Oh My Darling Clementine

As you might have established, one of our favourite places in Brussels is the Botanique. And if you happen to just have spent the night there you might come out feeling a little peckish. Now if this is the case I suggest you get on the tram 92, stay on it for quite a while, and don't get off until 'Place St.Job'. You might be wondering why I'm trying to take you far out of the centre of Brussels, I'm not trying to get you lost, this is really worth it.

Chez Clémentine, number 2 on the list of top chip shops in Brussels (although number one goes to Clémentine's father, Antoine with the famous 'Friterie Antoine' on Place Jourdan), is found on the Place St.Job in Uccle. Whether you are from Belgium yourself or are just a tourist you will know how important chips are as a part of our culture. None of this 'french fries' business, chips were invented in Belgium! So if you happen to be passing by, Chez Clémentine is the place to try and as it's open from 11:30 to 01:00 on sundays and weekdays and until 06:00 on fridays and saturdays, chances are it will be open.

Chez Clémentine is not just your ordinary chippy, its aim is to create the most environmentally friendly chip shop in Brussels. From the building itself which is perfectly insulated to the oil used which is recycled into eco-diesel, every aspect is thought out to be the least damaging to out very precious planet. And of course without affecting the price in the slightest! I can't personally review their whole menu as I am vegan but I can tell you that they do have a huge choice and veggie options (which isn't that easy to find in Brussels) and if you are veggie then they will cook your chips apart in vegetable oil rather than animal fat which is the traditional way of cooking them here in Belgium. The only fault I can find is that vinegar isn't available, though that isn't done over here. You'll either have to bring your own vinegar or take them home.

I'm definitely not saying all of this because it's the local chippy I grew up going to, but it is, and if you do decide to come over and say hi then please try a veggie burger because I don't think any one else orders them which is such a shame they're the best. It's just really nice having that place you've known for

so long where the staff know your order when they see you come in, everyone needs that. But Chez Clémentine is very popular and alot of people do make the effort to come the extra mile for better quality food.

Why you should check out Tempesst?

 On Monday we were back at our very much loved venue Botanique in Brussels. Due to Brussels being under level 4 terror alert they had to cancel a few concerts the week before. The last day before we could get out our Christmas hats and Reindeer antlers Albert Hammond Jr. came all the way to Brussels to re-open the wonderful Orangerie. 

 We did have to under go security checks but it felt great to be back! And yes, we'd been looking forward to seeing Albert Hammond Jr for ages. As always  I didn't bother to look up who the support was. Someone usually always does that for me. And besides I didn't know whether I was even going to turn up that early. I say that and always forget that I'm a really bad judge of time. Somehow I always seem to leave the house at least half an hour earlier than necessary. Basically I'm always early, and I'm glad I was because Tempesst were great. It had been a while since I saw a support act I properly enjoyed and I had a ton to do that day.

 They are an Australian band currently living in London and were one of the best support acts I'd seen in a while. You should definitely check them out. If you can find any of their music online. Because that's way harder than it seems.

There was a great atmosphere from the beginning of their set. I could already tell I would enjoy their short time on stage. They were really fun live and it seemed that everyone else was enjoying it too. Just a few songs in I'd forgotten it was Monday and was really starting to get in the mood. Their music reminded me a bit of bands such as Tame Impala , Pond and Temples. Which can't be bad!A bit before their last song they mentioned to stop by their merch stand to sign up to their mailing list for some free music. Obviously I'm always up for free music! Who isn't? So sure enough we stopped by and immediately fell in love with their shirts saying 'You're worth it' on them. Pretty hard to resist such an inspirational quote. We had to get them! Though to be fair the other band playing Rotonde at the Botanique had 'I'm a mess' on their T-shirts, which suits me too. But Tempesst shirts put us in a great mood, I'll probably be wearing mine everyday until I get bored or it gets smelly. 

I think that besides standing 2 meters away from a living legend like Albert Hammond Jr. We didn't have much to complain that night. It was a good night and I'm really looking forward to recieving some new music! If they finally decode all the handwritten email adresses. For now we'll just have to play Tidal Wave for they 100th time again.

Wolf Alice play at Rotonde, Botanique Brussels

They were on the long list for BBC sound of 2015, toured with Alt-J and are now nominated for the Mercury Prize. You might have already guessed, or just read the title, but I’m talking about Wolf Alice! On their way to take over the world they were so kind to make a stop in the sold out Rotonde at the Botanique in Brussels. I put on my dancing shoes and got hydrated for a night of singing along to songs from possibly the best album of the year. 

 

Credit: Mike Massaro for DIY magazine

After getting thoroughly checked at the entrance of the venue (thank you ISIS) we got into an already pretty full Rotonde. Supporting Wolf Alice that night was Melting Time. As the tradition from the Botanique prescribes it was again a band from our own small country. They should be good for 30 minutes of entertainment but started to get a bit annoying and boring after 15 minutes. If you closed your eyes so you didn’t got distracted by the over the top 'dancing' from their guitarist you could hear some hints of Joy Division and Jim Morrison. Sadly we could also hear some Editors, who are not on my favourite bands list. Still a shout out to the female bass player! We all know that those are the coolest girls walking on this planet. I’m not just saying that because I’m a girl who plays bass. We can just agree that it’s a well-known fact! 

