“Can you come sing in my bedroom?”. Oh sure she had had a *few* drinks, yet her offer was a nice icebreaker.
THE LADY LOVES LOU REED
I had just left the small stage to join the audience for a refreshing glass of anything with ice cubes, and that lady was obviously keen on hiring yours truly for an impromptu bedroom concert.
After some unsurprising banter about the alleged similarity between my voice and Lou Reed’s ‘insecure baritone’, she showed me the screen of her gadget called smartphone that just captured with a poor quality my performance given two minutes beforehand. Needless to say I was rather horrified by how an over-expensive machine can destroy the very essence of a live performance, but she didn’t seem to care whatsoever. She quickly disappeared in the crowd and I didn’t think of it anymore. I had to deal with someone else who wanted to chit-chat about how strangely my vocal cords were similar (following her) to someone named Tom Waits. That sense of déjà-vu wasn’t due to my newly opened bottle of absinthe…
A FLY ON THE WALL
The previous demoiselle came back, after having obviously ordered some complementary glasses, and before she could reiterate her request in front of my lovely girl who joined me since then, I assured her that I was thinking of releasing a live album and would be delighted to sign a CD for her when it’s released, to replace her lousy smartphone recording. Her reply surprised me:
– “I don’t like live albums. I feel I’m not part of it. I’m just a fly on the wall, ‘cause the band doesn’t sing for me. They sing for the audience who was there at that moment. A live album is just cold news for me.“
THEN CAME THE LATINO ALPHA MALE
Now that was quite thought-breaking! Me the fan of live albums and bootlegs, I never considered that fact. She continued:
– “I don’t give a shit about your live album, Gilles, unless you only sing for me. I’m waiting for the live album that makes me feel it’s sung for me only.”
She moaned as a Latino alpha male was approaching with eyes that could kill a T-Rex in a glimpse, and it didn’t take more than a second to understand he was the Mr Right of the drunken lady. She followed him with a sudden aura of submission and I secretly prayed that she wouldn’t mention him her idea of having me singing in her bedroom.
A LIVE ALBUM… JUST FOR YOU?
Yet, her wish of having a live record that’s been sung just for her made me brainstorm although the combination of absinthe, my baby and the late hour wouldn’t push me to.
It’s only the morning after, enjoying the strongest Vietnamese coffee in front of my old organ trying to distort a blues scale the most Snowcat-way, that the solution popped-up and blew my mind.
Instead of recording some live performances in front of an audience and sharing the result afterwards, why not recording the live shit in a totally empty space with each and every fan in mind, and offer them the album as a very personal gift?
Not only this would be a more unique way to share a precious live performance, but also, let’s be honest, it would avoid the dreadful sound, the faux-départs, the glitches and the vocal whims that are so human on a stage but so annoying on a record?
BE CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU WISH…
So in July, when you were all sunbathing in some overcrowded Spanish beach deafened by fashionable DJ’s worst tastes of music, I gathered a few bad cats and we invested a lovely place in an artistic place of Brussels, the Composers’ Studio, and one two three we recorded everything on the spot. Oh sure there’s the lot of unexpected stuff and even glitches and unrequited laughter, but isn’t it what makes a live album worth its price?
And if you really don’t like live albums, even in your cosy bedroom, well we’re included a brand new studio song that we recorded in some extra time.
I don’t know what happened to the drunken chick and her protective salsa dancing boyfriend, but I’d be forever grateful to her for solving my live problem obsession and my need to release a successor to the ubiquitous “Moko Moko Collection” in just a few hours. She might never know about it, but it’s now you who’ll benefit of something unique, intimate and kinky. Are you tantalized or a little scared? Be careful of what a drunken lady wishes, it might all come true. And it’ll give your ego more pleasure time.
乾杯、
Gilles Snowcat, September 2, 2015
Release in Autumn 2015 by it’s Oh! MUSIC. Keep connected for the best kept secrets about the album.
The Many Whiskers Of The Snowcat 