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.

064 – Sacre Noir Summer Tour 2013 (Back to Edinburgh plus gig 13)

Saturday 17th August – Wednesday 28th August
Back home and back to work… there are exciting projects in the pipeline though. During this time we caught up with Barry Smith (artist) and agreed a new collaboration, had a meeting with a local film-maker to discuss a Sacre Noir short film project for this winter, attended a friend’s book launch and even managed to fit in a practice with Phil as he’d be joining us again for the final two shows of this year’s summer tour.

Phil and Alexis – Sacre Noir rehearsal at Bainbridge / Iona St, Edinburgh

Gig 13 – Thursday 29th August 2013 @ Pivo Pivo, Glasgow
This show was booked & promoted by ‘It’s A XXXX Thing’ blog and everyone was pretty excited about the line-up. The Penny Black Remedy have never played a show in Glasgow but it’s a gig on home turf for the Mickey 9’s! There are some great pictures and a review on the New Hellfire Club website. This is the first time in ages we’ve seen the Mickey 9’s and they had a few new tracks in their set… ‘Berlin’ being my favourite. Energetic and a little crazy, they were as always very entertaining.

Thursday 29th August 2013 at Pivo Pivo, Glasgow

We always enjoy playing at Pivo Pivo in Glasgow – we finished our 2012 tour with a gig here and it feels good to be back and adding Phil’s guitar sounds to the set. After a few technical problems at the start of the show, we soon hit our stride and play a raucous crescendo of ‘She Can’t Take It’ to finish our set. One song that has been popular throughout the tour is ‘It’s Too Late Now’ and we’re able to really take advantage of the live guitar on this track in particular – leading to a dark, rockier performance.

Sacre Noir live at Pivo Pivo, Glasgow – photo by Gobo Photography

The Penny Black Remedy then took to the stage like a whirlwind and blew through an hour’s worth of songs in what seemed like no time at all. Covering much of their very own blend of ska-rock, surf-punk, country-folk-pop stylings, including crowd favourite ‘Bring Back Brando’ (a song written with more honesty than you’d imagine for something so catchy). Keith fronts the band like a true professional and has the audience wrapped round his finger from the get-go, although vocalist Marijana also takes centre stage for a few tracks and wows the crowd. The other band members Wilco and Paul both show a similar enthusiasm and a good night was had by all.

The Penny Black Remedy live at Pivo Pivo, Glasgow

042 – Summer tour 2012 (the last night of the tour)

Tuesday 28th August – gig at Pivo Pivo, Glasgow
After a week of being back in Edinburgh we’ve just about caught up with all the work awaiting our return and are ready for the final show of the Summer Tour. We’re lucky enough to be joined once again by Phil on electric guitar and Alexis switches to electronic drums for this last show at Pivo Pivo in Glasgow.

Blackboard at Pivo Pivo, Glasgow

Got the train through just in time for the rush hour crowds to be heading home, with all our gear it was a bit of a squeeze, but we made it with plenty of time to set up and get a good sound check. The sound in the venue is superb & it’s nice to be back to the familiar line-up of guitar, drums and vocals. It’s the first time any of us have been in the venue and we’re all really impressed (space, facilities, staff & pizza were all excellent).

Alexis & Phil pre-gig @ Pivo Pivo, Glasgow

We played first to a fairly appreciative audience and chatting to peeps afterwards once again proved insightful; putting faces to names and getting feedback on the set from peers and audience members are always fun parts of any gig. I was really impressed with the overall sound at Pivo Pivo and having not practiced with Phil since before the Hyperbubble show in mid July (and even that was a different line-up with Alexis playing 2nd guitar) we all seemed to fit straight back into the swing of things. Tracks of the night that stood out were ‘Rue Crimee’ and ‘Night Flight’.
Next up was Becci Wallace & Bill Breaks who I enjoyed very much indeed. I’d heard Becci do guitar vocal stuff via her YouTube page before but didn’t really know what to expect from this collaboration. From the very first track, the beatz were crisp, the bass was heavy and the vocals were delightfully original and delivered with style and an honesty rarely seem in music these days. Their set was a blend of down-tempo hip-hop vibes and trippy lyrical delights. For me the set was reminiscent of Helicopter Girl or Martina Topley-Bird and ticked all of my musical likes for this kind stuff.

Becci Wallace & Bill Breaks

So that was us, packed up and heading back to Edinburgh & before we knew it, the summer tour 2012 was well and truly wrapped up.
You can check out our video of the tour featuring live footage and more here: