Tag: Bridge City Sinners

On the road with Carrie Nation & the Speakeasy, a trilogy in one part | Live in Aarschot, Turnhout and Herselt.

She can write short form like a one part series too? Absolutely, I do whatever I damn well please! Though I must admit that this band most definitely deserves more parts than I can give them at this time. Envisioning a few hefty series in the near future, I swore to take off my journalist hat and just enjoy the music. Fat chance when the music is THIS GOOD. So I danced and didn’t write anything down. But the memory is enough to sustain at least one blog, with a solemn promise to do better the next time they wind up on our shores again.

It all started with a recommendation, as all good things tend to do these days. Since meeting Ann and Dev last year during the WhiskeyDick/James Hunnicutt tour (and many more thereafter), I’ve learned we are kindred spirits in our love of music. So when either of them tells me I NEED TO see X or Y, I know to listen. (Re: Shawn James!!!) So, no ifs or buts, I tentatively circled two possible dates in my calendar for this band I had yet to discover. 

SPOILER ALERT: One minute into show one and ‘tentatively’ became definitely and I added another in between.  

That fateful first performance was in the city of Aarschot, which had left me with a bad taste in the mouth after some regrettable life choices as a teen. (Read: awful techno parties where I felt so out of place, I turned to alcohol to get me through them. Which led to MORE regrettable choices, but I digress.) Aarschot however proved its worth, it turns out to have another side to it, full of dazzling music and wonderful people. 

  • Foto’s met dank aan Ronny Van Casteren


On a nice summer evening with just a sprinkling of rain, I arrive at the barn where over the course of the night, a lot of sweat was shed. A little bit of a bummer that the promised showers had made the actual circle outside a risky bet, after which the organisers decided to choose certainty in a roof over our heads. No matter, on with the show!

Foto met dank aan Ronny Van Casteren

With the first sounds emanating from the stage, my body starts involuntarily dancing. Limbs go this way and that and I lose myself completely in the music and barely notice the world around. Except for that band, their impossibly magnetic tunes that put some sort of spell over me. It had been a at least a year since my limbs had done their wacky waving inflatable arm flaily tube man thing but fuck me if the adrenaline from it didn’t render me incredibly ecstatic. 

Smiling and sweaty I start to stumble outside, but not before yelling at (and probably alarming) drummer Bryce who’s calmly gathering his things on stage. “HOLY FUCK MAN. I mean… HOLYYYYYY FUCK!’ I later catch up with him outside to let him know I am not a madwoman, I just get really REALLY excited sometimes.

Shiny happy Julie with the wonderful drummer man Bryce

Sometime after that, I regain my composure and connect with a few of the lovely people in the audience, new and old friends alike. I meet Carine and Gerrit, who’ve apparently unknowingly crossed my path a few times in the past already. I’m intensely moved by their story that led them to be here. Their son Jens was in a horrible motorcycle accident and passed away years earlier. To keep his memory alive, Carine and Gerrit decided to follow the music along the venues and artists their son had loved. 

Carine’s patched up vest, with a lot of names that ring a bell!

Much later, after most people have filed out, with the last hangers-on we set off into the night, for a good time that will lead us into the early hours.

Last ones standing!

Sidenote: Thanks to my unexpected and erratically uncoordinated dance moves, I managed to damage my body so badly, I could hardly get out of bed for two days after. This unfortunately meant I had to miss Angry Zeta who I’d enthusiastically planned to see the day after at Lou’s bar in Liege. Fortunately for me, I would get another chance, a night not easily forgotten, which will be immortalised after these ones here!

After having just gained back control over my limbs, I endanger my body some more by risking the dance inducing sorcery that is Carrie Nation once more. Hey, I’ll live while I’m alive and dance as long as I can stand up, right? This time I roll up in Turnhout, at the scenic site of Barzoen. 

In the middle of the terrace, wrapped around a huge tree, the striking (though apparently impractical) stage in the warm outside air, the location lends a distinctly different vibe to the show. Again I am completely enamoured and enraptured by that fun, frantic and full sound. 

Lastly I end up at Café Pallieter in Herselt for the first time ever, exactly a week before my Clyde & Luke tour-along would set off there. 

