BRAZZA NEWS JAN/FEB 2010
Jan 27, 2010
Hello Everyone,
Here's what's going on in the world of Brazza:
-I played some really fun shows in California the past month. The first was an acoustic show in the beautiful Harrison House in Joshua Tree. The desert around there is magnificent. Kenny Lyon came out and played guitar and dobro with me. The second show was a big show in LA at the Echo. It was with the full, origianl LA band. Lot's of folks from my teenage years in L.A. came out. The third show was another acoustic show with Kenny in the Central Valley city of Fresno. That show was arranged by Frank D and sponsored by the Folk Society. It might have been the most fun of the three for me.
- I have become involved with a project here in barcelona called Vital Musicians. It is the brain child of Justin Donlon from Gracia Arts Project. We plan to have 12 performances in my studio which will be recorded, videotaped and posted on the web. Each show will be followed a week or so later by a live gig in a venue in Barcelona. We will be featuring interesting Barcelona musicians, singer-songwriters etc.
-I plan to play a series of "micro-concerts" in the studio as well. The audience size will be a maximum of 20 people. Ticket price will include Vichy Cataln and snacks.
-I should be playing some shows in the Russian Far East at the beginning of March. The tour will include Sakhalin Island which is supposed to have great Korean food, Khabarovsk which has the best wild salmon I have ever tasted, and Vladivostok, my favorite city in Russia. The plan is to play a big show in Vladivostok on International Woman's Day (March 8th). It makes perfect sense since I have a new song called Girl From Vladivostok.
-There will be other cities that we will play on that tour, including Nizhniy Novgorod, Volgograd, Minsk and possibly several others. The schedule is still being worked out.
-I sent a package of CDs off to Poland. There is a person there named Alicja who is going to try to get us booked in a Festival there this summer. It would be my first ever trip to the country where my grandmother and grandfather came from.
-We are working on doing a REALLY big show in Istanbul as well as trying to get to Izmir and some of the other cities in Turkey. the CD, Brazzaville In Istanbul has been doing really well there so we are very excited about playing there again.
-Brazzaville In Istanbul is scheduled to be released in Russia in February. We will be playing some big shows in Moscow, St. Petersburg and maybe Ekaternburg with some of the Turkish musicians who played on the album.
-I am considering booking a US Tour for the summer. It would definitely include NY, Chicago, Milwaukee and Los Angeles. If there are any folks out there with some other good US ideas, please let us know.
BRAZZA NEWS NOV/DEC 2009
Nov 27, 2009
Hello Everyone,
It's been a while since I've written any news. There's been a lot going lately. I would like to thank all of the wonderful Turkish fans who came out to the shows at Babylon on the 5th and 6th. I had a wonderful time there. It was a real joy to play with Deniz, Berke, Feryin and Salih. Also, the special guests Alev Lenz and Ceren Aksen were wonderful. Hopefully we will do it again before too long.
I just returned from playing a couple of amazing shows in Russia. We played Glavclub in both St. Peteresburg and Moscow. Although the shows weren't very crowded, I still had an amazing time. The folks who came were great fans and it was such a pleasure for me to get to play with some of my guys from LA as well as some of the Barcelona crew. It was also great to finally bring Maria out on a tour. Everybody really loved her.
The Turkish CD is out in Turkey and getting good reviews. It should be coming out in Russia in the next couple of months. The video for the Turkish version of Jesse James turned out well. I will try to post it to youtube soon. You can see it on myspace at www.myspace.com/brazzavilleinistanbul
I am working on a new album in the studio here in Barcelona. It's cpming along slowly but surely.
I will be playing 2 solo shows and a Brazzaville show in California in January. The dates and towns are all listed in the gig section of the site.
I have been getting a lot of emails from folks from Vladivostok who are happy about the song Girl from Vladivostok. Well, I am planning to do a big show there on Woman's Day (March 8th) 2010. If all goes well, there will also be shows in Khabarovsk and possibly Sakhalin Island (I have always wanted to go there) and maybe even Komsomolsk.
Well, that's it for now. I will write some more news as soon as there is some.
All the best,
David
LA MEETS BARCELONA BRAZZAVILLE SHOWS! MOSCOW AND PITER
Oct 14, 2009
For the first time ever, members of the original L.A. version of Brazzaville (David Ralicke, Mike Bolger and Kenny Lyon) will be teaming up with members of the Barcelona group (Brady Lynch, Ramon Aragall and Maria Pi Sunyer de Gispert) for two BIG shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It will be a 7 piece band featuring a horn section and a female singer. The shows will be at the legendary Moscow venue DK Gorbunova and St. Petersburg's greatest live music venue, Glavclub.
BRAZZAVILLE IN ISTANBUL (ALBUM AND CONCERTS)
Oct 14, 2009
Brazzaville In Istanbul is all finished! It will be coming out in Turkey as well as Europe and possibly even the US and Canada thanks to Doublemoon records who are releasing it. It will also be available in Russia and CIS countries before Christmas.
I will be playing 2 shows in Istanbul on Nov. 5th and 6th in Babylon
http://www.babylon.com.tr/english/ProgramDetay.aspx?ID=2235
to promote the album. The show will feature some of the amazing Turkish musicians who played on the album.
TEENAGE SUMMER DAYS CDS AND NEW T-SHIRTS ON SALE NOW!
Oct 14, 2009
We have a limited number of copies of the latest CD, Teenage Summer Days on sale in our online store. We also have some
of the latest Sadi Guran t-shirts on sale as well. Don't miss out, there aren't very many of them.
BLOG!!!!
