Heavy blues with Dirty Deep who performs at the Eurockéennes, DJ Cerk on tour with Claudio Capéo, gothic rock from Sex Blood leaving for the United States, RnB revelation with Yend… Spotlight on these artists from the Mulhouse scene who are export.
Dirty Deep, Eurockéennes power
With its racy heavy blues, which wouldn’t look out of place even in Uncle Sam’s country, and its 14 years of existence, Dirty Deep already knows a thing or two about major festivals. Cabaret Vert, Le Chien à plumes… The Eurockéennes de Belfort welcome them with open arms this Friday, July 5 at 5:45 p.m., the same evening as Lenny Kravitz, on the magnificent stage of La Plage. “We’ve wanted to perform there for years, we’re obviously happy and excited to play at Eurocks, a festival close to home, which speaks to us,” emphasizes Victor Sbrovazzo, the soul of the group. A date to highlight in red in the trio’s busy summer schedule, which is exported to Europe, from Belgium to Italy, via Germany and the Czech Republic.
Au forceps. “We like to move and as soon as we have the opportunity, we do it,” sums up Victor, remembering rock’n’roll road trips, which saw Dirty Deep play in the United States (twice), Canada (five times), Morocco (once) and the Czech Republic (five times)… Opportunities that don’t fall from the sky but are sought with forceps. “No date falls into your lap, we go hunting. Releasing an album is no longer enough to play, we are still a band in development. If you want to perform, you have to put a lot of energy into it and persevere, it’s almost resilience,” emphasizes the singer-guitarist of Dirty Deep, who has just released « Upstream shake »the title of the first of three EPs that will punctuate the coming months. Proof that the self-made man still has a bright future ahead of him, in response to an increasingly sanitized music industry.
Self-made man. Recording, mixing, mastering, cover art… Everything was done in-house this time! “We obviously do a job we love, but the reality is a little less glamorous. Today, to exist, you can’t rely solely on music and artistry. The Internet has changed the game and, whether we like it or not, a lot of things are played out on communication and the number of likes on social networks,” concedes Victor Sbrovazzo. “At the same time, there are more and more bands and there are fewer places to play.” A polite way of saying that a place in the sun is even more earned today than yesterday and that discouragement and doubt have no say in the matter.
+ info on facebook.com/dirtydeep.official – dirtydeep.bandcamp.com
DJ Cerk: an album and a tour with Claudio Capéo
Those who have already crossed his path will confirm it to you: passionate about music in front of the eternal, DJ Cerk is as discreet in real life as he is talented, behind his turntables, on stage. At 33 years old, this pure product of the Mulhouse scene who had already made a name for himself locally, notably with his accomplices from the group Artcore State of Mind (ASOM), is now playing in the league of the very big ones. A measure of the talent of this enthusiast of (good) sounds into which he plunged headlong, from the age of 15, by making his first scratches. Dj and beatmaker, “Cerky” gradually adds other strings to his bow: recording, mixing, production, in addition to composition. “I realized, with ASOM, that there was no studio in Mulhouse to record what I loved, so I had to make do. I started recording with my friends, then collaborating with other artists,” explains Pierre Lorrain, his real name, graduated from an audiovisual school in 2013, in Paris, a city where he has many “beautiful encounters “.
” The encounter. As his appetite often comes with eating, DJ Cerk sets up his own professional studio, the Cerky Studio, a stone’s throw from Mulhouse (Zillisheim), his base for producing under his name, developing collaborations with other artists and collectives, including the beatmakers Tour de Manège, recording albums on demand… So many activities that follow a linear rise in power until “the” encounter that will make him switch to another planet. “Gill’us (Editor’s note: Gilles Dorn, musician accomplice of Claudio Capéo) came to meet me, we started working together, composing and then everything happened in quick succession.” ” Compass “, Claudio Capéo’s fourth and final album released at the end of 2022 (then reissued last November)was co-produced, recorded and mixed with DJ Cerk and in his studio as a bonus. Which has earned him several gold and platinum records today… In the meantime, he joined Claudio Capéo on the tour that followed the album’s release and is starting again this summer for a 26-date tour (from June 28 at the La Ronde des briques Festival to September 6 with Le Lot en meule bleue Festival). “I scratch on stage and now also synth,” confides DJ Cerk, who would never have imagined following such a trajectory.
