"They call me Dr. John, the night traveler." Being both great admirers of the Louisiana pianist/singer, Matthis Pascaud and Hugh Coltman decide to explore the latter's sixties period with this new album Night Trippin', a sultry mix bringing together New Orleans folklore, the band's electric vibe and Hugh's suave voice.
In this grimy, mystical New Orleans, Dr. John was the Great Zombie, from a time when the streets didn't reek of concrete, when a legendary studio wasn't mistaken for a laundromat. Matthis Pascaud and Hugh Coltman are the latest victims - after Mick Jagger, the Beastie Boys, Beck and Dan Auerbach - of the wizard with the hoarse voice and the elastic tongue, usually flanked by a naked dancer and a guy who slits chickens' throats on stage before drinking their blood! There, in a kitchen, around a large stack of records, Matthis and Hugh stopped by Babylon and Gris-Gris, the founding acts of the legend Dr. John.
Three years after the doc put away his skulls and feathered suits, how do you pick up the torch? The answer is in Night Trippin'. More than a tribute, a procession. Without headphones, in a room full of microphones, Matthis Pascaud and Hugh Coltman invite us to their wild feast. Their groove moves slowly, like an alligator under the pecan trees, the drums clash in a mystical movement dotted with guitar blades. These are not songs but mirages. In his voodoo-dandy costume, Hugh Coltman goes wild, chants, barks, gloats. Louisiana flows in his veins. In New Orleans, between two mouthfuls of alligator, the rock singer with the Wiltshire accent had recorded Who's Happy?. "The first time we jammed with Matthis," he smiles, "it was crazy!"
Night Trippin' has a dog in it. From a distance, we'd say he's rocking, beastly and stripped down. Closer up, you'll come across the bottleneck of an old Southern bluesman, the opiate dreams of a Jimi Hendrix, the flames of PJ Harvey or The * and wide shots a la Ry Cooder. When the last notes of "Guilded Splinters" fade away, we say to ourselves that, up there, Mac must have appreciated it. Matthis Pascaud, Hugh Coltman and their band have opened the door. Let them guide you along the bayou, make the powder and the spells speak... Then, you may end up like them: mystified and totally seduced.