Oct 14, 2009
I have been inspired by my friend Ruslan in Vladivostok. He is a famous blogger on Livejournal and I have decided to try to have my own blog so that I can more easily post thoughts, photos etc especially when I am on the road. If any of you would like to check it out, the address is http://brazza1.livejournal.com/
TEENAGE SUMMER DAYS
Jul 15, 2009
The brand new David Arthur Brown record is due out soon. There are 11 brand new songs as well as a cover of Moonage Daydream. There are tours being planned for Russia, Turkey, China and the USA. You can listen to some of the new tracks at www.myspace.com/davidarthurbrown
All the best,
David
BRAZZAVILLE REBORN!
Jun 23, 2009
I had no idea that so many people would be upset by the “Goodbye from Brazzaville” letter I sent out a while back. So I would like to revisit the subject for a moment. I’ve always been a bit melodramatic and I think I was being hasty when I sent out my letter about the end of Brazzaville. All I really wanted to say was that I would be releasing my next album under the name David Arthur Brown. Brazzaville doesn’t have to die in order for that to happen. So, I take it back. Both Brazzaville and David Arthur Brown will be peacefully co-existing. The name of the David Arthur Brown album is Teenage Summer Days and it will be coming out first in Russia in July/August of this year. It features 11 new tracks plus a couple of bonus tracks. It even has a song that I wrote in Catalan called Barcelona. I will be looking for a good label to release this album in the US and Europe as well.
On the Brazzaville side of things, the record that I recorded in Turkey with Deniz Cuylan from Portecho has been picked up by DoubleMoon, a Turkish label with world-wide reach. It was voted one of the 10 best labels in Europe last year. Somehow it makes sense that Brazzaville’s first real global release will be through a Turkish label!
This album features classic Brazzaville songs played by Turkish musicians. I think it’s going to be a very interesting project.
Also, there is a Brazzaville DVD that will be released in Russia in 2009. It features live footage, TV shows, music videos, rehearsal footage and some photomontages set to music.
Also on the Brazzaville front, there is a Chinese company that will be releasing 21st Century Girl as well as a “China Only” compilation CD of classic Brazzaville tracks. They are planning on bringing us over there for a 7 city tour in the fall which will be filmed and turned into a DVD as well.
So, I’ll leave it there for now. Brazzaville is not dead. And I don’t think it ever will be as long as there are people in the world who want it to exist.
Yours faithfully,
David Arthur Brown
GOODBYE FROM BRAZZAVILLE
May 07, 2009
Hello Brazzaville Fans,
This is just a little note to let you know what’s going on in the world of Brazzaville at the moment. I guess the most important thing is that Brazzaville won’t really exist anymore. Over the last 10 years, I have recorded 6 full-length studio albums and released 1 greatest hits CD as Brazzaville and it seems like a good time for a change. From now on, I will be writing, recording and performing music as a singer/songwriter named David Arthur Brown (which is my given name). I am getting close to being finished with my first album under that name. It will be released later this year and will feature many of the wonderful musicians who have contributed to Brazzaville records as well as some new faces. Also, the record I was recording when I was last in Turkey will be released later this year on the great Istanbul based label, Doublemoon. It will feature many classic Brazzaville songs recorded with some of Turkey’s finest musicians. The album is being produced by Deniz Cuy
lan of the Turkish band Portecho.
I have had a wonderful time playing Brazzaville shows around the world. I would like to thank all of our fans for your kindness and support. I hope that you all will enjoy my new record and look forward to playing shows in your towns soon.
All the best,
David Arthur Brown
Barcelona, May 7th, 2009
EL PAIS ARTICLE
Mar 17, 2009
Brazzaville, encuentros a las sombras de la Alhambra
El líder de la banda actúa en Granada, Cordoba y Utrera
ALFONSO CARDENAL - Granada - 21/02/2009
Granada es una ciudad mágica que alumbra leyendas e historias increíbles que se narran a la sombra de la Alhambra. Esta es una historia de casualidades, amistad y kilómetros que unen a un genial músico de Los Ángeles, un joven pianista de Utrera y al dueño de una surrealista tienda de discos que es bar y sitio de tapeo.
El genio es David Brown, ex saxofonista de Beck que tuvo una premonición la primera vez que pisó Barcelona que le llevó a cambiar de vida años después. Brown es el líder de Brazzaville, la mejor banda por descubrir de España, que arrasa en Ankara, Moscú o San Petersburgo.
A sus cuarenta y dos años Brown luce un tímido bigote cano, viste elegante y tiene el pose involuntario de estrella de la música, tiene duende. Descubrió el Madrid de los ochenta tocando en estaciones de metro como Alonso Martínez, Plaza de España o la Chueca pre urbanita, pero ahora ejerce de padre feliz y marido enamorado en el Ensamble barcelonés.
El otro personaje de esta historia es Nano, un joven de Utrera que estudió la carrera en Granada y que hace unos meses escribió al Myspace de Brazzaville presentándose y pidiendo un disco que no encontraba en la tiendas. Brown le canceló la venta y le ofreció un trueque, "tu música por la mía". Siguieron la conversaciones hasta que Nano ofreció a Brown un fin de semana de actuaciones conjuntas en Granada, Córdoba y Utrera. David le escribió una nota con un listado de canciones para que Nano las fuese aprendiendo y llegó el día. El jueves se conocieron a la sombra de la Alhambra y por la noche actuaban en el Loop Bar. Vinilos a la venta, buenas tapas con las cañas, copas baratas y un concierto inolvidable.
En el público chicas norteamericanas, bastante Erasmus y un aire especial al ritmo de las canciones de 21st Century Girl como Clouds in Camarillo o joyas como Jesse James, 17 oForeign Disaster Days y Super Gizi temas de uno de sus primeros trabajos titulado Somnambulista, un disco grabado íntegramente en California. Mucho talento y clase, tablas.
