130: Music Never Dies or “All farewells should be sudden, when forever”

The last 2 Sacre Noir live shows were a joy to take part in; firstly showing off our stripped-back duo set at The Monarch Bar in Dunfermline then ripping it up at The Safari Lounge in Edinburgh with a full-on electro/rock showcase which featured Phil on guitar.

We’ve had a blast over the years playing with many wonderful live musicians in many wonderful venues across the UK & Europe and these are experiences we’ll never forget.
From our first live performance at Tam Dean Burn’s Politikal Manifesto night back in 2008 at the beautiful Tron Theatre in Glasgow to supporting Chrysta Bell this summer at Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms and all the other crazy shows in Paris, Berlin, London, Liverpool, Gateshead, Glasgow and many more locations… it’s all been amazing!

The 2017 tour video will be online soon but in the meantime you can look back at all our other adventures via this playlist on YouTube.

One of the highlights of this year’s tour was playing in Paris – you can now watch our 2017 arrangement of Everything We’re Running Away From (Sinking Into Darkness 2012 – Savage Recordings) live at La Cave Cafe in Montmartre, on our YouTube channel.

Another Paris highlight was being able to perform something from our E.P. with Canadian artist D.Soul the Soulsamurai (our good friend and label buddy at Dejine:Rec). We’ve had some amazing feedback from this release and it’s something that both Alexis & I were super keen to make happen during our final year writing and recording as Sacre Noir. So when we were invited to be the featured artist at Paris Lit Up at Culture Rapide, we decided it would be a perfect opportunity to arrange a performance of ‘Stories Begin‘ from Scattershot.

We’ve got a lot to thank the good folks at Dejine:Rec for – they really believed in us at the very start of our journey and it was a privilege to have our music featured alongside some of our favourite music makers (James P. Honey, Asthmatic Astronaut and Marco Donnarumma to name just a few).

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Over the next few months we’ll have some more videos from this year’s tour, some behind the scenes from our final video shoot (Rebels & Loners – Nothing Falls Apart 2016 – Savage Recordings) and a few other surprises… keep an eye out for new posts on our YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

 

“All farewells should be sudden, when forever.”
―Lord Byron

129: The Final Sacre Noir Shows

Marilyn Carino
Her saga began in the form of Mudville, a duo that produced three critically-acclaimed albums. As the singing and songwriting half, Marilyn inflamed and stunned, praised as “Nina Simone coming back from the dead to front Morcheeba.” Her song “Wicked” won a 2008 Independent Music Award, and it has continued to be a signature song as she moved on from Mudville to her 2011 solo album, Little Genius and 2015’sLeaves, Sadness, Science. Her music is sexy and thick, her voice an affecting instrument with an elegant grittiness, soaring above violent organs and chunky beats. As a solo artist, Carino does all the recording, mixing, producing and plays all the instruments herself, her personality imbued in the smoky-dark production, expressive singing and themes that dig for hope. “I think happiness is about a person freeing themselves, and that’s the idea I’m interested in. We’ve got to feel free to fall down and be a mess, maybe fuck the wrong people. We can fail 99 times and keep coming back to get it right on the 100th. The solution to the hardening of the world around us is personal human revolution.”

We’ll be providing our usual brand of electronica fuelled by lo-fi aspirations and a non-conformist attitude.
The Dunfermline show at The Monarch Bar (06/10/2017) will feature a duo guitar / vocal set with samples and ambient atmospherics plus layered vocal parts to produce dark haunting soundscapes.
The Edinburgh show at The Safari Lounge (08/10/2017) will be our final trio set (Phil will be back on guitar duties for one last time) – a full on rock-electronica set featuring tracks from the current LP and more.

128: The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

19th August 2017 & 26th August 2017

Performing live at SIPS Pop Up Bar, Edinburgh as part of the Pressure Valve night.
These were gigs in the tent on Niddry Street so entry was free and the live music started at 7pm.
We played a mixture of acoustic guitar / vocal tracks (originals and a few choice covers) and also some tracks with loops and KP3+ samples and beats… this was a little different for the SIPS crowd but I think everyone enjoyed the show.

We’ve loved being part of the Pressure Valve artists featured at this year’s event and look forward to bringing our new musical projects to their events in the near future.

