««« UPDATE : 12-08-24   «««

ALL THE LINKS ARE BACK ONLINE, INCLUDING THE LONG GONE ONES TO TRIGGERFINGER (Parkpop - 2009), THE HIVES (Coachella - 2012) AND MONOTONIX (Bottletree Café - 2011) ! ENJOY !! :-)                            

DOWN THE PIT

 24/7 DIVA HEAVEN - "Screechings From Berlin"- Crossroads Festival - Harmonie - Bonn - 27-10-23 + Bonus

24/7 DIVA HEAVEN     

Crossroads Festival - Harmonie - Bonn - 27-10-23 

1 - Shamebath

2 - Potface 

3 - Born To Get Bored

4 - J.T.

5 - Manic Street Ballet

6 - Face Down

7 - Crown Of Creation

8 - White Swamp

9 - Suck It Up

10 - Head On Collision

11 - Everyman

12 - Doctor Touch

13 - No.1

14 - Topped With Cheese

15 - Outro

16 - Victim

17 - Death To

18 - Bitter Lollipop

Bonus (Personal collection) :

Carnötzet - Palp Festival - Sierre - 23-10-21

19 - Victim

20 - Head On Collision

21 - J.T.

22 - Potface  

23 - White Swamp

24 - Doctor Touch

25 - Everyman

26 - Half Moon

27 - Bitter Lollipop

Encore : 

28 : No.1

Sonic Blast Festival - Vila Praia De Âncora - 12-08-22

29 - J.T.

30 - Head On Collision

31 - White Swamp

32 - Doctor Touch

33 - Bitter Lollipop

 

Technical info  :

Blu-ray Proshot + Audience shot

Video : Mpeg - 1920 X 1080 - 25 FPS - 16:9
Audio : Mpeg - 48000 Hz
Running Time : 147 mns
Size : 21,9 Go

Menu & Chapters - Artwork included

 

 

 

 

"Every cloud has a silver lining" they say. Yep, sometimes right out of the middle of inextricable mess, luck rises. 2021, the music industry hardly comes back to normal life and the festival scene is still on hold. The great guys from Palp Festival (probably the most gorgeous open-air live spot I've ever been to !) decide to postpone their Carnötzet edition to October. The little festival is commonly held in early June but this is obviously too early to book a decent line-up. Somehow and as far as I'm concerned, this is a lucky move. June is a much trickier period for me and festival competition hits harder. September 2021, I get a mail from the festival giving the details of the new line-up. To no surprise, I don't know any single band ! Let's explore ! First on the list, "24/7 Diva Heaven", yeaaaah what a name !! Three girls playing "butter meltin' rock". Even more exciting ! Their latest single "Bitter Lollipop" is on display, let's listen ! Appealing indeed. The video starts on a poppy gritty tune, with quite a heavier Weezer vibe, ... really nice ! They push the showy "girl band" touch to the limit with pigtails, pink lipstick, balloons, smiling... but the true nature of the girls bursts out at 1:15 !! Now in jeans and tank top, loose hair, scowling, they fire away a much harder racket !! This is thicker, this is louder, this is love at first listening !!!! I'm straight away on the net trying to devise a train trip to Switzerland ! More and quite unexpectedly so soon, that will be a nice opportunity to meet Lyudmyla and Julien again, a very friendly couple I met for the first time at "La Rocklette" festival in August ! Deal ! October, 23rd, 2021, I'm in Sierre's picturesque high-street. As always with the Palp team, the concept is truly original and thought out of the box. The term "Carnötzet" is a kind of slang expression from Romandy referring to a little and fully furnished private cellar where family and friends like to spend some time together, having lunch and drinking wine. The cave is the stage ! And you've got ten or so stages scattered all along one single street ! Quite unusual ... as usual with the Palp ! The locals can't really understand what the hell a French guy is doing here ! But of course, when the girls from 24/7 Diva Heaven hit the tiny stage that night, I'm front row ! The "venue" is packed (50 people maybe !) and the show is just up to the expectations !! A gritty, dirty, loud sound from the underneath but always with a girl's touch. The perfect mix !! I'm buying up everything I can at the merch table, get the two albums signed (still miss Karo's signature though, next time I hope !), warmly thank the girls for the show and come out from this cave with the feeling that it is already damn worth the trip to this far remote corner of Switzerland ! This is what you have here in the bonus section. Some parts of it at least. To be honest, I didn't remember filming so many songs but I'm glad I did. It was a pleasure to dive into them again even if, naturally, regarding the conditions, it is quite dark ! On a side note, it was also a treat to discover the other bands on the bill, Hathors (good friends of the girls obviously), Ester Poly, Blind Butcher, Dopplegänger, Harvey Rushmore & The Octopus, Lynn Maring (I was pleased to see again after the breakup of the great Chikitas !), etc ... All highly recommended !         