David después de cinco años en España habla un castellano correcto, aunque reconoce la difícil misión de entender a su nuevo amigo andaluz. Sus canciones son composiciones sonoras, expresivas e imaginativas que se han curtido en experiencias como la de salir de gira andaluza con un fan, con piano y guitarra, en acústico, en contraste con el sonido contundente de banda de Brazzaville, porque la vida está para vivir nuevas experiencias.
RESET MAGAZINE INTERVIEW (ISTANBUL)
Mar 17, 2009
1- You come here quite often... We appreciate that... What appeals you most in Istanbul? How is it going over there for you? What is the importance of Istanbul for you? Are you content with the audience?
-I love Istanbul. It’s one of my 3 favorite cities in the world. The audience is amazing. I wasn’t so happy with our last show in Ghetto. The promoter sold far more tickets than he should have. It was too crowded. He also asked me to play 2 sets. I agreed before I realized that it was too crowded for people to move around during the break. Then he wouldn’t let me play an encore because there were too many people in the doorway leading to the stage. So people thought that I somehow refused to play an encore. That’s crazy, as I usually play as much as the crowd wants. At our last show in Moscow I played 3 encores!
I love wandering around Istanbul and discovering little shops and cafes. I really like hearing the call to prayer as well. I know that the locals barely even notice it anymore but to a foreigner it sounds haunting and mysterious. It’s a reminder of the absolute reality that lies just behind the everyday one that we experience.
2- The Brazzaville story began in L.A and then it continues in Barcelona... How did the things change both in your life and music?
I feel at home in Barcelona in a way that I never did in L.A. I will always love Los Angeles. It is where I grew up and it formed me as a person and as a songwriter. But I always felt a mild sense of dread when I lived there. I’m not sure why. In Barcelona, I feel that I am living in a cozy , littl;e corner of the universe.
3- The manifesto on your official site says that the band is dedicated to the idea that the world is a beautiful place filled with wonder. You seem like that you are all living in a heaven island and every single thing in your lives is pretty fine. And we feel coconuts, ocean, baby-blue clouds and pancakes in your songs... On the other hand, in the world, bad things happen every day... Sometimes, life is stressful... How do you keep goodness, awareness and purity in your inner worlds? Except of making music, what do you do to keep the harmony?
My life has difficulties and stress just like anybody else’s life. But I find that much of the pain that we feel in our lives comes from what perspective we view them from. On any given day, I can feel like the lickiest guy in the world or the world’s biggest loser. My life will be much the same on both days, the only difference is my perspective. When I am grateful for all of the wonderful things in my life, I am happy. When I focus on those things that i don’t have, that I feel I deserve, I am unhappy. The truth is, I am very lucky. I come from a crazy background. There is lots of insanity and alcoholism in my family, and I have a wonderful life today, a blessed life. I get to make people feel happy for a living. I have people who love me and whom I love in return. I live in a period in history where it is quite easy to feed my family and I don’t have to worry about the police breaking down my door and dragging me away in the middle of the night. I am physically healthy and of sound mind. There are thousands of other things I could list. Too many to mention. But on some days, all I can see is that I want something that I haven’t got. Or that I am afraid that I will lose something that I have. These are not real situations. They are the mental problems that we create for ourselves. They are usually in the past or the future, neither of which is real. Usually , when I come back to the present moment, everything is fine.
4- You, all from different countries... And it is not hard to feel this geographic influence and the fountainhead of creativity in your music. Where else do you get your influences? What bands have influenced you?
Musically, I have had many influences. Jorge Ben, Bob Marley, The Clash, David Bowie, Prince, The Isley Brothers, X, The Jam, The Specials,...too many to mention really. As far as lyrics go, my grandmother was a poet and had a huge influence on me. We used to sit around and read Frederico Garcia Lorca, ee cummings and Dylan Thomas together. We would stay up into the wee hours of the morning until she would say, “David, tell me to go to bed.” She had a wonderful way with verse. She could remember a song or a poem after hearing it just once. She was the one who intruduced me to Leonard Cohen’s music and she was a fan of Tom Waits!
I tend to write songs about characters. Many of them are based on people I see who’s stories I then imagine. Like if I see a woman who looks like she was a beaty queen 10 years earlier, I try to imagine what that would feel like and then i write a song about what her life might be like. Also, I have written many songs about my mother. She had a lot of mental problems and died when I was 11. Also, I have written songs about friends who have died, about my wife, about my son, about people who are unhappy and want to escape to an idyllic, cozy corner of the world somewhere, about growing older and the fact that we will all die one day, about the univrerse and the true reality which I think exists beyond that of dualities that perceive in this world.
5- What was your favourite memory whilst making records or during the tours?
There are too many to mention. One that comes to mind was during the Vladivostok fim festival. I went on a boat ride that the festival provided. There were only 5 other people and we were on a very large boat. The captain took us to a bay next to Russian Island, a former military base that has never been developed. I swam to shore with a Russian film director named Leonid Rybakov. It was September and the water was warm. As we approached the shore, we saw that the rocks under the water were competely covered with sea urchins and starfish. I had never seen so much life in one place. It looked like a pre-historic situation. He and I dove down and came up with starfish in our hands. We were floating on our backs, splshing around and laughin in the light of the nearest star.
6- Which city do you feel most creative in?
There really is no particular place. Just wherever I have my guitar and a quiet place to play it.
7- David, we know that you lived in L.A. and then moved to Barcelona. How is local musicbiz in Barcelona? What are the differences when we compare Europe to US?