Another sidenote: I’ll find out later that these two had met Carrie Nation in the interval between the two Pallieter shows. Aside from that Kiel Grove (yet another one of Ann’s recommendations) sends me a message to say hi to his mates in Carrie Nation for him, much like James Hunnicutt & Joey Henry commented the same when I saw Kiel in Mechelen. And even though it’s my first time at the Pallieter, I already spot more than a few familiar faces here. The kindred spirits in music weave themselves into an ever growing net of kinship. Everything is interconnected, the purple string of music intertwining through my life and soul. Anyway, philosophical ruminations aside, back to the band at hand.

For the third and final time I see them, and I am again wholly bewildered by the way the instruments sing alongside the vocals in a harmony of their own. How seemingly effortlessly they all play off of each other, blending into a true feast for the senses. The force of that hoarse voice, the comfortable ease of Bryce’s drumming meshing with that deep bouncing bass and exhilarating brass. It’s a true speakeasy spectacular!

Special shout out to Tyler who not only switches seamlessly between his trombone and that divine mandolin, but plays them both so well and with so much soul and fervour you can not help but float away in mesmerised delight. The emphatic way the newest addition to the ranks, Eric McMyermick on harmonica completely loses himself in the music is truly captivating to behold.

So yeah, all of this to say I feel an instant love for this band with their killer instruments and overwhelming passion for playing them. The combination of the trombone, trumpet, harmonica, the essential standing bass and most alluring mandolin, topped by a guitarist with an unparalleled voice, makes it a ridiculously pleasurable performance. All of these instruments and vocal cords, attacked by musicians with ferocious fire fuelling through their veins. Sparks shooting from their eyes, while basking in the moment of their music. All of this of course mirrored by the crowd in front of the stage who’re left gobsmacked and delirious from the ride.

Next time they’re in my part of the world, I’ll be there for another tour-along and subsequent superlative filled series. You can bet on that!

CARRIE NATION & THE SPEAKEASY LIVE, JUNE 2024

  • Circle of Strings – Aarschot – June 22nd 2024
  • Barzoen – Turnhout – June 26th 2024
  • Palieter – Herselt – June 27th 2024

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Luke, me and Mister McGee. Tour-along journal, a trilogy in five parts. | Part 5: Apotheosis at Brakrock /AND/ Back to Brak: A continued love song to my favourite festival | Part 1: Bridge City Sinners

Tying up one series and starting on the next, this post is a double whammy! After seeing the guys solo four times, I get to see them in action with the incomparable Bridge City Sinners at my beloved Brakrock. The purple thread of music keeps stringing me along and tying up all the threads into a glorious amalgamation of sound, people and places. Prepare for the final instalment of my tour-along journal which is also part 1 of the 2024 edition of my love song to Brakrock. 

I have been counting the months, weeks, days and minutes in eager anticipation to this moment in time! My first Brakrock day starts off at the River stage where I am anxiously awaiting Bridge City Sinners to take the stage. During their soundcheck I can already feel my heart rate spiking (144 bpm and counting!) for the show I’ve been looking forward to the most on day one of the 2024 edition of Brakrock. The best festival in all of Flanders, shaded by foliage, filled to the brim with beautiful people and with a picturesque ruin as a backdrop. I AM HERE FOR IT. 

  • Photo courtesy of Peter Verstraeten of Event Photography Peter
  • Photo courtesy of Peter Verstraeten of Event Photography Peter

Time to fawn over those magnificent musical instruments as they get tuned up to perfection. Strang’s gorgeous guitar (HEARTS!) Libby’s cute pocket banjolele & Clyde’s big black one and that stand out stand up bass, plus the fiddle and its stick that’s been played so hard it’s hanging on by a thread! Meanwhile, tour manager Joey is looking all serious and focused as fuck, making sure every little detail is put into place to perfection for his band, as is his modus operandi. 

When the soundcheck already has the crowd all riled up, you just know this promises to be a GOOD time! I might just be a little biased, but I note down that I truly don’t understand why they’re playing so early. I can confidently say this is going to be one of the best bits of Brakrock, before even having seen the rest of the bands. In hindsight too, I was totally fucking right in that assumption. Bridge City Sinners immediately take the crowd by storm! In saying that, I get the sudden realisation that programming them early on does get everyone fired up for the day and sets a high bar for all the bands to follow! Smart move Brakrock!

