BEAUX GRIS GRIS & THE APOCALIYPSE

The Anglo-American band inspired by New Orleans, making music for the soul and the senses.

When Greta Valenti and her husband/ partner-in-crime Robin Davey – formerly of British blues rockers The Hoax – decided to form Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse, it wasn’t the action of purists. Quite the contrary.

“I don’t feel I can claim to be ‘the blues’,” singer Valenti tells us. “I was, however, interested in bringing something that was true to myself and that I felt was not being explored.”

That something was the sounds and culture of her native Louisiana. After years of living in California, Valenti was beginning to miss all that southern material. So she began to revisit it, ultimately bringing about the start of Beaux Gris Gris (the name a nod to Dr John’s record Gris Gris).

“I started playing Robin all the music that was around me growing up in New Orleans, from Louis Armstrong to Louis Prima, Dr John to Hank Williams, Sweet Emma Barrett to Howlin’ Wolf,” she recalls. “New Orleans is a sexy town, and during the early days of blues and jazz in the city it’s that swing beat, a sense of humour, and the simplicity of a simple melody that really connects to your soul in a primal way.”

“Greta is a direct descendant of the architect who designed the infrastructure of New Orleans, as well as several generations of emancipated women in the pre-Civil War south,” Davey adds. “You see that intensely creative fusion of people and culture every time you visit the city.”

Epitomised on last year’s excellent

Love And Murder album, BBG&TA’s is a sensual, vibrant blues cocktail that feels worlds away from the blandness and dustiness that the blues (new blues especially) is sometimes accused of.

“It’s hard for me to get deep into new artists that are doing a generic version of what has come before,” Davey says. “I understand their popularity through familiarity, but I’ll go back to the original every time if I put something on.”

“For me, to connect to any music, I have to feel something real,” Valenti says. “Besides listening to older music like Sweet Emma Barrett or Lavern Baker, I have been listening to a lot of Gaby Moreno. Her voice is impeccable and I believe every word.”

As for future plans? A new BBG&TA record is in the works, and a new subscription label, Kind Reserve Records (www. KindReserveRecords.com) is up and running – $5 a month buys you access to the bands’ (i.e. Beaux Gris Gris, and Well Hung Heart) full archives, concert films, live streams, documentaries etc.

“We have so much captured already for both of our bands, and want to share it with the people who have been supporting us the most,” Davey says. “We are limiting what we put out through no-pay services like Spotify, and encouraging people to come direct to each collection of artists. It’s better for the fans and it’s better for the creators. It’s a win-win and a glimmer of hope for musicians and artists everywhere.”