Of course, once you've had a first taste ...

There have been some years now that I've had a loud Portuguese festival in my sights. Late 2021, the Sonic Blast Festival lets out its first names and at the bottom of the list ... 24/7 Diva Heaven !! Everything falls into place !! Summer 2022, so here we are, on the road down to Vila Praia de Âncora. In the afternoon of  August,12th, I firmly stand against the crash-barrier of the stage. And again, even if the conditions are the complete opposite to what they were at Carnötzet (in bright daylight this time), the girls don't disappoint again ! And those who made the effort to turn up early know it all too well ! Some parts of this set are available in the bonus section of this blu-ray too.

Another thing I also like with these girls, through the only two shows I could attend, is that they really enjoy playing together. This is plain to see. No sulking, no smugness, no weariness, no auto-pilot show ... they're up for fun and they're having it. This is also quite obvious when they're off stage, during a Slomosa's show for example (some other good friends from what I could understand ! :-) you can catch a glimpse here !)

Of course, the "main course" of this blu-ray (not free from technical headaches again !!) is the show the girls played at Bonn, last October, for the Crossroads Festival. I have had a plan to pay a humble tribute to the band for a while, this concert is the perfect match ! Thank you so much Rockpalast for being around for so many years and for making us discover so much great music ! As far as I know, you were even around more than forty years ago when you worked in collaboration with the late brilliant "Chorus" show on French TV !! More than the seasoned art of filming, we have here the chance to have an insight in what is coming next for 24/7 Diva Heaven !! A couple of new songs were played that very night and they sound all damn good, with again a great variety in the writing ("Manic Street Ballet" and "Crown Of Creation" are just earworms stuck in my head ! please, set me free !! ;-)). Alongside with the two singles out so far, this new album is just going to be big as hell !! The release is due to October, 11th. Prick up your ears, duck and cover guys !!

Enjoy !

Cheers !

Chac

 

DILLY DALLY - "Befeathered" - Lee's Palace - Toronto - 27-05-23

 

DILLY DALLY

Lee's Palace - Toronto - 27-05-23

1 - Candy Mountain 

2 - Ballin Chain

3 - Colour of Joy

4 - Doom
5 - Witch Man
6 - Green
7 - Believe
8 - Sorry Ur Mad
9 - Marijuana
10 - Morning Light
11 - Gender Role
12 - Snake Head
13 - Ice Cream
14 - I Feel Free
15 - Sober Motel
16 - The Touch
17 - Desire
Encore 1:
18 - Next Gold
19 - Bad Biology
20 - Purple Rage
Encore 2:
21 -  Heaven
 

Technical info  :

Blu-ray Audience shot

Video : Mpeg - 1920 X 1080 - 25 FPS - 16:9
Audio : Mpeg - 48000 Hz
Running Time : 90 mns
Size : 15,7 Go

Menu & Chapters - Artwork included
 

 

So, here we are again. New stuff, new shape. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure to get down to this ever again. Who cares anyway ? Everything is on YouTube now (and that's just fine, particularly with what lies in this one !). My almost 3-year truancy may also come from the fact I still spend (too ?) much time down the pit (see above). Better living it than making up for it I guess. Yet, people seem to crave for "touching the thing" again. Vinyl records reached an unexpected 45 % of physical music media sales here last year. It was 1 % ten years ago ! Time to author again then ? Hum ...

