Mystery of Le Mousquetaires

In an effort to prolong my boredom during the liberating but somewhat monotonous holidays, I've been delving into the underground realms of Folk Noir. Folk Noir (a branch of Neofolk) is described as music that shows 'dark undertones-' so like most folk then, I mean the genre has never been one full of chirpy prozac ridden harmonies and rosy cheeked youths playing xylophones, has it?
(Well, certainly not the type of folk I am accustomed to anyway).

Le Fils des Trois Mousquetaires

What strikes me as interesting about this band is that there is absolutely no information about them on t'internet; I found them on Last.fm which directed me to their Myspace page, only to have it tell me to go back to their Last.fm page, quite an odd promo tactic. And all without any trace of a bio. Strange. Infact, the only bit of information I have regarding this band is that they're from Belgium. Not that it matters a great deal, the music speaks more than any amount of biographical waffle.


There's something very distinctive and almost alluring about the mysterious gent's voice which suggests he's either a devout Doherty fan, or is his slightly more demure and possibly Belgian twin. But, for all we know, the guy could be your run of the mill butcher from Bruges who just happens to like a good singsong.


If this is typical Folk Noir then the Beatles must have been the emo kids of the 60's, there's not much in the way of sinister, brutal melodies here. The songs amble along at their own pace, slowly drawing you in before leaving you feeling thoroughly hypnotised. Although there are tinges of melancholy in wistful She Won't Be Home, it's certainly not going to be the music you'd top yourself to. I actually find the vocals to have a highly therapeutic effect on me, most notably Lullaby that plays up to its name entirely; gentle rocking acoustic chords over the top of the vocalists smooth as honey melody, perfect for chilling out and contemplating life.


Or just good to have a nap to, either way I like it.


Looking on the band's Last.fm page, there's one comment that pretty much sums up my opinion of these guys and Folk Noir in general: 'strange beauty.'

Le Fils de Trois Mousquetaires- Lullaby.MP3

Le Fils de Trois Mousquetairs- She Won't Be Home.MP3

For Pete's Sake

Now I don't want to get all NME on you but, seeing as I was going to blog about his upcoming Glastonbury slot, I thought I may as well follow the crowd and let you lovely readers know that frontman of Babyshambles, Mr Peter Doherty, has been arrested-again.

Not again..

Pete was apprehended by police in Gloucestershire in the early hours of this morning (11th June), after he was seen driving rather erratically around the town, only half an hour after finishing a solo set at the Guildhall. Reports from local police also state that drugs were also found in Pete's possession, and has been arrested on suspicion of "failing to stop for police, drink driving and possession of drugs."

This follows a previous arrest last week on board a flight to Geneva in which he was allegedly prosecuted for taking illegal drugs, a charge which was later settled with a fine.

Seriously, is anybody even surprised?
You'd think that after surviving a stint in prison last year that Pete would know better by now; drugs are neither big nor clever, hardly worth losing the respect of your fans over at any rate.

Pete- seriously sort yourself out, your solo album is so promising and your gig with Babyshambles and Roger Daughtry was a personal highlight- you'd better get your act together before Glastonbury!

Pete Doherty is said to have been questioned at sometime today.

If we can learn anything from Pete, it's THIS:

Down in Albion..

Wow. What can I say? The Shambles are definitely back with a vengeance and Daltrey shows he can still turn the crowd savage..


It's 7pm on a miserable, Monday evening. It's been raining all day and I've been revising Philosophy until the cows came home, leaving my brain well and truly frazzled. It's the dreaded month of January and all looks lost, the gloomy feeling is even somewhat present in the crowd I found myself waiting in outside the O2 Academy. Mutters of the atrocious ticket price and muffled bets of whether P. Do will actually show are rife in the air. Will he bother?







In our quest to find out, we saw support act Volts grace the stage with their Indie by numbers. Whilst not boring by any means (imagine The View but less Scottish mixed with a less bland Pigeon Detectives and you're halfway there) their 'oh no she left me' songs aren't exactly innovative. Still, as support bands go they weren't that bad.



Then there was the suspense filled wait with the all important moment of truth: would Mr Doherty and co. be able to grace the stage tonight? Well, as it turns out, he did, and it was truly mesmerising. In all the gigs I've been to in my little life thus far, I don't think I've ever been in that energised a crowd. Within the first 10 minutes three people had been hurled away by security and cups of lager were flowing freely into the crowd. Now this is what I call a gig. Almost every song was received by stadium like rapture, some of the crowd even going as far as chanting the instrumentals, which Doherty and his merry men lapped up nicely. Playing all classic Babyshambles songs with a truly spectacular Albion leaving the crowd hanging on Pete's every word, and concluding in the laddish Fuck Forever, providing an emphatic start to the new year.


If that wasn't enough, Roger Daltrey of Who fame joined the lads on stage for a singalong of some of The Who's hit singles, My Generation and a duet with Pete on Magic Bus to name but a few. For an old dude, Roger still emanates coolness, if that's a word, even managing to send the crowd into a frenzy with his mad harmonica solo. The legend also performed seminal track Behind Blue Eyes, dedicating it to a mutual friend of Pete and Roger's who lost his life to cancer, hearing the hundreds of inebriated people in the room cheering and applauding the memory of the young man was nearly enough to make a lump in my throat.



So after all the worrying and hassle of getting the tickets at the last minute; paying god knows how much for them, having to give up valuable revision time and nearly getting knocked out by a dozen 7 ft students, seeing Babyshambles and Roger Daltrey play in Bristol was absolutely one of the best performances I've ever seen. Fuck revision, that was ace.