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Two British bands we believe in firmly did shows last  weekend in their hometurf on the very prestigious Glastonbury Festival. For those who've never heard that name  - which is almost impossible - Glastonbury is probably the mother and source of inspiratiebron for festivals like Lowlands and Sziget . On this year's  30th anniversary Aynsley Lister and Scott McKeon did shows there - when will Lowlands have a contemporary roots and blues stage by the way? -  which is already a stamp of approval by the British music biz.  And here no circus with shows of snooping dogs forbidden by local governemnt. That would be after all, very eh unbritish.

Scott McKeon is not one of those frontmans who will draw a lot of attention outside of the stage. Scott is a quiet and humble man, and is easily overlooked. But last year McKeon has proven himself onstage (a.o. support Joe Bonamassa at Royal Albert Hall, Moulin Blues and Peer festival) and as a gifted songwriter and producer. A man can only reach that if he owns a right amount of working spirit and Scott has got plenty! For instance: on June 3rd and 4th Scott played two shows in Holland at Parkstadttheater Heerlen and Kade Zaandam and flew back to Spain on Saturday to join BB King as 'special guest' at Tabaco Blues Festival. Reputedly he was a little glum there was no show planned on Sunday.
Next July Scott can go on a razzle in Holland again at Bospop festival and Paradiso Amsterdam and he will score some extra travelpoints by performing at TROS Muziekcafé on Saturday July 10th.

You could almost write a novel about the making of 'Diary of a soul friend', the new record of Saint Jude. The last chapter would be about the ashcloud from Iceland, preventing the records to come on time at their destination. But it's worth to wait for good things, and espacially for this record, produced by the legendary Chris Kimsey (Rolling Stones). Last year Saint Jude impressed Holland with their shows at Huntenpop and Bospop among others. This year Sain Jude is back and will perform in a lot more venues this time. Singer Lynne Jackaman is blessed with a golden voice and guitarist Adam Green (a.o. Grace Jones) plays his magnificent dirty riffs. Soul? Most definetly in Lynne's voice, but think more like Faces, Led Zeppelin and The Black Crowes. Revolver Magazine (who just wrote an excellent review) and Keys & Chords magazine (Belgium) are already ecstatic about it. And many will follow, because this band's energy is erupting even more than the Iceland vulcano. Go and check them out!

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The Dana Fuchs Band came, saw and conquered 275.000 people at Park Pop The Hague last Sunday June 28th. Newssite 3voor12 was talking about "the darling of Park Pop" and "It's impossible not to be moved by this lady, either in front of the stage or at the back in the park,.." and American RTT felt that the Pretenders on after Dana had a 'a tough act to follow" and "Judging by the standing ovation at the end of her set, Holland wants her to love them back.". And the Dana Fuchs Band will be back for just a few shows in September

2008 was a fantastic year for Big Blind. Their debut cd "Dressed to Win" (Cool Buzz ) got raving revieuws and the band did lots of shows. Big Blind appeared at renowned festivals like BRBF in Peer ( Belgium ), Ribs & Blues and Bluesrock Tegelen and made their British debut at the Linton Music Festival. In May we expect the release of their new cd cd “Circus Left Town”. And as a prelude to that Big Blind can be seen live on Saturday March 14th in the very popular "Rayman is laat" show. So also 2009 might turn out to be a very nice year...

Picture: www.purephotography.be

Monte Montgomery's career in Europe is speeding up fast. In April he did one Dutch clubshow at De Boerderij in Zoetermeer and was immediately invited to play at Parkpop.
And there he impressed everybody Sunday  June 29th. In a review at 3voor12: " With his trio the man delivered an overwhelming show at the Zuiderpark. Even the biggest critic was amazed by the skills of this man...one of the best performances this afternoon." In October the new Monte cd will be released and everybody - not only the (acoustic) guitarfan- is really looking forward to it. In November Monte is coming back for a few clubshows in the BeNeLux. The acoustic guitar as domain of the singer-songwriter? Forget it: Monte Rocks!