NEXT UP:
2 Shows in October 2017 supporting Marilyn Carino

127: Last gig in London

Monday 14^th August 2017: Gig at SINK (Blueberry Bar, Shoreditch)
We had a lovely morning / afternoon of good eats and coffee before the final ever Sacre Noir showcase in London.
We went to our favourite place to eat (222 Veggie Vegan) on the North End Road for a buffet lunch of salad and curries then onto Brownie Box on Old Brompton Road for amazing Brownies / Blondies before waddling back to the hotel to collect our musical stuff for tonight’s show. Kensington really is a great area for us and we are making the most of our time here in West London.

We’ve played at Plugged In Switched On nights before but not for a few years so we were looking forward to catching up with the promoter Iain and seeing the talent.

As always with open mic events it was a mixed bag of artists who took to the stage, from a young singer-songwriter who was clearly very nervous to a superb duo who had just flown in from Canada for a few weeks playing shows in the UK (Jo Jo & The Woods).
The featured act were called State Wild, an indie rock outfit from London, who managed to break the snare stand halfway through their set and were unable to continue… we were up next.

We played a short set of tracks with guitar / vocal  / loops then chatted with some of the other acts and audience members before heading back to the hotel for the evening.
It almost seemed sad that this was the last showcase in London and that The Dublin Castle was our last “proper gig” in this city that we have grown so fond of – we’ll have to make plans to return on holiday at some point soon (if not with a new musical project).

Tuesday 15^th August 2017: Last full day in London
For our final full day in the city, we revisited some of our favourite spots discovered on previous tours.
Coffee at Bar Italia, which was superb as always then lunch at the Wild Food Café where the menu had changed and the food was not as “amazing” as remembered; the little café seemed to have gone a bit ‘corporate’ and the waiting staff were not on particularly good form but the setting was great and the ethos of having a ‘fresh plant based menu’ is still a plus.

Hanging out in London is one of life’s great joys; you can’t buy the atmosphere and individuality that comes from every nook & cranny of this ancient and wonderful city.

Wednesday 16^th August 2017: Time to go back to Scotland
One last breakfast at the hotel before making our way to Kings Cross in time to catch the 11:30am train home to Edinburgh.

I feel like I’m ready for some home comforts after 5 nights in one of the smallest hotel rooms we’ve ever stayed in.
Boarding with no delays, we found ourselves sitting at the same table as a lovely couple who were also going all the way to Edinburgh; I always think this is good on long journeys as it means we can all get settled and relax for the duration.

Keeping up to date with social media accounts and email inboxes whilst on tour is difficult; we are always too busy ‘doing’ and never find enough time to reflect / document events as we’re going along. Having this blog will be a wonderful reminder in years to come of the adventures we’ve had during the life of Sacre Noir… it’s always good to reflect and remember the good time & there have certainly been plenty of those.

NEXT UP:
Sacre Noir @ The Edinburgh Fringe Festival (SIPS pop up bar)
Saturday 19th & 26th August 2017

 

126: London Part 2

Saturday 12^th August 2017
Our last morning in Paris was spent at Culture Rapide drinking coffee and relaxing in the early morning sunshine before gathering our belonging and making our way to Gare du Nord to catch the 3:30pm Eurostar back to the UK.

As always Paris has been good to us; catching up with friends, meeting new like-minded souls, eating a vast amount of fantastic food and spending time in one of our favourite cities where the pace is gentle and the people are welcoming.

Arriving back in London is an assault on your senses. St Pancras is buzzing with the sound of kids running around and families waiting to board trains for a multitude of destinations.
We hoped on board a Thameslink train (direction Bedford) without checking that it stopped at all the stations on the line; of course it didn’t! We ended up getting off at the first available opportunity, which happened to be St Albans, turned ourselves around and took this gentle reminder that we were no longer in Paris, things weren’t so simple here and we must remember to check everything, twice.
Arriving at our hotel in Kensington about an hour later than planned was not such a big deal. We checked in, dropped off our cases and bags and headed straight out to see what the area was like.
Our hotel is just around the corner from the Olympia which had just closed its doors on a 3-day beer festival and you can believe it when I say everyone there seemed to have had a ‘merry’ old time; I’ve rarely seen such drunkenness in the streets of London. Everyone was in good spirits and as well as the beer, seemed to have indulged in odd head-wear (chickens, unicorns and frogs seemed to be the most popular and I bet the company that had the stall selling these were in good spirits too). Also at the end of the street we are staying on is the London publishing offices for Universal Music Group, home to some of the world’s leading writers and artists across a huge range of genres and sub-labels.
This time next summer they will have moved into a new building at Kings Cross / St Pancras: https://umusic.co.uk/umusic-blog/fourpancrassq

Feeling tired and not in the mood for a big night out, we stopped in at a local Pizza Express, had a quick bite to eat and made our way back to the hotel for the evening.

