The Downtown Merrylegs recording project at Le Bar de la Plage!

<p><strong>Welcome to the wonderful world of &quot;The Downtown Merrylegs&quot;</strong></p> <p>For those of you who don&#39;t know us, we&#39;re a five piece Folk-Rock band based in Paris. My name is Charlie and i&#39;m very fortunate to be accompanied by the considerable musical talents of the wonderful Melissa Cox on violin, Hubert de Leusse on guitar, David Weeks on bass and Thomas Gromb on drums.</p> <p><strong>Describing us, people have said..</strong></p> <p>&quot;...a cosmopolitain soul with an underlying british feel.&quot;</p> <p>&quot; A beguiling collection from a singer-songwriter of real stature&quot;</p> <p>but it&#39;s difficult to know who to believe these days, so if you&#39;d like to have a listen for yourself, you can here :)</p> <p><a href="https://thedowntownmerrylegs.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">https://thedowntownmerrylegs.bandcamp.com/</a></p> <p><strong>Recording the new album and making the Cd!</strong></p> <p>I&#39;ve been working away on lots of new songs recently and since our newfound ( albeit limited ) freedom, we&#39;ve been excitedly rehearsing them and looking at the fine detail and arrangements. There&#39;s a new feel and sound to these compositions that i think you&#39;re going to like, and we&#39;re really looking forward to getting into the studio to start recordings for the next album.</p> <p>The majority of these songs i&#39;ve pieced together while in lockdown in a little village an hour or so south of Paris, and very close to my good friend Nico Grivot&#39;s, legendary &quot;Le Bar de la Plage&quot; in Saint Arnoult en Yvelines.</p> <p><strong>Le Bar de La Plage</strong></p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/667063/20622295_1320944404628027_5755672997064261580_n-1590777346.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>Over the years the BDLP has become an important live music venue, not only for the region: it has also become a regular stop off point for touring artists from around the globe, who are regularly applying for a place on the busy schedule.</p> <p>It is also a bar in it&#39;s own right, situated in an incredible setting of ancient trees and nature, with a fresh water olympic sized swimming pool built by Nico&#39;s father back in the 1950&#39;s. It&#39;s right outside the door of the bar, attracting people from all over the region and beyond.</p> <p>A faithful public comes for the music and the setting, but also for the warm welcome and openness of theirs hosts Nico &amp; Kelly. They can experience the feeling of authenticity and the almost &quot;otherworldliness&quot; of this independant and exceptional bar, which is a refreshing change from the run of the mill and multi-national owned pubs, clubs and cafe&#39;s of our times.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://d3v4jsc54141g1.cloudfront.net/uploads/project_image/image/667066/Murphys_house_2004-1590778458.jpg" width="100%" /></p> <p>I first met Nico playing his fiddle in Paris back in 96 and after doing a few bar concerts together, we decided to start a group as some of you will know, and it was also at this time that Nico first started experimenting with recording.</p> <p>Nearly 25 years later and with a wealth of experience from having recorded many different bands of various styles over the years, he&#39;s developed into a talented sound engineer. With his scientific background from his earlier studies at University, he has a broad scope of knowledge on the subject.</p> <p>For more info : <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lebardelaplage/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/lebardelaplage/</a></p> <p><strong>Supporting the project</strong></p> <p>Alas, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the majority of our concerts have been cancelled this year, along with my weekly Open mic in Bastille, and of course the BDLP hasn&#39;t been able to open it&#39;s doors to the public either. So we&#39;ve decided, hopefully with a little help from you, to join forces and turn BDLP into a recording studio for some of July, August and September, and record The Downtown Merrylegs 2nd album there. Meaning we can put this time to good use, and also give a helping hand to Nico, his family and to one of our favourite places too.</p>