I really don’t know much about the music biz anywhere. Brazzaville has never really fit into any musical movement very well. We’ve always been a bit outside of things. So I really couldn’t say.
8- I know that you don't like MTV. And all mainstream acts, I guess... Today we use the term " to consume music" rather than " to listen to music" because of the accessibility and communication...What do you think immediate future of the musicbiz?
Well, I think that it’s kind of cool that things have turned out the way they have. For example, our music has never been released in Turkey on any label. We tried but none of them wanted us. In spite of that, many Turks listen to our music through the internet and we have a nice fanbase there. That never would have been possible 10 years ago. I guess the downside to the whole mp3 revolution is that, music has been devalued a bit. It seems that people think of it in bulk terms. I hear people say that they have 10,000 albums on their harddrive, and I always, I can’t think of 10,000 albums that I would even want to listen to!
9- Do you listen to new bands? (like Beirut, Bon Iver and new Balkan and/or Bossa Nova bands)... Are there bands you really can recommend? And what do you know about Turkish music?
I’m not very well informed about new music. The truth, I don’t listen to music very much. Typically, I’ll have about 20 or 30 songs on my iPod when I go on tour. I will have some that can help me to wake up whe I am exhausted (like Rick James, Madonna, or the SOS Band) and others that will help me to relax when I want to go to sleep (like dub reggae) and others that will cheer me up when I’m feeling kind of down (like Jorge Ben or old sambas). So basically, I guess I use it like a drug! As a musician, I tend to listen with too much attention to basslines, mixing techniques, arrangement etc. It’s kind of exhausting. So, in general, I prefer reading.
As for Turkish music, I don’t really know very much. I would recommend that you check out the old Russian band, KINO from the 80s. They were great and they are pretty unknown outside of Russia.
10- I've heard that you will work with Deniz Cuylan from Portecho and the new album will be released from Elec-Trip Records. When will you start? How things going on with the next album?
That’s true. We spent a couple of weeks recording when I was in Istanbul this last time. We got most of the basic tracks done. Now it is in Deniz’s hands. He is producing the record and will give it the overall sound. I am curious to see how it turns out. I think they are planning on releasing it in September. I am also at work on my next record here in Barcelona.
11- David, you played in the alternative rock band, Beck and then you formed Brazzaville... What was the reason to quit the band and to make music in a different genre, bossa nova? What changed your mind?
I wouldn’t really call Brazzaville a bossa nova band. There are a few songs that definitely are in that style, but most of them aren’t. I suppose the way that I play the guitar is a bit bossa like though. I was still playing with Beck when I made the first 2 Brazzaville records. I never quit Beck’s band. It just reached a point where he and the band were both ready to move on to new things. It had been a great time playing together, but things move on and the time was right for change.
12- If you choose any artist or group from the past or present to make collaboration for a new song, who would it be?
That’s a great question. I think I would have to say Jorge Ben. He is kind of my idol.
NEWS-FEB. 2009
Jan 31, 2009
-I just got back from 2 weeks in Istanbul. The shows were a lot of fun, although the big show at Ghetto was kind of a drag. I felt like they sold too many tickets and it was just a bit too crowded. I really wanted to play an encore but the tiny doorway that people had to leave the club was completely blocked and the promoter wouldn’t let me back though again. So, any Turkish fans out there who were wondering why I didn’t play an encore, now you know why. I really wanted to. Next time we are there, I promise to play as many encores as you like. Also, I will make sure that there is a cap on how many tickets the promoter can sell.
-The acoustic show at Arkoda on the Anatolian side of Istanbul was a lot of fun. I’ll post some photos from it. I played with James Hakan Dedeoglu and Ceren on violin. We recorded some of the show and will probably use it on the upcoming CD. Speaking of which, I spent the bulk of my time in Istanbul recording a CD of Brazzaville songs featuring many talented Turkish artists. The album is being produced by Deniz Cuylan from Portecho and is due to be released by Elec-Trip in Turkey in May of this year.
-Aylin Gungor took some great photos for us while we were there. I’ll post some of those as well.
-I'll be playing 2 shows in southern Spain in Feb. You can find all the details on the gig page. There will be one in Granada and one in Utrera (Sevilla)
-The DVD is finished and will, hopefully, be released in Russia in the next few months.
-I think I’m going to plan some US shows for this summer, maybe in L.A. New York and Chicago. I’ll post more info about this as it develops.
-I am hard at work on the next full length CD. Studio Calle Casanova is back up and running!
BRAZZA NEWS
Dec 13, 2008
Hello Hello!
Please forgive my long silence. It has been a busy time of late. We played some really fun shows in Russia in September and October. I have only just begun to write the journal entries about them. I will try to get some more written and posted soon. It was a really inspiring tour for me.
-Our Calle Casanova studio is in the process of being upgraded. The ancient Pro Tools system that I used to record the last 4 records was finally destroyed by an Iberian power surge. I tried to revive it by buying another ancient computer but I destroyed that one in another surge! Finally I bought a surge protector and a whole new system. It should all be ready to go in the next week.
-Misha from Minerva will be coming to Barcelona so that I can record his album for him. It should be a lot of fun. He has some really nice songs.
-We have 2 upcoming shows in Turkey in January. We will be playing at Ghetto in Istanbul and at Dib Sahne in Ankara. I am very excited to return to Turkey to play. Mat Daly will be making a limited edition, silk screened poster for the Turkey shows. He is by far my favorite of all the print artists in the US.
-I will be staying for an extra 2 weeks in Turkey to begin recording the long planned record with Deniz Cuylan. We will be recording Brazzaville songs with Turkish musicians. It should be a lot of fun.