Sunday 13^th August 2017
Everything in London seemed a little odd today.
We knew about the Sunday Trading By-Law that is in place in England, but hadn’t remembered it all being so strange. We popped into a large TESCO store near our hotel to pick up a few bits ‘n’ pieces. It was 10:45am and although the place was quiet (for a mega store) there were still a fair few customers filling their trolleys. We were about to make our way to the cash desk when “Bing-bong customer announcement: I’d like to remind customers that we are not able to process any transactions until after 11am on a Sunday. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Bing-Bong”.
I found myself asking “why have you opened the doors then? What’s the point in letting people in if you can’t serve them?”  I wondered if it was so people could fill their trolleys and be ready to hit the tills as soon as 11am arrived?
Problem was easily solved as there was a little coffee place (they were allowed to serve us due to only having a few staff members) with free WiFi – soon we’d be able to process our purchases and start our day properly.

Later we walked along to Kensington High Street before making our way to meet our good friends Joe & Martin for lunch at The Windsor Castle. The bar was originally built in 1826 and is now a Grade II listed building. They have a lovely courtyard space with outside bars. We didn’t spend much time inside, but it seemed to be very traditional with lots of real ale pumps and dark wood. I imagine in the winter it’s a wonderful cosy place to spend your time, but on a lovely summer day we were best placed at one of the picnic style tables out back.
From there we wandered through Holland Park which was incredibly busy so we didn’t stay too long. We walking through Notting Hill Gate, Regents Park and finally hitting Baker Street. By this point in the afternoon it was time for another coffee before a spot of window shopping and the occasional rest in parks along the way before finding somewhere to have our evening meal. We ate at Cinnamon Spice – cheap and cheerful but full of wonderful flavour and spice (just as the name might suggest).

Sometimes it’s easy to look at London and see only the good bits; beautiful parks, historic streets, great venues and a multi-cultural community where everyone is welcome.
At other times it’s easy to see the city as a difficult place; dirty and filled with people rushing to and fro, no time for manners or stopping to admire everything on their doorsteps.
Today was somewhere in between. The grass isn’t always greener and perhaps after 3 weeks away from home (and our home comforts) I’m starting to miss Edinburgh and everything that makes our home city so great.

NEXT UP:
Sacre Noir @ SINK! The Blueberry Bar, Shoreditch for Plugged In Switched On

125: Paris Radio Session

Thursday 10^th August 2017: RKC session and interview with Jerome

There is a wonderful band of synchronicity running through this final Sacre Noir tour and today is really the culmination of old and new connections coming together.
We have been very lucky over the last few years to have gained support from a few online radio stations, this in turn has helped us grow our audience and has opened us up to a whole new audience who many have otherwise never have heard our music.
A few of these online legends have been based on our home-turf (Scotland’s very on Donald Strachan and a very clever Jack Russell who writes for Ralph’s Life blog) and we’re just lucky that these folk have a great online following and are truly dedicated to promoting new and underground music.
From our connection with Ralph’s Life we made friends with others at Radio Kaoss Caribou and the man behind it all (Jerome) came to our show at BDA loved what he saw and invited us out to the RKC studios for a live session and interview – of course we said “yes”.

RKC is a non-profit organization and are fully unsponsored which both Alexis and I really appreciate. It suggests that the DJs and producers of shows are really genuine in their playlist choices; it’s music they love and want to share, not music that they are being paid to promote.
You can listen to our interview here:
https://www.mixcloud.com/RadioKC/sacrenoir-radiokc-paris-interview-2017/

Friday 11^th August 2017: Last full day in Paris

We spent our last full day in Paris shopping and eating in the famous side-streets and soaking up the Parisian atmosphere before heading back to the apartment and packing our bags ready for our return to London.

We made a pit-stop at Eric Kayser’s boulangerie on Rue Monge to sample the delights of this world famous baker.
“The Maison Kayser story began at 8 Rue Monge on Friday the 13th, September 1996. It was the natural conclusion of its young founder’s journey. “

I got the classic Lemon Tart and Alexis got a fruit crumble – both were fantastic.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

124: Follow That Muse / Open Secret, Paris

For our next two shows in Paris we were being hosted at events curated by poet a musician David Leo Sirois.
We met David last year when collaborating with Antonia Alexandra Klimenko as they are both involved with the Spoken Work Paris community. This year David has been a great connection and has been responsible for arranging these shows for us in two fantastic basement venues.