When the venue started to get more crowded, it also got darker outside and rain started pouring into the not so decent roof of the Botanique. Thank goodness we managed to keep it dry in the Rotonde. Well for as long as they didn’t start playing ‘Bros’ and I wouldn’t end up as a crying mess.

With opener ‘Your Loves Whore’ we could already see that the crowd was going to be the “stand still and watch” kind of crowd. The distance between the band and the crowd was even in such a small venue so big. ‘Freazy’, one of their more poppy songs from the album set a chill vibe and when ‘Bros’ started playing even some people took the adventures choice to start dancing. From my experience at concerts in the Botanique you can say it’s a miracle. 

Finally ‘You’re a Germ’ was there and Ellie proved that how tiny she may be, she can produce a lot of noise. Then we went straight back to the fun popsongs we started off with. Great songs like ‘Lisbon’ and ‘The Wonderwhy’, which both have some sing along allures, didn’t got the people too enthusiastic. Oldie, ‘Storms’ was as tight and shiny as Theo’s pants and fresh newbie ‘Swallowtail,’  which was according to drummer Joel Amey the best song of the evening, it was a nice intermezzo to calm down before the big storm started. ‘Fluffy’, ‘She’ and ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’ came together as one and formed a bold and loud entity. The crowd screamed their lungs out for almost 10 minutes and was left tired and sweaty. 

Good choice of the band to start their encore with the quiet and modest ‘Blush’ where Ellie asks us if we are happy now. Yes, we sure were very happy! But even good things come to an end. When it’s an end like ‘Giant Peach’ we don’t have many reasons to complain. Theo’s and Ellie synchronic dancing deserves more credit than every single move Alex Turner and his hips ever got praised for. Now all we can do is hope that in February I can update you all on their passage in the Trix in Antwerp. 

Credit: Aurélie Léchenault

The Garden talks about their latest record and how an incline is better than a decline

On Friday the 30^th of October we had a date with the second best looking twins on the planet. The first place obviously goes to Gary and Ryan Jarman from The Cribs. Due to a shattered phone screen Wyatt was excused for the first part of our interview. I guess some things are still more important than an interview with the hottest new blog in town. We still had a lovely talk with his twin Flechter about the up’s and down’s of being a new band and what influenced them on their latest album, ‘Haha’. 

Today is the third time you play in Brussels, your second time here at Madame Moustache. Did you already had the time to get to know the city a bit better?

Fletcher: Some cities we’ve played I know my way around. But this particular one not so much. I know this area and that’s about it. 

Do you have any favourite places to go back to when you’re touring?

Fletcher: Yeah totally! I like going to Denmark. I like going to Asia. For specific places I’d like to go back to Indonesia, that was fun last time. I like Texas. Texas is nice.

Did your home place Orange, California, influence your music in any way?

Fletcher: Not really. There were some bands from California which I like to listen to growing up. They might have served as a backbone for me and what I do now. But I don’t think they really directly influenced me on what I’m doing right now.

Would your music have been different if you grew up somewhere else?

Fletcher: Maybe? I really have no idea! 

Do you think stylistic elements, like album covers, are important to what you’re trying to convey with your music?

Fletcher: Visual art is important to some people. I’m always kind of lazy when it comes to the visual art part. We were more focused on what we’re actually doing than the album cover. We do like album and visual art but most of the time we just forget about it. We try to focus on it ever so often because it is definitely important. 

What do you think about your career in music at the moment?

Fletcher: It’s actually changing all the time. There’s always up’s and down’s. But as long as you keep going on a steady incline instead of a steady decline it’s always a bit better. We’re slowly inching up. So yeah, we’re doing good!

Are you proud of how far you’ve come with your music?

Fletcher: You learn to appreciate it a lot after a while. I guess if you start it doesn’t really matter if you’re good or bad. In my eyes when we first started nobody seemed to care about anything we were doing. When we started touring, still nobody cared. Then we started touring harder and things changed and people came to our shows. You get used to it in the beginning. Doing your thing and sleeping at terrible places. But when things do get better you really learn to appreciate it. I'm happy where we are now.

Congratulations on your last album ‘Haha’. How was the writing process?

Fletcher: It came kind of natural!

When did you write the songs and was it east to compose them?

Fletcher: The album went through a year before we got it how it’s now. Because we were touring we didn’t have much time to work on it. Every time we went home we just had a short period of time to record some songs. We had the songs made already but they were like crappy demo’s. So we did have to record them all again. We wanted a more refined sound than what we already had. It would have taken us only a few weeks if we weren’t touring though. The only song we recorded in the studio was ‘Egg’, all the other songs were made alone, at our home. 

You once said that every song has a meaning? But is there also a theme on the album?

Fletcher: It’s just a collection of different ideas. It’s about places we went and are still going. Mostly it’s things we believe in, things we’ve experienced and things that are important to us. 

For the second part Wyatt joins us in the dark smoking room at Madame Moustache. We tried to find an answer to the question that most scientists have been trying to find an answer on for decades: Are identical twins really that similar? We gave the Shears twins seven small dilemma’s and found out their different views on some of them.

Gorilla or Tractor

Morning person or Night person

Fastfood or Home made

Crowdsurfing or Moshing

Drum ‘n’ Bass or Drums and bass

Jebediah or Jessesiah

French fries or French kiss

How do you see eachother?