I've had a busy time since arriving in Belgium yesterday, so busy that it's been tricky to make time to stop and update my social media pages, especially so without internet on my mobile phone.. but all is good, great in fact! I am really enjoying it here.
Currently I am in Liège staying with producer friend Luc (aka lucky one - www.luckyone.be).
Last night he and I spent some time in the studio starting a track and today I woke up early and caught a bus to the city centre to walk around and get a feel for the place.
It is a busy city and a little confusing to navigate at first, but its interesting historic architecture is full of hidden side streets packed with shops, restaurants and cafes which remind me so much of my time living in Porto.
Even though there is so much here, I pretty much covered the whole city in a day of continuous walking with the occassional stop for a beer or coffee.
On my travels I stumbled upon a sign pointing to a place called Maison du Jazz, basically a meeting place to listen to and study a gigantic library of Jazz records and CDs.
I went inside and spoke to the organisers in my rusty French. I am sure that, being Jazz's cousin, there were plenty of Bossa Records and I will go check it out tomorrow, to find inspiration on some precious piece of rare vinyl.
Unfortunately tonight's gig at Encontro Brasileiro was cancelled as the venue had to close, so instead Luc and I had some beers and a meal and are currently in the studio again :-)
Today I was also scouting for good places to play and I managed to organise quite a few gigs for the next couple of days.
Tomorrow I have a gig in Winenote tapas bar at 6:30-8:30pm followed by a gig in Cafe Brasil at 9-11pm
Friday afternoon, 3pm, I am playing a café called Caffe Latte owned by my newest friends, a South African and Italian couple. That will be my base for the afternoon..and then I have decided to stay another day, so I will also play Cafe Brasil again on Friday night after a great meeting with the owner this evening.
On Saturday morning I'll head to Ghent and play de Croone Cafe in the day and in the evening meet Bram (aka producer/animator 9000 Knobs). My time there will be briefer than expected. We'll produce a bit of music at night and then Sunday morning I am heading back to London!
So that's the adventure so far, I have been taking some photos and will update when I can on my Instagram, here on the blog, or Facebook.
A bientôt!
Currently I am in Liège staying with producer friend Luc (aka lucky one - www.luckyone.be).
Last night he and I spent some time in the studio starting a track and today I woke up early and caught a bus to the city centre to walk around and get a feel for the place.
It is a busy city and a little confusing to navigate at first, but its interesting historic architecture is full of hidden side streets packed with shops, restaurants and cafes which remind me so much of my time living in Porto.
Even though there is so much here, I pretty much covered the whole city in a day of continuous walking with the occassional stop for a beer or coffee.
On my travels I stumbled upon a sign pointing to a place called Maison du Jazz, basically a meeting place to listen to and study a gigantic library of Jazz records and CDs.
I went inside and spoke to the organisers in my rusty French. I am sure that, being Jazz's cousin, there were plenty of Bossa Records and I will go check it out tomorrow, to find inspiration on some precious piece of rare vinyl.
Unfortunately tonight's gig at Encontro Brasileiro was cancelled as the venue had to close, so instead Luc and I had some beers and a meal and are currently in the studio again :-)
Today I was also scouting for good places to play and I managed to organise quite a few gigs for the next couple of days.
Tomorrow I have a gig in Winenote tapas bar at 6:30-8:30pm followed by a gig in Cafe Brasil at 9-11pm
Friday afternoon, 3pm, I am playing a café called Caffe Latte owned by my newest friends, a South African and Italian couple. That will be my base for the afternoon..and then I have decided to stay another day, so I will also play Cafe Brasil again on Friday night after a great meeting with the owner this evening.
On Saturday morning I'll head to Ghent and play de Croone Cafe in the day and in the evening meet Bram (aka producer/animator 9000 Knobs). My time there will be briefer than expected. We'll produce a bit of music at night and then Sunday morning I am heading back to London!
So that's the adventure so far, I have been taking some photos and will update when I can on my Instagram, here on the blog, or Facebook.
A bientôt!