France | The Che Underground

Unknowns in France!

December 14, 2017March 1, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

(Unknowns bassist Dave Doyle recounts the band’s 1990 reunion and transatlantic travels, complete with video!)

The video embedded in this post came as a complete surprise to me; I knew that some must exist out there, but having never seen any footage back in the day I didn’t know what had become of the record of our time in France.

So in short form this is how this video came to be: Mark Neill, Craig Packham and I had recently moved to Georgia and were struggling to get a foothold. We decided to make a record with Bruce Joyner as The Unknowns and tour France. So out of this “Southern Decay” was produced, and a tour was set up to support the record. Making the record was a blur, as was getting to France!

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French rock ‘n’ roll: An oxymoron?

December 14, 2017July 14, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

Especially in honor of Bastille Day, here’s an eternal question inspired by an absolutely charming 1966 performance Dean Curtis surfaced by a French combo dubbed Antoine et les Problèmes. “Les élucubrations” is delivered with élan, esprit and a ton of other wonderful French nouns … However, I still find it extremely difficult to listen to.

(It actually reminds me of a small child Robert Labbe, Paul Kaufman and I watched working cafe tables in Belgium, frantically wheezing into a harmonica until he was paid to leave.)

But — mon Dieu! — Che Underground: The Blog is here to smash stereotypes, not to perpetuate them! An unrepentant francophile myself (with a healthy appreciation for other Gallic art forms), I need guidance: Where are the French rockers?

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