Having seen them just under a year ago at Trefpunt in Ghent I was at least a tiny bit better prepared for what I was about to witness. Still, memories are one thing, reality is another and I let out a shrill FUUUUUCK YES and a lot of WOOOOOO’s. (Apologies to the eardrums around me, I seriously cannot help myself.) I am in AWE and LOVE (exactly like last time) with Libby’s absolutely electric stage presence! One HELL of a voice too, which lends itself amazingly to the Sinners’ unique style. 

  • Photo courtesy of Peter Verstraeten of Event Photography Peter
  • Photo courtesy of Peter Verstraeten of Event Photography Peter
  • Photo courtesy of Peter Verstraeten of Event Photography Peter

It’s impossible to box them into one or even several genres of music, since nearly every song and album they bring out has a feel of its own. It’s what I adore most about them, the limitlessness of what they bring, from jazzy speakeasy sounds, to punk with hints of bluegrass, dark folk and much much more. 

My notes are again insufferably insufficient and damn near useless in describing in any way, shape or form how fucking fantastic I feel living in this moment, up close to this stage. The band is just such a well attuned entity, with one of a kind harmonious strengths that directly amplify each other. These five people radiating talent and passion for what they do, the sum of their individual skills heightening the whole. Their energies feed off of each other and flow into the crowd that just spews it right back at them, which makes Bridge City Sinners one of the best live bands you’ll ever experience. 

Bridge City Sinners’ new album ‘In the Age of Doubt’ has been out for a little over a month now and the response to it is phenomenal. They hit the Billboard charts full force and already amassed over 3 million streams on Spotify alone. No doubt a bunch of those can be attributed to me because I’ve been playing this record front to back ever since it came out. I vehemently recommend you to do the same.

Check out the first video for one of the most heart wrenching songs on the album. 

After unexpectedly acquiring a spiffy second hand record player at the end of July, I saw it as a sure sign that this album should be the first vinyl I’ve ever bought. No doubt starting a very expensive hobby my wallet, though never myself, might come to regret. 

As evidenced above, I might have yet again gone a little overboard at the merch table, but hey, at least it’s not another black band shirt, amirite? Plus it’s always worth it to support artists and get something tangible to catapult you back into those memories every time you come across it. 

In conclusion, whenever Clyde, Luke and any or all of the other Sinners cross the pond again, I will never not be front stage and centre. And you dear reader, will not be disappointed if you follow me there.

THE BRIDGE CITY SINNERS LIVE AT BRAKROCK,
August 2nd 2024

And so falls the curtain on this tour-along series which will from now on hold a special place in my core memories. However, it is just the start of the Brakrock 2024 series, which will be continued after I tie up a few loose ends of some events that transpired in July. Stay tuned!

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Luke, me and Mister McGee. Tour-along journal, a trilogy in five parts. | Part 4: Live @ ‘t Rozenknopje

Clyde and the Milltailers + Lightnin’ Luke | Sunday, July 14th 2024, Live @ ‘t Rozenknopje, Eindhoven (NL)

Part 1: De Pallieter
Part 2: The Black Flamingo
Part 3: Lou’s Bar

While waiting for the Liege show to start, I’d gotten an excited message from Jo who told me he had no choice but to get to Eindhoven a week later to hand over something Clyde had forgotten at The Flamingo. Me being the selfless soul I am, couldn’t let that poor man go all that way alone, so I made a note to tag along. Time for the fourth and unexpected part of my Clydetinerary! Plus a swift change to the title of this blog, turning it into a trilogy in five parts, inspired by the great Douglas Adams. 

After a gruelling week’s wait, made bearable by seeing Angry Zeta on Wednesday and Public Serpents (and friends) on Friday, I get into the car for the third gas guzzling trip that week. After a chill drive, loudly singing along to the Milltailers blaring out the window, I arrive at the canal of Eindhoven. With a refreshing wind in my hair and the sun on my happy face, I walk the scenic route into the city. On the way there, I run into Clyde and Dede, and follow them for an invigorating coffee. We rush back just in time to meet up with Jo and Luke, who’s about to start the night off. 