Tuesday 8th AUGUST Follow That Muse @ Le Cave Cafe
The first of our shows for David was hosted in the fantastic Cave Cafe in Montmatre, Paris.
Moments away from the iconic Sacre Coure, run by an American music fan and frequented by the artists and art-fans of today, this superbly cool bistro, bar and venue was exactly the kind of place we’d be hanging out in if we stayed in Paris.

We played two different sets during the evening; one filled with acoustic songs, readings and some spoken word, the other was our loops and beats electronica set. Everything was great apart from the electricity blowing a fuse half way through the final song in our electronica set (which we had chosen to play first due to the set up of the evening and other acts booked to play).

This was a great night; filled with love and laughter, friendships old & new and a feeling that we may have finally found the ‘core of the Paris scene’.

Wednesday 9th AUGUST Open Secret @ Le Bistrot des Artistes
In the second of our two shows for David we found ourselves in the uber-trendy BDA (Le Bistrot des Artistes) alongside some of the cities best new and established jazz poets and blues singers, beat-poets and acoustic artists. The drinks were flowing upstairs with the house mojito getting a lot of love from the crowd.  Downstairs the vibe was reminiscent of the speakeasy joints you see in Hollywood movies (a cave filled with moody lighting and a few tables with bench style seating).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was an intense show – people cried and not just because we were swimming in an excess of spilt beer and mojitos, but because there was a closeness in the room that all who entered were dragged into. Each act and audience member focused intently on the performances; giving 100% attention to the content and absorbing the emotions.
At the end of the evening a bunch of us stood outside chatting about “the state of the world” and other topics that had been raised by the theme of the night (which we were honored to have been ‘Rebels & Loners’ inspired by our current single). We’ve met some great people on this trip to Paris, some of whom I’m sure we’ll never see again, but others I’m sure we will stay connected to for many years to come.

NEXT UP
10/08/2017: Radio Kaoss Caribou – Interview and live recording session

123: A day off in Paris

Monday 7^th August 2017
We started the day with coffee at Culture Rapide and then made our way to Saint-Cloud for a day away from the cities busy streets.
We got the metro to La Motte-Picquet – Grenelle, an area we’ve visited a couple of time in the past (the Albert Khan Gardens and Parc André Citroën are close by) and walked across the Seine to the small suburb of Saint-Cloud. With Le Château & a vast parkland (classified as a Historic Monument and includes Marie Antoinette’s rose garden) this small area to the west of Paris is a hidden gem.

Saint-Cloud offers a lovely view over Paris as it sits above the Seine and with everyone settling into ‘holiday mode’ the town centre seemed very sleepy and relaxed.
We had a lovely day in the sunshine and enjoyed seeing a different area of Paris.

In the evening we ate at le mezze du chef on Rue Ménilmontoant; a bijou but busy veggie bistro with a few set menu offers and a great range of authentic Turkish treats.

NEXT UP: 8th August (Follow That Muse) & 9th August (Open Secret)

122: Paris Lit Up

Thursday 3rd August 2017: Featured artist at Paris Lit Up
Sacre Noir live at Paris Lit Up Open Mic / Culture Rapide

We had a wonderful time at PLU; playing at the historic home of French Slam poetry, Culture Rapide, drinking with friends and making new fans – this is what touring is all about.
“Paris Lit Up is a non-profit community organisation that aims to intensify collaborative artistic practices through community events, performance and publication. Our principle objective is to stimulate creativity through the cultivation of common spaces such as local platforms connected through transnational networks for artists living in and passing through the City of Light.
With emphasis on transnational writers, artists and musicians, Paris Lit Up promotes the importance of artistic synergy through transparent, democratic, consensus-based decision making. Artistic autonomy, group collaboration and open sharing are the foundation of our operative ethos.
Through our ethical transparency and democratic modus operandi, Paris Lit Up strives to foster a horizontally-minded community inspired by the desire for social cooperation and cultural diversity. In recognizing the social origin and function of the arts, we hope to encourage broad participation and facilitate personal and collective growth through grassroots artistic activism.” – http://www.parislitup.com

Friday 4th August 2017: A day in the Marais
Saturday 5th August 2017: A meal with friends
One of the lovelist things about being away from home is catching up with friends that live in these wonderful cities we visit & when we don’t get to see each other often it’s lovely to make time, so that is just what we did.

A wonderful day wandering through the city was followed by a lovely evening with friends and a home cooked meal; Que peux tu demander de plus?

