I didn’t catch ‘CLTDRP’. I’m not sure if they were on earlier or a bit later.
The Shacklewell Arms is a nice venue as well, the atmosphere was good with a decent size crowd. I recognised a few faces from the Siren Calling Fest as well, which was nice.
For me this was a better LIVE gig experience than bigger name bands. I prefer the smaller venues, and this one has a great punk rock vibe. Also good to see bands early on their musical journeys.
Thank you so much Emmanuelle Seigner (Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle), Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) & Lionel & Marie Liminana (The Liminanas) – and everyone involved in producing this very beautiful album.
Je l’aime tellement. Merci beaucoup.
CARGO RECORDS:
This is the debut album release from L’ÉPÉE , the band are Emmanuelle Seigner (Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle), Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) & Lionel & Marie Liminana (The Liminanas) . It is very rarely that a musical project lives up to the billing of being a ‘supergroup’. However, the exception to this rule comes in the shape of L’Epee.
A stellar combination of the talents of The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe, cinematic femme fatale Emmanuelle Seigner and ice-cool pop provocateurs The Limiñanas (Lionel and Marie Liminana), L’Epee transcend artistic and traditional borders.
“We are living in very culturally insular times, so it feels really good to be swimming against the tide,” says Anton of the band’s bi-lingual, cross-continental approach.“There’s something really positive about branching out, collaborating and taking risks.” Far from being defeated by a world seemingly regressing into turmoil, L’ Epee’s strength comes from a long history of challenging the status quo.
From Anton’s legendary battles with ‘The Man’ with The Brian Jonestown Massacre to Emmanuelle’s eclectic screen career to The Liminana’s community-minded ethos- setting up their own record shop, L.G.D.C, and promoting gigs by the cream of the world’s garage rock scene (New Bomb Turks, Oblivians, Fleshtones, Revelators) -they share a fierce intelligence and an outsider aesthetic which, over the decades, has been sharpened to a razor’s edge.
Fitting, then, that their name translates as The Sword. “It came to me in a dream,” explains Anton. “I woke up and there it was, ‘The Sword’. Someone told me there had already been a band with that name so I flipped it into French. It suits the band because we’re united in a common cause.” This pent-up creative energy has been channelled into their extraordinary debut album, Diabolique. Named in tribute to Mario Bava’s 1968 cult classic ‘Danger: Diabolik’, it’s a musical masterclass where elements of garage, ye-ye, sleaze rock, cult soundtracks, sci-fi, spaghetti westerns and girl-group pop noir are combined with the cut-and-thrust zeal of a band bursting with ideas and energy.
All delivered by Emmanuelle in a sultry Gallic drawl which will send a frisson of recognition through anyone familiar with her iconic roles in, among many others, Frantic, Venus In Fur and Bitter Moon (all directed by her husband, Roman Polanski). “I’ve loved rock music since I was a kid,” she says, namechecking Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground and The Stooges as key influences.
“I always wanted to be a musician, but it wasn’t so easy in France as I couldn’t meet the right people. Then I became a model and then very quickly after that I did Frantic and became an actress. It worked for me, but in my heart I always wanted to do music.”
Having asked close friend Bertrand Belin to provide lyrics for three further tracks (‘Grande’, ‘On Dansait Avec Elle’ and ‘Lou’), the trio set to work at The Limiñanas’ studio in Cabestany, Southern France, in November 2017 -with Emmanuelle, ever the perfectionist, fine-tuning them the following February.
Satisfied with the results, the trio flew to Berlin to hook up with Anton and (Liverpudlian engineer) Andrea Wright at his Cobra Studio in Berlin Utilising a treasure trove of vintage equipment (“I’ve got way more ‘60’s gear than The Beatles and The Stones had, I’m mad for that stuff”, explains the BJM man), Anton set to work, re-recording the drums with Marie and adding -and deleting- tracks so that the shifting layers of sound suited the mood of each individual track.
“I’ve got plenty of other ways to express myself, so I really enjoyed taking a backseat, creatively,” he explains. “Lionel is such a great composer. There’s a very visual sense to his songs and I was very conscious of not stepping on his intentions too much. There were some really interesting sonic things I would add, like a track of the craziest feedback, to give a song a weird ambient quality. It’s the role that Brian Jones had in the Stones, or Warren (Ellis) has in Nick Cave’s band. Musically, they’re all over the map, but they make things happen.”