Set the scene: ‘t Rozenknopje has a unique speakeasy vibe, which will lend itself perfectly for what is soon to unfold on stage. We’re catapulted back through the decades by way of the decor of sparkling art deco lamps and red velvet curtains. A terrific backdrop for another night of dreamily feeling the music energise me after a fulfilling but fatiguing week.

Part 3.1 | Lightnin’ Luke ⚡️

The captive audience fades to the background as I dreamily float away into the warm embrace of the music. It won’t surprise you that in being so blindly transfixed at what is transpiring on stage, the illegibility of my notes reaches its peak form. I do try to write down the lyrics to what I’ve decided should be my new theme song. Throughout the red threads that guided me to this moment, I feel so connected with those words. Sadly, it has not yet been recorded so I’ll have to make due for now with the video I made in Liege.

What fortunate folk we are, when after a while of familiar guitar sounds, Luke directs his attention to the piano on stage.

Through his wandering hands on the keys, he amplifies that speakeasy vibe some more with the first song he bangs out. The second song played for his friend brings with it a more delicate atmosphere washing over us all. 

After a mid-song switch back to that gorgeous guitar, it’s already time to eagerly await part two of the night. While I’m frantically scribbling down some more illegible nonsense, Jo comments that his setup at The Black Flamingo could use a set of keys. I delightedly offer up my barely used keyboard. I can only imagine the wondrous music it will be playing, after being sorely silent due to my inability to teach myself to play it.

Out to the terrace we go for a brief reprieve between sets. After a very animated conversation with Dede about our mutual love of toys, soft comfort plushies and graphic novels whose protagonists seem eerily familiar, we head on back inside. We regretfully barge in during the first song, so I miss my chance of recording one of my favourites off the album that’s been on repeat in the car. (Which Side are you on, in case you were wondering.)

Part 4.2 | Clyde and the Milltailers

(Excuse this horrible excuse for a picture, to focused to focus.)

It’s Clyde’s time to break a string on impact. But the switch out is barely noticed by the crowd. It’s surprising to me that it’s the first one I see faltering under the pressure of him attacking those strings with a loving vengeance. Luke’s bow is also hanging on by a thread by now from all the furious fiddling. Behind them on the velvet curtains, I notice their shadows poetically playing out a silent backing to that full and fierce sound.

Hearing Clyde sing reminds me about what he’d told me earlier. Apparently Sean K. Preston called his voice arresting, a very apt description that I might not have managed to convey. It saves me having to come up with more superlative adjectives of my own. Meanwhile, the perfect harmony of the lower resonator chords from Clyde, meshing with the higher tones of the violin strikes me hard again. My head fills up more with every passing minute and I put my notes and phone aside to just revel in the music. After the best acoustic encore of my tour-along, with the crowd fervently stomping out the beat, the performance part of the day draws to a close. (Or does it?)

Off we go to explore the hidden pleasures of Eindhoven, Belgian beers in hand. We cannot pass up the opportunity to take out some ‘kroket uit de muur’, as it’s a rite of passage for anyone coming to the Netherlands from abroad. We pair it with some actual Dutch beers, to go with the cheesy palette. 

The night eventually leads us to a karaoke bar where the patrons are floored by the musical talent of Clyde and Luke. Special mention to Dede, whose seductive and gloriously passionate act gave them even more fuel to remember this serendipitous passing. 

And with this unexpected ending, the curtains drop on the first four follows in the tour-along series. Next up, it’s time for the last instalment of this five part trilogy, when the guys meet up with the rest of the Bridge City Sinners (and Joey Steel, hooray!) for their 2024 European holiday.  

Que me counting the days until they arrive at the long awaited day one of Brakrock. Meanwhile, I have some more stories of this and the last year to type out. No rest for the wicked!

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The Fallen Reverend Van Tastik: An ode to a unique artist + Live in Knokke!

Julie en bestie Van Tastic

The Fallen Reverend Van Tastik:
An ode to a unique artist.