Actually, another thing kept me away from here. As mentioned before, what is a 720x560 dvd video worth compared to a 2560x1440 youtube cell-phone footage ? If I wanted to keep in touch with all this I needed to find an HD authoring soft to make the grade. Burning blurays seemed to be the awkward alternative then. Again, nobody cares anymore and so do the manufacturers. That kind of standalone softs no longer really exist, they have been bundled up into bigger video editing packages, just as cosmetic add-ons, with fewer functionalities.

After countless hours spent searching, I finally managed to get my hands on an old one. Then, I had to "tame the beast" ! I didn't start from scratch but the approach was quite different and getting familiar with the whole layout and firepower did sometimes make me sweat ! I eventually made my way through. One last hurdle was looming ahead. The rendering (shivers down the spine typing this) ! I'd had some looooong encoding experience with dvds, I expected a kind of act of glory with hd blu-rays ! I didn't get disappointed. I let the machine run the whole night for the first try. Waking time, feeling still clouded I headed to the computer, turned the screen on again and ... done : 6 %, remaining time : 102 hrs !! Ahaaaaaaaaaa !!!! Alright, I'm done with it. Really a shame to have spent so much time to something of no use.

 Two days later, I still felt frustrated and decided to give it a second chance. Scouring forums again, I discovered that it would be better to demux video and audio and that there's a possibility not to make the soft render both files if I managed to turn them into bluray compatible formats. After multiple attempts with no avail I finally got the two green ticks opposite my files, quality untouched !! Yeaaaah !! Back to the fearful overnight rendering ! I felt a bit edgy when switching the screen on the next day. But ... done : 74 %, remaining time : 6 hrs ! This was much better ! All in all, my first 16 Go bluray was rendered in thirteen hours, which is somehow unexpected considering my 10+ year old setup !          

Now, of course, talking about the band who made me feel going back to business ... As it often happened before, ... the opportunity made the thief ! On a blue Monday, I came across the sad news : Dilly Dally are quitting ! A real blue day indeed ! I've never got to see them live. I somehow planned to go and see them in Germany at some point but the pandemic screwed the whole thing up. So eventually, the two farewell shows were of course to be held in their hometown, Toronto. No possible way for me to get there. Sometimes being a huge fan is not enough. I could only hope that some guys from the lucky audience could post some footage to let me live the thing from afar. This is from there I need to send a so grateful shout-out to "ConcertJunkiex" and "Josh Cornell" !!! Thank You so much guys !! You made my day and managed to make me taste the special flavour of this night ! More, altogether you put on the whole experience of the show giving us the entirety of the set, 21 songs !! Amazing !! This was more than I expected and I tried to get the best of both worlds by doing some multicam stuff on "Marijuana", "Next Gold", "Bad Biology" and "Purple Rage".

 So, this is where this back to authoring business all started from. Got to do something to pay homage and make it up for not being there that very night ! I have always loved Dilly Dally for drowning us into a loud grungy pool of molten tar until the aery sound of Liz's guitar hovers around to pull us up from asphyxia. Katie / Enda's silk sandpapered voice is also a distinctive touch of the band that just keeps you float, eyes wide open, in their limbo. This humble tribute also gave me the opportunity to rediscover some songs I shamefully overlooked at the time, like "Bad Biology" (I used for the second menu) for example which perfectly illustrates the atmosphere described above. Additionally, I tried to use the artwork of their two albums to fiddle with a kind of broad thematic design for the whole thing. Well, at least, I tried ... don't know. Anyway, Dilly Dally are breaking up, this is sad news but on the bright side, they're still friends, which leaves the doors open for a possible future reunion, fingers crossed. "Who knows ?" Just hope that day I won't be going mad with an exasperating video editing bench but going mad down the pit for, really, what it is meant to be !  

Thank you so much for being around Dilly Dally ! Wish you all the best for your future individual journeys !

Enjoy !

Cheers ! 