Gifted with sound. “My daily life has clearly changed. We are faced with reality with all the questions that come with it: am I going to make it? Is this really my place? Seeing so many people dancing in front of you, shouting, laughing, singing, it’s just extraordinary. I’m having the best time of my life, so I’m making the most of every moment. You never know how long it will last, I let myself be carried away by the moment. Claudio, like all the musicians in the group, are incredibly considerate, they know the job! » And how this gifted with sound and truly shy (“I am the biggest representative in Europe,” he jokes) can he perform in front of thousands of people? “I’m the first to be surprised, I think that live allowed me to open up. Very honestly, the first concert was terrifying before going on stage, but in the end you go for it. At the beginning, I was really hyper focused on what I was doing, now I can be more relaxed while playing and enjoy the moment. It’s just a crazy feeling!”
+ info: facebook.com/DjCerk – djcerk.bandcamp.com – see DJ Cerk’s solo live with Claudio Capéo
Sex Blood exports its gothic rock to the USA
After Texas last summer, Sex Blood is heading to Florida from July 11 to 19 with six concerts, which will take them through clubs from Jacksonville to Orlando, two years after the release of their first album. « Teach Me To Cry ». “A 10-track album, created turnkey, with which I approached labels specializing in dark gothic music, including Swiss Dark Night, a small label well known in the field with a great network, which signed us to distribute our music,” emphasizes Abel de Beauvoir, the leader of the group.
Dj’s texans. With the help of new technologies, Sex Blood’s tracks cross the Atlantic to reach the discerning ears of Texan DJs, who take great pleasure in playing them at fiery gothic parties. “It all started with a video made at the Temple Saint-Jean in Mulhouse of the track « Spleeping Angel » (Editor’s note: 20,000 views, video above)after which local DJs asked us to come and play at their place last year. This year, it’s back for another round, this time in Florida.” At 50 years old and at the origin of several musical groups in Mulhouse, Abel de Beauvoir has the right formula: “We are really in niche music and we are in the underground, there is a tribal spirit with real fans of this music. Most of the sales and listening of Sex Blood are now in the United States, it’s just crazy! It’s both surprising and unexpected, but really gratifying. Whether in the United States or in concert in the depths of Germany, we always meet wonderful people.”
Look. After releasing his second album « Intimidating Visions » Last May, Sex Blood does not intend to stop there with, in addition to the United States, a date planned in Nice in the fall, then a festival in England in 2025 with, as always, the look that goes with it. “We really play the game live, with a look and decorum of circumstance. I have always thought that the look was important when you play rock. In gothic rock, it is even more so, there are codes to respect: black outfit, leather, lace, crosses… We do not come to play in jeans: the look is important, it is even invigorating!”
+ info: facebook.com – sexblood.bandcamp.com/album/intimidating-visions
Where will Yend stop?
A wind of feminine freshness and RnB is fortunately blowing in this merciless world of male musicians from Mulhouse (sic). At 25, Yend is gradually making a name for herself. If everything started four years ago for the Mulhouse native with a few well-felt singles and EPs, the first takeoff dates back to 2023 with the release of “Yekrik”, a 5-track album, which puts the artist into orbit. Preselected for the Inouïs du Printemps de Bourges in 2023, we find among others the artist, self-proclaimed “hip-hop hop with afro-descendant sounds”, on the stage of Noumatrouff opening for Aloïse Sauvage.
Spotting. “I have been in music for eight years, but Yend has truly existed since 2020 with its first titles on music platforms,” explains the artist, alias Aïcha, Mulhouseian by birth, who frequented the stages of Espace as a child. 110 and his theater classes. The album “Yekrik” allowed me to find dates, I got on well with Olivier Dieterlen, the director of Noumatrouff, who allowed me to open for Elodie Sauvage, to perform at the C festival “is the party, but also to do residencies…” Like the latest one, in June, to prepare his live for the national final of Buzz Booster (winner Grand Est), an essential tracking device in the sphere rap (hip hop). One more step for Yend which is being exported, little by little, from Lille to Aix-en-Provence via Clermont Ferrand, with, in its sights, the date of October 9 at the Élysée Montmartre, in Paris, and a new album to come, a priori again this year.
Stations of the Cross. “Existing in music is a path of suffering, but I am disciplined by nature and, as soon as I have a goal, I go for it,” explains the still independent artist, who grew up between Alsace and Guadeloupe. Residencies, springboards, concerts in contemporary music venues, presence on social networks, use of press relations… There is a lot of work behind the scenes. Beyond music and artistry, you also have to be a manager, community manager, accountant (…) if you want the music to reach everyone’s ears.” When will there be a new date in Mulhouse? Nothing is 100% certain for the moment. “That said, it is always a real pleasure to perform in Mulhouse, which remains in my heart,” concludes Aïcha, now from Strasbourg, to whom we also owe the Afrodigital movement with the artist Malcolm.
+ info instagram.com/yendigba/ – https://fanlink.tv/yekrik
