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Bollocks to Brexit - What a Wicked Week for Music!

Holy Moly and the Crackers, France, Brexit

The votes are in and it’s an all-round yes! The biggest gig night to happen in Chamberet since the demise of the punk rock fest back in 2007 was a fantastic success. The Fete de la Musique on the 21st June mixed it up with Rockabilly, Gypsy jazz, blues and pop/rock until about 2am. The streets were crowded, the champagne bar flowed through the gutters and everyone — including the school kids — were somewhat bleary eyed the following morning. No; the kids were not on the champagne — they were just tired.

In a week that — for all expats living in Europe — was fraught with dreaded anticipation for a Brexit win, music has been a fantastic distraction. But the festivities didn’t stop there for me last week. A little jaunt up to the Deux-Sevres for the billingual Litfest at St Clémentin blessed me with an unexpected brilliant gig.

There I was, expecting Holy Moly and the Crackers to be a bunch of silver haired retirees with thready wool jumpers and stinking of pechoulia oil, playing folk music around a camp fire with a Fertility Mother effigy in the corner of a field. All ready to get out my tambourine and tap along with the happy clappy club, I was most pleasantly surprised to find a seven piece group of young British musicians making magic on a stage set for a side line serving at Glastonbury.

And that wouldn’t be too far off the mark — they actually shot back to the UK that night and played Glastonbury the following day! REEE-sult! They were fucking brilliant! Definitely one to watch, and if you get a chance to see them, do it! The female vocalist has got a voice like hot honey and the dude sings with Arctic Monkeys overtones, all mixed in with bluesy jazz and Celtic folk. Obviously, with talent like that, they are not short of a gig or two and will be touring the UK over the summer. For dates, check out their website.

There we all were – English, French, Scottish, Italian, Belgian and many a hybrid whose nationalities cross many a border – standing shoulder to shoulder, dancing, laughing, and sticking a collective finger up at the pricks who have run the most incompetent campaign on both sides and who have likely crapped on millions of expats across the continent. When the gig finished and the lead male singer said, ‘On today of all days, it’s a pleasure to be with you here in France,’ it hit home just how sad the referendum result was.

But for those of us living abroad in Europe, Holy Moly was a much welcomed spoonful of sugar to help the Brexit go down.


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