A session from earlier this week by Foot Foot, recorded in the newly opened Cellar Door studio at The Louisiana in Bristol. Since the pandemic, live music throughout the world has taken a huge hit, thanks to the closings of so many local venues and the imperative necessity of reinvention on the parts of many of those venues left standing to keep local music as well as up-and-coming talent alive and well by trying new things.
The situation is not helped by lack of support from major record companies, whose existence used to depend on those small venues serving as proving grounds and showcases for bands and artists looking to cut their teeth in live performance.
One of the forward thinking venues, who have done probably more than most for the sake of keeping the flow of fresh blood and encouraging new talent by providing a place where audiences can make discoveries is The Louisiana in Bristol in the UK. Not only streaming live gigs for a worldwide audience, but setting up an intimate studio atmosphere in The Louisiana’s basement, dubbed The Cellar where artists are invited to cut a live session and be interviewed as a means of exposure and generating a fan base.
It’s not only a shot-in-the-arm for local music it’s also evidence that Music is far from dead – far from boring and distancing itself from the Mainstream by leaps and bounds.
As for Foot-Foot, my friend Mig Schillace (who runs The Louisiana and has been the driving force behind much of this reinvention) sent over this bio as a way of illustrating who Foot-Foot are:
“In the vanguard of the emerging Bristol underground scene, Foot Foot have drawn on the traditions of folk, math-rock, & discordant post-rock to produce their intricate brand of songcraft, creating moments of serenity & stillness before launching into fast, jagged rhythms. Their use of contrasts -indie-flecked songwriting with irregular, winding passages, or rich violin & vocal melodies with avante-jazz freakouts – have marked them out as one of the scene’s most innovative & impactful live acts.”
Foot-Foot are pretty new on the scene – they have a Soundcloud page as well as a Bandcamp page for you to further check out what they are up to and to lend support.
In the meantime, dive into this 11 minute session, recorded three days ago and stay tuned – also Check out The Cellar Door Sessions on YouTube for more upcoming.
