I had heard there were Zydeco bands in Europe that sounded like they were from Louisiana or Texas (that good)... and while these guys from the UK play a little "fast" on one of the tunes I heard and a little rough around the edges... they certainly capture the essence of the energy which is amazing and not easy to do as there are many local bands here in the USA which can't do this...
Lil' Jims Big Squeeze. What is also funny is I can't find a place to buy their CD online.. guess they really do it for the love of it as you can't support the bands if they don't make it easy :)
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Hi Greg,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interest in the band. We very much appreciate any exposure and interest with as many people around the world as possible.
You can find us at our Facebook and MySpace pages:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lil-Jims-Big-Squeeze/195254078839?ref=ts
http://www.myspace.com/lil39jim
You can contact us at either of those sites for a copy of the CD ($10 + p&p), which is a much more polished product than a rough video on youtube taken on a cell phone. ;o)
We will be releasing an album of all original material later in the year along with a single and video.
I must point out though that the Lil’ Jim’s Big Squeeze sound is deliberately ‘NOT’ trying to sound like a Louisiana/Texas Zydeco band, if that’s what you are after then you should check out Z-Funk (one of my other Zydeco bands) for the European Zydeco thing...
http://www.myspace.com/zfunkzydeco
or go to my own MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/subkick
BUT, the reason for not trying to copy the Louisiana/Texas Zydeco styles/sounds is simple really, it’s because we’re European and trying to take Zydeco influenced music to a younger, more diverse and more mainstream audience.
The idea for the Lil’ Jim’s Big Squeeze ‘style’ came after I had played drums for Leon Chavis and Corey Ledet on their European tours and after many conversations between Leon and Jim and I regarding the best way to get a younger audience listening to Zydeco in Europe. Leon pointed out that the best way to do it would be to look at what popular music culture in Europe and see what styles were popular amongst the younger generation in Europe and see which ones married easily with Zydeco. Which is what we have done, and to be fair to Leon he was spot on!
The band has only been together for 10 months and we’re already playing to sell out crowds at European festivals and gig venues and are now booking bigger festival dates for next year. So the formula seems to be working. In Europe the festival audiences love to dance (their own way) and love an energetic band that doesn’t hold back from start to finish... so that’s what we provide! ;o)
Some of the band members already have a pedigree for playing Zydeco and Cajun with artist from Louisiana and Texas. Jim had accordion lessons from Steve Riley as a youngster and has since played alongside many touring artists and as I mentioned I have played for Leon and Corey as well as Cheryl Cormier so although we have a very healthy respect and appreciation for Louisiana music, we are just trying to take it to more mainstream European audience.
If you want a 1st hand opinion from a Louisiana band, then you should chat to our friends from Feufollet. We just played the same festival as them in France so they can give you an impression of what we’re all about.
Anyway, thanks for the interest, and hopefully I’ve been able to explain a bit more about who we are and what we’re about.
Cheers
Andy (Lil’ Jim’s Big Squeeze – Scrubber)
Spot on Andy, I think most European C & Z bands are trying to do something similar with the genre that the Beatles & Stones did for Rock 'n Roll, Blues, and Soul way back in the day, hopefully we can raise the profile of this unique and awesome music worldwide through our efforts.
ReplyDeleteNew web address: www.ljbs.info
ReplyDeleteAt the moment it diverts to the Facebook page, but soon, when we have our new whizz-bang-fancy-dan website... it will go straight there; where you'll be able to buy all kinds of merch! :)
I was trying to figure out if there are any zydeco locations or festivals in Europe and Google listed many but every single one brings up a 404 error and can't be found.
ReplyDeleteI came to this Lil Jim Squeeze page and looked around but I could not figure out where this band is located (Louisiana, France, other?) and where the slides are from. Really, I searched.
Anyway, I am a total zydeco dancer from the Bay Area, thinking of moving to Denmark and wondering if there is any cajun action over there. Any bands? Any festivals? How about northern Germany? How could I find out?
Thanks,
Paul Palmer