-The DVD is basically finished. I will try to bring some advance copies to sell in Turkey.
-I will be playing 2 shows in Andalucia with a musician named Nano B. We will be playing in Utrera (Sevilla) and Granada. The last time I was in Granada was in the late 80s. I can’t wait to see it again.
-I have signed a deal with a company called Big Sounds International in Los Angeles. They will be representing our music to film, TV etc. They have a great roster of labels and artists.
DVD, NEW SHOWS, PHOTOS ETC
Nov 12, 2008
BRAZZAVILLE NEWS, NOV. 2008
-Our DVD is almost completely finished! The great Dr. Tikov has been hard at work in his lab and he is closing in on the final product as we speak. Here are some samples to check out:
Super Gizi (Brazzaville’s first TV show in 2004)
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=D6dq4i6MJUA
Dear Diary (New song live in Barcelona,2008)
http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=CfRsSbvfAYM
Baltic Sea (Moscow 2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ivd9F1hDPo
LAX (Moscow 2008)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tE9MVfP1pAY
Jesse James (Moscow 2008)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wbS--VJ-aNA
-I have been asked to play in a show in Utrera, Andalucia in February. It will be at Bar Latino
www.myspace.com/barlatinoutrera
I will be playing with a guy named Nano B.:
www.myspace.com/nanobarrera
He is a talented musician and it should be a lot of fun. I will post the exact dates when I have them.
-Our show at Ghetto in Istanbul on January 16th, 2009 has been confirmed. We are working on booking shows in Ankara, Izmir and maybe even Israel around the same time.
-I should be recording a record with some Deniz Culyan and some other Turkish musicians while I am there.
-Misha, Alsou and Dasha from Minerva are supposed to come to Barcelona in a few weeks so that I can produce some songs for them in our Calle Casanova studio. It should be a lot of fun.
-We are still working on trying to make our beloved ship tour down the Volga happen next summer. I really hope it works out. We would be playing sunset shows on the beaches of each town. We have found an appropriate ship, now it’s just a matter of getting the funding and organizing everything.
-I had dinner with some great musicians form NY when they were passing through Barcelona last week. They are from a group call Joan As Police Woman. Check them out if you haven’t heard them already. Their show was a lot of fun.
http://www.myspace.com/joanaspolicewoman
Timo is playing bass with Joan. I met him years ago when I was on tour with Beck. I hadn’t thought of him in years and earlier that day, he popped into my head. A few hours later I bumped into him here in Barcelona. It was very odd. He has several great projects as well. You can check them out here:
www.myspace.com/thenetherlandstheband
-We have added some new photos to the website and myspace page.
www.brazzaville2002.com
-I will begin working on the new record in the next few weeks. I have many new songs to record.
All the best,
David Arthur Brown
SEPT/OCT. 2008
Sep 21, 2008
Hello Everybody,
Here is the latest Brazzaville news:
FAR EAST!!!!!
- I played 3 shows in the Russian Far East. 2 in Vladivostok and 1 in Khabarovsk. It was so much fun to be out there again. The Far East is really one of my favorite regions of Russia. It is so magical. I swam in the sea and saw thousands of star fish and sea urchins. The shows in Vladivostok were kind of part of the Pacific Meridian Film Festival. I met lots of interesting people. There were directors, actors, writers and producers from all over the world. We all stayed in a worn out Soviet Era hotel called the Vladivostok. It had amazing views of the sea and all the freighters in the harbor. I was accompanied by friend Oleg, a great keyboard player from Novosibirsk. He is a lovely guy. He had never seen the sea before. Ruslan, my good friend who had been working on a radio station in the arctic circle (Chukotka!) came back to Vlad and arranged all the shows for me.
OCTOBER TOUR
-Well all the dates are set for the October tour in Russia. We will be playing Ekaterinburg, Samara, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Rostov and Kazan. There might be a couple of other shows as well but they will be a surprise. I am very excited about this tour as it will feature a different cast of characters than the last few tours. I am bringing kenny Lyon out from LA. He is Brazzaville's original guitar player from years ago and a very close friend of mine. On keys will be Oleg from Novosibirsk, one of the best keyboard players I have ever played with. Ramon will be coming with my from Barcelona to play drums and Alsou, the beautiful violinist from Moscow will be with us on most of the shows as well. All the dates are available on the tour page or at our myspace page.
DVD
Dr. Tinkoff and I should be finishing up the DVD in the next couple of weeks. I think it will be a double DVD. It has some fun footage on it.
NEWS, NEWS, NEWS
Sep 05, 2008
RUSSIAN FAR EAST SHOWS
I will be heading to the Russian Far East next week. I have been asked to play at the Vladivostok Film Festival and the great Nebo Club in Kabarovsk. I really like the Far east and can't wait to spend a few days out there.
BRAZZAVILLE DVD
I have been working with the great Dr. Tikov, renaissance man and proud resident of Barcelona. We have been putting together the Brazzaville DVD. It looks like it will be a double DVD in the end. There is a good amount of live footage, TV shows, some strolling through Barcelona, music videos and even some rehearsal footage at Calle Casanova. It should be all finished and released by early next year.
OCTOBER SHOWS
We're planning a full band tour in Russia in October. The final list of cities is still being drawn up but hopefully we'll get to hit many of our favorites.
TURKEY
There is talk of a possible show in Istanbul on Jan. 16th of 2009. If that happens, I will take the opportunity to stay a while longer to record an album with Deniz Culyan from Portecho. We are going to record a bunch of Brazzaville songs using all Turkish musicians. I think it could be a very interesting collaboration. If this ends up happening, we may try to play a few gigs together with some of the Turkish folks.