Chac

 

EIFFEL - "Who Else ... Anyway ?" - DVD X 2 - Trabendo Session - Paris - 18-02-07  -  La Nef - Angoulême - 24-11-09

DVD 1 :

EIFFEL

Trabendo Session - Paris - 18-02-07

1 - Shalom

2 - Ma Part D'Ombre

3 - Ne Respire Pas

4 - Loony Tune For The Moon

5 - Saoul

6 - Dispersé

7 - Qu'Ai-Je Donc A Donner

8 - Bigger Than The Biggest

9 - Les Yeux Fermés

10 - Tes Vanités

11 - Modern Love (David Bowie)

12 - Tandoori

13 - Je Voudrais Pas Crever (Boris Vian)

DVD 2 :

EIFFEL

La Nef - Angoulême - 24-11-09

1 - Arrival

2 - Minouche

3 - Interview & Soundcheck

4 - Il Pleut Des Cordes 

5 - Interview 

6 - Saoul 

7 - Interview & Soundcheck 

8 - Ma Part D'Ombre 

9 - Interview 

10 - Mort J'Appelle

11 - Interview

12 - A Tout Moment La Rue 

13 - Soundcheck & Interview 

14 - Sous Ton Aile 

15 - Interview 

16 - Bigger Than The Biggest

17 - ... Hidden 2020 (!) live track

 

Technical info  :

DVD Pro-shot
Video : Mpeg - 720 X 576 - 25 FPS - 16:9
Audio : Mpeg - 48000 Hz
Running Time : 58 mns + 60 mns

Size : 4,04 + 2,79 Go

Menu & Chapters - Artwork included

 

 

 

  

Spring 1995, Eiffel first let out its primal scream under the moniker of Oobik And The Pucks. The band has gone through its share of line-up reshuffles since but the backbone of it, Romain and Estelle, have always held the rocking boat steady. They actually deserve praise for this. The would-be right-thinking intelligentsia of music critics have never shown support, to say the least, and for many years, they were too often overlooked as being a second rate copy of a more famous French band of the time. Truly unfair. Fame is out of place with Eiffel. What matters is arts and crafts. Still today, and maybe even stronger than ever, Romain and Estelle are goldsmiths refining their art and asserting their view of the world, made of genuine interactions and sincerity. Human quirks and revolt against the excesses of our society, whether they are political, economic or technological are endless inspiration for their songs. This need for uprightness may have made them missed a few stairs to compromising glory but it has for sure helped them stay true to themselves. This is probably the reason why I need to jostle around a bit every time I want to get to the front at one of their show. This generosity is felt and has rightfully created a loyal fanbase who can share straight with the band. This is this close warm directness which has led the group to be very critical against the cold music industry. The same push that has made them built their own studio and created their own label to enjoy their seminal freedom, far from the pressure of the mainstream audience ratings. All this is much better interestingly stated, and with more passion, by Romain in the interview parts of the second dvd.

 

By the way, on a technical level, this one gave me real hard time ... again. Both shows are from what I recorded on TV at the time. But the Angoulême one was way trickier to handle ! I remember now that I got some issues receiving TV back in the days. I didn't notice them at the time but that led to quite a few micro cuts in the stream which then created out-of-synch sequences. I had to edit the footage many times (I quit on the last song, just got enough, sorry !), without re-encoding, to preserve the initial quality. However, this is 2007-2009 era video. I tried my best brightening up the whole thing with "enjoyable" menus but don't expect HD here. 

 

On a side note, for the local fans who could possibly come across this, you would for sure recognise a familiar face from another band from this blog : Nicolas Bonnière, the talented guitarist who formed Dolly with Manu in the nineties. He has just joined the band in this second dvd, as well as Nicolas Couret (the original drummer of Oobik And The Pucks !) who got back to his friends shortly before. As a personal souvenir, I also tried to highlight a particular moment in the opening video (up) of the second menu when you see a yellow skull and crossbones sign. This was the logo of a dear long-gone festival held by the venue : The Garden Nef Party. A really nice festival that welcomed all the great alternative and rock bands of the time (The Hives, LCD Soundsystem, Iggy & The Stooges, The Raconteurs, Muse, Arcade Fire, The Kills, Gossip, Art Brut, The Ting Tings, Blood Red Shoes, Boss Hog, The Bellrays ... what a dream bill ! ) before it fell apart over some murky political business. Pffffff ... what a waste !!!! A feeling well encapsulated in the report here (the spirit of the festival is also nicely described by Serge Teyssot-Gay, former Noir Désir's guitar player). Unfortunately, the message of hope delivered at the end of the video still hasn't been fulfilled today for the same sad reasons.  

