The French Connection

(Myself and Bertrand Belin at La boulangerie in Paris. photo Léo Fourastié)

I was tempted to do an analysis of what we came to refer to as the "noughties", but I'd like people to actually read my blog, so, I've compromised and decided on a quick dip into 2009 and a wee look at how 2010's shaping up.

Sure, lets start here and work backwards. Got back from Paris on Sunday, after missing my plane on Saturday night. Long story, anyway, made it back. Paris for the most part was kind to me. Post recording session, which I'll come back to in a moment, myself and Karin Hammer found ourselves (on a bit of a pub crawl in Montmartre) celebrating the lack of Parisian arrogance; in fact, we found them downright friendly. "Really?", I hear you say. Really. I've always found this while visiting Paris. You meet their eye, "bonsoir's" replied. Nice. Just like at home, I told Karin.

The session at Sebastien libolt's Snark studio:
Why Paris? To show off? To look fancy? Because I can afford it? No to all of the above.
The, ahem, French connection:

Frenchman Léo Fourastié, whom I met up In Helsinki a few years back, ended up co-producing this record. We started recording at 22 Pistepirkko's studio in Helsinki with Ken and Carl Papenfus from Relish and Jukka Jylli on bass. Two sessions later, Léo had relocated to Paris. I nipped over and did a session in Brittany and several in Paris, culminating in the last piece of the puzzle, song number 10, completely live last week at Le Snark studios. A great bunch of people assembled to play on "Only My Frown", including Hothouse Flowers' frontman Liam O'Maonlai on piano, whom I toured around Ireland with in 2005, Paddy Sherlock on trombone-Irish man based in Paris, Erwan Adams on bass, Bertrand Belin on lead guitar. I was curious, didn't know what to expect as no one had been given a demo of the song in advance. After a bit of pre-production, we got down to taking the track. Before long, it became apparent that something special was happening. I'm used to playing with Ken and Carl and co and I was out of my comfort zone somewhat. Half way through I asked Liam if he'd try some harmonies. It all started coming together. Bertrand came up with a couple of clever ideas and started playing the solo with a coin and around 8pm we wound it down and went for a drink. Not that I need an excuse, but the album had been recorded, done, dusted. So, a few more drinks were had over the course of the week.



Karin Hammer, video editor/movie maker arrived from Vienna to shoot some footage and caught me in the middle of my celebrations. I came up for air once or twice during the week which allowed us to do some shooting and talking about the first video clip that Karin will shoot in and around my hometown of Downpatrick in coming weeks.

Stating the obvious, but it helps if you can say at least hello, excuse me and kiss me arse, in French, which about covers it for me. Making the effort makes life easier. This however was not the case when I took a taxi back to Léo's house around 3am on Wednesday morning. "Bonjour madam", says I, feeling very refined in my stupor. I showed her the address on a text (very sophisticated I know) and off we went. A journey that should take between 15-20 minutes started to take a little longer until I realised my taxi driver was lost.

My French being basic at best and her English non-existent, you can imagine, we had quite the conversation. Well, more like two tetchy people talking and later shouting AT one another. I asked her to stop the meter while we figured it out, which she point blank refused to do. I asked her to stop the car, again, deaf ears. I then sent an sos text out to everyone I knew who spoke French better than I did-that's a lot of texts and I was roaming! Silence. An hour later, I reasoned it was probably better to calm down and just sit it out. Although it should have said 15e, the meter now read 60e. Was I, ahem, being taken for a ride? Doing a runner in a strange suburb of Paris crossed my mind more than twice, but god only knows where I was running to. I stayed put. We both calmed down and eventually after several conversations with her agent/boss? we rolled up outside Léo's. I handed her a card to which she shouted "no card, no card". Christ. So, off we went on another adventure, only this time to find an ATM. I did get home in the end and she charged me 20e, but I was an older man and promised to brush up on my French.


All things considered, a great week was had. Liam O'Maonlai came to Paris to lend some of his magic to one of my songs. I got to meet and play with Bertrand Belin whom I've admired for a while now. It was great to meet and play with Paddy and Erwan-another Brittany lad. I got to meet producer Alain Cluzeau and to see the studio he has been producing in for 32 years. Another high point was when we all got together at "la Boulangerie" for some great food and wine. Cheese puffs, deep fried duck skin and a dish that had cabbage on top and inside a mixture of mince and liver. I had armaniac (based on wine fruits as cognac) from 1972, a fine year by the way, and lashings of great wine-red and white. A big thank you to Léo, Agnès and Félix for inviting me into your home.

Now for the artwork, mastering, duplication, promoting and touring of this record. The end? Only the beginning.

I'll go into last year another time. It might take a while.

To view some photos of the session click HERE.