BRAZZA NEWS
Aug 02, 2008
Hello Everyone,
It was great to visit the US. We played some fun shows out there. it was a lot of fun to play with some old friends again. The posters that Mat Daly made for us are really wonderful. Here are some news highlights about what is coming up in the world of Brazzaville:
-21st Century Girl will be released in the US on Parasol/Bus Stop Label on Sept. 8th.
-The interview/live session we recorded at WXPN in Philadelphia for World Cafe w/ David Dye will be broadcast on Sept. 30th on most NPR stations in the US
-The Brazzaville DVD/audio CD with B sides etc. should be finished by this fall.
-The Clouds In Camarillo (w/Minerva) is on over 64 radio stations across Russia and has been played more than 25,000 times in the past few months. It remains in the top 10 on Radio Maximum.
-We are still hoping to record a CD with Turkish musicians but that plan seems to have stalled for the moment.
-We are planning a big Russian tour for the fall. The cities that we are hoping to hit if all goes well should include Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Kaliningrad, Novosibirsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. We will post all shows and dates as they are confirmed.
-There might be some slight movement with the ship tour.
-There are some new songs in the works, some of which will be played at the upcoming shows.
-We have posted 6 brand new songs from the new CD on our myspace page.
FORÇA BRUTA!!!!!
Jun 27, 2008
I can say with complete certainty that my favorite album of all time is Força Bruta by Jorge Ben. I have put the photo from the cover of it's 1970 release on our front page for inspiration. Years ago I had a cassette with many of the songs from the record and I listened to it non stop for months.
I am off to play a solo show in Kiev tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to visiting Ukraine again. It's a wonderful country. I hope we'll be able to make it back with the whole band next year.
The US tour is coming up! If we coming to your town, it would be great to see you at a show. I love playing in the US. The complete tour schedule is on our Tour page as well as our myspace page.
Here is a really funny video that Justin, the bass lpayer from Beck's old band sent to me the other day. I'm the one in the funny wig playing the sax with football shoulder pads on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEq_iHN4KWU&feature=related
BRAZZAVILLE NEWS
Jun 10, 2008
-We will be playing a big show in Barcelona at Sala BeCool on June 26th at 10 pm.
Tickets can be purchased in advance ny clicking on the Sala BeCool icon on the front page of our website.
-We will be playing 2 shows in Kiev, Ukraine on June 27th. The first will be the benefit show for children with cancer and the 2nd will be at XLIB Club at around midnight.
-I have finally written the final chapter of the Russian tour journal. You can read it by clicking on the journal icon.
-The US tour dates have all been finalized. We will be visiting Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Providence and L.A. You can see the complete schedule with dates and times by clicking on the microphone icon or by visiting our myspace page at www.myspace.com/brazzaville
-We are in the process of making a Brazzaville DVD/CD set. It will feature live footage, interviews, strolls around Barcelona, old photos, b-sides and all sorts of other things you might find interesting. It is all being made possible by the great Dr. Tikov in his multi-media, Barcelona laboratory.
-We are planning a big tour in Russia for the fall. We are hoping that it will stretch from Vladivostok in the East, to Kaliningrad in the West.
ST. PETERSBURG NEWS STORY
Apr 25, 2008
This is a news story about Brazzaville that was filmed in St. Petersburg on our last tour in Russia. It's in Russian
http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=3xJ_sgJE3vY
NEW ENTRY IN THE JOURNAL SECTION
Apr 18, 2008
I have finally continued the Russian tour saga. Check the journal section and scroll down.
NEWS!
Mar 24, 2008
-I just got back from almost a month in Russia. It was an amazing experience. I have begun to write about it in the journal section and will continue with that this week.
-The Clouds In Camarillo (with Minerva) is becoming kind of a minor hit in Russia. It’s getting a lot of play on the radio and there is talk of making another video for it.
-We are off to play three shows in Ireland later this week. Two of the shows will be with Larry Beau. I am really looking forward to playing with him. I really enjoy his music a lot.
-We are working on playing in Romania around May 8th and 9th. That sounds like it would be a lot of fun.
-The US tour seems to be coming together for July. As of now, it looks like it will include, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, New York, and L.A. In addition there might be shows in Minneapolis, Boston, Philadelphia, DC and Providence. I will post the dates on the site as soon as they are confirmed.
-The first pressing of 21st Century Girl in Russia has completely sold out and they are pressing a second run.
-We are planning to release a DVD/CD in the fall.
-Lots of people have been ordering our new CD from the website. The system seems to be working out quite well. We ship them anywhere in the world!
-Soon you will be able to buy all of our record on mp3 from CD Baby. Actually, you can already get most of them there. They come in a higher quality mp3 format than even iTunes and they include the album cover art.
-Hopefully, I will record an album with the Turkish musician, Denis Cuylan when his military service is over in May.
-We are planning a HUGE Russian tour with the full band for September. We may include a show in China at the beginning of the tour and then begin the Russian tour in Vladivostok and Khabaravsk and work our way west to Moscow, P-burg and maybe even Kaliningrad. Hopefully we will get to play in Nizhniy Novgorod this time as I know there are a lot of great fans out there.