As for the first dvd, it is a bit older (2007), with again an all fresh line-up, supporting the release of the great new album, "Tandoori". The front cover of the present dvd takes its inspiration from the sleeve of this lp.

 

Hope you'll enjoy !

Cheers ! 

Chacaux         

  

INSIDE OUT - A Little Collection Of Loud Inner Outings - 2020

"INSIDE OUT" : 

01 - Drop Dead Red Rose - In The Woods - Glastsormbury Festival - Bradford - 11-07-20
02 - Kid Kapichi - Glitterati - First On Stage - Homeschoolfest - 10-05-20
03 - Saint Agnes - This World Ain't Big Enough - BadPond Festival - Brighton - 19-12-20
04 - Healthy Junkies - Mayday (with Frog) - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - The Unicorn - London - 12-09-20
05 - Birdeatsbaby - The World Conspires - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - 13-09-20

06 - FFOOSS - Sick Of Being 17 - dBs Studio - Utrecht - 17-05-20
07 - Pollypikpocketz - Waving The World Goodbye - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - The Unicorn - London - 13-09-20
08 - Yard Act - Human Sacrifice - Hype Stage - Homeschoolfest - 10-05-20
09 - Do Nothing - Gangs - Hype Stage - Homeschoolfest - 09-05-20
10 - Tiffany Twisted - Sold My Soul - BooTV - The Engine Rooms - London - 24-10-20
11 - The White Ribbons - Same Old Mistakes - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - 13-09-20
12 - A Void - She Threw Her Baby From The 7th Floor - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - The Unicorn - London - 12-09-20
13 - Bexatron - Hex Your Ex - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - The Comedy - London - 13-09-20
14 - Wargasm - Post Modern Rhapsody - Alt Stage - Homeschoolfest - 09-05-20
15 - Beach Riot - Tune in, Drop Out - First On Stage - Homeschoolfest - 10-05-20
16 - Gaffa Tape Sandy - Meat Head - The Smokehouse Presents - Ipswich - 11-12-20
17 - 45AcidBabies - Jetlag Jenny -The Sessions - Effenaar - Eindhoven- 22-11-20
18 - Bongloard - I Want It Now - HipFest - YMCA -Scheveningen - 22-11-20
19 - FFOOSS - Slayer - dBs Studio - Utrecht - 17-05-20

20 - Birdeatsbaby - Lady Grey - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - 13-09-20
21 - Pollypikpocketz - Amnesia - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival.- The Unicorn - London - 13-09-20

22 - Healthy Junkies - Theft - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival.- The Unicorn - London - 13-09-20

Technical info  :
DVD Full Pro-shot

Video : Mpeg - 720 X 576 - 25 FPS - 16:9
Audio : Mpeg - 48000 Hz
Running Time : 87 mns
Size : 4,06 Go

Menu & Chapters - Artwork included

 

 

Inside... out. A halfway call for a better future ? Or a full way to describe 2020's mess ? When I come to think about it, this is rather unimaginable to consider I attended my last concert on February 8th. Well ... to be honest, I managed to sneak my ears into a backstreet venue for a new one on September 26th, during a too short lockdown "sunny spell". As well I would never have thought that going to the nice little French underground Schmoul festival in January would be the first and the last one I would head to this year !! Looking back, 2020 has been a total upside down version of what my nights "out" are usually like ! This might sound a damn fickle thought in regards of all the victims of this craziness around and to all the artists who need to hit a stage to earn a decent living. This is why I'm so grateful to those who tried to maintain a flimsy tie with us through stripped live shows. Those streaming things were definitely a light last resort for everyone, on and in front of the "stage" but it kept the fire alive and allowed us poor wretches to make up a bit for it. This dvd project was made to pay tribute to them. Among these, I wanted to honour this London (but not only !) underground scene that is so gorgeously portrayed in Neil Anderson & Keira Cullinane's photozine "98 Wounds", out there since 2013. Go and have a look at their site, it's worth it ! Order a few of their back issues if you can (couldn't resist to buy fifteen of them in one go when I discovered the project ! :-) ). I've always been into that kind of underbelly live shows full of lifeblood, rough energy and warmth. They often make the best memories and in that regard I have a great recollection of the first London "Siren Calling" festival I went to in August 2019. As such, a special thank goes here to Healthy Junkies for having held their eighth "Punk'n Roll Rendez-Vous" festival despite the grim conditions. It was a real treat to log on to these three streaming days, discovering great new bands in a very easy-going friendly atmosphere. Another big purveyor was the Homeschoolfest, set up by Dork magazine. Again, a huge series of acts on different "stages", some I knew and others totally fresh and new to me. Here and there on the dvd, you will also find some other live renditions I found worth listening to.

