With the mighty return of the band Kyuss touring again, one day a month or so ago I was looking up videos on youtube of new and old Kyuss live clips. I found a clip of a this small 2 piece band opening for Nick Oliveri on a solo tour he was doing - the video was a internet only behind the scenes clip. The band opening for him was Le Chat Noir based in Devon England, a retro rock garage band made up from a boy on guitar - Teddy Hesper and a girl from Los Angeles on drums - Eileen Spruce. They have 2 full albums out on iTunes and 2 older albums when they first started out. Their sound is amazing, blues rocking guitar with aggressive edgy twangy accents. With their setup, its very hard to not see a White Stripes similarity - and it is there with the sound and the tone and lyrics but with liberal amount of desert/stoner rock. Its very easy to see a Kyuss, Fu Manchu, and early Queens of the Stone Age element. Despite being born in London and having a pleasantly polite English accent, Teddy Hesper sings the great stories of each song in a rough, beer drinking "Tennessean-esk" droll. The songs are that of bitter romance, violent pulp fiction noire, speakeasys and the traveling between them. Eileen Spruce is not just a drummer just better than Meg White, or Samantha Maloney (of Motly Crue/Peaches/Eagles of Death Metal fame), or just a good drummer for a girl - she is an amazing drummer full stop. Period. Case Closed. They have been together since the middle of the last decade, touring mostly England, Belgium, and surrounding countries and when I asked Teddy Hesper about when they would be coming to the New York City area and if they needed a street team he replied
"Hopefully one day we'll try to organise a US tour - it's just such a big logistical task, not to mention a financial nightmare for a poverty-stricken band!"
He did go on to say that when they do find themselves over here we'd all go out a grab a couple of beers.
Le Chat Noir - Check them out