LA VIDA LIVERPOOL SOLO ARTISTS: GUS BARRETEAU (PART 1)

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La Vida Liverpool loves to celebrate the abundance of talented music artists that Liverpool and the North West has to offer. We enjoy shouting about the wonderful diversity on our doorstep and the many different styles and genres available from guitarists, vocalists, beatbox artists, rappers and more. In this feature article, we bring you Gus Barreteau.

We invited Gus to a secret location in West Kirby (the Ibiza garden/terrace at Cafe At Nancie shhhh) to play an intimate session for us one sunny Saturday afternoon. With some contagiously catchy tracks behind him and oozing with charisma, we were lucky to have Gus play exclusively for La Vida Liverpool before his inevitable success.

Dubbed the ‘French Scouser’, the independent singer/songwriter/guitarist is originally from the South Of France but moved to Liverpool at the age of 18 to learn more about music. Gus studied at LIPA and went on to perform across Europe and Australia with his wife, Sally, before settling back in Liverpool. Now about to embark upon a professional music career, Gus has a lot of support and a promising future, and La Vida Liverpool is firmly behind him.
Enjoy our video of Gus performing ‘Hand On My Skin’ and look out for some more LVL videos of him coming soon! In the meantime, here’s a little Q&A with Gus:

LVL: So what have you been up to recently?

Gus: I’ve been recording my three singles at The Cabin in Liverpool with Alec Brits. Two of the songs have already came out on Spotify, iTunes and all others platforms. My wife Sally and I have been spending some time promoting those songs. Also we’ve done the launch night of the three singles CD at the beginning of May — it was with my full band and 100 people came to the event. It was great!

LVL: What is it like where you come from in the South of France?

Gus: Field and trees basically. I was raised in the countryside in a small village of 200 people. Very chilled and a beautiful place. My parents have a bed and breakfast so it was full of new faces all the time. There are some music workshops organized there that definitely influenced my passion for music.

LVL: What drew you to Liverpool and what do you think of the city?

Gus: Well first of all I was drawn to England as I am in love with English music and wanted absolutely to sing in English rather than my own native language. At 18 years old after I finished school I chose to go and study in a music university in the UK — it was between a university in Manchester and LIPA and I went for LIPA, I guess the Paul McCartney factor influenced my choice for sure. Since then Liverpool and its people had made a big impact on me. I fell in love with a Liverpool girl and I feel part of the community now. People even call me the ‘French Scouser’.

LVL: What was it like travelling and gigging across Europe and Australia?

Gus: It was an unforgettable experience. It was Sally, two backpacks and my guitar. Gigging in Australia and jamming with other artists was so fun. I’ve done a few festivals around France also. Collaborating with other musicians in different parts of the world really inspires my music.

LVL: What are your plans for the future?

Gus: The latest single ‘My Head’ is coming out on the 22nd of June. We’re planning on keeping promoting those singles and maybe finding some help and funding along the way. In September we are back in the studio to finish the album with a couple more singles, some chilled out songs and a Christmas single. If it comes into plan we should have the full album early December. In 2019 I am going for all the festivals I can get and loads more original gigs.

 

La Vida Liverpool loves Gus Barreteau and we hope you do too! Check him out on SPOTIFYITUNESINSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK.

Check out Cafe At Nancie for event bookings.

Filming courtesy of Skyfade Media and images courtesy of Skyfade Media and Amanda Toovey

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