Paris loves the voxtrot!

VOXTROT and LONEY, DEAR at La Fleche D’Or:

What a cool venue. Not far from La Maroquinerie, in a seemingly less than glamorous section of the 20^th at the far western edge of Paris, sits La Fleche D’Or – on this « Soirée Indie Rock » , an indie rock venue ‘til midnight-ish, a dance club after. I came in during the second band (of five – not a typical Paris show) and talked to Ramesh a bit who is just the sweetheart you’d think he is – just so nice and I would think a pretty awesome person. We talked about France (he knows enough French to get by from his mom), his solo performance on a French radio show the next day (he wasn’t sure which songs he’d play), their upcoming set (I wondered if they’d play “Warmest Part of the Winter”, which he said – and I agree actually – would be kind of boring onstage here but thought it made a potentially good choice for the radio show!), his drink he didn’t like, and a popular lesbian club in Paris.

Before Voxtrot was Loney Dear, who I didn’t realize I knew until he started singing – that unmistakable voice! (and there’s always gonna be this little girl inside of me…)

Unfortunate that he came on then, because the crowd was still a little high from the energy of the last band, The Jai Alai Savant (who were pretty good I thought), and was also excited for Voxtrot – it just wasn’t the best environment for his type of music, which requires more patience and, quiet. I still was convinced that I need to go get his CD at some point, though.

Wow – wow – when Voxtrot took the stage – well, the keyboardist remarked halfway through their set (which was short, maybe a half hour) that they were amazed to have this sort and this much of a response for their first time in Paris, and frankly, so was I. They went absolutely nuts. Maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that I was one person from the very front and around me was a group of really rowdy, excited fans that danced, jumped, screamed, crowdsurfed at one point, and even stormed the stage during the last song, one girl running right into the bassist – god, they were shameless – I mean they just hoisted themselves up there, scattered amongst the little space there was left on stage, and danced! So maybe I got a different impression being in the middle of all that, but even just the fact that there was a group of people that excited, and that the rest of the crowd if perhaps not that extreme was still nonetheless really into them, well, that definitely said something about the band and how far their music has reached. And just how damn good they are… and how big they could be in the near future, especially after they put out their first full-length album. Watch out, everyone!

Ramesh doesn't by any means stay still long enough for me to get a good picture...

(the stage-storming)

The set, though short, was great – all of the band had energy, but Ramesh, he brought it out of the audience too, jumping around on stage, running around, you couldn’t keep him still; he just seemed so happy to be there, playing for us. They played the big ones (“Raised by Wolves”, “Mothers Sisters Daughters and Wives”, “Soft and Warm” – much to my great relief! my favorite!), some new ones that sounded great, and ended with “The Start of Something” – that’s when the stage was besieged – and the crowd shouted and chanted so much that they brought them back on for one more, and they played another one – was it “Missing Pieces”? I’m not sure. But wow.

Afterwards I congratulated Ramesh briefly on how well the show went. He had said before they left the stage that he wanted to meet us all – and it indeed seemed that way, as he asked some others and I if we were sticking around – I wish I had, I’m sure he and the band hung out with their fans and had a great time. What cool people. And what a great venue. And what a great show! Damn! : )

Believe me and check out Voxtrot now, or don’t and check them out later when you hear of them yourself, because I’m pretty sure you will.

www.voxtrot.net