065 – Sacre Noir Summer Tour 2013 (gig 14)

Gig 14 – Sunday 1st September 2013 @ Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh
The end is neigh and the final show of this year’s summer tour looms large!
A last minute line-up change is called for after Lewis Gibson goes on a last minute holiday… to the rescue are a drum student, a local guitar legend and a couple of festival performers all brought together by the one and only Ewan Gibson. Naming themselves after a poetry meet The Soul Cypher featuring Mekkah & Twenty20 had a practice in the afternoon before the show and delivered a pretty convincing set (I’d love to have seen them if they were a full-time collective). Along with their sense of adventure the two American MCs also brought a touch of musical magic to the start of this event as everything was so relaxed and in the spirit of making good music and enjoying sharing the results.

The Soul Cypher live at Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh

We get ourselves set-up on the familiar stage of Henry’s and launch into our forty-minute set of dark electronica. The sound is tight and loud and we are pleased to hear that we’ve ‘awakened the goth’ in one enthusiastic fan in particular. It’s a good crowd that includes some familiar faces who are here to support our last show of the tour and check out The Penny Black Remedy. We’re really pleased with the response and happy to have played 14 great gigs stretching back to the first night of the tour back in July.

Sacre Noir live at Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh – Photo by Flare Photography

By the time The Penny Black Remedy took to the stage everyone in the venue was ready for their unique brand of musical mayhem, and once again the group didn’t disappoint. As with their show in Glasgow they mixed tracks from their debut LP with tracks from their latest release ‘Inhale… Exhale… Ok, Now You Can Panic!’ to great effect and had the crowd dancing and whooping for Keith’s guitar solos.

The Penny Black Remedy live at Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh

Looking back it’s been an amazing month and a half of gigs and travelling, playing to the new audiences and hanging out in some great cities. Big thanks are due to all the venues and promoters who have helped along the way; The Banshee Labyrinth, Box, The Vibe Bar, The Arc, Power’s Bar, The Dublin Castle, Belushi’s Gare du Nord and Canal Paris, Le Vieux Leon, Soupanova, Little Stage, Pfefferbett Hostel, Pivo Pivo, Henry’s Cellar Bar, Craig McGee, Plugged In Switched On, Bearsuit Promotions, Ben & Lio @ Belushi’s, Selina @ Soupanova, Alex @ Little Stage, Charlotte @ Pfefferbett, It’s a XXXX Blog Thing and Claire @ Henry’s. Big thanks are also due to all the fine bands we played with along the way; Llennett, Hot Jupiter, Little Love and the Friendly Vibes, Tom Coyne, Sir Spence, The Joy, George Frakes, Andy Docherty and The Caped Crusaders, Dressmaker, The Ocean’s Above, Mickey 9s, The Soul Cypher featuring Mekkah and Twenty20 and The Penny Black Remedy.
You can check out a video below which features footage from the gigs, interviews during the tour and more – a great snapshot into the touring life with Sacre Noir.

057 – Sacre Noir Summer Tour 2013 (gig 8)

Gig 8 – Saturday 3rd August @ Le Vieux Léon, Paris (evening acoustic set)

A nice relaxing morning; had coffee in the 9th and lunch in one of the many curry houses near Gare Du Nord, before our extra show at Belushi’s GDN. We played a chilled electro set and also a few acoustic tracks in the afternoon as a little warm up for our gig this evening at Le Vieux Léon.
We headed along to set up and played from 9pm to a lovely crowd. Our friend and fellow musician Charley came along to see us with her bass player / boyfriend Brendan and as always it was great to see a familiar face in an unfamiliar place.

AlexisSs, Brendan, Charley, Carrie – outside Le Vieux Leon

This was the show in Paris we’ve been most looking forward to and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Le Vieux Léon is a bistro / bar that has hosted some fantastic local acts in the past, so we were very pleased to be following in their footsteps. The bar itself is dark and cool (air-conditioned… well there are a couple of large fans), with a great cocktail list and super nice staff. Tunes on the stereo before we played included tracks by The Doors, Jane Birkin, Jimi Hendrix & Portishead, so it definitely had a “Parisian” vibe – exactly what we’ve been looking for in Paris. After our second set I went round with the mailing list and Charley (as my ‘dictionary’) and the response was excellent – lots of people were apologising for staying out-doors in the evening sunshine: “we were listening & enjoyed very much” they said. The crowd seemed really interested in our little tour and were please a band from Scotland would want to come and play at their local venues.
We hung out chatting and drinking till the wee hours and headed back along to Belushi’s GDN. It is a really nice walk during the day, but after dark it was a little less lovely and a lot more seedy.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris and we have decided to stick to the original billing and go back to Belushi’s Canal to play there.

Next gig: Sunday 4th August, 2013 from 9pm at Belushi’s Canal (19th)