Electro Swing…..It’s a thing! Just ask the French. Or the rest of Europe. Heck, ask anyone who has seen Caravan Palace! And soon you will be in the know too after seeing them at the Skyway on 7/14. Tickets are still available HERE
French band Caravan Palace got its start almost a decade ago, and has delighted fans all over the globe with their unique sound and fantastic live performances. This year saw them break out in the US with “Lone Digger” getting 50M+ YouTube views and their third album <|º_º|> (aka Robot) topping 50,000 sold copies in the US.
All accomplished Jazz musicians, their shared love for electronic dance music pushed them to combine those influences into a new project, at the crossroads of the exuberance of manouche jazz (the Caravan) and the hedonism of modern club music (the Palace, after one of the iconic Parisian clubs). With their 1940s inspired look, they serve up festive, frantic music, an improbable futuristic and melodious Jive fit for the dance floor. Now in the mist of composing their fourth album, the band has decided to take a break from the studio and go back on the road in North America.
Wait? A French band on Bastille Day? How cool is that?
Their strength lies in their common passion for electronic music. Charles, Arnaud and Hughes, the initial trio, dig swing, especially gypsy jazz, and try their hands at the genre’s traditional instruments: guitar, double bass and violin. That’s where this peculiar mixture of classical Django and new trendy electro comes from. And it’s far better than those retro futuristic sounds… because it swings. A few myspace posts later and they have doubled in size, enrolling Chapi, the boisterous Colotis, and Toustou, from now a member of the band in full-time.
They start touring long before they even think about releasing an album. And everything clicks in 2007, during the Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois. Terrified to be part of the gypsy jazz pantheon, they gather speed and steam and create a real posse (not unlike hip-hop) that follows them everywhere. The word is out, their breakout song, Jolie Coquine, is playing everywhere. The record is released a year later, and it’s an immediate hit. They soon tour France and Europe. The show peaks at the Olympia. The room is packed, people go crazy… listening to swing. This has never happened before.
Tour Dates:
Jul 05 9:30 Club Washington, DC
Jul 06 Warsaw Brooklyn, NY
Jul 07 Irving Plaza New York, NY
Jul 08 Theatre of Living Arts Philadelphia, PA
Jul 11 Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland Kansas City, MO
Jul 12 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO
Jul 14 Skyway Theatre Minneapolis, MN
Jul 15 House of Blues Chicago Chicago, IL
Jul 16 Saint Andrews Hall Detroit, MI
Jul 20 Place Desjardins Baie St Paul, Canada