BRAZZAVILLE NEWS FEB. 28TH 2008
Feb 28, 2008
-We played 3 really fun shows in Turkey last week. The first was at Locus Solus in Ankara. A lot of people turned out for the show and, even though there was a fair amount of talking during our set, everyone seemed to have a good time. There was a total eclipse later that night but I was too tired to stay up for it. The second show was in Istanbul at Is Sanat Concert Hall. It is a beautiful concert hall which is located a bit far from Taksim, but has the best acoustics I’ve ever experienced. It is a sit down venue so it was a pretty relaxed evening. We had a great time and Richie got to play a Steinway for the first time in his life. The third show was on the Anatolian side of Istanbul in a neighborhood called Kadikoy. It was at a club called Isis. That show was acoustic. The setting was very intimate and we had a wonderful time. The Turkish audiences were great. James Hakan Dedeoglu and Ipek sat in with us that night.
-March 1st will be the first show of the upcoming Russian tour. I will be doing a solo set in Ekateriburg. After that, the full band has 3 shows (2 in St. Petersburg and one in Moscow). The P-burg shows are at Maina and The Place. The big show in Moscow will be at Apelsin. It is on March 8th which is Woman’s Day. After that, the band will go home and I will head out to Vladivostok to play some shows with som Russian musicians. They are busy learning about 22 Brazzaville songs as I write this. It should be a great adventure. After Vlad, I will fly to Siberia to play some solo shows in Novosibirsk and maybe Tomsk.
-We are planning a US tour for July. So far we are looking at shows in Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, NYC, Brooklyn, Philly, DC and maybe Boston. IN addition, we are considering a west coast swing through LA, SF, San Diego and maybe even Portland.
-We are talking with prmoters in Ukraine about touring there at some point this spring.
-We are also talking to a promoter in Romania about doing a show in Bucharest. I would LOVE to do that.
-We will be playing 3 shows in Ireland at the end of March. I haven’t been there for many years. It will be very interesting to go to the place where a lot of my father’s family came from.
-I will be performing the song Kao San Road with the Russian band, B2 in Moscow on March 3rd. It is a song that I co-wrote with Shura’s uncle.
-The new CD, 21st Century Girl has been released in Russia and Ukraine. It is also for sale through our website. It has 14 tracks of brand new Brazzaville songs!
-We are still planning on putting out a Brazzaville DVD/CD combo at some point this year.
BRAZZAVILLE NEWS JAN/FEB 2008
Jan 23, 2008
-We played some really fun shows in Amsterdam. Many thanks to Coparck for inviting us to play with them at Paradiso and to Olga and Jeroen for arranging our show at De Neiuwe Anita and to them and Arthur for putting us up while we were in Amsterdam.
-East L.A. Breeze has been released in Benelux on V2 Records. People in Amsterdam told us they have been hearing it on the radio and that it was featured on an important Dutch website last week.
-The Turkish shows are all finalized. for February. We will be playing full band shows in Istanbul and Ankara and an acoustic show on the Anatolian side of Istanbul. There are full details for the shows on the tour page of this site.
-Our Russian language website, www.brazzaville.ru will be launched shortly.
-The Russian tour is coming together for March with shows confirmed in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Vladivostok. We are awaiting word on shows in Siberia.
-21st Century Girl will be released in Ukraine at the beginning of Feb. Hopefully we will come and play some shows there in April.
-We have 2 shows in Dublin at the end of March. We are hoping to book a show on the west coast of Ireland as well.
-21st Century Girl is available for pre-order in our online store and should be available in the next month or so.
BRAZZAVILLE NEWS JAN. 2008
Jan 01, 2008
-V2 Records will be releasing East L.A. Breeze in Benelux in January
-We will be playing a big show at the legendary Paradiso with the Dutch band Coparck on January 17th.
-David will be playing a solo show at De Nieuwe Anita the following night on January 18th.
-21st Century Girl will be released in Russia and the Ukraine at the beginning of February
-We will be playing a show in Istanbul at Is Sanat on Feb. 22nd and David will be playing a solo show across the Bosphorus in Kadikoy, on the Anatolian side of town at Arka Oda on Feb. 24th. We are working on booking shows in Izmir and Ankara around that same time
-We will be playing a HUGE show in Moscow to celebrate Woman’s Day and the release of our new CD, 21st Century Girl. The show will be at Apelsin on March 8th. We are working on putting together some other Russian dates for around that same time.
-We will be shooting a video for Jesse James with Dr. Tikov, a Russian director and musician who lives here in Barcelona
-We are hoping to come and play some shows in Ireland toward the end of March. A wonderful musician by the name of Larry Beau (www.myspace.com/larrybeau) is helping us to set them up.
-Staying with Ireland, a super-cool Irish guy named Mark Wrafter is rebuilding our website so that it will be easier for us to upload photos, text, music etc. He is also building us an online store so we will be selling our CDs, t-shirts and even songbooks directly from our site.
-There is a possibility of us going to play some shows in China in late March/early April.
-We are looking into playing some festivals in the US this summer. If that happens we will book some other shows around them. Cities would most likely be in the Midwest and on the East Coast but maybe we’ll try to get out to L.A. as well.
-HAPPY NEW YEAR to all out wonderful fans!
Love,
Brazzaville
NEWS NOV. 2007
Nov 01, 2007
NEWS NOV. 2007
-We have been in Cristian Vogel's Station 55 studio mastering our latest CD. It should be all finished by next week.
-V2 Records has licensed East L.A. Breeze for Holland, Belgium and Luxambourg!
-Brazzaville will be playing in the legendary Paradiso in Amsterdam on January 17th. We will also be playing a show the following night at our favorite Amsterdam club, De Nieuwe Anita (The Foyer).
-Brazzaville will be playing in Istanbul at the Is Sanat Concert Hall on Feb. 23rd.
-We are working on playing a HUGE show in Moscow in February or March to celebrate the release of the new CD.
-We are planning the release of the latest CD in Russia in early February.
-We are planning to release a DVD/CD set featuring live footage of the band as well as TV interviews, videos etc. The CD will have radio interviews from around the world as well as rare recordings and live versions of some of the songs.
