We were camping in the Loire Valley last week and caught the tail end of Hurricane Bertha – torrential rain that meant everything was damp and nothing was drying out. We were listening to the iPod on shuffle (it was linked to a Bluetooth speaker) inside the tent on a particularly bad night when “And the Rain” by Freschard came on…..a very French sounding woman singing “and the rain came spattering down again”….how ironic! It rained so much that we abandoned the camp and went to my sister-in-laws in Paris for the second half of the week – Tres Chic.
On returning to the UK I got a Facebook message from those lovely people at the Brudenell to say that Stanley Brinks and Freschard were playing the next day! Both of them with the Wave Pictures as their backing band!! And for free!!! Wow!!!!
Sledge, Martin and Gail came down and Mark and Johnny were in attendance for what turned into quite a night. Stanley Brinks (he plays a lot of the stuff on her LP) played with the Wave Pictures for Clemence Freschard’s set – her singing accent was just as French as it sounds on record and any doubts that she was ‘putting it on’ were dispelled when she had a glass of red wine on stage – you can’t get more French than that…..
The set came to a close and she hadn’t done ‘And the rain’ so as they were going off I asked for it – and they obliged……such a lovely tune, such lovely people.
Stanley Brinks you may know from ‘Herman Dune’. His single ‘Orange Juice’ with the Wave Pictures is a big favourite in our house – Uplifting and catchy as hell, it just hits the spot – and the orange vinyl looks great on the turntable (as does Freschard’s ‘Boom Biddy Boom’ – also in Orange vinyl). He’s done one LP with the Wave Pictures and has another with Clemence about to be released (she’s also in his other project ‘Stanley Brinks and the Kaniks’). They did a great set full of poignant lyrics and fab tunes. As well as guitar, Mr Brinks also plays a ?clarinet in what sounds like a Moroccan style.
‘Orange Juice’ was the encore and as we left I saw top pop promoter Mr Strangeways having a pint outside – “Johnny!” “Yeah?” says the Wave Pictures drummer who he was talking to – “Oh, sorry Johnny, I meant that Johnny…” Had a nice chat with both before heading for home. A thoroughly enjoyable evening – Merci Beaucoup!
Bob the Chiropodist