“It was so inspiring to see Anton work,” says Emmanuelle of seeing him in action.
“When we sent the songs to him they were good, but they were nothing like how it ended up. He’s so talented, like a genius. He made the whole thing darker, more interesting and more psychedelic.”
This festival really was something special.. I’ve seen bands here I really liked and will be following their musical journey’s for sure.
Seeing this lineup makes me feel positive about the future of a genre I’ve loved since Nirvana. As everyone knows, Kurt was a big advocate of women’s equality so no doubt would have been happy to see this.
Why not have a category for women’s alternative music? – not to separate but to give fans and artists somewhere to find each other. All the hard work and art has to pay so the easier it is to find bands you like can only be a good thing.
The energy and quality of all the bands here was very impressive.
We were treated to a showcase of verygood bands that for me surpassed any previous festival experience.
Rock and Indie music is not about gender but depth and quality of the songs, sincerity of the artists and their ability to connect with soul, the universe and you, that’s what I look for and for me that happened here in a very real and beautiful way.
With so many great bands, beautiful songs, positive attitudes and good energy on display I feel like I’ve seen some of the best new bands around.
The venue itself is a former warehouse now studio and looks very cool from the outside, inside it has a nice underground LA / Seattle alternative vibe that I really like, with blacked-out decor, good stage, a bar, and a few sofas to chill out on.
The space acoustics were very good as well, the audio guys did an excellent job there.
I arrived a bit later to avoid queues so did miss a few bands: Dead Naked Hippies, Something Leather, JunoDef and GayGirl – I’m sure would have been something to remember as well, along with more on the acoustic terrance.
Security and staff here were all very good, enforcing a safe space policy – another good thing in my opinion.
The attendance was mostly band members and support early on, a few music and photo journalists, A&R, friends and fans – which made for a very good atmosphere.
A shame for those who didn’t grab a chance to see this lineup, they missed something but all credit to the bands who powered on regardless. That in itself was very impressive and shows they’re all ready for a bigger stage and well deserved.
THE COSMICS
The first band I saw blew me away and really set the stage for what was to come.
There are so many great elements to this band. I loved the repertoire, very confident performances, great musicianship and vocal ability, – there is so much to like here.
They look and sound great, as good as it gets for my taste and I’ll be saying that about all the bands here.
WYLDEST
I like the positive vibes of “shoe gaze” music and loved Wyldest‘s ‘dreamy pop’ songs. Really nice sound, again musicianship and vocals were so good.
They have beautiful songs and again really nice attitudes.
I was so impressed with their set, beautiful vocals and guitar sound. This song in particular is a favourite.
THYLA
THYLA were awesome. Great songs and stage presence. Really impressive performances all round, the lead singing is so good, a natural star here.
Might as well face it I’m addicted to good music and got a real buzz out of their LIVE set.
They have a busy tour schedule coming up so don’t miss the chance to see them LIVE near you. Hopefully I’ll see them when they play London again in October.
VALERAS
Another very impressive band, all play very well together, lead singer has a lively attitude. I can’t say enough to do this band justice.
Calva Louise
Incredible Live performance, natural on the stage, great chemistry between them as well.
The lead singer looked completely at ease with the stage and playing Live, a natural star with really great repertoire.
She Makes War
Great songs, sung and played beautifully. Excellent repertoire and everything you need from an alternative band.
I’ll be keeping an eye out for future tour dates near me.
Tess Parks
This will be the most memorable set for me and the reason I went to this festival..
I found Tess’ music through another fairly recent discovery for me: The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
Tess’ music has so much depth, I can see influences from The Beatles, John Lennon, an influence for many musicians I like. The Rolling Stones, of course, George Harrison, Small Faces, The Who, Velvet Underground, Jefferson Airplane, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, to name a few bands that I like and feel in Tess’ music.
It was nice to see in the music videos a love of England and London – my home. I hear so much negativity these days about England and London, times are a’changing, so it is nice to see there are aspects about us that are appreciated. We do still make good music and that can be seen at this festival.
The video for Friendlies is another favourite of mine. I look forward to more videos for the new songs.