It was June of the year 2023. I had followed Pete Bernhard from The Black Flamingo to Tequila Tattoos, and had been anxiously awaiting the show he was going to do with his band at De Casino. I’ve written at length about that show, but there was a side character of sorts that sorely (and finally) deserves his spotlight. I am talking of course about language specialist, Fallen Reverend and artist extraordinaire: the dishonourable Van Tastik!

We met at the merch-table where he was hocking the wares of opener The Bones of J.R. Jones. Something about me sounding French in my English accent got us talking and made me totally miss the music. A rarity for me to get this distracted when there’s live music THAT good going on. But I am intrigued by this Italian American, who moved to France and has now ended up in Utrecht. I called him an honorary Belgian for his language skills (add a bit of German to the above mix) ,and we start a multilingual conversation about the lighter things in life, such as Belgian politics, rednecks, religion, faith and anarchy. (I love discussing topics most people shy away from, so I feel like I’ve met a soulmate.)

Turns out Van is also a musician in his own right and dear (unholy) god is it good. I had a quick listen outside before the Devilish Three came out after their show, and I was immediately hooked on that voice. I’ll let him describe himself in his own words though:

Welcome to The Church of the Fallen Reverend VAN TASTIK where I tell people to “Shut up and Dance”. Music is meant to bring us together, this I know!
Seriously people, How good is this. ALSO: resonator = love!

Little did I know he was about to release his full album ‘The Church of the Fallen Reverend’ later that year. The day it got out I immediately devoured it front to back. One song caught my ear most and it had an enormous effect on me.

I laughed and cried at the same time. It was healing and hurting. It made me whole and strengthened my resolve. Just LISTEN to this and try not to fall to pieces.

It also got my creative juices flowing again and I started back up with a rounding the edges drawing and made a ‘formal’ version just a few weeks ago.

I absolutely love when art inspires art and music will always be my favourite art form to start from.

So, as you can see, this is again a story about synchronicity of chance encounters in the wake of the trilogy (thrillogy?) of things that was 2023. It would be followed by even more interweaving threads in the web of bands and artists that I’d discover in the months after. Right now for instance, Van Tastik is on tour in the States with Lightning Luke and King Strang of The Bridge City Sinners, which I also wrote a gushing review about.

The Fallen Reverend Van Tastik:
Live at Tracks & Tr@vellers club – Knokke Heist November 11th 2023

Six months after meeting the Fallen Reverend, it was finally time to see him perform. ROADTRIP TIME! Off to Knokke I went with my music bestie Jo, who’d been informed about the amazing artist I’d discovered in real time, as we do. This is probably the furthest I’ve gone for a show that wasn’t in another country, but oh my lord, was it worth it! And then some.

Setting the scene of the night: I had no idea Knokke had such a perfect location for music! The Tracks & Tr@vellers blues café is really a treat for a music lover. We’ve only just sat down when Van comes over, shouts ‘Crane!’ and gives me a big bear hug. Seeing his one man band set up on stage is a good omen for what we’re about to experience!
‘Goeienavond, my name is Van Tastik en ik kom uit Virginia. Here’s taste of the sound where I am from in Appalachia.’

It was such a good performance that I sat there completely mesmerised and barely made any notes aside from the songs he played, so I am going to let the videos speak for themselves.

A very different but special rendition of my most favourite song Fire! After which he even got the sadly not so attentive audience (a lot of drinking going on) to join into a sing-along with his cover of John The Revellator.

That voice, that guitar playing, that dexterity in also adding in the drums. And most of all, the purple soul that is Van Tastik who BREATHES his love of music off of the stage into the oxygen deprived world. It was an amazing night I will not soon forget and hope to experience again this year in a Black Flamingo near me!

As a cherry on top of the synchronicitous events that lead to this night, we take this picture under a Jack Daniels Old n° 7 sign, that links back to that Devil Makes Three banger: Old number 7. We have gone full circle now for 2023. It all started with Pete Bernhard, went on an eleven month WILD musical ride with several interlinked turns, to end up here in Knokke-le-Zoute of all places, for the last show of my year in music.

As of last week this disc has been on repeat in my oldtimer car that can only take cd’s. It’s probably the only recent hard copy record I have. All thanks to Jo who bought it for me. See me ride out of the sunset, on another musical ride through 2024!

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