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Cool Sounds and Lachlan Denton - EU Tour Photo Diary
Words by Nick Kearton
Images by Cool Sounds and Savannah van der Niet
Intro by Francis Tait
Friday 25th October, 2019
As 2019 starts to wind up, Cool Sounds’ More To Enjoy and Lachlan Denton & Studio Magic’s A Brother have proven themselves to be two of the year's most enduring albums - both thanks to their effortlessly well-written songs and their affecting themes.
Now that they have returned to Australia and are preparing for a handful of homecoming album launch shows, we’ve been given an exclusive glimpse into what went down over the three-week-thirteen-date European tour they embarked on together earlier this year.
Lauren and Ambrin napping in the van. They likely drifted off to the soothing sounds of Mason Ramsey Twang, which got far more than its fair share of airtime on the stereo.Cheese party in Rouen with Nathan Roche. The consensus view was that Rouen was far too old and had far too many churches. Nice cheese though.Cool Sounds playing in an old wheat Silo in Saintes.This photo was taken after our final show in Berlin, by Savannah van der Niet, who had taken some photos of Lachlan and I for an Ocean Party shoot in Brisbane a few years back. This was maybe my favourite show of the tour! It was in the amazing anarchist bar called Shokoladen, there were loads of people there to see the show and I think the combination of having had a few days off prior and it being the final show made for a really good night! Lauren, Scoop and Nilly all turned up on electric scooters which was a pretty huge power play!Hanging out at the canal in Paris before playing a show in a tiny sweat box. The show was with Mod Con and Moody Beaches and it was a really good night, in spite of the shoe box sized room maybe getting to 50 degrees.Lauren tetris packing the tour van. It was more spacious than this makes it look, and our packing game was pretty tight by the end of tour.Amazing defunct wheat silo in Saintes. It’s a co-op style creative space now. Nico, who put the show on and put us up for the night, organised us some fresh local oysters for breakfast. He was a 10/10 host!
Closing the deal in Marseilles.
This is the morning after a kind of tense night. We decided after the Rouen show, that we’d just drive for a bit and find a hotel. Turned out that it was the first weekend of summer holidays and that was easier said than done. After a few hours and about 30 phone calls, we had accepted that we might be spending a super uncomfortable night in the van, until this dank truck stop motel appeared!
This is Nilly and Christian, who owned and ran Pizzini bar in Bamberg. It was a really cute old bar that had belonged to Christian’s grandfather. They were very hospitable, fed us and let us drink as much Club Mate and vodka as we wanted. In the morning Christian even took us for breakfast at the local indie café.
Rose working the shutter in Paris. About half these photos she took on the $25 gumtree camera pictured here.Group photo with Alvaro and Gonzalo in Madrid. These guys run a couple of small record labels called Meritorio Records and Bobo Integral respectively. They very generously put out Cool Sounds and Lachlan’s music in Europe and were a huge help booking shows In Spain.
Lauren in Santiago De Compostella
Rose in Santiago De Compostella
Lachlan and Stud Mag really letting the crowd in Santiago De Compostella have it
Hanging out with Nathan on a balcony in Toulouse. Nathan was the best tour companion you could imagine. He was constantly up for fun, he translated for us, managed to uncork a bottle of wine without and opener, played heaps of great sets and just generally keep the mood up. He’s living in Marseilles these days and I recommend looking him up if you’re ever in the area, he knows where to get the cheap pastis.
Catch Cool Sounds and Lachlan Denton & Studio Magic together once again, as they both launch their albums tonight at the Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine and on the 22nd of November at The Gasometer Hotel.
