Heymoonshaker beat-box blues duo from England

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Pictured above: Andy Balcon and Dave Crowe of Heyoonshaker.

They’re both loud. They both get your attention.

Introducing Dave Crowe and Andy Balcon, members of Heymoonshaker. This beat-box blues duo from England, based out of Sweden, will make you want to pick up slide guitar and kiss your mama goodbye to go hitchin’ trains.

If they look familiar, that's because these boys have busked from London to Auckland and you might have heard their raucous beats somewhere in between.

This past week they played at Rock en Stock Festival 2012, out of Saint-Die, France. This place is far east, closer to Switzerland than any France you might know. You’re in the French suburbs of some other suburbs. Part charming ski village and part industrial town. A washed-out fairytale. Welcome to Saint-Die.

The stomping beats, the air so thick with nicotine that you could punch it. This is all headlined by Heymoonshaker, and includes shows by Karma Project, La Tchav’ Project, Yaz, and more. Some bands are a blur in sequence, others leave you stupefied and wondering how much talent the outskirts of France is smuggling.

Crowe and Balcon of Heymoonshaker. Separately, they are so loud and so different that in all sense, it shouldn’t work. But it does.

All this organized by the incredible wizard Malik Yasseah. The man may not have a hefty CV when it comes to festivals, but he’s like the Godfather; provides favors when asked, gets you in all the good places and asks nothing in return but your loyalty to enjoy the damn show.

So how did the two Brits of Heymoonshaker do in this faraway venue?

Well Dave moves around stage so smooth you get hypnotized. Is this the same guy that was talking to me about the better parts of a David Attenborough documentary? He seems unreal onstage; a persona adopted and then played out for everyone else. And it's intoxicating. The crowd barely speaks English but random phrases are thrown out. "Yesssss! You play blues man!"

He's not even human when he hits his stride. The girl standing next to me just stared at him while he beat-boxed. "But... where is zee machine??"

Andy likewise plays the crowd so well. His guitar is soft and loud in all the right places. You know you’re in good hands. His voice is rough but pulls you in so you don’t even realize that your foot’s tapping. All you think is how the hell do pipes like that come out of this one guy? You’re left gaping a bit.

Like The Black Keys , you listen to these tracks and can’t believe that it’s just two guys. No drums, no nothing but a guitar and an incredible grasp of rhythms.

Separately, they are so loud and so different that in all sense, it shouldn’t work. But it does.

The evening finishes around 1am but only officially. Upstairs a giant whiskey and brie-fuelled jam kicks up with most of the musicians of the past couple days. It all keeps going until the sunlight lets itself be obnoxiously known. Then the spell is over, the fairy-tale in Saint-Die to continue next year, as everyone moves off. Basically, a fucking good happy-ending.

Check out Heymoonshaker on Facebook for upcoming gigs in the UK and Sweden.