On this weeks show I’ve decided to dust off two recordings from our archives. For some time now, one of my highlights of the year is when Stanley Brinks and Freschard come to play Brighton. They’re beautiful people making beautiful music, and doing it on their own terms.
They are touring the UK (details bellow) and I can’t recommend them enough.
On Stanley Brinks..
For my tastes, Stanley Brinks is the most talented lyricist we have ever and will ever record for Simple Folk Radio.
Along with his brother and cousin, André was one of the three original members of Herman Dune, a french band who over seven years released album after album of near perfection, earning them a cult following second to none (John Peel, a huge fan, recorded six sessions with them). Just as the band seemed to be poised at world domination after signing their first record deal with one of the majors, André quit, changed his name to Stanley Brinks and took to playing in peoples living rooms, squats and obscure bars off the beaten track…leaving Herman Dune to it’s new life of only playing large venues and festivals, professional high budget music videos, TV show appearances and everything else that comes from being in a successful pop band signed to a major.
To avoid any misunderstanding at this juncture, I feel I must point out that I still very much love Herman Dune. I never miss a show, pick up each albums on the day it’s released, and I am prepared to fight anyone who dares to say a word against them.
André, or Stan as he’s now known, is rather reluctant to technology, web or show business. He produces about roughly four albums per year in on his own record label ‘Radical Baboon’, which releases his music without fanfare, press releases, advance copies sent to court the worlds music press. He very rarely takes part in interviews, refuses to play festivals and has made a simple life for himself full of adventure, travel and Bohemia. In fact, they’ve only recently been available to buy online thanks to a couple of small friendly record labels who kindly offered to take care of such things.
This whole interesting story is a distraction, flim-flam, back to where I started. For my tastes, Stanley Brinks is the most talented lyricist we have ever and will ever record for Simple Folk Radio. He simply has “it”, a rare special something which I would love to be able to describe for you here and now, but it’s hard to pin down, to quantify, and that I dare say is just how he wants it.
Footage from our first Stanley Brinks session:
Find more great video sessions on Simple Folk Radio here
On Freschard..
Put simply, this is great french pop. Each song is bursting with charm, humor, brutal honesty and a catchy chorus that just don’t quit.
Clemence Freschard grew up in a farm in French Burgundy. She started organizing shows in the barn when she was about 12 years old. Aged 18 she moved to the big city, Paris, where she baked pies and cakes in a cafe. There, a local musician and regular customer called Andre Herman Dune wrote a few songs for her to sing. She called her first E.P. “Neon Orange”.
Homeless in Paris, she saved up just enough money to get herself a ticket to New York. There she found an old electric guitar and started writing her own material. She recorded her second e.p., “Shower Gel”, with Mike Gomez on lapsteel guitar. With AHD and G. Lucas Crane she also formed a band called Back Up, and worked on poetical noise music. In 2004 she moved to Berlin, where she recorded her first LP, “Alien Duck”, with a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds. Her second album, “Click Click”, recorded in 2006, features a drummer (Leo Bear Creek), and electric guitars by Stanley Brinks. On her third album, “moonstone”, she plays the drums herself. She works as a sound engineer and records her friends’ music.
She also has a Calypso cover band with Stanley Brinks, called Kreuzberg Museum.
STANLEY BRINKS + FRESCHARD UK TOUR
April 20 – EDINBURGH, (Brinksfest at church hall in Leith)
April 21 – GLASGOW, (Tchai Ovna)
April 22 – LONDON, (Brixton Windmill)
April 23 – BRIGHTON, (The Hope)
April 24 – BRETFORTON, (The Fleece)
April 25 – LEEDS, (Wharf Chambers)
April 26 – SHEFFIELD, (light house bank street art)
April 27 – WAKEFIELD, (The Hop)
April 28 – EAGLESCLIFFE, (The Waiting Room)
April 29 – NOTTINGHAM, (Spanky Van Dyke’s)
http://stanleybrinks.bandcamp.com/
http://freschard.bandcamp.com/
Broadcast Schedule – UK Time Zone
Sunday 21st April 2013 @ 5pm – on Folk Radio UK
Then repeated on the following:
Monday: @ 2am
Wednesday: @ 9pm
Friday: @ 1pm