Stanley Brinks

Stanley Brinks is the current identity of André Herman Düne, original member of former indie folk rock sensations, Herman Düne. He has also recorded and played shows in Europe, the UK and the US under various other stage names: Ben Dope, Ben Haschish, Klaus Bong, and Lord Stanislas, to name a few. Now based in Berlin, he is a productive songwriter, mostly recording and playing as a solo act, though his frequent collaborations and live appearances with fellow folk musician, Freschard have resulted in the newly released LP, ‘Lion Heart’ in November, 2021. 

Stanley Brinks was born in Paris, France, in 1973. He studied a bit of biology and worked as a nurse for a while. Half Swedish, half Moroccan, strongly inclined to travel the world, he soon started spending most of his life on the road and developed a strong relationship with the city of New York, where he established connections with the likes of anti-folk punk artist, Jeffrey Lewis. Performing solo with a guitar or a clarinet most of the time, he has also toured and recorded frequently with the Wave Pictures; 2019 once again saw Stanley Brinks collaborating with the Wave Pictures, releasing indie greatness, ‘Tequila Island.’

Stanley Brinks has incredibly mastered a great variety of musical styles and arrangements in his song writing, crossing classic song writing, improvisation, instrumental pieces, American style, country, Sicilian-Arabian folklore, South African kwela, Greek rhythms and scales, early carnival music of Trinidad, European calypso and not forgetting, classic indie-pop. His latest solo album ‘Plastic kettle’ was released in March 2020. 

Stanley Brinks and Freschard have once again teamed up to bring to Bristol a night comprising of a combination of solo performances and stunning duet songs as featured in, ‘Lion Heart.’ 

The Cube welcomes back Stanley Brinks, a long-time collaborator at the venue. 

Listen To Stanley Brinks: www.stanleybrinks.bandcamp.com

Freschard

Freschard is a very amiable and prolific singer-songwriter, mostly singing en Anglais, who grew up in a farm in Burgundy. She started organising shows in the barn when she was about 12 years old. Aged 18, she moved to the big city, Paris, where she baked pies and cakes in a cafe. There, a local musician and regular customer called Andre Herman Düne wrote a few songs for her to sing. Moving to New York, she saved up money to get a guitar and began to write her own material. 

She called her first E.P. ‘Neon Orange’ She recorded her second E.P. ‘Shower Gel’ with Mike Gomez on lapsteel guitar. With AHD and G. Lucas Crane, she also formed a band called, Back UP, and worked on poetical noise music.

In 2004, Freschard moved to Berlin, where she recorded her first LP, ‘Alien Duck,’ with a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds. Her second album, ‘Click Click,’ recorded in 2006, features a drummer (Leo Bear Creek), and electric guitars by Stanley Brinks. On her third album, ‘Moonstone,’ she plays the drums herself. 

Freschard works as a sound engineer and records her friends' music. She also has a Calypso cover band with Stanley Brinks, called Kreuzberg Museum.

Until recently, her music was only available on the CDRs she sells at shows, but a vinyl edition of ‘Click Click’ is now available from good record stores worldwide!

Freschard is based in Berlin, writing songs which deftly combine folk music, urban daydreams, acoustic sounds and electronic programming. She collaborates and tours frequently with Stanley Brinks.

Listen To Freschard: www.freschard.bandcamp.com

Martin Callingham 

Martin Callingham is a writer and musician from Bristol, UK. Locally cherished for intimately delivered live performances, he offers beautifully crafted, softly sung songs. Songs filled with poetic prose and extended picked guitar instrumentals. 

Martin is also well-known for his engagement with the audience between songs; his uniquely antiquated, very English humour, leaves listeners charmed and hungering to hear his poetic take on life. 

His last album released in 2016, ‘Tonight We All Swim Free,’ secured alternative indie music admirers at BBC 6 Music and received great reviews by Clash Magazine and Louder than War. 

Fast forward to 2022, and Martin Callingham is back with a gorgeous sophomore album, ‘Patterns’, this time bursting with emotive electric guitar and smooth mellow piano, due for release in the Autumn on Bristol's own Undergrowth label.

Listen To Martin Callingham: www.martincallingham.bandcamp.com