Personal highlights of the year ? : FFOOSS, a young fuzzy garage-trash-pop duo from Utrecht whose livestream really gave me hard time to edit as it was totally out of synch and virtually unwatchable. The image is still a bit blurry (initial low encoding I guess) but picture and sound fit much better now (if not perfect) and the energy shown by Sophia (guitar and singing) and Jannes (drums) is just infectious ! A band that definitely deserves to be followed in the next months and hopefully to be watched live with the coming release of their second album, "Millenium Friction". These two young guys are really talented as Jannes played guitar (!) in his own band, Bongloard (also on this dvd) while Sophia also leads her own group under the name of "45AcidBabies" whose first album was just on repeat at home throughout 2019 (and of course duly featured on this dvd as well) !

Second personal favourite on the bill : Birdeatsbaby, a music truly apart made of thunder and whispers, dark, complex with intertwined breaks and layers. Song making must take ages ! A kind of Muse meeting Kate Bush meeting Marilyn Manson meeting Nine Inch Nails meeting Rachmaninov. Mishkin's voice is just fantastic !! Seven albums since 2008 with huge critical acclaim coming along the last one,"The World Conspires". As many solo albums from Mishkin. Two live lps. A band close to their fans who are close to the band. Maybe not everyone's taste but definitely highly respectable and worthy of devotion due to the richness of their world. Can't understand this band isn't more widely praised.

Third, fancy a side kick of punk rock ? Pollypikpocketz is your man. First sight, first reaction : how can you possibly have an odder mixture of styles ?? But hell, it damn works !!!! Myura's Gwen-Stefani-like clear singing suits perfectly legendary Frog's Hugh Cornwell-like deep voice. The guy can't be missed in his perpetual fluorescent outfit and flashy yellow-dyed hair ! And he just has ants in his pants on stage while his hairy-moustached-always-sunglassed fellow Kiki shreds some 70s vibes riffs. Quite an unexpected line-up but the living proof that bringing different cultures together makes you better ! A true punk rocking machine !

At last, I couldn't miss to feature one of my best live memories of 2019 (the old world) : Saint Agnes. It was a close thing, as they hadn't played live since Valentine's day up to this last December 19th. I managed to cram one of their songs played on that occasion at the last minute.  

A "quick" overview of what's "inside" can be watched below (the out of synch seems to grow a bit by the end of the video but I couldn't fix it - it's not the case on the dvd ! - ... and I've just got enough ! ;-) )

 Don't know what's gonna come next here as the whole thing always take more time and work than expected but I hope it will definitely be inspired by some kind of experience ... OUTSIDE !! 

Keep safe, keep rocking, guys !!

Enjoy !