-David will be going to Istanbul next Spring to record a record with musician/producer Deniz Cuylan. It will feature 12-15 Brazzaville songs recorded with various Turkish musicians. It will be released in Turkey on Elec-Trip Records.
-We are working on shows in many other countries right now and will post information about them as they are confirmed.
Upcoming shows (confirmed):
Jan. 17 th
AMSTERDAM
Paradiso (w/ Coparck)
Jan. 18 th
AMSTERDAM
De Nieuwe Anita (solo show)
www.denieuweanita.nl
Feb. 22nd
ISTANBUL
Is Sanat
www.issanat.com.tr
NEWS-FALL 2007
Sep 01, 2007
NEWS-FALL 2007 (old)
Hello Folks,
Please forgive the long silence. We have been very busy in the past few months. Here are some of the highlights about what is going on in Brazzaville-world:
-We are almost done with a new record. We will be finishing it up in late Sept. and sending it off to Cristain Vogel to be mastered.
-We recorded an English/Russian version of a song called Camarillo that was co-written by Misha Korneev, his friend Vanya and myself. Misha was visiting in Barcelona and he and I got together in the studio to do the version. I am very happy with how it turned out.
-On Sept. 11th we shot a video for the song with the great video director Ferran Calvo and starring the beautiful Dadanoia http://dadanoias.blogspot.com as the protagonista. Sept. 11th is a big holiday here in Catalunya. I walked out of my house at about 9 AM and the street was filled with police and people assembled in front of the Tibetan Center around the corner from my house. I walked over to take a look and a car pulled up and the Dali Lama emerged, smiling and waving to everybody. He seems like a truly wonderful man. Anyway, it seemed like a good omen. We shot all day in locations around the wastelands of Besos and Badalona.
-Brady and I went to the US to play some shows from Sept. 12th through the 18th. It was a whirlwind tour through Madison, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Chicago. We played with Todd Richards on the guitar and Eric Radloff on the drums. They did a great job. Todd arranged the whole tour and put us up in his house the entire time. He is a real mensch!
-I leave for Turkey tomorrow, Sept. 20th, to play a couple of solo shows in Ankara and Istanbul. The details of the shows are listed below.
-We are playing some shows in Russia beginning on Oct. 17th in St. Petersburg. P-burg, Ufa and Kaliningrad have been confirmed. We are waiting to hear about a few other cities and we will list them as soon as they get confirmation.
- Here are a couple of bits of press from the Midwest tour:http://www.mkeonline.com/story.asp?id=1402384
http://www.onmilwaukee.com/seasonal/festivals/articles/bvbash4.html
http://www.howwastheshow.com/index.cfm/action/reviews.view/reviewKey/749
Upcoming shows-
ANKARA (solo show)
Sept. 21st
Tenedos
9pm
ISTANBUL (solo show)
Sept. 23rd
Arka Oda
9pm
ST. PETERSBURG
Oct. 17th
Soho
9pm
UFA
Oct. 18th
Ogni Ufi
9pm
KALININGRAD
Oct. 19th
Vagonka
9pm
SARATOV
Oct. 21st
IZHEVSK
Oct. 24th
EKATERINBURG
Oct. 26th
Tele-Club
Oct. 27th TBA
ISTANBUL
Feb. 22nd
Is Sanat Concert Hall
And there are more in the works
NEWS AUGUST 2007
Aug 01, 2007
MIDWEST TOUR SEPT. 13th-16th 2007
Sept. 13th
MADISON, WI
The King Club
114 King St.
608-251-KING
www.king-club.com
Sept. 14th
MINNEAPOLIS (St. Paul), MN
The Turf Club
1601 University Ave. W
651-647-0486
www.turfclub.net
Sept. 15th
MILWAUKEE, WI
The Bayview Bash
www.bayviewbash.org
Sept. 16th
CHICAGO, IL
The Elbo Room
2871 N. Lincoln Ave.
773-549-5549
www.elboroomchicago.com
upcoming Turkey shows:
Sept. 23rd
ISTANBUL, Turkey (solo show)
Arka Oda
Kadife Sokak. No. 18
Kadikoy
0 216 418 0277
Feb 22nd
ISTANBUL, Turkey (full band)
Is Sanat Concert Hall
www.issanat.com.tr
JULY 2007
Jul 01, 2007
Brazzaville News
June 20th 2007
-The Brazzaville show at Joe’s Pub got pick of the week in Time Out New York and was sold out! Here is the preview from Time Out.
-Brazzaville will be playing some show in Russia this July. The schedule will be:
Barnaul- July 11th at Chaplin
Novosibirsk- July 12th at Tinkoff
Novokusnetsk- July 14th at Continent
Nizhniy Novgorod- July 17th at Actor’s House
Moscow- July 20th at B1
Moscow- July 22nd at B2 (acoustic)
-Brazzaville played a really fun show for the 2nd anniversary of The Foyer in Amsterdam.
-We are working on a tour of the mid-west and East Coast of the US for September. Right now it is looking like Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, New York and then possibly, Boston, Providence, Philadelphia and some others. Let’s wait and see what happens. It would be wonderful to come back and play the US again this year.
-We are going to book a wider tour in Russia in October with all of the promoters who were too afraid to book shows in July because it is summer vacation when everyone is out of the country or at their dachas. We will post the cities as the tour develops.
-We will be playing at Is Sanat Concert Hall in Istanbul in February and are trying to book a show in Ankara at the same time. I just found out that Ankara was where Joe Strummer was born!
-The new record is coming along well and should hopefully be done by the end of the year.
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