"African American music in general is made for dancing and sharing feelings, it gives a great feel of empowerment to the listeners as well as the players and this is what we all need! We love the «feel good» messages, we also love how deep and moving it can go too, we love how everybody can rely on this music, how anybody can join in for a jam, how we can all let ourselves go and dance instinctively on this music…"

Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs: Blue-Eyed Soul 

Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs first bloomed in jam-sessions in their little French hometown back in 2017. Their sassy sound has been influenced by major blues and soul artists such as Freddie King, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, Etta James, Otis Redding and The Tedeschi Trucks Band and it embraces a wide variety of electric blues, deep soul, funk and African grooves. The obvious chemistry between the powerful voice of the leader, her soaring saxophone and the bold guitarist is supported by their rock-solid rhythm section. Smiles and glances keep coming back and forth within the jam-band, they definitely feel home onstage! They have won several contests and opened for great artists including Curtis Salgado, Sax Gordon, Kirk Fletcher, Steve’n’Seagulls among others, but the best is yet to come!                                      (Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs / Photo © by Laurent Sabathé)

Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs just released their first album Summer Soulstice (2022), which surely marks a watershed for the band, whose original songs explore and interpret African-American music in their own singular way. Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs are Maëlys Baey on Lead vocal, Saxophone & Keyboards; Jean Guichemerre on Guitar & Vocals; Eric Gayon on Bass & Vocals; and Chacha Angela on Drums & Vocals. Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs will be the participation of France at the European Blues Challenge, Chorzów in Poland (June 1-3, 2023).

Interview by Michael Limnios

How has the Soul n' Blues music influenced your views of the world and the journeys you’ve taken?

Maëlys Baey: Well, this is quite a deep question, but we'd say that we love how powerful Soul and Blues music are, may them be sad and moving or joyful and groovy. This music is so federative too, we all (in the band) met in blues jam-sessions and became friends in music and in life ever since. African American music in general is made for dancing and sharing feelings, it gives a great feel of empowerment to the listeners as well as the players and this is what we all need! We love the «feel good» messages, we also love how deep and moving it can go too, we love how everybody can rely on this music, how anybody can join in for a jam, how we can all let ourselves go and dance instinctively on this music… Well we have a very collective approach of music, we’re not much interested in becoming great individual soloists but we do want to sound powerful together and get the audience in the same mood.

How do you describe your sound and songbook? Where does your creative drive come from?

Maëlys Baey: We just released our first album (Summer Soulstice), which we really wanted to fill with the wide variety of our influences, as it goes from blues, to gospel, soul music, funk, jazz, afrobeat, world music... well: a «joyful noise» haha! We produced it in the most natural way, no modern FX but no vintage hardware either. Just our soul, sweat and guts! But beyond musical terms, we were greatly inspired by one main theme: resilience. We write songs to give hope and strength, so even our darkest songs eventually light up in a move forward.

Why do you think that the Blues music continues to generate such a devoted following in Europe?

Maëlys Baey: You're right, there’s a ton of blues lovers in Europe! We played in so many different cities and each time we find new clubs and new festivals where people come to see American blues stars as well as young local bands, this is like a big family and most people are really cool! The Blues music is kept alive in Europe thanks to a bunch of devoted people organizing great festivals and blues venues, workshops, masterclasses, conferences, challenges etc… Allowing European audience to meet the greatest worldwide artists, which keeps the interest in the blues growing! Then you just need to be taken to a blues concert once in your life to fall in love with this music!

"We are really grateful for living our lives nowadays, but though some contemporary artists get really close to what the legends could have played years ago, we would have loved to see our musical heroes performing live, such as Etta James, BB King, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Bill Withers, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, and the list could go on and on!" (Miss Bee & The Bullfrogs / Photo © by Laurent Sabathé)

What would you say characterizes French blues scene in comparison to other European scenes?

Jean Guichemerre: We have no idea, but we know that France has always welcomed the blues, and even in our little South-West hometown, the greatest blues artists such as Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Luther Allison came to perform in the seventies. As a young emerging band, we crossed the paths of elder French musicians who got the luck to sit in legendary bands, to back legendary singers or see them perform. It answers a bit more to your third question about the European/French devotion for the blues, as it is also about heritage and transfer beyond generations. Still today, France hosts some of the greatest European festivals such as Cahors Blues Festival or Cognac Blues Passions, and some of the greatest bands including the likes of Nico Wayne Toussaint, Malted Milk, Nasser Ben Dadoo, Nico Duportal, and so many more.

Are there any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions which you’d like to share with us?

Jean Guichemerre: We were thrilled to win the French Blues Challenge last summer, which leads us to the 11th European Blues Challenge 2023 in Chorzow (Poland) this summer! This is so exciting and we really look forward to being there! We also really enjoyed our last studio sessions as it was the very first time we recorded with a horn section, backing vocals and an organ, we really had a ball in cooking our first full original album with great musicians and human beings including the one and only: Sax Gordon (USA), and we have to admit that playing it live for the release party was even more awesome!

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

Maëlys Baey: We are really grateful for living our lives nowadays, but though some contemporary artists get really close to what the legends could have played years ago, we would have loved to see our musical heroes performing live, such as Etta James, BB King, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Bill Withers, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, and the list could go on and on! We have no fear at all, and we really hope to grow, to travel the world and play everywhere, to meet the greatest, to live a 100%!

If you could change one thing in the musical world and it would become a reality, what would that be?

Maëlys Baey: We would definitely dissolve the labels in the musical genres, as we don’t believe in boundaries. Our last album for instance, was made out of mixtures of many ideas, and though soul music is the common foundation, we spiced it up with tight funky horns, African grooves, gospel organ chops, and deep blues guitar solos, but not one of these songs is a «standard» in its form.

"The Blues music is kept alive in Europe thanks to a bunch of devoted people organizing great festivals and blues venues, workshops, masterclasses, conferences, challenges etc…" (Maëlys Baey / Photo © by Fabien Maigrat)

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

Jean Guichemerre: Humility for sure! We were astonished by how the greatest musicians we met in person were the most humble ones! We can name Curtis Salgado, Sax Gordon, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Kirk Fletcher, Nico Wayne Toussaint, and they are all outstanding passionate hard-workers, remarkably kind and humble. This is the lesson!

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