Sunday 6th August 2017: To Play Or Not To Play
We started the day with news that our show tonight may have to be moved or cancelled (ah Paris you are a wonder) so headed out to meet friends at one of our favourite spots for brunch in the city, Cafe Martin, which sits beside Pere Lachaise and is always a little slice of peaceful Paris.
After a few hours of sunshine and catching up with friends we headed back to our appartment to discover that despite the promoters best efforts, everyone in Paris is on ‘vacances’ and we would be best to cancel the show and have a night off.
Great!
I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever get used to the laissez faire attitudes of the French. Everything is relaxed and that’s just what we need sometimes.
We had a lovely evening at the Plages with friends chatting about food and politics and the cute animals in our lives – Très Bien!

COMING UP
8th AUGUST Follow That Muse @ Le Cave Cafe
9th AUGUST Open Secret @ Le Bistrot des Artistes

121: Summertime in Paris

Sunday 30th July 2017: Travelling to Paris
Leaving a great city like London is always difficult, but when we’re travelling onwards to Paris the sadness is lighter than when we have to go home to work and the daily grind of ‘real life’.
We gathered our things and made our way to Cafe du Coin for coffee, then Ed’s Diner at Euston for something to eat before arriving at St Pancras to catch the 15:31 Eurostar to Paris where we’ll be based for the next 2 weeks. It’s always a delight to be in our favourite city and having a nice apartment in Belleville waiting for us makes the travelling worthwhile.
Belleville is the neighborhood that once provided “wine and weekend escapes to Parisians before Paris expanded it’s northern boundaries in the 1860s. Famous singers like Edith Piaf, and artist used to live in Belleville. Today, it is home to foreigners, expats, artists, and professionals alike.”
Arriving in Paris at 7:30pm (local time) we dropped off our luggage and headed straight out for an early evening walk; watched the sunset behind the tour Eiffel from the local resteraunt and then it was time for bed.
Tomorrow is a new day, our first in Paris this year and we fully intend to make the most of our time here.

Monday 31st July 2017: Spoken Word Paris
Nupur Saraswat and Kate Black-Regan were the special guests at the final Spoken Word Paris before the summer holidays and with a suggested theme of ‘Sisters/Brothers’ the whole evening was filled with intense and emotional readings, poetry and drama.
SpokenWord is an open mic night and writers’ community founded in 2006 by David Barnes and is held at one of our favourite cafe/bars in the city, Au Chat Noir.
The wonderful Antonia Alexandra Klimenko, with whom we collaborated last year, is their writer in residence & in charge of guest poets and our introduction to many of Paris’s other fine artists, namely David Leo Sirois the host of Open Secret, Follow That Muse and many other fantastic regular events in the city. David has been kind enough to arrange some shows for us this year at La Cave Café and Les Bistrot des Artistes and we’re so thankful to have been welcomed into their community with warm open arms.
My favourite act of the evening was Bruce Sherfield (who also plays in the band The Sophia Lorenians) with his dramatic delivery and commitment to every word, he really is one to watch out for.

Tuesday 1st August 2017: Surprise acoustic show at La Cave Cafe
with Hex System, Moe Seager, Ciarri Winter and more
We arranged to play a little secret show as part of Follow that Muse alongside featured act Hex System and many other local artists including the inimitable Moe Seager. A native of East Liberty, Pittsburgh, Moe Seager now lives in Paris where he publishes poetry and records / performs with his band the Blue Note Metaphor Ensemble. By Moe’s side was experienced singer/songwriter, performer and Cocktail pianist Ciarri Winter. A fellow Scot with an amazing voice and some serious piano skills, we were in good company for the evening.
This basement bar is super-cool and we’re really looking forward to our own show there next week.

Wednesday 2nd August 2017: Day off in Paris
A rare day off in Paris, we walked by the Seine, drank coffee in many of the sidewalk cafe and made a special stop at Pierre Hermé’s original boutique on rue Bonaparte for some of the world’s finest PÂTISSERIES, MACARONS & CHOCOLATS. The service is exceptional, the flavours are magical and everything you’ve heard about this rock and roll “Picasso of Pastry” is probably true.

“Heir to four generations of Alsatian bakery and pastry-making tradition, Pierre Hermé began his career at the age of 14 as an apprentice to Gaston Lenôtre.” – READ MORE HERE

COMING UP
Thursday 3rd August 2017: Sacre Noir live at Paris Lit Up Open Mic / Culture Rapide