Incidentally I’m a free agent at the moment offering zero-budget videography and vision for music videos if anyone needs. Love to share ideas and work on something beautiful.
I also see a love of British film in Tess’ influences and personally think some of the best original indie music, artists and more have come out of Canada so it is a nice mix with Tess’ own unique and great rock ‘n’ roll vibe.
I think Tess is very different yet familiar in a particular scene I personally love. I was blown away by her new material especially. It was biblical – as Liam would say.
I missed an opportunity to say hello and how much I like the music personally. I’m sure that would have been another spiritual experience.
Art always inspires more art, new music and deeper understandings. I have more video but the tour is still running so I don’t want to spoil it for people going.
This festival and Tess’ set especially was one of the deepest LIVE music experiences I’ve had, – and that includes Ian Brown leaning down from a stage during a very special psychedelic rendition of Waterfall with The Stone Roses in Lyon to hand me his own camera.
I was caught in the intensity here too and really is a testament to Tess’ sincerity and depth as a true rock ‘n’ roller. I really got my money’s worth here and feel it was more than just pure luck.
I am a believer in the magic, love and soul in music, good vibes and God really answered by prayers here. I would have liked to pick-up the vinyl, I did grab some video so at least have something to keep.
Funny thing is I skinted myself to get there I won’t go into that but will of course support with buying the music as well from all the artists here when can afford.
Hopefully this review goes towards paying back what I feel I owe. Tess and the band delivered an intense rock ‘n’ roll experience so don’t miss a chance to see them near you.
Colin Angus (left) and Will Sinnott (1960 – 1991) of dance/rock crossover pioneers The Shamen, outside a post office in Moscow, circa 1989. (Photo by Glyn Howells/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Will Sinnott of The Shamen performs on stage in Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom, 1990. (Photo by Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images)
The Shamen (/ˈʃeɪmɛn/, SHAY-men) were a Scottish electronic dance music band, formed in 1986 in Aberdeen. The founding members are Colin Angus (born 24 August 1961), Derek McKenzie (born 27 February 1964) and Keith McKenzie (born 30 August 1961). Peter Stephenson (born 1 March 1962) joined shortly after to take over on keyboards from Angus. Several other people were later in the band. Angus then teamed up with Will Sinnott, and together they found credibility as pioneers of rock/dance crossover. When Mr. C joined, the band moved on to international commercial success with “Ebeneezer Goode” and their 1992 Boss Drum album.
Colin Angus later said: “When it first happened, I was still reeling from the shock of Will’s completely unexpected and tragic death, and I couldn’t think about the Shamen at all, couldn’t see how anything could continue. But as I came to terms with it and thought about the situation I realised that what the Shamen was about was positivity and that positivity is like the spirit of the music and positivity acknowledges the need for change. So for those reasons I elected to carry on and also I knew that the name Shamen really meant a lot to Will and that was one of the main attractions for joining the band for him.”[2]
I saw Pet Sematary last night and it was okay as far as modern, well produced, well acted and directed horror movies go – with it’s share of disturbing CGI imagery.
It is watchable if you’re a fan of stylised visuals as I am and a good story, which this definitely has coming from the King of scary stories: Stephen King.
This is the second movie adaptation of the book. I don’t recall seeing the first and may have to hunt that down so won’t compare the two, but as is often the case with horror films made in the 70s and 80s that one may have more of the classic qualities you’re looking for. This remake for my taste is more a demonstration in modern horror film techniques than a cult classic.
There is a focus on CGI gore with some unpleasant concepts from the book – I’m not sure, rather than something you might remember as a classic scene. But the story is of course very good so good you might feel compelled to make a quick cuppa if you find some scenes unnecessarily nasty.
Not to belittle this movie, the production and performances were all very good, but what I liked most was the RAMONES cover song in the end credits by LA punk rockers Starcrawler.
Sure, this is for younger generations and for my taste is as good as anything from the classic punk rock era with a tasteful ‘thank you’ to the 90s grunge scene.
Starcrawler have a well produced LA grunge punk sound that I really like. They’re playing a venue in London this June so I may be tempted to drag my self down there. I know the venue pretty well, having worked around there, and always has an impressive turnout of people coming from far and wide for this kind of thing so I guess I won’t be the only old soul there.
