

In autumn 2016, Les Touristes joined HECHT as the opening act for three concerts on their club tour.