Song
The Rougaroux
Artist
Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse
Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse backstory
It’s two-and-a-half years since the party-starting Hot Nostalgia Radio bagged our Record Of The Week.
But Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse are going from strength to strength as purveyors of soul-powered, hard rocking, fuzzball blues.
Core due Greta Valenti and Robin Davey continue to surround themselves with a revolving door lineup of supreme transatlantic talents.
And with next year’s 10th anniversary of launch EP The Appetizer looming large it finally feels like the end of the beginning for a band that’s done the hard yards — and deserves to soar.
Debut album Love & Murder (2019) and follow-up Good Times End Times (2022) underpinned the kind of all-action live shows that cement longstanding reputations.
But it was Hot Nostalgia Radio that saw Valenti and Davey realise their dizzying potential.
BGG&TA have become staples of the UK and European festival scenes and are set to release album number four in 2027 — kicking off a big year with a full headline tour across the UK.
In frontwoman Greta Valenti’s own words
“Every kid growing up in Louisiana hears about The Rougaroux.
“He is the monster in the dark. Something that can infect you with his darkness.
“I think about him a lot — this shapeshifter that has lasted centuries of tales.
“I think he’s in all of us: the wild, hungry, untamed part of yourself. Some of it good, some of it bad, but he is there, nonetheless.
“So, I wrote a song in the spirit of so many songs I love from deep southern blues to Warren Zevon and my favourite band, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.
“It’s swampy, dark and sexy. And it’s REALLY fun to perform live — we get everyone howling.”
The verdict on The Rougaroux
Like swampy, bluesy, fuzzed up geetar? You’ll love this.
BGG&TA axeman Robin Davey goes to town on this spine-tingling, Halloween-themed anthem.
And his frighteningly sharp fretwork almost threatens to overshadow the force of nature that is Great Valenti.
Almost.
BGG&TA’s charismatic singer has always hammed up the theatrics.
And The Rougaroux allows Valenti to play the part of darkly affecting temptress to devastating effect.
Davey riffs off his band mate’s haunting vocal to drive a spooktacular drop from one of blues rock’s most sonically ambitious and visually bold bands.
But the nightmarish video’s all about Valenti and her captivating turn as Alice Cooper’s evil stepsister.
The Rougaroux deserves to be a monster hit. Download if you dare…
What’s next for BGG&TA
The band will be living out of their suitcases for the foresesable future with a string of tours on the horizon.
November 12 sees BGG&TA kick off a run of European dates in Germany before hooking up with These Wicked Rivers for eight UK dates.
A full UK headline tour gets underway in New Milton on January 29.