Scott McKeon is recognised and praised all around as one of the most promising young English guitarists. In The Netherlands and Belgium he already did big festivals like Moulin Blues, Groninger R & B Night and Peer. The next coming months Scott will break furder new grounds. Saturday June 28th the band will do a show during "Hard Rock Calling" at Hyde Park in London with major names like Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow and John Mayer. After that they're of to the USA and Canada where they'll do the very prestigeous Montreal Jazz Festival. And on top of that Scott will make his Spanish debut end of July to fly over to Bluesplein at Eindhoven. Early September Scott is doing some Dutch shows, amongst which Blues Rock Tegelen. In brief, Scott is going ballistic and don't miss him when he's flying past you.

Usually you first release a cd, then get some reviews and then hopefully some gigs. But with the English band The Hand Me Downs it's a whole different ballgame. 

Just the fact that a number of relatively  young British ( and one American ) top musicians joined forces was enough for a number of Dutch fests to book them. And that without one single note being produced!  In the meanwhile they made their scorching debut  last Sunday June 15th at Botermarktblues in Haarlem. And people are eager in anticipation of their shows at  Bospop (July 12th) and Giethoorn ( August 18th). Under the guidance of guitarist Jesse Davey ( Hoax ) and singer Wanbdi ( Indigenous ) the line up always consists of minimally one other super guitarist ( Scott McKeon and / or Jon Amor ) with the backing of a top notch rhythm section. Heavy? That's the understatement of the year.

Barrelhouse is ofcourse more than just one of the leading Dutch R & B bands for over 30 years. Because that might have the smell of resting on their laurels and that's something very far away from what this band is all about. 

From May 9th till 12th Barrelhouse did 3 shows ( " Starts to look like touring ", one of the bandmembers said with a wide grin on his face ) in Holland and Belgium. In Holland Barrelhouse is a household name and highly appreciated. Ribs & Blues in Raalte was a very special show, where the enormous crowd ( a bit weary from 3 days festival, lots of sunshine and some beers ) picked up the energy coming from the Barrelhouse show straight away. Result: one cheering crowd. And that around 6 o'clock when the show had to be stopped.

In Belgium Barrelhouse is not that well known (up until now) as in their homeland, but good music is recognised and appreciated there as well. A great line up was presented In the packed 1200 capacity Hof Ter Lo during the 15th Belgium Roots Night with, amongst others, Johnny Winter. The highly respected Rootsville wrote in their review that Barrelhouse is 'almost the best what can happen to you coming from the northern provinces. Their repetoire is somewhere in between Chicago- and Texas-blues, soul, swing and even folk." The ending line of the review " Who's gonna bring Barrellhouse to Belgium ? " seems like an open invitation to Belgium festivals and clubs. The whole review can be read here.

If you want to keep informed about new bands and tours and other interesting things about acts being booked by Bepop you can subsribe to the  Bepop Newsletter. And for the real heavy news addicts there is the possibility of RSS Feed. For fans of the real juicy stuff:  pretty soon – exactly when to be found out through regular site visit, newsletter or RSS feed -  we’ll offer a whole new page …

Soul is hot. Everybody is talking about Amy Winehouse and who will be her successor. And ofcourse nu- and retrosoul is a hot topic.

At this very moment there's a sixties revival going on. An important part of this revival is the music of this decade. 

Here in the Netherlands we have the ultimate sixties band named The Revolvers. They don't perform in silly "flower power"  clothes or wigs or imitate. No their  show  is "in style" and with style!  Their source is the rough beat and soul from the late sixties and early seventies like The Kinks, The Small Faces and The Who to name a few. Saturday march 24 they "load their revolvers and start to fire" in 't Vertrek in Boxmeer (the Netherlands)

Don't like waiting?? Look and listen to this: Money - thats what i want (video)

'Cool Buzz' has been proving for years that blues/roots is not only for old men. That it can be quite exciting!

Praising reviews are increased by the most recent release, 'Dressed to Win', debut album of Big Blind. The bookings are rolling in and also national radio is contributing to this. On Thursday the 31st of January they even play VPRO’s "3voor12 Radio Live", which is quite unique for a small blues band. So tune into Radio 3 around midnight for 4 stage-burning songs of Big Blind. If you have digital TV, you can check out part of the performance there! Pour yourself a glass and check it out!!!