After 9 months of more shows than we’ve probably ever done in a row, we took a long summer break from playing live. Although we have continued to work on recordings for the new album, the usual New Orleans summer doldrums still worked its magic on us.
But now we are back, with 4 other bands, at the Okay Bar, Friday October 17, 2025. We will be playing 2nd, and the show will start around 7 or 7:30pm, so a good one for you early-to-bed types to come out to.
We are playing this Friday May 23 at the Holy Diver with Josh Nagel’s (Luxurious Faux Furs) new side project Nite Nurse and the always wonderful and psychedelic Shining Fields.
Come get your minds blown… Likely our last show until fall comes around again.
Come see us (early, 3:45pm sharp!) at the Broadside this Sunday (13 October 2024). Tons of bands, including many of our old comrades from the good old days at the illustrious Mermaid Lounge.
It’s also a fundraiser for the live-saving New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic.
Chef Menteur with Good Sugar and The Stacks at Circle Bar, Saturday, January 4, 2020
A band, inevitably called “Chef Menteur” is playing Sat Jan 4 at the Circle Bar. It’s the first time this name has been used for a live performance since the December 2016 Mermaid Reunion Festival at the Truck Farm. Our distinguished ancient comrade Court Batson (who played mandolin on a few tracks and in Archipelago and the Gin Friday String Band) joins on the bass guitar. We’ll be doing some more primitive, soulful 2-chord jams— stepping back in time from complex progressive rock arrangements towards a more droney psychedelic aesthetic, but with just guitar, bass, organ and drums instead of layers of bests, samples and synths.
A tight little outfit called Good Sugar will be debuting. We know they are very good because they practice next door. They are doing a 70’s jazz rock type thing in the vein of Vulfpeck or Steely Dan.
Another band that’s playing is called the Stacks. They are the Stacks of David Rhoden from New Orleans, not the other bands or shops you might have heard of. The last time a band called Chef Menteur played with a David Rhoden band was before the levees broke, but we run into Dave often around town. It’s for the people that like to rock and/or roll.
Chef Menteur is playing the 2-day Mermaid Lounge Reunion Festival on Saturday afternoon (3pm), December 10th, at the Truck Farm in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans. The band has not played a show in 4 years, but has continued to get together weekly and work on and record new material. They will be performing a set of never-heard music that they’ve been working on for some time. Since they last performed live, they’ve changed out one member and the current lineup is: Alec Vance, Dan Haugh, Phil Rollins, and B. Aubrey Freeman.
Festival Address: 3020 St Claude Ave, New Orleans, LA 70117-6641, United States
In the last 24 hours, both the new compilation “III” and a brand new website and new album are here.
Many, many thanks to our most faithful and generous supporters at the Sunrise Ocean Bender label for the great-looking 3-CD set. They put together a compilation of 3 releases that were very rare: one hard-to-find double LP, East of the Sun & West of the Moon, one almost impossible to find cassette, Force Majeure, (which is also our newest release, and remastered for “III”), and one impossible-to-find-because-it-was-never-released album, North of Tomorrow & South of Yesterday (which is a collection of out-takes, live jams, and extended versions of songs on East/West). It’s available in digital download format as well for an excellent price, and you can hear tracks via their Bandcamp page. Check it out at http://sunriseoceanbender.bigcartel.com/product/chef-menteur-iii
And, also just now we have a brand new site design (except for this here blog), so thanks to the design professionals at Dan Haugh Design for the excellent new site!