Cheers

Chac

 

DOLLY - "Froth The Pages" - Eurockéennes De Belfort (F) - 03-07-98  /  MANU - La Parenthèse - Baran Milé (F) - 09-06-18

DOLLY

Eurockéennes Festival - Belfort - 03-07-98

1 - Quand L'Herbe Nous Dévore

2 - Love And Money

3 - Les Mots

4 - Joe

5 - Garde Moi

6 - Je Ne Veux Pas Rester Sage

7 - Regis

8 - Around The Corner

9 - Partir Seule

10 - Fin D'Epoque

11 - Love And Money

MANU

Chapau d'Elles Festival - La Parenthèse - Baran Milé - 09-06-18

12 - Encore De Moi

13 - La Vérité

14 - Quand L'Herbe Nous Dévore

15 - Je Ne Veux Pas Rester Sage

16 - Entre Deux Eaux
Stéréolux - Nantes - 11-10-19 
17 - L'Horizon 

Technical info  :
DVD Full Pro-shot + Audience shot

Video : Mpeg - 720 X 576 - 25 FPS - 16:9
Audio : Mpeg - 48000 Hz
Running Time : 86 mns
Size : 3,99 Go

Menu & Chapters - Artwork included
 

Odd. Odd how this place has become something like shelter through hard times. Back in the days, so was the cathartic editing of  the IAMX Paris show I went to the week before the Bataclan attack. It looks as if the feeling is recurring once more. Yet, with the crazy time-consuming telecommuting that currently grounds me way too much in front of this screen, I'd just promised myself to do something, anything, else to take my mind off this mess. Well, ... I guess the depressing ongoing cancellations of all the shows and festivals I initially planned to go to finally got the upper hand. A form of catch-up compensation ? Similar to the one presently offered by festival websites revisiting their golden past ? Probably. Everyone's trying to make up for it.

But again, knowing all this is gonna make my nights shorter, which one to pick among all the projects I never find time to shape ? And why Dolly eventually ? Don't really know ... Maybe I got caught by the shows of their former singer I recently went to ? (those were the days !!) Or am I under the influence of a redeeming mission to restore  the true recognition they should have deserved ? My shame for never seeing them live too ? A mixed bag of all this I guess.

Roaming the local club scene as soon as 1989. the band started playing under the name of Dolly Bird, then Dolly and Co. In 1995, they turned to a flat Dolly moniker and played extensively until 2005, when their career sadly came to an end with the tragic departure of their bass player, Mika. Manu, lead singer, couldn't really get over the passing before 2008 when she released her first solo album, "Rendez-Vous" with its beautiful and moving self-titled song in tribute to their gone beloved friend. Nikko, Dolly's lead guitar, was still there. He now plays with another too often underrated band, Eiffel.

Anyway, all my gratitude goes here to Kevin and Alexandra Chamberlin who shared online some rare footage of Kevin's dad  and friends. Without them, little would have survived of Dolly's high-energy live heritage. What I've done here is just paying a humble tribute to a band I probably overlooked too much at the time. Other priorites, I guess. Other priorities, never you should have ! :-) I tried to brighten up the time-faded colours, to sharpen the edges here and there, ... Well, in times of high-resolution standards, it's far from being 4k but I hope this is a fair rekindled legacy of what Dolly could truly deliver on stage. The band had only released their first album at the time and the live rendering and the feedback from the audience are wow !!, already full of promises. Particularly regarding the day, the very hour, the set took place, when the "whole" country was glued to their TV set, watching our national football team struggling its way to the world cup semi-final. Manu is referring to it several times during the show. On the performance ground, Dolly 's music is some kind of stormy weather. Infuriated electric thunder followed by a sweet  sunny spell. Swirled in the midst of the hurricane, Manu's delicate voice seems to be the only light you can hold on to. She brings that sweet touch that makes the whole stand out. Sweet grunge ? Grungy sweetness ? Pick your temper. More, there is also some kind of Cobain-like moves in her playing.

 

As I said before, Manu is still playing today. She has released six albums so far, with mood swinging from collaborative unplugged sessions to more electric power-pop tunes, even taking a breather out  in an all-japanese sung ep. Everything in a quite DIY confidential way but always generous in the giving. I went and saw her a couple of times, from quite empty venues to fairly packed ones but everytime, humility and generosity were felt. This is this mix of two worlds you have here in the bonus section of this dvd, taken from my personal memories of the shows.

On a side note, I've just realised I'm releasing this Eurockéennes show dvd the very day the festival decides to cancel its 2020 edition. "These are dark times, there is no denying ..."  

Take care and enjoy, guys !!

Cheers

Chac